At long last, Takao is back with his long-awaited second album, seven years in the making. His 2018 "Stealth" was (and still is) a much-loved set, mixing elements of ambient and environmental music; with this new release Takao breaks free of the gravitational pull of these earlier influences and strides confidently forward. "The End of the Brim" jettisons some of the more abstract elements of his previous work, embracing a "universal listenability" and a more concrete intensity, with a focus on supple rhythms and strengthened senses of melodic development and harmonic sophistication. This musical growth can be linked with Takao's admiration of composers Ken Muramatsu and Toshifumi Hinata, who are generally associated with commercial "production music" and easy listening. Another contributing factor is his private study with veteran keyboardist Ichiko Hashimoto of Colored Music. The ten tracks here include three vocal tracks, with three different singers (Yumea Horiike, Cristel Bere, Atsuo Fujimoto of Colored Music) and seven keyboard-led pieces. The vocal pieces are integral parts of the album's flow, rather than typical "songs" driven by the name and personality of the singer. All of these factors, plus the veteran presence of engineer Hiroshi Haraguchi, known for his work with Haruomi Hosono, who mixed half of the album's tracks, along with the use of excellent old-school synths, aligned with Takao's forward-looking vision, have combined to give us an album with a unique sense of timelessness. A spotlight illuminating future paths for pop music, available on CD/Vinyl LP/Digital, with English/Japanese lyrics, and liner notes by Yuji Shibasaki.

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Reissue of the legendary 5-track first LP from horn wizard & original underground FM radio DJ Young, featuring soprano sax, clarinet, and electronically-processed bass clarinet. An enjoyable outing from a neglected musician. Cosmic afro mimimal electronic winds recorded in late 1970s San Francisco. Thankfully, Isophonic Boogie Woogie is as weird and as wacked as all the above business would lead you to believe. Originally released in 1980, Isophonic Boogie Woogie was the first realization of Young's unique version of free jazz music, which he referred to as "Afro spiritual minimal electronic space music" which on closer listening is WAY more spot on… Some of the coolest, weirdest, most far out free jazz we've heard for sure (Aquarius Records from the U.S)

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2025 repress.

There are certain albums which shake the world immediately upon release, and others which come from far underground and whose shocks and aftershocks rise to the surface gradually over the years, gaining momentum and power. "Ten Dubs That Shook The World" is of the latter type. Since its original vinyl release in 1988, the prescient impact of this Australian homemade dubwise solo massive byAnthony Maher aka Sheriff Lindoh as become ever-more apparent and influential. With its dual island combination of Jamaican dub and UK industrial and post-punk, and the twinning of spaced electronic drums and effects with some very fine, superbly rooted bass lines, the tectonic "Ten Dubs" has proven to be a durable, doubly-solid shaker. This 2025 repress is dedicated to the original producer John Blades, founder of the Endless Recordings label, who along with Maher and Richard Fielding constituted The Loop Orchestra. Available on LP vinyl or CD; the CD version features bonus tracks. EM Records is also pleased to announce that we are preparing Lindo's first release since "Ten Dubs" was launched 37 years ago. From deep underground in Australia, rising, reverberating and resonating across the globe, "Ten Dubs That Shook The World" vibrates on.

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"Summer Jam" is back! A long-awaited repress of this powerful and joyful tune described as "acid pied piper", with new artwork and new flip-side. EM Records is very happy to again bring you our favorite tune from the artist known as Tapes, here in a 10-inch vinyl/download format that, with its good vibes, positivity and major-key delightfulness, will rescue you from any doldrums you are experiencing, whether personal, societal or cosmic. "Summer Jam" is a solo recording from 2019, but it soars over the worries of the year, any year, with an up- lifting rhythmic lilt, a positive tonality, non-annoyingly catchy melodies and some lovely sonic textures. There's something here for fans of bass music, mid-80s-and- beyond electronic music, and pure toe-tapping good times. There's a sweet chord progression and background drift in the title track that are particularly pleasing, and the flip-side is a very satisfying "acid" live version with his ally, 7FO, that will lovingly catapult you to another major-chord heaven. The sun can shine anywhere, anywhen, so enjoy!

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Long awaited reissue of the second release on the legendary Osaka label, Vanity Records, run by the eccentric producer Yuzuru Agi.
24bit/48kHz A/D transfer from the original 1978 master tapes, high-quality cutting.

Comes with Japanese/English liner notes.

