EM Electronic & Dance 24 Items

Here is a portal to a vast and relatively unknown world, the Japanese cyber-occult underground media scene of the early 1990s; our guide is the late Henry Kawahara, a media artist and electronic music producer whose expansive and visionary conception of digital technology merged with a desire to break free of the constraints of mere rationality.

This collection, the first-ever archival release of his work, is drawn from recordings released during the period 1991-1996, an exceptionally fertile time for Kawahara. Originally released on CD by a few Japanese independent labels including Hachiman Publishing, a cyber-occult / new-age / old shinto book specialist, the releases were available mainly in book stores, so this sumptuous and prescient music has remained relatively unknown. The original titles and tag lines of the CDs give clues about Kawahara’s interests and the music itself: Digital Mushroom, Subtropical Illusion, Never-ending Asia, and so on. This 15-track gateway compilation is available on double 12” vinyl and CD; the CD version has two extra discs featuring sound from two art installations entitled Dysteleology - α and Dysteleolog - β from the 1990s. All formats feature extensive English liner notes. Cover art by 2yang, with liner notes by Keisuke Oki and Koki Emura, with an interview of Sūgen Takeda (Hachiman Publishings)

"Henry Kawahara has been called “the Jon Hassell of Japan”, but upon closer inspection one finds that his work operates on very different terms. Like Hosono's forays into computerized Ryukyu folk “sightseeing music” or Tsutomu Ōhashi's Ecophony trilogy, Kawahara's world projected ancient musical traditions and notions of cultural identity onto the modern digital plane through a fusion of cybernetic thinking and pan-asian cultural introspection that makes Western attempts to do the same seem quaint in comparison. Kawahara's omnidirectional sound “illusions” were constructed not as albums but psychological experiences, billowing with a then-nascent notion of early 90s cybernetic spirituality that was proliferating on both sides of the Pacific as the hyperlinked state of global connectivity we know today was just beginning to crystalize. Through digital representations of folk instruments, shifting Midi sequencing and custom binaural recording technology he aimed for psychoacoustic effect as much as artistic, all via a countercultural form of distribution untethered from the commercial expectations of post-bubble modes of artistic production. This EM collection draws out the best of his fruitful early-mid 90s period into a revelatory sequence, generously opening Kawahara's world to all." — Spencer Doran (Visible Cloaks)

Info coming soon.

The poetry of the human voice encounters the magic of contemporary electronic musical technology. Heart, mind and spirit, conveyed by the word, are augmented and altered, enhanced and embraced, by electronic sound.

Air from Air is a collaboration between Japanese vocalist/producer Dove and American electronic duo Georgia. This singular partnership is a collection of audio poems in which words breathed by Dove are modified and expanded, cradled and celebrated, syllable by syllable and phrase by phrase. Georgia thoughtfully highlight Dove’s voice, transforming breath and air through the ether of circuitry, dismantling meaning, yet paradoxically revealing new meaning, both verbal and musical.

Part of the magic here is that Japanese-speaking listeners will find clouds and constellations of meaning in these atmospheres, while those who do not understand Dove’s native language will nevertheless find pure pleasure in these same atmospheres. While some listeners may perceive it as a brand new extension of the attempts of contemporary music pioneers to explore the possibilities of human voice sound in sound art and electronic music, Air from Air will be rather a foray into the unexplored territory of new music, yet difficult to be named, extended into modern bass music and other fields. Disc is made of environmentally friendly new material BioVinyl. Cover art by Sakura Kondo.

A buoyant masterpiece from the early 90s, "The Water Garden" was created by Okinawa-born Kojun Kokuba under the inspiring image of a "happy Asia" thriving in the sea-based trading networks of the medieval to pre-modern era, with the concept that various types of music, as well as physical goods, were distributed and dispersed across the seas connecting various parts of east and southeast Asia. Fittingly, the music here has definite and distinctive Ryukyu island roots, but is informed by a number of other Asian musical traditions, layering phrases derived from numerous Asian scales, often altered by Kojun, eschewing typical Western chordal harmonic movement. Kojun uses the synths and multitrack recorders of the early 90s to, in his words, "pile up lines" in sweet and not at all overbearing melodic accumulations, with a desire to distribute and disperse a new energy from Okinawa to the rest of Asia and the world. Despite a pleasing and compelling rhythmic lilt and the use of synths and drum machines, this music was not created as a product for the dance floor; Kojun envisioned a type of electronic salon music, a "light music" made with contemporary technology. This is the first LP edition of the self-produced original 1993 CD release and includes bonus tracks and liner notes in English and Japanese.

