Tracklisting
A1 Feral - Riad
A2 Feral - Flare
B1 Feral - Chez Driss
B2 Feral - Taghazout More

Tracklisting
A1 Feral - Riad
A2 Feral - Flare
B1 Feral - Chez Driss
B2 Feral - Taghazout More

Kompakt is proud to announce, finally, a reissue of the first, self-titled GAS album. Originally released on electronica imprint Mille Plateaux back in 1996, it’s been unavailable in its original form ever since – the version of GAS included in 2008’s Nah Und Fern box featured several different tracks. Here, however, GAS is restored in all its glory, the debut full-length from Wolfgang Voigt’s most enigmatic, quixotic project.

There had, of course, been signs of what was to come. Back in 1995, Voigt essayed the first GAS release, a slender, yet remarkable four-track EP, Modern. Its centre label featured a reduced symbol – an overhead or lamp light, switched on, its glow radiating outwards in four bold black lines – a perfect representation of the tight, stylised ambient electronic pop contained on that 12”. A few curious compilation tracks were floating around, too, for Mille Plateaux’s Modulation & Transformation and Electric Ladyland series. If you were attentive enough, you could tell something was up.

But nothing quite prepared us for the languorous, effervescing loops and regular-like-clockwork beats that Voigt folded together on GAS. Its six long tracks, all untitled, neither begin nor end but hazily fade into earshot, vibrate majestically in your cochlea for fifteen-or-so minutes – some a bit shorter, some longer – and then meander away, reading the mise-en-scène for the next example of Voigt’s drift and dream logic to unfold. The material is referential in the most distant way, and you can sense only the most evanescent of ghostly presences, haunting these six compositions.

GAS feels, also, like a more pliable hint at what’s to come, as the GAS concept really solidified on its successor, 1997’s Zauberberg, and reach its apotheosis on Königsforst and Pop. Those three albums share a very similar palette – blurred, hazy samples, often of classical music, stacked and cross-thatched across a muted 4/4 thud. GAS, then, is an outlier of sorts: it’s more expansive in its remit, lighter in its mood, perhaps more fleet of foot. This, of course, is part of its charm.

In clearing space for Voigt, by preparing the terrain, GAS sits both at the edge of the forest, and at the verge of an expansive, wide-eyed future; one where GAS would become truly eternal.

Text by Jonathan Dale More

Tracklisting:
A1. Theme~Mustache
A2. Tak's Tune
A3. Joint
B1. Monster
B2. Lullaby For Yuh
B3. Scotland Scene
B4. Theme

(Clear vinyl, LP with OBI, originally released in 1970) 2024 pressing Japanese Import of the Japanese Jazz-Funk classic. The drums of fire scorch the age. With his young and talented Sound Limited, Takeshi Inomata heralds the arrival of the golden age of jazz rock in high spirits.

A1. Theme~Mustache A2. Tak's Tune A3. Joint B1. Monster B2. Lullaby For Yuh B3. Scotland Scene B4. Theme INFO The drums of fire scorch the age. With his young and talented Sound Limited, Takeshi Inomata heralds the arrival of the golden age of jazz rock in high spirits. Drummer Takeshi Inomata, who led the Japanese jazz scene with his precise stick work and musicality with an eye on the times, formed Sound Limited at the end of the 1960s, influenced by the brass rock music that was flourishing at the time. He said, šI wanted to fuse jazz and rock and bring together young musicians to play music with vitality. I want this group to be a group with a large scale that is not confined to the small frame of modern jazz,› he said, launching a new axis. Their first album, šThe Sound of Sound Limited› (1970), became their masterpiece. It is a masterpiece that is full of energy and enthusiasm throughout the album, starting with šTheme~Mustache,› which has become one of the most beloved and iconic songs of the band. Drums, Music Director  Takeshi Inomata Electric Bass  Jun Suzuki Electric Guitar  Ryo Kawasaki, Shigenori Kamiya Flute  Toshiaki Yokota Mixed By  Eiji Uemura Organ  Yusuke Hoguchi Tenor Saxophone  Takao Uematsu Trombone  Shigemichi Domoto, Takashi Imai Trumpet  Shunzo Ohno, Takashi Kumagai


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Tracklisting:
A1. Painted Paradise
A2. Funky Motion
A3. Breeze
A4. Scratch
B1. Funky Stuff
B2. One For Jiro
B3. Gentle Wave
B4. Four Up

Release Info:
(clear green color vinyl / LP with OBI, originally released in 1975) 2024 pressing Japanese Import of the Japanese Jazz-Funk classic. Features a cover of “Funky Stuff” by Kool & The Gang. All songs written and arranged by Hiromasa Suzuki

An enduring, pioneering fusion of jazz, funk, soul and rock - with influences from Herbie Hancock, James Brown and Santana - the album features some of the best and most acclaimed Japanese musicians of the time, enlisting the talent-wares of Hiromasa Suzuki on keyboards, Akira Ishikawa on drums and Takeru Muraoka on sax.


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