A beautiful album re-emerges from realms of mystery! The long-awaited vinyl reissue of a Japanese neoclassical/experimental/new age/electronic music classic, originally released in 1978. ”Crystallization” is a work of unwavering perfection, whose sparkle has become even more brilliant over time, in the midst of the new age music revival that has emerged in recent years and the rediscovery of Japanese environmental music so-called Kankyo-ongaku. This was SAB's first and only solo album, recorded at his home and a studio in Osaka by a 19-year-old musical prodigy who, after the album's release, left Japan for the U.S. to follow the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and has never been heard from again. Two other musicians provide instrumental contributions, but the majority of the album was recorded and produced by SAB himself with multiple recordings & overdubs of various instruments, captured and crystallized on magnetic tape. The arrangements and instrumentation on this album show the influence of Brian Eno and the Obscure label of the time, but SAB's weave of electronics, field recordings and conventional instrumentation simultaneously avoids those influences and sits outside any direct electronic music lineage; it has achieved the status of a new classic for audiences in the 2020s.

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BLADE N is the long-awaited new album from Japanese rapper Karavi Roushi, who appeared on the Japanese hip-hop scene with his debut soloalbum? ? ? ? (Kiyosumi Kurokawa). This, his second solo album, is acollaborative release with Aquadab, the Japanese track maker/sounddesigner who co-producedKiyosumi Kurokawa. The album showcases thepreternatural mind-meld between rapper and track maker.Karavi Roushi came before the public as a member of Nagoya hip-hopcollective Hydro Brain Gang on Nero Imai's albumReturn Of Acid King(2017). He then launched the label Super Lights with Aquadab andreleased his first solo albumKiyosumi Kurokawain 2019 with graphicdesign by Takara Ohashi. Although an unknown newcomer, the albumreached #15 on the iTunes Hip Hop Japan album chart and receivedplaudits not only for its music but also for the artwork by Ohashi. After thealbum, Karavi Roushi dropped his first collaboration tune with Aquadab onS.D.S =Zero=(2020), a compilation of Generation Z Japaneseunderground artists produced during the Covid pandemic. That tune,"Tokyoite", became a favorite of the participating artists.BLADE Nwas created by the three-person team of Karavi Roushi,Aquadab & Ohashi. Consciously developing their musical methodology,they intentionally use instrumental tracks to interrupt the rappers' voicesand flows, something which has traditionally been avoided, and explore thepossibility of creating a style that puts the rapper and track maker on equalfooting in complex, woven tracks. On the album, Karavi Roushi'sparanormal voice, which sometimes sounds like a mutant synthesizer,adds incisiveness, and in the artwork Ohashi visually extracts the storyworld hidden inBLADE N, giving the cover art the same impact as that of"Kiyosumi Kurokawa"

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** Includes Download

Clan Caimán, led by composer Emilio Haro, is a group from Argentina, but their timeless, organic music transcends nationality. “Pica-Pau” (woodpecker), their third album, is their most abstract and minimal to date, but this is not a cold abstraction nor an austere minimalism; the music here, with its focus on rhythm and texture, is warm and hypnotic, seeming to have existed forever despite the fact that it was recorded in 2023-24. As on their previous albums, all with EM Records, the music is driven by the kalimabafon, Haro’s self-made tuned percussion instrument. The kalimbafon’s patterns weave through waves of reverb-drenched lap steel and guitar, as bass undertow and sans-cymbal percussion allow the music to flow music inexorably forward, like a broad, timeless river. The compositions here have a feeling of being immersed in deep night, surrounded by life, away from the enclosed isolation of the urban environment. As with previous albums, the compositions are instrumental, the exception being the final song, a vocal version of the opening track, sung in a language invented by Haro.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNrZLJdVbB0

Two 80s gems from this sweet duo. Blue vinyl pressed in 2017.

Text lifted from the great Monorail Glasgow here "Classic archive work from Em's micro label Em Custom, offering a glimpse into the world of post-punk folk pop. Fantastic Something's most iconic moment fits very much into Mike Alway's Cherry Red aesthetic of the time. Two good looking Greek guys (brothers) coming on like Simon & Garfunkel fronting Aztec Camera or Maurice Deebank era Felt with sweeter singing. Pre-empting Johnny Marr at his most melodic and also weirdly, Gerard Love's Lightships project (from memory, Norman was a fan). As punk, and the DIY ethic, had changed the landscape, enabling bands to self-release their material, eventually a slew of genres crept out of the woodwork. By the early 80s, there was a reaction against wilder guitar bands, one being a trend of indie, bedsit-folk-pop. 1983 saw the release of this jangly summer single, by Fantastic Something (Alex and Constantin Veis), with an instrumental version on the flip. It was followed by an album two years later for Cherry Red's offshoot, Blanco Y Negro."

