To shift myself back into the mindset of a musician, I have been restoring songs I created years ago.
I’ve been retrieving data from old CD-ROMs and hard drives, breathing life back into them.

Some tracks were recorded with vocalists and instrumentalists at the time, and my memories of them are not always clear, so I’ve been carefully revisiting and confirming each piece.
For safety, I’ve replaced the old guide vocals with AI voices.

I am in good health, but I’ve begun organizing my important works—both as a way of leaving behind music that matters to me, and as a way to prepare myself to keep creating into the future.
Perhaps I am clumsy, or perhaps adaptable—it’s hard to say—but I tend to shift into different kinds of work every decade. This act of organizing is also a way of unconsciously resetting myself into music mode.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve had more experiences abroad. Visiting London and other parts of Europe left a strong impression; feeling the music firsthand in those places was invaluable.
For the rest of my life, I intend to continue making music, and if circumstances allow, I’d like to release some of it on vinyl, as a record of my journey.

Looking back, I realize I’ve always been drawn to synthesizers and electronic sounds.
But at the core, what I truly love is music performed by people—free, expressive, and alive.

I arrived at JFK in the midst of the pandemic.
Clearing the airport in just ten minutes, I stepped outside to find a world steeped in sorrow and struggle, yet somehow bound together in solidarity—an atmosphere unexpectedly bright.

In Manhattan, I was struck by the warmth, the sense of welcome extended to travelers.
In contrast, it was the gloom of post-pandemic Eastern Europe that left me in shock.

Emerging nations revealed landscapes far beyond my imagination, echoes of scenes I had witnessed in my youth.
It was then that I felt the word Urban could carry what I wanted to express.

Today, everything feels fragmented.
The world is full of contradictions, mismatched pieces that bring a quiet sadness.
And yet, within those fragments, the process of evolution continues.
Wealth, art, even investment—each scattered like shards of a larger whole.

My own work, too, is fragmented.
The vocals lean on the power of AI, while I, now older and no longer the same as in my youth, find myself compelled to resurrect past creations.
It is both an inevitability and a resignation.

From these fragments, this work was born—
Urban Fragment.

Urban Fragment DEMO 1995-2025

These are provisional lyrics. I am still searching for a singer who can bring them to life.
I was a composer until about 25 years ago. As a child, I would listen to the shortwave radio station Super Rock ’KYOI', which opened the door for me to Uk and US music.

Among the music I encountered, I was especially drawn to Japan’s Yellow Magic Orchestra. More than the fact that it was “techno,” it was the beauty of the synthesizer sounds that captivated me. I was fascinated by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s intellectual tones and the way his harmonies resonated with such clarity.

UK and US music, to me, was a dazzling world where soulful vocals intertwined with the latest technology, creating delicate and beautiful digital soundscapes. In my youth, I even had the chance to work on sound recording in New York, where I was deeply moved by the R&B echoing through the streets—by the Jam & Lewis productions that seemed to reverberate against the very concrete of the city.

1980年代は世界のテクノロジは進化し、消費と生産で誰もが明るい未来を想像していました。今よりも、未来志向だったから、本当はアナログで人の力で演奏をしていたのに、サウンドは量子化されたようなデジタルでした。アナログな時代から技術デジタルなキラキラと、躍動感あるブラコンな雰囲気を思い出して2022年に作りました。ボーカルはAIなことが矛盾しています。

Feels so much

This track is an homage to “GT” from the late Ryuichi Sakamoto’s album Futurista. Driving a My Lamborghini Gallardo and Urus along the highway at night,
the pulse of the road merged with the synth bass of this track,
and in that moment, inspiration struck.

It blends the digital computer-driven sounds of that era with the spirit of soul music.
The straight-ahead groove and the sharp attack of the LINNDRUM were simply outstanding.
A demo version of the composition can be found in this playlist, featuring AI-generated vocals.

Neu Frontier

COMPOSE AND ARRANGE / REO NAGUMO
At the age of twenty-two, I had never been to London, but I was deeply into UK soul and Acid Jazz.
My chords and harmonies were clumsy and unrefined, and even though I arranged the tracks on a Mac using MIDI, the synthesizers of the time couldn’t fully realize what I had in mind.

About thirty years ago, around 1995, I managed to restore and bring back to life a set of MIDI data I had created.Had it only existed on floppy disks, it would have long vanished into the ashes of an incinerator.

Now, after reconstructing the original piece as best I could, I was finally able to complete it by adding vocals through SUNO-Ai.


