Taken from "あかるいくらい（Umbralucent）" released on 1st November 2022 from Sweet Dreams Press, Tokyo.

作詞・作曲：米山ミサ
written by Misa Yonneyama

編曲：浮と港
arranged by Buoy and Minato

録音、ミックス、マスタリング：宇波拓
recorded, mixed and mastered by Taku Unami

――――――――

米山ミサ：歌、ギター
Misa Yoneyama: vocal and guitar

藤巻鉄郎：ドラムス
Tetsuro Fujimaki: drums

服部将典：コントラバス
Masanori Hattori: contrabass

イガキアキコ：バイオリン
Akiko Igaki: violin

白と枝：コーラス
Shiro to Eda: Chorus

――――――――

湯気

ぽつぽつと雨が落ちるのを見ては
手元から湯気が上がるのに落ち着いた

そして何か待っている
何を、多分雲の隙間に

晴れ間が来るのを
こどもみたいに

はらはらと砂のように手放したかけらを
波が運んで春になる

そして何か待っている
何を、多分君の言葉に

やさしい気持ちで
どこまでもゆけ

二人分の枕で今日は薄明かりつけて
哀しい夢を見た、もうおやすみ

あかるいくらい

湯気

浮 - 湯気

ene (easy recording ver.)/ 別野加奈(Kana Wakareno)

落​武​者 Ochi​-​musha  (古風 Ⅱ DEMO,2021)

From the album 'MURMURATIONS', to be released worldwide on 24th November, 2016 on KITCHEN. LABEL

Following 2013’s release of the album “Stranger to my room” on KITCHEN. LABEL, the Singapore-based award-winning composer sonicbrat (Darren Ng) returns with his long awaited follow-up album “MURMURATIONS”. “MURMURATIONS” depicts a quiet longing for beauty so distant, one can only see with eyes closed, like a lost wayfarer set out in search of questions without answers. It is constantly transiting and transitioning, suspended in a liminal state.

The album features a series of intimate and introspective compositions recorded entirely on the acoustic piano, employing various miking techniques to extract innate mechanical sounds, wood tensions, natural vibrations on piano soundboard and strings, and using them as the only source of the compositions’ sonic palette.

Drawing inspiration from the natural phenomenon of migratory birds to reflect on one’s own displacing nature in life and estrangement from nature itself, “MURMURATIONS” paints the chimerical journey of an imaginary starling, charting its flight through fabricated landscapes as it inevitably transits in the passage of time.

"MURMURATIONS" is available on CD and digital format on 24th November 2016. The CD edition comes in a customized die-cut case (20 x 14 x 1 cm) and includes one bonus download track.

Tracklist:
1. MURMURATIONS I
2. MURMURATIONS II 
3. MURMURATIONS III 
4. MURMURATIONS IV 
5. MURMURATIONS V 
6. MURMURATIONS VI 
7. MURMURATIONS VII 
8. MURMURATIONS VIII 
9. MURMURATIONS IX
niǎo (Bonus Download Track)

Produced and written by Darren Ng
Mastered by Ricks Ang
Design by Ricks Ang

Released by KITCHEN. LABEL
Distributed by p*dis / Inpartmaint Inc.
Ⓟ & © 2016 KITCHEN. LABEL

MORE INFO:
www.kitchen-label.com

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

発売日：2016年11月24日（木）
品番：AMIP-0092
アーティスト：sonicbrat
タイトル： MURMURATIONS
フォーマット：国内流通仕様CD
本体定価：2,400円 ＋税
バーコード： 4532813340920
発売元：KITCHEN. LABEL
流通：p*dis / Inpartmaint Inc.
ジャンル :  AMBIENT / POST-CLASSICAL / NEW AGE

前作『Stranger to my room』が高い評価を得たシンガポール人作曲家sonicbratが３年振りに待望の2ndアルバムをリリース。ミニマルで静謐な美しいピアノの調べに、ピアノの構造から生まれるファウンド・サウンドを取り入れた、シネマティックな幻想美溢れるピアノ・アンビエント作品。

各方面から称賛を浴びた前作『Stranger to my room』より約３年、シンガポールの作曲家sonicbratことDarren Ngが2ndアルバムをKITCHEN. LABELよりリリースする。クラシックピアノを学びマルチ奏者でもあるDarrenは、英Wire誌が”Erik Satieや坂本龍一を彷彿させる”と評する、シンガポールの舞台・映像・アートシーンで人気の作曲家。

本作『MURMURATIONS』は、渡り鳥の性質からインスピレーションを受け、目を細めた時にだけ見える遠くの美に対する静かな憧れを描き出したという作品。まるで虚構の地形を飛行する想像上のムクドリの旅を描き出すように、時間の流れと共に常に変化しながらも、感知出来るか否かの境目にあるような幻想的な雰囲気に溢れるアルバムとなっている。

本作には様々なマイキングのテクニックを用いて録音したアコースティックピアノのサウンドによる親密で内観的なコンポジションのシリーズが収録されている。ミュートや解放など弦の響きに変化を付けながら、ライヒを彷彿させるようなミニマリズム溢れる美しいピアノの調べ、そして、ピアノの構造自体から生まれる機械仕掛け的な音や、響板や弦の自然な振動音も取り入れたミュージック・コンクレート的なアプローチが深く溶け合った、シネマティックで静謐なピアノ・アンビエント作品。

パッケージは独自の美学とセンスに定評のあるKITCHEN. LABELが手掛ける特殊仕様。

sonicbrat - MURMURATIONS III (MURMURATIONS, 2016) - preview

夜明けのダンサー（2017ver）

110515 (yasuda kenji "tegami" remix)

from Tenniscoats album 『Music Exists ~ disc3』

Music Exists Disc3

テニスコーツ／違相

cool time

let go

Taken from 7" single "一週間歌（Week）" released on 15th October 2017 from Sweet Dreams Press, Tokyo.