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One-sided 7” single on am EM custom.. these won't be around for very long.

A great and rare song, never before reissued, an early 80s electric molam classic produced by Surin Phaksiri. This release celebrates “Classic Productions by Surin Phaksiri 2: Molam Gems from the 1960s-80s”, an upcoming EM Records compilation spotlighting this legendary producer; however, this song will not be available on the compilation, so get the vinyl or DL, and don’t miss this groovily swaying paean to the pick-up truck share taxi, performed by Chabaphrai Namwai and molam queen Banyen Rakkaen. Remastered and lacquer cut by D&M Berlin, with English and Japanese lyrics translations. Hop in and let’s go!

Footnotes:
‘Songthaew’ is a passenger vehicle in Thailand and Laos adapted from a pick-up or a larger truck and used as a share taxi or bus. This molam tune “Lam Phloen Songthaew Fan Club” is about the period in which Songthaew began to appear as a new means of transportation for people in Thailand.

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"Yutai-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!

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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 / 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 DL; the CD version has two extra discs featuring sound from two art installations entitled "Dysteleology - a" and "Dysteleolog - ß" from the 1990s. All formats feature extensive English liner notes.

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Springing up from the Osaka underground club music scene in 2006, Hino is a rhythm master, intimately examining and extending pulses and grooves in his various projects. YPY is Hino's long-running rhythmic solo DNA lab, in which he investigates impulsion and propulsion, using drum machines and synthesizers in an organic and vital manner to create living and evolving percussive biosystems which are more than electronic music etudes.
With a strong sense of structure and space, development and dynamics, these pieces have an infectious warmth and humor. YPY utilizes and transcends the technical limitations of his chosen recording medium of cassette tape, and the quirks of relatively primitive drum machines and synthesizers, turning weakness into strength. The seven pieces here were recorded over a number of years and chosen, from a library of over seventy works, in collaboration with renowned Yosuke Yukimatsu. Available on CD and double 12-inch 45 RPM vinyl. With the title punningly referring to the slippery fragmentation of the music, "Zurhyrethm" is an enjoyable and intriguing debut.

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Alicia Bay Laurel is well known as the writer and illustrator of one of the classic books of the back-to-the-earth movement, the 1970 Living On The Earth, a hand-written guide to living the good life, but she is also a very accomplished singer, songwriter and guitarist, the latter skill honed by studying with John Fahey. The songs on Music From Living On The Earth were composed concurrently with the writing of the book, permeated by the sun and soil of the commune life, bright and earthy paeans to the natural world, featuring ABL's pure, strong and uplifting voice atop her fluid, confident and deft steel-string acoustic guitar fingerpicking, her style showing that she learned well from Fahey. She also collaborated with San Francisco Tape Music Center co-founder Ramon Sender Barayon, who contributes the 40-voice choral arrangement for the closing track. Although these songs were written as the sixties became the seventies, Music From Living On The Earth was actually recorded in 2000 and first issued as a self-produced CD, then later issued in Japan on EM Records and is now out of print. This 15th anniversary first-time vinyl version, with new liner notes by the artist as well as English and Japanese lyrics, allows listeners to again hear ABL's blues, jazz and Indian music influences meld with folk roots to glorious effect.

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Danish singer, producer, DJ, and composer Astrid Engberg releases her masterful sophomore album Trust, a tribute to intuition and new motherhood. Spanning contemporary soul, R&B, nu jazz, and modern classical, Trust sees her collaborating with a line-up of Nordic talent and the venerated violinist Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, known for works with Flying Lotus, Thundercat and Hiatus Kaiyote. Taking form after the birth of her first child, the album was created with playful joy, openness, and gratitude over a nine-month period.

“You need to trust that what you hear is the way you need to go. I want to encourage others to trust themselves through me learning to trust myself.”

Trust is released via sonic soulseekers Creak Inc. – a Copenhagen-based label specializing in groundbreaking Danish music.