いまから約30年前、1995年ごろに作ったMIDIデータを復元し、再現することができた。
当時はCD-ROMがまだ高価で、なんとかMacintoshからバックアップを取っていた。
もしフロッピーディスクにしか残していなかったら、きっと焼却炉の灰と消えていただろう。だから、涙が出るほど嬉しかった。今の私は、この当時のMIDIデータのように、細かくすべてのパートをアレンジする気力はないし、無情なのは、当時の楽器では再現が難しく、電子音でしかなかった。

当時22歳の私はロンドンに行ったこともなかったが、UKソウルやAcid Jazzを夢中で聴いていた。和音やコード進行は未熟で拙かったし、MacのMIDIデータでアレンジを試みても、当時のシンセサイザーでは表現しきれなかった。

それでも、原曲の雰囲気をできる限り再現し、いまはAIを活用して、パートの差し替え、歌を重ねて形にすることができた。
英語の曲に憧れていた私は、その後ゲーム会社で音楽を作る仕事に就き、こうしたスタイルの楽曲に挑戦する機会にも恵まれた。

HONEE B.

Around the year 2000, I composed and produced a track for someone.
To be honest, I remember very little else about it.

2000年ごろ、誰かのために作曲し、トラックを制作した。実のところ、そのときのことはほとんど覚えていない。
と思ったけれど、思い出した。耽美的なピアノやストリングス、パッドはAKAI S959のフィルターを通したら良い感じになった。リズムはSampleCell2というサンプラーだった。今思えば、オーディオアウトにコンプレッサーが天然でかかっていた。日本語の仮歌が入っていのでAIに差し替えた。

Paradox of Growth

This track was originally written for one of the so-called “Japanese divas” popular at the time, but it was never used.
In the 1990s, whether it was Acid Jazz or alternative rock, the mainstream sound was gritty, hazy, and atmospheric—quite the opposite of today.

Watching Professional arrangers at work in the my sound making recording studio, I learned that even on keyboards, playing in a clavinet style could instantly make the groove funkier.
I remember throwing myself into the keys with all my energy.

The melody itself leaned heavily toward traditional Japanese pop, but recently I replaced the vocals and other parts with AI, giving it a fresh new character.
Because the original data was preserved on hard disk, I was able to recover the multitrack parts and faithfully reproduce the arrangement as it was.

Listening back to those old sounds, I can clearly hear what I myself was listening to at the time.

当時流行していた「JAPANESEディーバ」と呼ばれる女性シンガーのために書いたが、採用されずにボツになった曲。
1990年代は、アシッドジャズにしてもオルタナロックにしても、ざらついた音やもわっとした空気感のあるサウンドが主流で、今とは逆だった。
スタジオで僕の曲を編曲してくださった、プロのアレンジャーを見て、キーボードでClavinet奏法を試すと、それだけでグルーヴィーでファンキーになることを学んだ。
夢中で鍵盤を弾いていた記憶がある。

メロディは典型的な歌謡曲のようだったが、いまはAIを用いて声や他のパートを差し替え、当時とは違う響きで蘇らせている。
この頃のデータはハードディスクに残してあったため、楽器ごとのマルチデータを再現でき、当時のアレンジを忠実に蘇らせることができた。
昔の音を聴くと、その時代の自分が何を聴いていたかが鮮明に思い出される。

All the Things

Rainy Days Prototype A

I am compiling the songs I have created as an artist since my younger days. 
I have retired from work,
and now I spend each day embraced by the light and breeze of the tropics.
Far from the noise of the city, I wake to the scent of the sea and the songs of birds.
Time flows gently here, as if the past and present versions of myself are quietly in conversation.

My main focus is on composing and arranging. 
I began my career as a game sound creator in the early days of the internet, credited under the name djnagureo.
I was also involved in planning games and apps, and even managed to successfully run a facility for children.
Those experiences earned me recognition from many people, and I am deeply grateful for them.

Now, as an artist, I want to create the music I truly desire.
To begin this journey, I started by recreating the kind of music I longed to make in my younger days.

I knew that in order to create the music I truly wanted—freely, without compromise, and untouched by outside influence—I had to achieve complete financial independence.
It took decades of persistence, and now, at 52, I have finally reached that point.
At last, I can devote myself entirely to making music for myself alone, without reliance on anyone.

Throughout my career, I have always delivered professionally in every project.
But to say I was creating 100% for myself would be a lie.
Now, however, I stand determined: every note I write belongs solely to me.

The works I have produced JPOP professionally have been released under a different name.

Please search for Nozomi Yoko.

Rainy Days Prototype A

Reo Nagumo