Tujiko Noriko is constantly opening new doors. Some might think this is an overstatement, but the more I listen to Crépuscule I & II, the first solo album she released in three years and nine months, the stronger my conviction becomes. It’s clear that this album is an extension of her previous instrumental work, Kuro, an illustration of the fluctuation of emotions. But with the addition of her vocals, saxophone, and euphonium, she paints a gentle and cinematic soundscape on Crépuscule I & II. The continuum of sounds drifting freely, which could be described as ethereal ambient music, contains an unprecedented degree of human warmth. 22 years have passed since the release of Toshi Shojo in 2001; what lies behind Tujiko Noriko continuing to make music? We were able to talk to her in France via ZOOM.

Looking back on Tujiko Noriko’s previous instrumental album and roots as a singer

–You released Crépuscule I & II on Editions Mego. Your last release on the label was My Ghost Comes Back. When did you start working on your latest album? 

I started recording my vocals around the end of 2019 and finished it in a week or so. I then arranged the music in 2020, and it was basically complete by the beginning of 2021. I intended to mix the album immediately, but some time had passed. Before summer, I sent it to Peter (Rehberg, the founder of Editions Mego), but he passed away suddenly…

–I want to ask you something before discussing Crépuscule I & II. This is your first solo album since the eponymous soundtrack to the film Kuro (2019), which you co-directed with Joji Koyama-san, but you didn’t always make instrumental music. In hindsight, what do you think was good about the album?

It’s surprising that I had almost never made an instrumental piece of work. I was making a film called Kuro then, and my co-director, Joji Koyama-kun, said, “Why don’t you make the music for it too?” I thought it might be overkill for me to write, make, edit, and score the film, but he said it nicely, so I said, “I’ll do it.” When it came time to make the soundtrack, I wasn’t in the mood to sing because the film already had a lot of narration. There was no need for me to come up with a story for the music, so I was like, “I’m just going to follow the film’s story.” I was able to make it with abandon and freedom, and felt relieved because I didn’t have to sing. 

–Are there any film scores or artists who make them you find interesting?

Mica Levi and I come from the same era, and what she does interests me. 

–I had always believed one of the elements that made your music special was your singing, so your instrumental album came as a surprise. What sort of mindset has made you become the singer you are today?

I always have this story or image inside my mind, and I want to translate that into lyrics and sing it. I like small worldbuilding, like telling anecdotes, so I enjoy singing or adding music to depict it. I don’t have a message or anything. It’s not a coincidence that I also make films—I love things with stories. 

–What initially drew you to singing? 

When I was small, we had a cassette deck where you could listen and record sounds. It fascinated me, and my oldest sister and I would record our voices and songs. That was fun. My middle sister complimented me, saying that I was good at singing, which struck a chord with me. I started to feel like singing was fun because of that. 

Crépuscule I & II, made from the idea of hope

–I’d like to ask you about Crépuscule I & II. What was the blueprint for it? 

I made the soundtrack for a film called Surge (SURGE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK, released in 2022), and the film was so sad. I had to make music that would fit that, but as I did, I started having more and more fun. I would play sounds that were a bit more sparkly and cheerful, but I knew I couldn’t use them for the film. I had this image of something pretty and optimistic—the word, hope, popped up in my mind.

–How did you write the songs? 

I arranged them a lot, but most of the songs initially started as improvisations. How it sounds to others is a different matter, but I like doing it. I’m shy, but I’m set free whenever I improvise. It’s like I begin feeling unrestrained as I explore things I find beautiful. I listen to the same song over and over again when I arrange my music so I can convey that beautiful moment to the listener. Music is a tool of communication, so I find myself subconsciously looking for a universal place to share with many people. 

–There are some ambient moments in the album. 

I was simultaneously working on a film score, so my approach was to make music that leaned into images. That’s what comes across as ambient-sounding. I like ambient music, but it’s not made with structure at the forefront. 

—Crépuscule I & II is in two parts. Was this intentional?

It was supposed to be three. But when I got Joji Koyama-kun, my dear friend, to listen to it, he said, “Some parts are similar, and it’s a bit too long, no?” (laughs). I tend to add onto things, but Joji-kun helped me reel it in. 

–Joji Koyama-san wrote the lyrics for “Roaming Over Land, Sea and Air.”What idea was this song based on? 

I don’t remember when I made that song, but I used some of the melody from the first song off Shojo Toshi (“Endless End”). This song is like the sibling of “Opening Night” in part one.

Thoughts and feelings that haven’t changed since her debut, and lessons from Peter Rehberg  

–I actually feel like Shojo Toshi and Crépuscule I & II are connected, even if it may not look like it.

You might be right. The equipment, studio, and whatnot differ, but I can’t help being drawn to certain sounds. Yes, I make electronic music, but I like organic sounds that blend into your skin rather than loud ones. Music is always somewhere, and I find and give form to it. 

–It’s been over two decades since your debut. Do you feel as though you’ve changed as a musician? 

It doesn’t feel like I’ve been doing it for a long time. I always feel like I’m a baby. It’s not like I’m stopping myself from growing up; it’s just that I can do so much more. I never run out of ideas and am ready to put out more songs. But I also want to make sure my personal life is okay, too.