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Kraut synth funk explosion from the sci-fi, library & soundtrack specialists. DIY funksters break into museum, steal modular moog and record proto-electro-punk with dusty live drums, wild percussion and out-of-control analog synth sequencing onto Tascam 8-track tape. Following their debut 'Space Voyage' for Warner Chappell's music library and the outernational soundtrack LP 'Occhio Occhio', the U.K. based trio return with a darker, heavier edge on their new full-length 'Synchronization'. The soundtrack to a strange and mysterious dystopian future Immersed in the sounds of arpeggiated vintage synths, full fat drum breaks and fuzz guitars. At times the album is reminiscent of post punk with hints of boom bap hip hop and as the album progresses the listener is transported to the dance floors of Berlin's underground raves. In an age that sees AI increasingly omnipresent, Eleven76 take control of the technology, creating a hybrid, genre spanning, production style that could only come from their hive mind The trio surrounded themselves with an enviable array of vintage synths and modern classic studio toys, with Paul Elliott and Anthony Donje at the helm of patching, connecting and bringing these analog beasts to life, while Timmy Rickard continued to lay down the grooves as the heart of the rhythm section. The result is SYNCHRONIZATION, of synth and drums, pictures and sounds, man and machine – and of your heart and brain if you're ready to get synchronized.

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There's a reason that Future Sound of London's 1991 debut single, 'Papua New Guinea', is periodically reissued: it's a stone-cold classic that sounds unlike anything else. In its original mix form, the track combines traits borrowed from early breakbeat hardcore (booming bass, house-tempo breakbeats) with saucer-eyed vocal samples, twinkling pianos and sounds more often found in ambient house and chill-out tunes from the period. This remastered, hand-numbered vinyl reissue boasts all of the 1992 remixes (as well as the original mix), including a suitably psychedelic, tribal-tinged Andrew Weatherall revision, the duo's own spaced-out ambient style 'Dub' mix, and a sax-sporting Manchester re-wire courtesy of 808 State's Graham Massey.

Tracklisting:
A1. Papua New Guinea - 12" Original
A2. Papua New Guinea - Andrew Weatherall Mix
A3. Papua New Guinea - Dub Mix
B1. Papua New Guinea - Journey To Pyramid
B2. Papua New Guinea - Monsoon Mix
B3. Papua New Guinea - Graham Massey Mix
B4. Papua New Guinea - Dumb Child Of Q Mix

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When it first slipped out in 2015, Manabu Nagayama’s ‘Light & Shadow’ passed most people by. Yet it’s a genuinely overlooked gem a musically expansive and uplifting Japanese deep house workout that first featured on a promo-only compilation back in 2015. A softly spun slab of slow-building brilliance full of fluid piano motifs, heady hand percussion, the track effortlessly sashays between heartfelt dancefloor melancholia and tactile deep house positivity. One DJ to see its potential was Rush Hour co-founder Antal Heitlager, who asked Masalo to remix it. Over ‘a few years’, Masalo worked on the revision in bursts, tweaking it and subtly altering the arrangement until he was happy. The results are undeniably impressive, elevating an already excellent track to whole new levels. DJs seem to agree, too, with Masalo’s fine remix becoming something of an underground anthem following the release of a limited number of white label test pressings earlier last year.

Taking the spiritual end of deep house as his inspiration – and happy memories of attending events while visiting Japan – the Dutch-Japanese producer has delivered a slowly-building epic that subtly ratchets up energy and excitement throughout, while effortlessly eking out every last drop of emotion from Manabu’s piano-laden production.

Extensively road-tested at the Brighter Days parties he runs with long-time DJ partner Kamma, Masalo’s remix settles into a chugging groove before introducing Manabu’s tactile hand percussion – a staple of spiritual deep house cuts – and melancholic piano refrains, as well as his own lilting chords and cascading synth sounds. By the time the original’s bouncy piano riff drops midway through, you’ll be lost in the music. Fittingly given the quality of Manabu’s original, it’s a revision that showcases the track’s best elements while gently lifting it to new heights.

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The smooth and funky sound of prime-time Japanese reggae pop in the 1970s and ‘80s fired up an obsession with Jamaican music that persists to the present day.

If there is a year zero for the introduction of reggae music to Japan, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was 1979 when Bob Marley and the Wailers toured the country, trailed by an entourage of journalists, photographers and fans ready to spread the message of the music into all corners of Japanese society.

But the story of Japanese reggae is not a linear one, and the music that is collected on Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 captures the moment J-reggae entered the broader public consciousness, merging commercial city pop style with an infectious backbeat, that has drawn comparisons with the emergence of Lovers Rock in the UK.

Rather than look directly to Jamaica, many producers and artists in Japan were inspired instead by the more approachable sounds of The Police and UB40, their reggae fix arriving pre-filtered through the lens of new wave pop from the UK. Playful and groovy, these album deep cuts have been overlooked for too long.