“This was traditional, transformative music, and music that made so much sense coming from EM’s epicenter.” ― Matt Werth / Rvng Intl.

"The A side lurches at you like a self driving car crash of Okinawan traditional with Bernard Herrmann's Taxi Driver." - Japan Blues

2022 repress, comes with new cover art.

Printed on special paper embossed with matte silver aluminium foil. Please consider the jacket illustration as an image as the texture of the original cannot be reproduced graphically. The disc is a translucent coloured disc with the image of the Okinawa sun. A charming set of double transformations on this 7". “Kajyadhi Fu Bushi” is a traditional Ryukyu minyo (Okinawa folk song), a joyous celebratory classic which is usually sung at weddings, with lyrics describing how “beautiful buds unfold”, using the distinctive Ryukyu/Okinanwa pentatonic scale. Typically performed by a small ensemble of a singer accompanied by sanshin, the Okinawan precursor to the shamisen, the A-side is has been transformed by jazz musician and conductor Jun Arasaki and his group Nine Sheep, with five sanshin, four winds, piano, guitar, bass, percussion and drums. Played only once, unrehearsed but perfect in execution, for a 1976 TV broadcast, this release has been taken from the only recording in existence. The B-side is yet another transformation, a remix by the Portland “fourth world” duo Visible Cloaks.

This 2LP set and CD from EM Records chronicles the legacy of underground Japanese techno legends Cycheouts - pronounced ‘psyche outs’ in English. Originally formed in 1994, the group quickly became a centerpiece of Osaka's underground electronic scene. Led by main producer Akira Ohashi, Cycheouts melded influences from jungle, drum'n'bass, digital hardcore, and experimental noise music, all of which are explored in this compilation of tracks painstakingly selected by two true Cycheouts experts. Cycheouts' music and live performances went on to inspire a number of successful Japanese dance music acts, and can be seen as an origin point for the "nerdcore techno" movement of the early 2000s. This archive of the early work of Cycheouts provides an essential look at the birth and development of hardcore jungle in Japan, including multiple tracks featuring the full Cycheouts lineup with original vocals and multiple MCs. Most of these tracks are available on LP for the first time, and have been newly remastered for the format; the set also includes extensive liner notes in both English and Japanese.

This anthology is the second compilation from EM Records of the works of the late Henry Kawahara, a media artist and electronic music producer who was particularly active in the Japanese cyber-occult underground of the 1990s, a scene linked with technologies such as 3D (binaural) recordings, brain machines, sound chairs, computer graphics and compact discs. These tracks, produced 1990-95, include a series of recordings described as “Parallel Data Sounds” and “Sound Lsd”, a “new language system that speaks directly to the cerebrum” using “frequency components that are not perceived by the conscious mind”, reflecting Kawahara’s interest in concepts such as astrology, love mantras, and astral projection. Also here are two pieces featuring dolphin sounds and human brainwave feedback, as well as pieces from a recording unit called H Music De-perception (hmd) and a group called Xiaoyun. The majority of tracks here were not originally released under Kawahara’s name, but this compilation is an essential key to decoding the Henry Kawahara saga, and also an unveiling of the secret we planted in the previous release, "Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm: Essential Henry Kawahara," which Kawahara himself was involved in selecting before his death.

Special! Limited** One-sided 7-inch. Cover art is printed on specialty paper with aluminum vapor deposition.

"Minami-kaze α Wave (Southerly wind alpha wave)“ is a very rare ‘vocal piece’ that Henry Kawahara has produced, and released under the name HMD (H Music Deperception) in 1993. The song is a vocal version of the cyber-occult exotic instrumental piece "Nanpu“ included in the compilation “Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm: The Essential Henry Kawahara” [em1197tcd/dlp]. This track is a rare example that proves he had also a genius for producing ‘pops’ in the general sense of the word, and which seems to have challenged head-on the pop songs produced by Haruomi Hosono or Tetsuya Komuro in the 80s-90s.