–Last question. I heard you decided to release Crépuscule I & II on cassette because you previously sent Peter Rehberg a demo tape. What did you learn from his music as well as working with him? How are the lessons reflected in your life? 

He wasn’t much of a talker. It’s not that he said anything to make me think this, but I felt a warmth from him, one that said I could be free and be myself. That very warmth and attitude encouraged different musicians as well. I also believe the listener could tell, too. He made me feel comfortable doing what I wanted, but that didn’t mean he spoiled me. Also, there’s a slight humor to his music, which made me realize that music with humor that doesn’t fit in a box is important. If it’s just pretty, it’d be boring. I mean, he did have a punk spirit, after all. 

■Tujiko Noriko Japan Tour 2024

・Kyoto
Date: January 9th, 2024 (Tuesday)
Venue: Soto
Venue website: https://soto-kyoto.jp

・Tokyo
Date: January 11th, 2024 (Thursday)
Venue: WWW
Venue website: https://www-shibuya.jp/schedule/017371.php
*The Tokyo show will have live visuals by Berlin-based filmmaker Joji Koyama

・Fukuoka
Date: January 13th, 2024 (Saturday)
Venue: Artist Cafe
Venue website: https://artistcafe.jp

The post The Present and Eternal Sentiment of Tujiko Noriko, an Artist of Otherworldy Sounds appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

My encounter with gamelan paved the way for blending what I learned from music from all over the world.

——Last year you released Fleeting Future, and it seemed to me that you were influenced by a variety of music, such as Steve Reich’s minimalism, the residue of rave music, the chaotic and hybrid nature of jazz, Jon Hassell’s concept of the fourth world, or sounds of Motown. But you seem to have created a soundscape that is different from all of that music, without being drawn into their disciplines. I don’t know if this is the right way to put it, but your music seems to be “music that shows me a different landscape every time I listen to it.” What kind of music had you listened to, what kind of challenges had you faced, and what kind of experiences had you had before you started making Fleeting Future?

Pascal Bideau: As far as I can remember, I have always been exposed to music from all around the world. My parents were (and are still) keen travellers and they always brought music and instruments from their trips. So, from Peruvian flutes, Tibetan horns to middle eastern rhythms, I have always been surrounded by very diverse sounds that were coming from outside the box of western music. But I have also grown up with a love for western music, especially music that pushes the envelope and plays with the rules, and there are definitely elements of that in jazz and minimalism, as well as in electronic experimental music.

What I have always wanted to do ever since I have been composing music is to find a way, or a genre that would allow me to mix all those very different influences into one. And I have been searching and failing for many years… It’s only when I bought a set of gongs on my return from a trip to Bali that I realized the path might very well have been found. That is when I started to work on Fleeting future.

——The gamelan slendro scale is used strikingly throughout this album. I understand that you immersed yourself in traditional gamelan and gong music when you visited Indonesia. What attracted you to this kind of music, and what did traditional gamelan and gong music bring about to your music?

Pascal: The really fascinating aspect of Balinese gamelan is its hugely social role: it all derives from Banjar, a small community group within a village. Every village has a small “plaza” with a music stand hosting a gamelan ensemble. It is as important in the life of the community as other prominent activities like rice farming. It is played by the people of the village with a strong emphasis on unison and shared parts. In the same way rice farmers have developed alternating watering patterns for maximum efficiency in production, gamelan musicians have coordinated interlocking melodies for maximum expression. When some pieces of gamelan music start accelerating, it is so fast that it would be physically impossible without cooperation between paired players. This is the true magic of the gamelan, a genuine representation of what the cooperation between people can achieve: a sound that transcends individuality and renders the impossible possible.

It had a huge influence on the way I write parts that interlock and cooperate with one another. Sometimes, the layering of two or more parts creates another part, another musical phrase that you can clearly hear but isn’t actually played by any of the instruments. It’s just a result of the whole.

Musicians participating in Fleeting Future and influences from the film AKIRA

——You made Fleeting Future between 2017 and 2019. What was the production process of this album like? Also, the album features performers such as Ruth Velten, Daniel Brandt, and Florian Juncker; what did they bring to this work?

Pascal: I composed the whole of the album in my studio in Camden, London where I recorded most of the instruments myself. For some saxophone parts though, I wanted a very clean and articulate sound so I asked the great Ruth Velten to come and join the adventure. I also asked Florian Juncker to play some trombone parts, an instrument I don’t play myself but really wanted to integrate in the colour palette that Florian expresses so well. As for Daniel Brandt, I have been collaborating with him for years and I greatly admire his approach to rhythm and sound. He recorded all the drums parts in Berlin.

——I thought the high-energy “Neo Tokyo” was one of the highlights of the album. I heard that “Neo Tokyo” was inspired by Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira. What attracted you to this movie and how did you try to express that inspiration through your music? Also, the music of the Japanese musical collective Geinoh Yamashirogumi is used in the movie impressively. What do you think about their music?