一週間歌（ICHI）

ICHI - 一週間歌（Week）

It began with ‘Kwaidan’, a simmering study on the lost art of Japanese ghost story-telling. Then there was‘Komachi’, baptized in the earthly winds and static that define its comforting sonics.

On ‘Kofū’, Meitei masterfully closes his trilogy of lost Japanese moods with an engaging interrogation of artforms and aesthetics as a provocation — or, as fashioned in the album’s subtitle, a “satire of old Japanese aesthetics”. Each entry’s distinct flavour hasearned Meitei acclaim for conjuring a bygone culture through his transportive form of ambient music. ‘Kofū’ arrives as a deconstruction of this approach. His first release with KITCHEN. LABEL, Meitei has quietly defied expectations set by his previous two albums, while continuing to challenge modern notions of Japanese sounds.

Once again, Meitei resumes his focus on a Japan that has long ceased to be. This time, ‘Kofū’ is deliberately playful in bridging a sensibility that connects this imagined past to the present. Fractured piano chords are the first to greet you on ‘Kintsugi’ before they make way for a spectral elegance that parades the haunted mask of Kwaidan on ‘Man'yō’. 

But like an ambient soothsayer schooled in the art of the 808s, Meitei quickly drives ‘Kofū’ with propulsion on ‘Oiran I’, which shares a sibling in Side B track ‘Oiran II’. On both songs, he builds tension served up by flickering hip-hop rhythms — achieved by carefully processing old drum and metal sounds — with a subversive spirit unforeseen in any of his work thus far.

Dissecting vocal recordings to the point of incomprehensibility, Meitei aims for something stirring beyond- words — not unlike J Dilla and his mountain of cut-up soul samples, or The Caretaker with decaying 78s. He abides by a principle attributed to the master Hayao Miyazaki: “Beyond logic speaks of human nature”.

‘Kofū’ allows full immersion into fragments of the past without the trappings of nostalgia. The tracklist is denoted by prominent (and unseen) figures of this history. Tracks ‘Sadayakko’ and ‘Otojirō’ are named after renowned entertainers from the Meiji era, while ‘Nyōbō’ is dedicated to a long-suffering line of working class women within a patriarchal Japanese society. The sounds of ‘Oiran’, sharing the name of the title bestowed upon courtesans, were sparked after learning about the treatment of red light district workers within this era. It paints a grim picture of baidoku (also known as syphilis) and its ravage spread.

These stories cloud the overall mood of ‘Kofū’, but Meitei takes a Mizoguchi-like approach to mould that unimaginable pain with tenderness. ‘Oiran 1’’s hidden subtitle is Hana, and ‘Oiran II’ is Shiokaze. As Meitei explains, “Hana means gorgeous and glorious. Shiokaze is the sea breeze — for her life.” Tracks like ‘Urameshi-ya’ and ‘Gen'ei’ provide a meditative space amidst the turbulence, while ‘Shōnen’ takes a turn for the cinematic. The eight-minute odyssey is engulfed by shadowy voice loops, mixed best for a headphone experience in a solitary setting.

Meitei bids farewell to an expedition first sparked by a passion for a long-forgotten cultural past. ‘Kofū’ is a definitive conclusion with an open invitation to listeners from Japan and beyond — encouraging continued appreciation of this sacred part of history, wholly untethered from the world at large.

‘Kofū’ will be released on LP, CD and across all digital formats via KITCHEN. LABEL. Chihei Hatakeyama mastered this recording in Tokyo, Japan.

Release Date:
CD, Digital - 25 Sep 2020
LP - 30 Oct 2020

Ⓟ & © 2020 KITCHEN. LABEL

Meitei - Sadayakko (Kofū, 2020)

Meitei - Oiran II (Kofū, 2020)

"By deathly pale light, silent is the night."

Established within the cultural nexus of Tokyo and tracing its origins to Singapore, KITCHEN. LABEL stands as the home for artists traversing the realms of ambient and transcendent musical expressions.

Founded by Ricks Ang in 2008 and named with an essence drawn from the magic realism of Banana Yoshimoto's novel "Kitchen," the independent label has gone on to release music by haruka nakamura, ASPIDISTRAFLY, ironomi, Meitei, sonicbrat, Kin Leonn, Hiroshi Ebina and more.

sonicbrat - MURMURATIONS III (MURMURATIONS, 2016) - preview

KITCHEN. LABEL

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