The Henry Kawahara project on EM Records was developed only with the enthusiasm of proving Kawahara's existence if he is to be erased as nothing in the current art context, and we have confirmed that there are a lot of supporters all over the world for our opinion when we released "Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm" (several articles and interviews have been given). This single is a 'prescription' for the sequel, tentatively titled "Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm 2: Other Sides of Henry Kawahara," which is currently in the process of being prepared.

This 7” is a limited one-off release, not included in the full compilation released in 2021

Ecological Plantron was a CD released in 1994, the audio document of an installation held that year at a gallery in Tokyo. The Plantron is a bioelectric interface developed by botanist Yuji Dogane; it was designed to give voice to plants, using electronic means to make audible the energy of the natural world, prioritising the non-human aspects of nature. Dogane was assisted in the project by composer Mamoru Fujieda, who helped to convert the vegetal energies into audible sounds. Though they stress that this is not music, the recordings that Dogane and Fujieda released are actually quite musical and not at all unpleasant in the way that some other non-musical sounds might seem. There is an attractive gentleness and an intelligent flow here, a vibrant energy, and one can sense that the plants are communicating, waiting for us to understand. This re-release features original and new notes in Japanese and English. The CD includes a bonus disc featuring unreleased recordings from two related installations from 1995 and 1997, a fascinating glimpse into the world of our leafy friends.

"Yūtai-ridatsu ±", an album from Osaka-based electronic music producer Futoshi Moriyama. Initially released in 2015 as a cassette on the Birdfriend label run by Koshiro Hino (aka Ypy), augmented by four unreleased/new tracks which replace other tracks. Beautifully weird home-recorded orchestral music!

"Rhythmic Brutalism" is the title of this release, available as two CD set or two separate 12 inch vinyl LPs; the title is also a very apt description of the music itself. Romania-born Alexandra Atnif is fascinated by the harsh, grey concrete beauty and minimally repetitive force of the brutalist post-war architecture of her homeland, and this fascination has given rise to the music here.

From Scratch was an innovative and highly influential New Zealand- based sound-performance group, making extensive use of found and re-purposed objects as well as custom-made instruments in their intricately interlocking percussion music. One of their signature instruments consisted of carefully tuned PVC pipes, played with foam rubber mallets, arrays of these feature prominently, along with drums and tuned percussion, in Gung Ho 1,2,3D, an extended composition which sumptuously investigates polyrhythmic relationships indicated by the number sequences which title each section of the piece.
Featured here is the original 1982 recording of the "8, 9, 10" and "9, 10, 11" sections of the piece, previously issued in 1988 by Flying Nun. Rounding out this 2LP release are three 2016 translations of the piece, based on the original score. Japanese group goat provides a driving rhythmic and mathematical analogue, which From Scratch's Phil Dadson, who provides liner notes, describes as "a fast-moving shadow, familiar in outline but from another world". German producer Don't DJ imbibes the tribal spirit of Gung Ho and its sense of ritual to deliver a hypnotic immersion, and Utena Kobayashi Group adds wordless voice-worlds and distorted blasts to the ever-onward mix, before a final tropical down-shift.

Compuma, a.k.a. Koichi Matsunaga, reaches back through time to 1970s Hawaii to perform a mind meld, his old-school Roland drum machines and present-era compumagic vulcanizing and reshaping Haku's original home-grown analog synth madness. Not merely a remix, this a synergistic reconstruction, a transformation at the molecular level in which Haku's source-code DNA is reborn in 2015.

The hidden history of Japanese electronic music, where contemporary music and cyber-occultism converge, makes a reappearance on a special edition LP! Reproduction of the print pattern of the flyer for the "Ikebukuro Cyber Cafe" event held in 1991 on the cover, a center hole on the back side, a reproduction of the original cassette index of "Computer Cafe Music" and an IC board for electronic devices (the real one) are pasted on the front cover. The disc was mastered by D&M and cut at 45 rpm. An insert is included. Standard black vinyl pressing.