Pascal: I first watched Akira when it was released in France, I must have been 13. I was totally blown away and it stayed with me ever since. I remember the hair raising on my neck when I first discovered the opening sequence with the long shots of Neo Tokyo and the marvellous polyrhythms of Geinoh Yamashirogumi. It was only much later that I learned about Tsutomi Ōhashi and the fact that he was a molecular biologist. It makes complete sense to me, with all these musical and rhythmical motives and ideas interacting at different pace and bouncing off each other. That is exactly what I set to try doing with Fleeting Future. And Neo Tokyo is the perfect example. It’s a hectic piece with no starting point nor ending. It’s full of elements all doing their thing and it’s the combination of these little ostinatos that create the groove and the whole. It really made me think about the futuristic Tokyo of Akira, with its laser lights spreading in all directions and its monumental skyscrapers flickering all around.

——I heard that the final song “Yurikamome” was inspired by a YouTube video of someone driving through Japanese landscapes and cities. “Yurikamome” is characterized by its majestic development, in which various sounds are layered on top of each other as the song progresses. What part of the Japanese landscapes and cities did you get inspired by and why did you decide to create a song with such a majestic development?

Pascal: Yurikamome is the last track of the album and it was also composed last. It is an ending and a new beginning at the same time. I was directly inspired by a YouTube video of the Yurikamome line in Tokyo, the monorail train that takes you from Shinbashi to Toyosu in Odaiba and goes through Tokyo Bay, the Rainbow Bridge, and most of Odaiba island. I had found the very first piano motif you hear in the piece, and I let it unfold while watching the landscape evolve and adding layers. If it sounds majestic, it is because that’s the idea I have of Tokyo.

The groove and improvisation that underlie the album, and the thoughts behind the words “Fleeting Future”.

——One of the things that struck me about this work is that there are some elements that induce dancing. I think “Divine Moments of Truth” is a prime example (as are “Longing for Tomorrow” and “Neo Tokyo”). What does dancing mean to you?

Pascal: I love moving along to the music. I love music with a pulse that imprints its groove on you and makes you react to it. All of the pieces on Fleeting Future have a groove to them, and they all happen within a very rhythmical context.

——I can feel elements of improvisation in some parts of this work. What do you think is the appeal of improvisation? What do you think is the difference between improvisation and composition?

Pascal: In a way, I have the feeling that everything comes from improvisation. Every time I set out to play and compose, I first improvise. I take an instrument and record whatever comes out. Now, some things are going to be good, and some aren’t. And that’s when the composition process starts: when you decide what improvised parts to keep and develop further, and what other parts need to be created to make it go where you feel compelled.

——The title of this work, “Fleeting Future,” is also impressive. Why did you choose this title for the work, which has a somewhat optimistic feel to it? Why is the future “fleeting” for you? Can you share your thoughts on that?

Pascal: This title came to me the very first time I discovered that musical phrase and played around with it. I needed to name it to save it, and Fleeting future very naturally fell off my fingers onto the keyboard… It’s as if it came with the music.

The concept can take various meanings. Of course, one could think of it as a way to express the climate emergency and point a warning finger at the fleeting character of the future of humankind. But it is really about the feeling I have that it seems we left a linear approach to the future to enter an arborescent one, where all the data and information we have about what could happen is exponentially ever-growing. That is what makes it fleeting. Following a branch might allow you to glimpse into what it may become, but the evolution of the whole picture might very well render the prediction totally obsolete or even meaningless.

——Finally, if you were to put “Fleeting Future” on your record shelf, what albums by what artists would you put next to it? It would be great if you can also tell us why.

Pascal: There would definitely be a version of Terry Riley’s In C, probably the one Africa Express did with Andre de Ridder. This is so much for the composition method of Riley than the orchestration. There would also be A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, for everything really, as it is one of my favorite albums of all times. Thematically, Fleeting Future owes a lot to this fantastic album. There would definitely be some Moondog music, most probably Sax Pax for a Sax; some Pharoah Sanders (Jewels of Thought), Ethiopian jazz and definitely music from Bali and Java.

Translation Shynichiro Sato（TOKION）

The post Minimalism, Gamelan, Jazz and “Neo-Tokyo”; Behind the Eclectic Sound World of Pascal Bideau a.k.a Akusmi appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

DJ/producer/rapper/author Yakenohara wears many hats. Apart from being a member of the popular ambient music unit UNKNOWN ME with P-RUFF, H. TAKAHASHI, and Yudai Osawa, he recently released his record Hyper Nu Age Tekno under the name Taro Nohara with German label Growing Bin. This album attempts to get past the refined musical formats that exist within ambient and techno music history. A middle ground between ambient and 90s techno music, this album provides a spiritual Zen connection between body and mind. I was able to speak to him about completing Hyper Nu Age Tekno.

– Why did you decide to release Hyper Nu Age Tekno on the label Growing Bin, based in Hamburg, Germany? What drew you to the label?

Taro Nohara: I’ve always liked the label Growing Bin, and I’ve bought many of their releases. I decided to go with them because I just so happened to send them a demo. That’s it (laughs). The DJ Basso is the supervisor of Growing Bin, who is a reliable pillar of support. But I was drawn to the parts of the label that didn’t fit within the stereotype. I liked that it valued its uniqueness.

