ASA-CHANG & Junray perform live at TivoliVredenburg's Pandora during Le Guess Who? 2024.

ASA-CHANG is the founder and original bandmaster of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, who, upon leaving the ensemble in the early nineties, formed ASA-CHANG & Junray with programmer and guitarist Hidehiko Urayama. Now, the eccentric duo is accompanied by violinist Anzu Suhara. Named after their unique Jun-Ray Tronics, ASA-CHANG & Junray's band name also means 'pilgrimage', which makes sense; back from a pandemic-driven hiatus, they return to take music to places it has never been before.

Captured at TivoliVredenburg's Pandora on Friday, 8 November 2024.

Audio recording by Vera Kraaijkamp; mix by Marc Broer
Photography by Tim van Veen

ASA-CHANG & Junray - Live at Le Guess Who? 2024

https://mikeparadinas.bandcamp.com/album/secret-garden

In Spring 2021, Mike Paradinas (µ-Ziq and the owner of Planet Mu) spoke to long time friend and past label signing Hannah Davidson (Mrs Jynx) about the therapeutic power of writing music when times are tough. Both had recently been dealing with the loss of a parent due to cancer, and fresh from writing Scurlage, Paradinas suggested a collaboration.

“I’ve always thought Hannah’s melodic sensibilities chime well with my own," says Paradinas, "and I've wanted to collaborate with her for a long time, since [her 2010 album] 'Shark Carousel' in fact, because she'd written some melodies that I wish I had.”

In a matter of weeks the two collaborated online, sending stems back and forth, each encouraging the other and fitting perfectly together. 

“After about ten days we had ten tracks we were happy with." adds Davidson, "It was exciting to hear what Mike would do with the stems I sent, and equally exciting to see what he thought of my additions to his stems.”

Overall the result is an opus of deeply personal moments of grief, depicted in a feeling of serene, misty tranquility that makes it easy to get lost in. Davidson and Paradinas settled on the title 'Secret Garden' due to the melodic vista which unexpectedly opened up before them on the final track. The album truly is a melodic exploration that is so often missed in this genre. 

There are twists and turns in mood, from the pastoral loveliness of 'Jynxiq' and 'Unheard Melodies' which fall away to the dubby beats of 'Hi Jynx'; the sadness of 'Loss' leading into the beatless forlorn 'The Ballad of Darth Vader. The album ups the pace with the muffled kicks and warm atmosphere of 'Afternoon Sunshine', which sets the tone for the happier mood of the second half. This all leads up to the album's denoeument in final track 'Secret Garden' whose naïve meandering synth melodies, orchestral accompaniment and glockenspiel end the album in happy resolution.

µ-Ziq & Mrs Jynx - The Secret Garden

Labyrinth

Taken from AST123: Th Blisks - How So?

Available physically / digitally here:
https://alteredstatestapes.bandcamp.com/album/how-so

Th Blisks - Guesthouse

ASA-CHANG & Junray - 12節

ASA-CHANG & Junray - kaikyou

ASA-CHANG & Junray - つぎねぷと言ってみ

ASA-CHANG & Junray - Mahou (Magic)

ASA-CHANG & Junray - 影の無いヒト

~as the sun burns off the last tatters of morning cloud~

PRB011 
Release Date: 21 July 2015 
http://proibitorecs.biz/

PRB011 A1 - Rushing To Paradise

all i know

"Percussionist and electronic producer Jake Meginsky offers four obsessive tracks of pulses and bass loops. Subtle variations takes light under a complex structure costantly moving the concepts of tempo and rhythm" Second Sleep

Basslines

Midnight Sons (track 3 from Basslines  2X7")

From the album Raw Silk Uncut Wood (Latency 014)  
latency.fr/catalogue/raw-silk-uncut-wood

1. Raw Silk Uncut Wood feat. Oliver Coates(10:00)
2.  Mercury feat. Eli Keszler (03:56)
3. Quietude (02:32) 
4. The Sick Mind (04:24) 
5. Supine (01:27) 
6. Nahbarkeit feat. Eli Keszler and Oliver Coates(10:07)

"What works reliably is to know the raw silk, hold the uncut wood. Need little. Want less. Forget the rules. Be untroubled."

Laurel Halo presents six instrumental pieces that form a meditative, cinematic listening experience. Inspired by recent film score work for Metahaven and Ursula Le Guin's translation of the 'Tao Te Ching'. Featuring cello work by Oliver Coates and percussion by Eli Keszler.

Working in abstraction leads to a deeper longing for touch and closeness. The tactile sensation of struck organ keys and bowed strings, wood and felt on drum heads. Smoke and dirt and stone. Febrile and tactile, hairy and hissy. A clover of highway onramps, a continuous flow, like old leaves melting on their way down a stream at the back of a house. Constant contradiction, the truth's nowhere.

DATE
July 13, 2018

COMPOSER
Laurel Halo

FORMAT
Vinyl, Digital, Streaming

MASTERING
Dubplates & Mastering

DISTRIBUTION
Honest Jon’s

FEATURING
Oliver Coates (cello)
Eli Keszler (percussion)

ARTWORK
Jill Mulleady

@laurelhalo
https://www.latency.fr/

Raw Silk Uncut Wood

Laurel Halo - Raw Silk Uncut Wood (feat. Oliver Coates) (Latency 014)

“Wet Land” album by Hiroshi Yoshimura

Hiroshi Yoshimura (吉村弘) - Wet Land (1993) [Full Album]

Just before 2020 comes to an end, Berlin-based artist @leozylberberg graces this crazy (!) year  with an oddball of a track: “Sheshells” is a total earworm and at the same time a bit off, maybe. It’s chill, it’s haunted, and it might be the most appropriate end to 2020 one can imagine. “Despite its imperfections, it feels like some sort of antidote to something,” as the Australian artist puts it herself.

Sheshells is published as a digital single. It features an artwork from Paris-based graphic designer and art director Olga Prader’s Ftantasy series. The track is Präsens Editionen’s fourth audio release in 2020, following music by Remo Helfenstein, @samuelreinhard , and @damexlove , that is ranging from gospel and dark ambient-informed lullabies to proper sad-boy-reggaeton-heat.

Zylberberg is a mainstay at @sameheads , Berlin’s most infamous pub / fashion store / club / art space / what not. In 2017, she came to attention with a split tape realized with the wonderful Belia Winnewisser. Earlier this year, the Australian artist published Greatestings on @noisekoelln , a label that came back to life just for this highly limited 10” after a four-year period of inactivity. Zylberberg is part of Balance Crew alongside partner in crime @dane-close .

Sheshells

Buy the Track

L.Zylberberg - Sheshells (PE-022)

Taken from ‘Sketch for Winter: Perlita’ - out now on Geographic North.

Two Halves Touching

A Celebration of Sound in Utrecht, Netherlands.

"Le Guess Who? proves: music & art can bring us together into a more hopeful future" – The Line of Best Fit

www.leguesswho.com

ASA-CHANG & Junray - 影の無いヒト

Le Guess Who?

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