This is a brilliant compilation of archived works by Hyu, a creator from Osaka who has left his works to the legendary Childisc label, which was presided over by the genius Nobukazu Takemura. 16 songs in total, including a cover of Happy End's "Kaze Wo Atsumete" (vinyl Only Bonus)!! This is an important archival release alongside Henry Kawahara, Surin Phaksiri, and Cycheouts, a compilation that deciphers the labyrinth of shocking works by Hyu, a creator from Osaka who released works on Nobukazu Takemura's Childisc and other labels from the mid-90s through the 2000s. The compositions are diverse and dazzlingly unique, including microtonal drum techno, robotic pop with human voice synthesis technology, shredding and splitting funk, a collection of swinging samples of sensory overload, a drone quartet of voices and generators, a sine wave as a monad, a quest for outlandish harmonics, atonal piano pieces inspired by literature, J-pop born at the extreme of self-referentiality, and a dazzling array of other works.

NTsKi. Nom de musique of Japan-based vocalist/songwriter/producer; pronounced n-t-s-k-i. "Calla" is her 2nd album, a unified statement of her musical vision at this point in her development, with all-new songs melding her breathy and intimate voice, singing in Japanese and English, with organic acoustic sounds and distinctive electronic colors. NTsKi possesses a charming melodic gift as well as a distinctive production style, giving "Calla" a cohesion and subtle momentum, with relaxed tempos, interesting arrangements and intriguing melodies fusing into a focused musical statement that is refreshing, charming and forward-looking, underpinned by a sense of wistfulness, nostalgia and melancholy. As with her 2021 "Orca" release, co-released on EM Records and Orange Milk, NTsKi is joined by engineer Illicit Tsuboi and British musician/producer Dan Shutt. The songs here are lovely, concise gems, warmly glowing, gently sparkling, evocative and moving. Comes with a Japanese and English lyric sheet. Cover art drawing: Ellen Thomas. *Disc is made of environmentally friendly new material "BioVinyl".

Welcome 2023 re-press of this sweet post-punk vocalist's heartfelt reggae/funk with analogue dubs. A unique slice of late-70s/early-80s niceness from Brenda Ray, whose previous EM release, Walatta [EM1071CD], has been embraced by a large number of listeners. Recorded in North West England, D'Ya Hear Me! is warm-hearted, open, fresh and slyly experimental. With a true D.I.Y. soul, these thirteen tracks, originally released in various formats by Ray a.k.a. Brenda Kenny a.k.a. Natalie Sand a.k.a. Polly Rith'm, and her musical friends under the moniker(s) Naffi/Naffi Sandwich, were recorded in a simple home-made studio, to tape. Far from media-crazed London, Naffi created a musical world free from lust for the spotlight, focusing solely on the music, and the results are fittingly pure. D'Ya Hear Me! is a wide-ranging release, with lovely vocal tracks, warm dubs and pleasingly odd instrumentals, all knitted together with a special trans-Atlantic rhythmic sense. Two songs of special interest here are "Moonbeams" and the Young Marble Giants-esque "Everyday Just Another Dream", which are early versions of "Starlight" and "Another Dream" from Walatta. Also noteworthy are several previously unissued longer versions of some songs. A year-round collection of summery breezes.

Sairi Ojima is a vocalist / keyboardist / songwriter who has played in indie bands such as Casio Turkey Onsen, Neconemuru, Emerald Four, etc. She began her solo career in 2013 and made her cassette debut with 《Hoge Tapes》 in 2017. This "Kumachan Seal" is her first Cd/lp album, all songs written and produced by Ojima, with support from Le Makeup and Takao, a group of songs that have taken a great development and leap forward. With Ojima's distinctive DIY sound at its core, Le Makeup's vivid and colorful guitar and sound-making, and Takao's ambient pop synths and keyboards are embroidered to create a dynamic overlap of lo-fi and exquisite high fidelity, creating a sound layer that is a delight.

Long-awaited repress of the masterpiece, available on LP and CD!! 7FO is characterized by its natural ethnic treatment of ambient/new age synth electronics with a dub/reggae feel. This sense of style is the reason why 7FO's music has crossed the boundaries of new age electronic music, new roots revival, bass music, La Monte Young, and Equiknoxx fans. "Subtle, playful. Softly spoken yet speaks volumes. This is powerful stuff! The absence of music like this is what made me start producing…" - Jackson Bailey (Tapes/Rezette)