– You released this under the name Taro Nohara. What’s the difference between this name and Yakenohara?

Taro: Basically nothing. If I had to say, the releases under Taro Nohara are probably much more personal. I don’t think about having to do something out of necessity, like because it’s being released or because it’s a form of expression. I wouldn’t say I was only relying on my initial impulses while working on this, but it did feel like music-making was happening organically, out of fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way.

– When did you start this project?

Taro: When Covid lockdown started, in April or May of 2020. After that, I took some time to rework things, but I wasn’t really thinking about releasing it as an album at the time. But it felt like normal life was forced on hold, so I thought I should create something. By spring of 2020, I had finished five to six songs but didn’t have plans to do anything with it. I let a couple friends listen to it, and it just sat there for about half a year.

Then one day, that friend told me it would be a waste not to release the songs. Growing Bin’s newest release at the time had some dance influences in it, which I thought was similar to what I had made. So I decided to give it a shot and sent them a demo. They ended up liking it and went on to release it.

A project inspired by the purity of 90s techno

– You mentioned earlier that you were drawn to how unorthodox DJ Basso is.Do you think Hyper Nu Age Tekno is a record that tries to stray from stereotypes?

Taro: This album was partially inspired by 90s techno, a genre that I’ve always been fond of.When I first started listening to techno, I felt like there were many different styles within the umbrella of techno music. There’s techno that’s directly connected to dance, there’s IDM or pure techno that’s related to electronica, and many other forms. Instead of playing a specific style that’s considered cool all at once, there’s a lot of variety within the genre. There are also many ways to release a techno record. For example, there are releases that have no album cover, only a record sleeve with a stamp on it. Sometimes, you have no idea where the artist is from or how old they are. The anonymity of it was also cool to me. The individual imagination born out of someone’s bedroom becomes ubiquitous and ends up connecting people. We call that bedroom techno. Being in lockdown during Covid reminded me of a disconnectedness that was reminiscent of bedroom techno. I had that in the back of my mind while working on this project.

– You talked about techno artists being anonymous. I feel like that ambiguity of not knowing where one’s influence is coming from is present in Hyper Nu Age Tekno as well.

Taro: I guess you’re right. Even if you think someone might like techno, you can’t immediately tell what their direct influences are. There are no musical tropes in this album; I might’ve been aiming for that.

– The album cover also looks like a flyer for a 90s techno event.

Taro: Yes. I told DJ Basso that the theme of the album was 90s techno, and he made the cover art. I usually have more detailed ideas, but with the language barrier and everything, I  gave him a more general image. It feels like it’s someone else’s record. I feel a distance from it, as if I’m staring at someone else’s album art. I rather like that odd distance, though.

The attraction of polyrhythms

– I’d like to ask a couple questions about the compositions. The first song on side A, “Space Debris”, and the first song on side B, “Celestial Harmonia”, starts off with a powerful kick. I felt like there was a rhythmic desire there.

Taro: Last year, I released the album BISHINTAI with the ambient music group UNKNOWN ME. The four to five years leading up to that, I was really into ambient music. I was interested to know if I could create freeing, versatile rhythms within that ambient mode, something that could only be born out of a rhythm-less environment. Lockdown had first begun when I started making Hyper Nu Age Tekno!. There were less opportunities to meet people and more opportunities to work remotely, and I think ambient music gained popularity for being music you could listen to quietly at home. But as someone who had already been listening to ambient music, I felt the need to do the opposite. I had a hunger for energetic rhythms and for the social aspect that rhythmic music provided. I probably wanted to connect with people and the outside world.

– The second track on side A, “Ill Eel”, felt like an ambient version of a more uplifting music like Singeli.

Taro: I dug through 90s techno because I thought it was interesting, from the perspective of a listener and of a DJ. But I also listen to new music, so you can definitely hear influences from Singeli and newer UK bass techno. With rock, reggae, or with the 90s techno that influenced this record, I’m not interested in doing things that have already been done in the past. So there’s a 90s techno influence with a touch of current bass-like sounds as well. That being said, there are also some elements that were created organically, while playing around.

– Your use of polyrhythms (a rhythm which makes use of two or more different rhythms simultaneously) throughout the record made a lasting impression. It feels like polyrhythm is a keyword in this project.

Taro: Yes, but it’s not really a theme. It’s more like an extension of ambient music that was organically produced. When I thought about how I could create something interesting that’s never been heard before, I thought of including polyrhythms, something I’ve been incorporating a lot in my music recently. But I’ve been using it carefully. I could make it more complex, but I try to strike a balance so it seems normal at first glance, but then you realize it’s actually not in 4/4.

– What is the charm of polyrhythms?

Taro: That’s tough, because there are different charms depending on the perspective. It’s present in a lot of pop music now, but when I first got into polyrhythms, I couldn’t listen to music that didn’t include them. It made me feel sick. I was addicted to polyrhythms. Most music around the world revolves around even numbers like 4 and 8. Being a dance music DJ, I understand the satisfaction that that prolonged form can bring, which is exactly why I felt the need for other things. Polyrhythms have different beat patterns and are constantly shifting. For instance, the fourth, eighth, and sixteenth bars may not align. Instead of repeating fours, it was fun and satisfying to listen to different sets of rhythms move on their own over time. In my mind, the Buddhist/Eastern philosophy of “a river never stops flowing, but the water that runs is not the same” was omnipresent while making ambient music, and I feel like polyrhythms share that commonality. It’s everchanging.

