Spencer Doran and Maxwell August Croy Start New Label, Reissue Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Post Cards

In 2010, Spencer Doran (best known now as a member of Visible Cloaks) uploaded a mix to SoundCloud entitled Fairlights, Mallets and Bamboo. Featuring tracks from YMO (and its members), Mariah, and the Mkwaju Ensemble, the mix can now be seen as one of few key moments that ushered in intense interest in 80s Japanese music in the West throughout the past decade. He along with Maxwell August Croy, one of the guys behind Root Strata, have just launched a new label called Empire of Signs. For its first release, the two are reissuing the inimitable 80s ambient album Music For Nine Post Cards by Hiroshi Yoshimura. You can listen to the first track from the album above.

This release marks the first time the album has been reissued outside of Japan, and is the first of numerous Yoshimura reissues to come. The LP comes with liner notes from both label owners as well as Yoko Yoshimura, Hiroshi Yoshimura's widow. It's being distributed by Light in the Attic and the initial pressing is limited to 1500 copies—1200 on black wax, 300 on clear wax. Light in the Attic has an option where you can pre-order this LP with the upcoming reissue of Hiroshi Yoshimura's Pier & Loft. You can pre-order the albums and read more information about Music for Nine Post Cards here.

Music for Nine Post Cards tracklist:

1. Water Copy
2. Clouds
3. Blink
4. Dance PM
5. Ice Copy
6. Soto Wa Ame - Rain Out Of Window
7. View From My Window
8. Urban Snow
9. Dream

Caduc Releases Gabi Losoncy's Nobody's Pushing You

Gabi Losoncy's newest album has just been released by caduc. It's entitled Nobody's Pushing You and you can hear an excerpt from it above. Last year, she released Judgment on the same label. Earlier this year, Losoncy released Security Besides Love via Recital. Nobody's Pushing You is limited to 100 copies and comes with a 12 page color booklet featuring Losoncy's own writing, photography, and art. You can order the album on the caduc. site here.

Black Truffle Releases New Annea Lockwood LP Featuring Two Unreleased Works

Oren Ambarchi's Black Truffle label has released a new Annea Lockwood LP. It features "Tiger Balm", a composition that Lockwood wrote while living in the UK that was meant to explore "the possibility of evoking ancient communal memories through sound." Listen to the track below. The album is also backed by two unreleased works on the B side—"Amazonia Dreaming" and "Immersion". The former was composed in 1987 and is performed by Dominic Donato. On the track, Donato utilizes his voice and a snare drum to "evoke the nocturnal soundscape of the Amazon rainforest". "Immersion" was composed in 1998 and is performed by Frank Cassara. It's a more meditative piece for marimba, two tam-tams, and a gong. According to Lockwood, it "grew out of a fascination with the rich beating frequencies generated by long cluster rolls in the low register of the marimba and the interaction between the marimba and a quartz bowl gong tuned to F." You can purchase the LP now from Forced Exposure (US), Boomkat (UK), Bleep (UK), Kompakt (Germany), and A-Musik (Germany). The LP also comes with a score for "Amazonia Dreaming".

Craftman Records Reissue Rare Masayuki Takayanagi & Kaoru Abe Live LP

Early last month, Masayuki Takayanagi & Kaoru Abe's Kaitai Teki Kōkan went up on Yahoo! Auctions and sold for $6000. Supposedly released in a limited run of 100 copies, this incredibly rare record is finally getting its first vinyl reissue via Craftman Records. It comes out August 23rd and is being sold for ¥7980.

The album features a recording of the duo's live performance at the Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan concert hall in Shinjuku on June 28th, 1970. The reissue is pressed on 180g vinyl and replicates the original LP's textured sleeve. It also includes a replica flyer that advertised the original event. You can currently purchase the album at Disk Union and Tower Records. Do note that this release is different from those that featured live performances of the two in Shibuya during the same year. You can stream the full album below.

Editions Mego Releases New Album from Yasunao Tone

The incredibly undersung Fluxus and Group Ongaku member Yasunao Tone has just released a new album via Editions Mego. It's entitled AI Deviation #1, #2 and features live performances that took place at ISSUE Project Room on June 9th, 2016. Russell Haswell handled the album's mixing and mastering. You can purchase the CD from the Editions Mego site here. The two tracks span a total of 74 minutes and can be streamed in their entirety below courtesy of the label. 

Tone had the following to say regarding the performances:

I have had an idea if I apply the neural network to create my sound work for long time. When I had a performance at Centre Pompidou with Peter Rehberg and other friends I tried to talk about the idea with a French guy from IRCAM. But, he couldn’t understand my idea, which by using neural network the sound I create would never have any repetitions. 

That was 2002 and I had to wait until 2015 when I had a grant from New York State Council on the Arts through ISSUE Project Room, then its director Lawrence Kumpf applied for my new work. The grant finally made possible for making my cherished idea, the neural network piece, reality.

I had talked about the idea with Prof. Tony Myatt at Surrey University, UK and he developed the software for the piece with a team included Dr. Paul Modler. At the lab in the University a series of my performances of my MP3 Deviation were captured and used to train Kohonen Neural Networks to develop artificial intelligences that simulate my performances. Hence a birth of new piece AI Deviations.

I had a premiere at Issue Project Room on June 9th 2016 and the venue was more than packed and here is the performance of the piece. 

Midori Takada and Masahiko Sato's Lunar Cruise Gets Reissue

In Discogs' 2017 Mid-Year Review, it was revealed that the reissue of Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass was the highest selling new release of the year on the marketplace. Given its success, it only seems natural that WRWTFWW Records would decide to reissue Takada's collaboration with Masahiko Sato, Lunar Cruise. The album was originally released in 1990 on CD and is getting reissued on vinyl for the very first time. You can pre-order the CD or Deluxe Vinyl Edition on the label's Bandcamp page here. The reissue comes out September 15th.

