Sonore Catalog 2006

(SONORE, SON-23, CD 2005)

Having received an award from Ars Electronica in 2003 for the "Journal de Tokyo" album, Yuko NEXUS6 strikes again with her brand new opus "Nexus6 Song Book". Singing jazz, folk and traditional standards in Japanese, English and German, Yuko Nexus6 processes her voice using the most high-tech devices as well as the cheapest recording gadgets. Sound-art oriented, Yuko Nexus6's work is minimalist but full of wit.

SATANICPORNOCULTSHOP

Zap Meemees

(SONORE, SON-22, CD 2005)

Hallelujah vs. Allah is Great !! The definitive album of the demented Osaka collective Satanicpornocultshop. Surrealist hip hop with a slightly perverse and grotesque touch, Zap Meemees gathers blasting singles, remixes and compilation tracks composed between 2002 and 2005. Far out sounds and overwhelming (de-)construction skills. Essential.

SATANICPORNOCULTSHOP

Anorexia Gas Balloon

(SONORE, SON-21, CD 2003)

Their fifth album, released on Sonore. Puzzling hip hop with a surrealistic touch and new technology know-how. They are the latest absurdists; it's as if Fluxus were spying on pop music hits and vice versa. Slightly satirical with a fancy for disco and ultimate grooves; cultivating a limitless yet always tasty musical flavor, they brilliantly summarize all current musical trends.

SATORU WONO

Sonata for Sine Wave and White Noise

(SONORE, SON-20, CD 2003)

This album emerges from two sounds: sine wave, the scientifically simplest tone containing no harmonic, and white noise, the fullest sound, that absorbs all frequencies, containing everything. This work turns a classy minimalist electronica with a high rhythmic impact into a classical sonata form. The result undoubtedly blurs the existing borders between experimental and pop.

CARL STONE

Nak Won

(SONORE, SON-19, CD 2002)

A magnum opus, composed in real-time using Max/MSP programming software. Carl Stone plays with sound layers, building his compositions while experimenting with new resonance combinations. The blend of frequencies and tones is astounding. Carl Stone is a computer music authority now living and teaching in Japan. Stone ’s work is mature and precise.

YUKO NEXUS6

Journal de Tokyo

(SONORE, SON-18, CD 2002)

Yuko Nexus6 first developed works based on readings, then carefully applied a blend of the analog color of the audio cassette on to sounds generated by new musical technologies, offering a destabilizing linguistic and temporal experience. Yuko Nexus6 succeeds skilfully, with a sincere tone, in making music both minimalist and witty, filled with suspense, love and catastrophe.

V/A

Batofar Cherche Tokyo

(Sold out / Thank you !)

(SONORE, SON-17, CD 2001)

The Batofar club in Paris, France, celebrated this fascinating and very active Japanese experimental electronic musical scene during a festival in December 2001. This compilation offers an opening, a wider and complementary point of view with tracks from: Yuko Nexus6, Fanta, Thermo, Atau Tanaka, Kangaroo Paw, Satoru Wono...

IKU (feat. THE*SABOTEN)

Original Soundtranck

(Sold out / Thank you !)

(SONORE, SON-16, CD 2001)

The original soundtrack to the Japanese sci-fi porn film I.K.U., swinging between Techno and Easy Listening, was composed by The*Saboten and produced by Hoppy Kamiyama. The action takes place in a future world in which power and technology lead to sexual alienation. I.K.U. was captured in digital video by the Taiwanese director Shu Lea Shang.

BROWN Chris

Talking Drum

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(SONORE, SON-15, CD 2001)

Chris Brown dives into traditional Indonesian and Cuban music fitted out with a binaural microphone clipped to his sunglasses. He then provides the audience with a fabulous stereophonic travel diary, supplemented by his interactive electroacoustic installations. "Talking Drum" is a series of sound experiences recorded between 1991/1999.

FUZZYBUNNY

s/t

(Sold out / Thank you !)

(SONORE, SON-14, CD 2001)

American electronic improvisers ensemble that features three of the most energetic hackers in computer-sound research and innovation for more than two decades: Tim Perkis, Scot Gresham-Lancaster and Chris Brown. Each musicians retains his autonomy but can also decide to intervene and influence the others. Surprising, aleatoric and full of irony.

MAKIHARA Toshi / MENESES Jim

Next Bug

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(SONORE, SON-13, CD 2001)

Two percussionists from Philadelphia's 'improvised music' scene: Toshi Makihara, a flamboyant, extrovert yet extremely precise drummer meets up with Jim Meneses and his extraordinary electronic marimba. Thanks to their virtuosity, they create a free and percussive musical exploration in which they mix inventiveness, subtlety and humour.