– Is the feeling similar to being zen, since there’s also a track called “Shikantaza”?

Taro: Yes. I felt it was similar to ambient music because it loops forever on its own while simultaneously changing forms. I was drawn to the permanence of its natural form, untouched by humans. This is also a commonality I find with Eastern philosophy. I programmed this project so the synths and timbres would never repeat. For example, in a five-minute song, the five minutes prior doesn’t usually exist. But in my method of music-making, the five-minutes of said song exists because of the five minutes before and the five minutes after. It just so happens that those five minutes were cut out to make that track. Even though you’re the one programming everything, there are still things that surprise you when you create like this. I don’t leave it all up to nature, though. I’ve thought through the balance of what to control and what not to control.

Not including musical phrases that sound human-controlled

– You’re saying this music was created by chance?

Taro: Not all of it. I’d say it’s music that calls upon randomness. In that way, maybe it’s not all random. It’s like creating a system that creates randomness, or that creates endless change.

– Do you feel a sensation of something happening but not?

Taro: Yes, something like that. If you’re playing in a band, for example, there might be a drum fill that signals the musicians to go into the B section, and you might expect there to be a cymbal hit at the beginning of the measure. But in digital music, there’s no need for those signals. This project has some cymbals that are reminiscent of the band sound, but not in the places you’d expect. It’s the same with rhythmic patterns. The patterns shift on their own, creating its own unique groove.

– Interesting.

Taro: There are polyrhythmic and ambient elements in this record, but I’ve included techno rhythms, so there should still be a physical presence, too.

– That’s true. You do feel different grooves.

Taro: I didn’t incorporate more African-American grooves or rhythms that are stereotypically considered groovy. But I did include grooves that don’t feel like grooves. The spaces, polyrhythms, and ambience create the grooves in this case. It seeks out grooves from different angles. I tried to pursue grooves from my own perspective that could be brought about from techno.

What I like about techno and something that I keep in mind when I’m creating is to come up with musical phrases that don’t sound like a human is playing it. A guitar riff, for instance, is something that a human is clearly playing. Although you can have synth techno music sound human-controlled, I like to make my music seem like it isn’t. I think one of the beautiful things about techno is that the sounds exist on their own.

– Thank you. Lastly, which albums would this record be next to if it was on your shelf?

Taro: What I thought of off the top of my head, though predictable, is Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92, the bible of bedroom techno. I don’t own this record now, but the other would be Neu!’s first album, since this project of mine had some German rock influences as well. You can feel the absence of humans in both CAN and Neu!’s music. So on one end would be Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92, and I’d buy Neu!’s record to put on the other side.

TARO NOHARA (YAKENOHARA)
DJ,Producer,Rapper.He has performed at the big festival or an underground party for over 10 years.He joined remix works etc. for any kind of over 100 works such as famous pop music artists like Tatsuro Yamashita or YUKI,rock bands,dance music.In 2009 “Rollin’ Rollin'” released by “Tabito Nanao×Yakenohara” became a hot topic,in 2010 he released “THIS NIGHT IS STILL YOUNG”,rap album.In 2013 he released 2nd album “SUNNY NEW LIFE”.
He is also active as a member of the ambient unit “UNKNOWN ME”.
The subtropical-themed work “subtropics” released by LA’s long-established indie label Not Not Fun in 2017 was selected as a featured work by FACT Magazine in the UK, and co-starred with Gigi Masin, a key person in ambient revival.
Twitter:@yakenohara_taro

■Hyper Nu Age Tekno     
Taro Nohara
A1：Space Debris
A2：Ill Eel
A3：Baker Baker Paradox (Acid Mix)
A4：Shikantaza
A5：We Call it Tekno!
B1：Celestial Harmonia
B2：Use Your Head
B3：Airplane Without People 
B4：Music For Psychic Liberation
B5：Hyper Nu Age Tekno!
https://album.link/taronoharahnat
https://taronohara.bandcamp.com/album/hyper-nu-age-tekno

Photography Mayumi Hosokura
Translation Mimiko Goldstein 

The post The versatility of 90s techno in Yakenohara a.k.a. Taro Nohara’s new album Hyper Nu Age Tekno appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

Classical piano to analog synthesizers

“One of my early memories after moving to London was seeing musicians busking in Covent Garden. When you’re little, you try to absorb and learn as much as you can – I was fascinated by their performance, and it inspired me to start learning the piano. Back then, I lived in the suburbs of London and met a wonderful piano teacher, Anne Hodgkinson – I started studying classical piano from when I was five until I went to university. I then studied sound engineering at university, and although I didn’t perform very much during my university years, I continued to have a strong affinity with classical music.

So what was the impetus that led Omori to start writing music?

