★Meenna
Darkthroat
** 200 copies**Voice performer Yui Nakamura produces delicate, minute vocalization using her mouth and throat. During performances, her voice takes on numerous forms and transformations according to the situation. In each case, it’s as if her voice were an extension of the air drifting through the space. When a live recording at Ftarri becomes a CD, it isn’t often the case that the decision to produce a CD is made first and a public concert recording takes place afterwards—but this album is one…
Guitars
Taku Sugimoto is a Tokyo-based guitarist and composer. Improvisation is one aspect of his work, but currently his main activities are composing and performing composed pieces (including those of other composers). He continues his global and concentrated interaction with composers from around the world, particularly those closely connected with Wandelweiser. Ftarri had previously released two albums under Sugimoto's name alone—Septet (2015) and Quintets: Berlin, San Diego (2017). On both CDs, his…
Shade
** 300 copies** This CD documents the complete first and second sets (each a little over 30 minutes) of a concert at Ftarri on September 29, 2018, performed by Yasumune Morishige (cello) Yoko Ikeda (viola), and Takashi Masubuchi (guitar), three improvisers active mainly in Tokyo. The tones produced by the three acoustic stringed instruments are rich and vivid, and the listener can't help but be mesmerized by the interweaving of the sounds. And although the performances are improvised, they're so…
Deux Songes (Les Jours Sont Faits Pour Expliquer Les Nuits)
** 300 copies** French musician Bruno Duplant is one of the most talked-about artists on the experimental music scene today. In recent years he's presented many outstanding composed pieces and released a succession of excellent recordings on labels around the world. The abundance and vitality of his work are remarkable. On this album, two compositions by Duplant are performed by Ordinary Affects, led by Boston-based musician/composer Morgan Evans-Weiler. Ordinary Affects is an experimental music…
08.09.13 Collective Improvisation
Marginal Concert is the collective improvisation project made up of Kazuo Imai, Tomonao Koshikawa, Kei Shii, and Masami Tada. All of the members were students of Takehisa Kosugi at Bigakko art school in 1975. They started the project on the invitation of Imai in 1997. Each year Marginal Consort holds from one to several concerts in which they perform continuously, without interruption, for two to four hours. Various electronic and acoustic sounds blend and coexist, and myriad sound colors…
Septet
Performed by: Takefumi Naoshima (mixing board), Hirozumi Takeda (guitar), Utah Kawasaki (guitar), Mitsuteru Takeuchi (flute), Toshihiro Koike (trombone), Takahiro Kawaguchi (remodeled counters), Yasuo Totsuka (compressor). "Group improvisation mixing acoustic and electric/electronic instruments. Although there are seven players, the music consists entirely of faint sounds and silences from beginning to end. This ambitious recording communicates the strong determination with which the artists con…
Core Anode
Core Anode is the roaring-sound project of the versatile and multifaceted Otomo Yoshihide, who works in genres ranging from free improvisation to jazz to rock to movie and TV music. The CD contains 3 pieces recorded live at concerts in Tokyo (2002), Copenhagen (2006), and London (2006). The players/numbers of players differed at each performance. In all cases, the musicians were outside the audience area, surrounding the listeners, and in all cases they put out nothing but roaring sound. In Tok…