As a note, the Deluxe Vinyl Edition comes with a CD that features an "extra track". This extra track, however, appeared on the original CD and was entitled "Iron Paradise". It's presumably taken off the LP as it shies away from the minimalism of the other tracks. What's unclear, though, is whether it's the first or second version that appeared on the original CD that's included since the label's SoundCloud album preview doesn't feature either. Even then, know that only one of the two versions appears on the CD. Lunar Cruise track "Madorone" features Haruomi Hosono on bass and Kazutoki Umezu on sax and clarinet.
 

Lunar Cruise Deluxe Vinyl Edition tracklist:

A1. Nahm
A2. Ancient Palace
A3. A Vanished Illusion
A4. Jyomuran
A5. Monody
B1. In "D"
B2. Madorone
B3. Chang-Dra
B4. Lunar Cruise

Lunar Cruise CD tracklist:

1. Iron Paradise
2. Nahm
3. Ancient Palace
4. A Vanished Illusion
5. Jyomuran
6. Monody
7. In "D"
8. Madorone
9. Chang-Dra
10. Lunar Cruise

Áine O'Dwyer Releases New Album Beast Diaries

Áine O'Dwyer has released a new album entitled Beast Diaries. O'Dwyer states that the album is a "compilation of Guerrilla performances / field recordings from 2016" which was then compiled this year for a pipe organ tour throughout Australia and New Zealand. Beast Diaries is comprised of six tracks that run for a total of 35 minutes. You can "name the price" on your download of the album on her Bandcamp page here. There are also 10 physical copies of the album available for £30 each. If interested, you can contact her via the "Contact Áine O'Dwyer" link located on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Earlier this year, O'Dwyer released LP reissues of Gegenschein and Locusts via Penultimate Press. MIE also released Gallarais.

Beast Diaries tracklist:

1. ghostyard
2. Genieve
3. tanoy reflections towards the hills
4. knownunknown
5. synthpipe
6. birthyard

Boiler Room Streams 1995 Film About Tommi Grönlund and Mika Vainio's Sähkö Recordings

The late Mika Vainio cofounded Sähkö Recordings with Tommi Grönlund in 1993. And in 1995, Jimi Tenor documented numerous artists associated with the label working in the studio and performing live. Boiler Room is currently streaming the rare short film in its entirety here. The press release is as follows:

Mika Vainio’s death in April 2017 sent shock waves rippling through the electronic music community. The late Finnish musician left an indelible mark on noise thanks to his roles in the ‘90s group Pan Sonic and record label Sähkö Recordings. Over the years, Vainio collaborated with Björk, Suicide’s Alan Vega, drone icon Stephen O’Malley and more.

Now, just months following his passing, Boiler Room has unearthed a mythic film about the Sähkö label. Artfully shot on 16mm by Jimi Tenor in 1995, Sähkö The Movie - a title fans have given the film in the absence of any official one - is a suitably abstract portrayal of the singular label in its prime. Finnish artists featured include Sähkö co-founder Tommi Grönlund, Mono Junk, Hertsi, IFÖ, and, of course, Mika Vainio himself.

The film tracks the Finnish unit at work in the studio making tracks on their trademark custom-built analogue equipment, hand-pressing limited edition vinyl releases and their eardrum rupturing yet delicate live performances.Outside of a few select festival screenings and those who own a rare VHS edition released by Blast First Petite, hardly anyone has seen the 44-minute film but this hasn’t stopped it attaining legendary status.

 Essential viewing for anyone with a passing interest in techno, industrial and experimental music underpinned by a restless DIY spirit. From 10 August 2017, watch the film online for the first time exclusively via Boiler Room TV.

ErstDist Has Annual Sale, All New Releases Included

ErstDist, the distro run by Erstwhile Records boss Jon Abbey, is having its annual summer sale. The sale includes all items currently from Erstwhile and its imprints, Gravity Wave, and anything listed on the ErstDist distro page. The sale works as follows: purchase seven releases and get the cheapest two free. You can see prices for Erstwhile's releases on the Order page here. Please send an email to erstrecs@aol.com to place your order. The sale ends September 10th at midnight EST. More information can be found here.

Dean Hurley, Music Director for Twin Peaks: The Return, Releases New Album

You've heard it loud and clear from your corner of the internet's echo chamber: Twin Peaks: The Return is the greatest show on television right now. Those who just watched "Part 13" and want more content from the show are in luck tonight. Dean Hurley, the show's music director and sound supervisor, has just released a new album on Sacred Bones entitled Anthology Resource Vol. 1: △△. The album comprises Hurley's compositions and sound design work for the show. Hurley also contributed to Inland Empire and helped produce albums from David Lynch. He, Riley Lynch, and Dirty Beaches' Alex Zhang Hungtai appeared in "Part 5" as the band Trouble.

That's the cover above and the tracklist below. You can currently stream the album on Spotify and Apple Music. You can also stream and purchase the digital album from Bandcamp here. The record will be released on vinyl in the near future.

Anthology Resource Vol. 1: △△ tracklist:

1. Intro Cymbal Wind
2. Night Electricity Theme
3. Electricity I
4. Weighted Room / Choral Swarm
5. Tube Wind Dream
6. Tone / Slow Speed Prison / Low Mood
7. Slow One Chord Blues (Interior)
8. Interior Home by the Sea
9. Low Sustained Mystery
10. Angel Choir Reveal
11. Seven Heaven
12. Eastern European Symphonic Mood No. 1
13. Black Box
14. Girl Appears / Black Smoke
15. Shanghai Mysterioso
16. Forest / Interior
17. Electricity II
18. Future / Past