“I was inspired to write music when I first heard The Knife (an electronic music duo from Stockholm formed in 1999.) I was so fascinated by the incredible sounds they created, and became interested in making music with synthesizers. The first time I used a synth was around the age of sixteen – my Music Technology teacher at college, Lloyd, was in an electro-synth band, and he taught me about synths and how to use them. Then, when I was graduating from college, he very kindly lent me his Roland SH-101 and said, ‘You can use this as long as you want, but make sure you learn it thoroughly.’ I’m forever grateful to Lloyd for his encouragement and advice.”

The album, “a journey…”, is imbued with quietly undulating synth sounds—but what was it about the synths that attracted her in the first place? On a side note, she mentioned that every time she is back in Japan, she visits the synth shop in Harajuku, Five G, to explore a variety of synths.

“I guess I’m into synths because they each have such wonderfully unique sound worlds. It’s really fun to piece together and layer different sounds, modulating frequencies — it’s like playing with playdough. There’s not a particular sound I like per se, but I find joy in noodling and playing around with different sonics. I recently started using the Moog Matriarch, a semi-modular analog synthesizer. As it’s semi-modular you can use it without patching anything, but it’s also fun to plug in cables and experiment with the sounds. Eventually, I’d love to build a modular rack.”

The synth artist who elucidates the charm of synths released her first music back in 2019–the EP, Auraelia. The idea of the EP came about from her otherworldly experience with daily migraines that lasted a month, which she claims that it sparked her curiosity in transcending the visual adventure sonically. She then discovered joy in translating her emotions and optical phenomena into auditory representations and reestablished her ties with synths.

The Beginning of “the Meditative Journey”

In the summer of 2020, Omori contributed to the online festival WOMAD at Home and rendered a 40-min ambient project—which eventually became her debut album “a journey…”.

“My friend from university, Oli Jacobs – the head engineer at Real World Studios founded by Peter Gabriel – asked me if I would be interested in participating in an immersive audio project for the online music festival, WOMAD at Home. I’ve always been really interested in binaural and immersive sounds, so I was over the moon when he got in touch.”

Jacobs informed Omori that she was given a timeframe of 40 minutes for the musical presentation. Subsequently, Omori went back to the demos she had been recording when noodling with pieces of equipment and decided to collate them. She also looked back through her notebook to find lyrics to complement the tracks.

“I wanted to piece together demos I’d made with synthesizers to create a 40 minute meditative journey. I also wanted to experiment with binaural beats that would resonate with our brains, generating a sense of relaxation.”

On the day before mixing the synthesizer and vocal lead tracks, Omori took on another unique medium—she went out to capture the environmental nature sounds through field recordings.

“The day before the mixing session, I went out in the woodlands around the studio with a binaural head to record environmental sounds. I’ve always been interested in forest bathing, and it inspired me to create soundscapes that people could listen to via headphones and feel immersed in nature even when they’re cooped up in their homes, as timing-wise it was right in the middle of the pandemic and I was conscious that not everyone has access to nature.”

Omori returned to Real World for the mixing session with the recorded environmental sounds; she also re-amped the synths and vocal stems to enhance the immersive experience, making the listeners feel like they are in a different environment. The album was mastered by Matt Colton, who has worked with the likes of Aphex Twin and James Blake. The album is brimming with meditative ambient sounds—as Omori would say— bringing nature to our homes.

The therapeutic ambient sounds feel like a tribute to electronic artists Pauline Anna Storm and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Furthermore, there is tranquility and a feeling of minimalistic spaciousness in the album, which implies the influence of the Japanese ambient music from the 80s.  

“Speaking of Japanese electronic music artists, I love Hiroshi Yoshimura and Susumu Yokota, and I listen to their music a lot. I feel comforted or soothed when I listen to their beautiful sounds. I didn’t intend to make the record sound like theirs per se, but maybe how music that surrounds us in our daily lives influences what we do day to day, perhaps their music is firmly rooted in my heart.” 

Vocals as “texture” and emotional timbre

The “meditative” ambient timbres of “a journey…” isn’t only emanated by the binaural and quietly undulating digital sounds—Omori’s calming vocals also contribute as the relaxing element to her music.

“I don’t really think about the process very much when writing music. With vocals, I usually see what comes naturally where I instinctively think they might work well, and piece them together with the synth sounds. I think of the voice more as a texture, something to layer with the synth sounds.”

However, her vocals resonate emotionally in some parts; the song “The Richest Garden In Your Memory” is a conflation of her emotional vocals and chilling synth sounds.

“This song is a very memorable one for me. In 2018, I was traveling to New York for a show, but the direct flight to New York was canceled due to a snowstorm. We had to change our flight routing to Philadelphia, and on that flight, I met the wonderful Emily who I sat next to by chance on the plane. Emily is a poet, philosopher and lecturer at Penn State University. We hit it off immediately and have kept in touch over email ever since. One day Emily very kindly sent me her amazing book, Great Circles, and I was incredibly moved by her poems and felt an instant connection to them. I wanted to portray Emily’s beautiful words in music, and this song is the result of this. Out of all the songs in the album, this one came about most organically.”  

Exuding such intimacy, “The Richest Garden In Your Memory” is one of the most profound songs in this meditative album, leaving a strong imprint on our mind. Finally, to close the interview, we asked Omori, if she were to place “a journey…” on a record store shelf, which titles would be sitting next to it?