Among them are Miki Hirayama, the idol singer who borrowed the bassline from Bob Marley’s Natural Mystic on ‘Denshi Lenzi’, Chu Kosaka, who headed to Hawaii to cut the Jimmy Cliff-inspired ‘Music’ and Marlene, the Philippine songstress whose cover of Roberta Flack’s ‘Hittin’ Me Wear It Hurts’ owed much to her producer’s obsession with Sly & Robbie’s Compass Point sound.

Then there was Izumi “Mimi” Kobayashi, who enlisted the Babylon Warriors to perform on a dubbed-out version of her own track ‘Lazy Love’, the city pop-meets-new wave reggae sound of Miharu Koshi’s ‘Coffee Break’, Junko Yagami’s anti-apartheid deep cut ‘Johannesburg’ and Lily, whose ‘Tenki Ni Naare’ was produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto and closes out the compilation with a flourish.

While these stories may not always conform to neat narratives, they do provide a more accurate reflection of the indirect ways in which styles infiltrate one another and, in their naivety, have the potential to create something beautifully strange and entirely new. Previously only available in Japan, the tracks on this compilation are a testament to that curious alchemy.

Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 is released on vinyl and as a full album download (no streaming), featuring original artwork by Japanese Fukuoka-based artist Noncheleee, whose cover pays homage to the iconic dancehall album art of Wilfred Limonious.

Released on 1st September, Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 is a part of Time Capsule's Nippon Series, a loose series of compilations exploring different musical scenes from Japan between the 1960s and 2010s.

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A modern day mashup classic from AMERIGO GAZAWAY that takes the Afrobeat rhythms and music of FELA KUTI and mixes it with the rap stylings of DE LA SOUL. Awesome.

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LP FORMAT DETAILS: Vinyl LP of Mad Professor's Ariwa Sounds: The Early Sessions, reissued on vinyl for the first time. Remastered and cut by Matt Colton, pressed at Mother Tongue.
OVERVIEW:
Mad Professor, also known as Neil Fraser to his friends is renowned worldwide for his groundbreaking dub recordings, captivating live sets showcasing the creativity of dub sound engineers, and his collaborations with both reggae and non-reggae artists alike such as Lee Scratch Perry, Jah Shaka, Sade, The Orb, Massive Attack, Grace Jones and many more. Above all, he is celebrated for his prolific output in the genres of Dub, Lovers Rock, Reggae and more through his own Ariwa label and south London recording studio boasting an impressive catalog of over 300 releases, among other notable achievements.
A few years back, we stumbled upon this outstanding Lovers Rock and Dub album which had a very unique raw sound and felt like a whole experience when listened to from start to finish. Alternate versions of the same tracks with different performers in varying styles, tape rewinds, it had us all wonder why it hadn’t gained wider recognition amongst Mad Professor's other releases.
When we finally had the pleasure of meeting Neil at his recording studio, he revealed that this album was one of his earliest works. It was born out of a birthday gift from his wife—a four-track recorder that inspired him to venture into music-making after years of repairing and building electronics and audio equipment. When we asked him if he would be making music if not for that gift, he confessed that it was highly unlikely (!)
Mad Professor further explained that this album, originally released in 1984, is a compilation of tracks recorded between 1979 and 1981, representing the nascent stages of his recording and production career, when the idea of establishing a studio and the Ariwa label were just beginning to take shape. He set up all his gear, including his first homemade four-track mixing desk, in the front room of his house in South London. With no prior studio experience, he positioned microphones where he thought they should fit and invited local musicians to collaborate. Errol Sly, Ranking Ann, Sergeant Pepper, Deborah Glasgow, Victor Cross, Sister Audrey, his backing band the Sane Inmates and a host of other talented local artists, some of whom would go on to become stalwarts in their respective genres, all contributed to this album, capturing the raw essence of Mad Professor and Ariwa's early sound.

OTHER ACTIVITY: https://www.melodiesinternational.com

TRACKLIST:
1. Errol Sly - Love In Your Heart
2. Ranking Ann - Moonlight Lover
3. Sergeant Pepper - It's You
4. Deborah Glasgow - My Thing 04:03
5. Victor Cross - Make Up
6. Sergeant Pepper - Special Brew
7. Rock A Way & Sister Audrey - It's A Shame
8. Mad Professor & Sane Inmates - Sitting Room Dub

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