NULL KK / ROSE Jon

Transgenic Nomad

(SONORE, SON-12, CD 2001)

Jon Rose's unconventional spirit and cobbled-together violins cross swords with KK Null's raw electric power and transonic deformations. They succeed in producing the ultimate stereophonic environment - a haunting, post-apocalyptic atmosphere thus ensues. As experienced and skilled sonic surgeons, they create an uncontrollable musical being.

JAPANESE INDEPENDENT MUSIC

Japanese music ressource book

Buy BOOK

(SONORE, SON-11, BOOK+CD 2001)

The fullest picture available of Japan's explosively radical underground musical scene. This book is a comprehensive report on the exuberant activity of the Japanese independent scene at the end of the twentieth century. Structured like a dictionary with an historical introduction, it offers a vision of more than 600 artists from musical streams as varied as: electro, harsh-noise, avant-rock, free-jazz. Comes with a CD of rare and previously unreleased tracks from: HAINO Keiji, Yuko NEXUS6, ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE, RUINS, KK NULL, Sachiko M, Hoppy KAMIYAMA, etc. (Playlist here)

CHEVAL DE FRISE

s/t

(SONORE, SON-10, CD 2001)

Stemming from the French post-hardcore scene, these two musicians have since acquired an empirical and sincere technique. Their compositions reveal a contained, almost baroque sense of urgency, restrained by determination and rhythmical rigour. Amplified acoustic guitar and drums duet, they develop a unique, peculiar and scheming avant-rock.

RUINS

Pallaschtom

(SONORE, SON-09, CD 2000)

The complicity between the two musicians is displayed here in its fullness of sound. HISASHI Sasaki handles his Midi bass with an amazing dexterity and phrases YOSHIDA Tatsuya's lyrical singing with his gruff voice. YOSHIDA, whose drums by now surely have become extensions of his physical body, shows once more his dedication to complex rock patterns and stone pictures.

LES HAUTS DE PLAFOND

Musique d'Appartement à Tendance Radicale

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(SONORE, SON-08, CD 2000)

Their flash of inspiration was to create cinematic pieces and "light-hearted songs of an absurd everyday life". The music displays their affection for radiophonic workshops, combining their sense of theatricality with a strong personal stamp. Glimpses of conversations recorded by chance are interspersed with beats, live playing and strange sprawling sonics.

JYOJI SAWADA

Enfant Terrible

(SONORE, SON-07, CD 2001)

In this, a futuristic fairy-tale, SAWADA manages to compose an intimate and reflective album of his own journeys to Indonesia, Brazil and Cuba. He documents his tropical experiences fully by collecting noises of daily life and children's voices and mixes them in with his own intricate instrumental compositions and electronic collages. This album was produced by Aki ONDA.

SLEDE ZIVE SLEDE

Chérie Sculpte le Paysage

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(SONORE, SON-06, CD 2000)

A trio composed of double bass, guitar, bassoon and vocals. Together they perform and convey a playful and meditative music, recounting little surrealistic and falsely candid folk tales with a warm and earthy sound. Pleasure is taken in confusing the audience: "Down with originalities! We must find something old that has never been done before!"

ALBOTH!

Ecco la Fiera

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(SONORE, SON-05, CD 1999)

Like an endoscope that examines the cavities of our inner being, it is an experience made of flesh and steel. Insolent compositions and symphonic pieces bursting into visceral, tumultuous boiling points. This album marks the result of their recent post-industrial soul-searching, short-circuited and phrased by some breathtaking vocal submersions.

KOURGANE

Ivan Rebrof, Lonely Hearts Club Band

(Sold out / Thank you !)

(SONORE, SON-04, CD 1999)

With compositions bolstered by a discolated rhythm section, flailing yet perfectly measured guitar lines and a brass section that interferes at just the right moment to provide THE swing, Kourgane display a finely chiselled song-craft that proudly bears the stamp of avant-rock. A breath of fresh air from a funked-up sextet with a lyrical, dark sense of humour.

HOPPY KAMIYAMA

Juice & Tremolo

(SONORE, SON-02, CD 1998/2002)

A multifaceted and iconoclast character who can't be ignored, Hoppy KAMIYAMA has been very active for more than a decade both in Japanese major industry and independent music scene. Limitless composer, producer and keyboardist KAMIYAMA possesses the ability to jump styles, from contemporary string quartets à la Debussy / Bartok, to the avant rock of OPTICAL*8.

RUINS

Vrresto