“Of course, I’d be incredibly happy if it was next to Hiroshi Yoshimura and Susumu Yokota’s albums, but I think it would also be fun to see it placed in a section of a completely different genre – for example, in the heavy metal section! What’s exciting to me is how the listener discovers music, and how they find their connection with it — I think that’s “a journey” in itself.

Hinako Omori
Hinako Omori was born in Yokohama, Japan, and moved to the United Kingdom when she was three. Today, she is based out of London. She started classical piano in her early years, studied sound engineering in university, and later began performing and producing music with analog synthesizers. She is also a session player joining tours and recording sessions of eminent artists, including Ed O’Brien (Radiohead,) Kae Tempest, and Georgia. In May 2019, she started her career as a solo artist, releasing the twelve-inch single “Voyage,” followed by the EP Auraelia in November. This March, she released her first full album, “a journey…” via Houndstooth, a record label run by the same team as the club Fabric London.
Twitter：@hinakoomori

Translation Ai Kaneda

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UNKNOWN ME was born from a gathering to talk about ambient and new age music

—How did you form your unit, UNKNOWN ME? 

Yakenohara (Y): We formed UNKNOWN ME around five years ago. People say we’re in a new age revival now, but I didn’t know many people who listened to new age or ambient music. I was friends with DJ P-RUFF-kun, who listened to new age-related music, and H. TAKAHASHI-kun was a mutual friend and musician. We had an opportunity to meet up. Coincidentally, we lived close to each other, so we started drinking and talking about trying our hand at making music. 

—I see. 

Y: After we released our first tape through our own label, we started doing live shows early on. We thought of incorporating visuals at our live shows, so I asked Osawa-kun, a friend of P-RUFF-kun and mine, to do the visuals. As we played shows together, we were like, “He doesn’t just help us; he’s one of us.” And that’s how Osawa-kun became a member.

—Did you intend on creating ambient or new age music from the get-go? 

Y: In a sense, yes. It was like a gathering for ambient music—or what we would call new age revival today—enthusiasts to chat about that type of music. Also, we had released our music on cassette tapes until now. In the beginning, we were set on them because we liked cassette tape releases and the sound textures. H. TAKAHASHI-kun had released his music on tapes already, so I would ask him how he did that. We also spoke about how we wanted to release tapes too. 

—You released your first cassette tape through your label, NOPPARA TAPES, and you released another from Not Not Fun from Los Angeles. 

Y: Yes. We wrote songs after we released our first tape, but it only took us about a month to finish a 30-minute tape; it took us shorter than we imagined. We talked about how we could make way more and that we wanted to release music abroad. 

H. TAKAHASHI (H): We then wondered about whether there was a good label somewhere, and one name that came up was Not Not Fun. Partially because I had purchased and collected their cassette tapes, we reached out ourselves. 

—I see. How did you all discover ambient or new age music? 

P-RUFF (P): I was influenced by the ambient music that would play on the second floor of clubs. It’s the opposite of busy music, like dance music. I would listen to ambient music as something that cools down [a vibe] that got heated. 

Y: Yeah, it was a part of 90s dance music culture. My case is identical to P-RUFF’s. I liked techno. I enjoyed how diverse techno was in the 90s, like how ambient and jungle and everything was mixed with techno. Before I knew it, I was listening to ambient music. It’s as if it’s always been there. I made dance music, but not ambient music, so I wanted to make ambient music for a long time. 

H: My background is slightly different, as I first got into krautrock and progressive rock. I listened to a lot of music by King Crimson and Can, and then I listened to Roxy Music and the Talking Heads, which introduced me to Brian Eno. That was in high school or so. When I got into university, I began to listen to electronica and post-rock and dug for CDs at record stores. I collected tapes released in the early 2010s when they were popular. At that point, I thought I could also make my own. So, I started making ambient music. 

Yudai Osawa (O): I’ve been listening to rock music since high school, like Jim O’Rourke, who’s on our latest album BISHINTAI, and Fishmans. Looking back, I think I was listening to Fishmans in an ambient way. Like, I understood ambient music as something you could relax to before bed. But recently, I listen to it in a more everyday setting, like during work and such. 

What was the appeal of ambient music?

—Why did you listen to ambient music, and why were you drawn to it?

P: I like abstract hip hop, breakbeats, trip-hop, and so on. That kind of music has ambient elements: like omitting major/minor keys to bring out an abstract vibe. I was attracted to that floating feeling. 

Y: I got into music because of hip hop and techno. I first became familiar with the musical expression that doesn’t center on the melody—the sound’s vibe is what you make people listen to. Rather than liking music by people such as Burt Bacharach or music with a proper structure, I liked music pertinent to techno. In a way, my ambient sensibility might be at a basic level. Although I had remixed songs to have no beats or produced ambient-ish music, I had never made a full, proper ambient album before UNKNOWN ME. Thinking about it now, maybe I was at a period of my life where I wanted to make calm music that doesn’t possess people’s ego when we started UNKNOWN ME. I was an active dance music DJ until then, but it was like a reaction against that. 

H: I was looking for music I can mentally manage whenever I couldn’t sleep, and so I listened to music like Ambient 1: Music for Airports by Brian Eno or Harold Budd. I feel like I got hooked on ambient music that way. 

Y：みんな疲れた時にアンビエントを聴きがちになるという。

O：僕も基本的には精神の安定を求めるために聴いていました。でも最近は、精神を落ち着かせるためだけではなく音の質感を楽しむためにアンビエントを聴く機会が僕の中ではすごく増えていますね。

Y: We all tend to listen to ambient music when we get tired.

O: I also listened to it to gain emotional stability. Lately, I listen to ambient music to enjoy its sound texture more, rather than just calming myself down. 

—Some people say that ambient music is the sort of music that opens itself up to the environment—essentially, it’s inevitable for it to become a social entity. What are your thoughts on that? 

Y: What I feel from having been a dance music DJ for a long time is that the rhythm of dance has a very social element to it. If there’s a rhythm people can relate to, they can connect and understand one another, even if the music has differing sonic factors. In contrast, I think ambient music is the type of music that people don’t have to bond over. So, I don’t think I view ambient music as a social thing. 

O: I feel like I listen to ambient music as a place to escape. Rather than connecting to society, I enjoy it as something that’s a bit cut off from it. That act itself might be social, though. 

H: I’ve never really given thought to how ambient music is inevitably social or anything. But I think it’s interesting how a new sensibility and way of listening are being born because people use ambient/new age revival music as the base and mix it with other genres. 

Thoughts on new age revival

—What do you think about the recent new age revival? 

Y: I Am the Center (Private Issue New Age Music in America, 1950-1990), released through Light in the Attic, and the first and second album released on Music From Memory excited me. As a listener, there are more choices now. 

P: Everyone would often talk about how new age music was the last rare groove. It might be an exaggeration to say we’ve uncovered all the existing Japanese music, but more labels now introduce new age music, which was previously untouched, interestingly. I began to think it was impressive the more I listened to it. 

—What are your views on how Kanyō Ongaku, featured on Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990, released by Light in the Attic,became highly valued?

P: I like that compilation album. I love Haruomi Hosono-san’s music, and I never really listened to an album with the sound textures of the music he composed for Muji. So, it was quite fascinating. Also, one of the editors, Spencer Doran, is very knowledgeable about Japanese music, and I feel like he has a skilled understanding of aesthetics. 

Y: I don’t have a personal attachment to that compilation album. I had already been listening to Hiroshi Yoshimura-san and others on the compilation album before their album prices shot up. When that compilation album came out, I was like, “Well, this is it.” We had already put out some music as UNKNOWN ME, so I was worried that people might consume our music as a trend because of the compilation. 

—H. Takahashi-san, I feel like your music is influenced by Hiroshi Yoshimura-san, Satoshi Ashikawa-san, and such. Is it? 

H: I get told that a lot, but when I started making music, I didn’t know about them at all. I listened to their music and understood how people might think they influenced me. Regarding the compilation album: I had already known most of the [featured artists] before it came out, but I thought it was good. 

On BISHINTAI, filled with pretty sounds and “spaces where something is emerging”

—I’d like to know about your latest album, BISHINTAI. I heard the theme of this album is “to pursue the unknown beauty of the heart and body.” 

Y: Originally, we organized an ambient event after releasing a couple of tapes and playing live. We named the event “Bi・Shin・Tai.” We got Moodman-san, Koji Nakamura (Nakako), and MC.sirafu and Risa Nakagawa-san’s unit, Utsukushikihikari, to play. This event was our jumping board; everything started with choosing beauty as the concept for the event. 

O: We had massages and other content related to beauty at the event. 

Y: Yeah. We didn’t want it to be an overly hardcore ambient event. We spoke about how we wanted it to be open, and the concept of beauty came up. 

—Compared to your previous work, it sounds like this album is more minimal. It’s as though you were mindful of the spaces between each sound. How conscious were you of that? 

Y: The previous album is called Astronauts, but we worked on BISHINTAI before Astronauts. So, we didn’t have a clear order of creating the album and releasing it. We didn’t think too deeply about being minimal. But because the concept is on beauty, we were trying to produce a pretty sound. 

P: We produced this album over a long period, so it was like we cut the sounds down during that time. 

Y: In terms of being minimal, our songs don’t have chord progressions that change the feeling of said songs, so I think we’ve always considered our music to be minimal overall. 

—Right. It seems like you filled the blanks with sounds on your previous albums while you subtracted them on this one.

Y: That might be true. Perhaps we’re getting better at creating ambient music. For example, consider the pitch and harmony as the vertical axis and the sounds and spaces between them (rhythm) as the horizontal axis. Instead of making the listener feel like something is missing between the huge spaces [between sounds], we create spaces where something is emerging and nothingness that’s present. I didn’t understand it five years ago, but when we were making BISHINTAI, I feel like we were working forever on creating those spaces skillfully. Five years ago, I didn’t think about that; I was naïve. In that way, this album is a step forward for us. 

The guests who provided variety to the work 

—This album features foodman, Jim O’Rourke, MC.sirafu, and Risa Nakagawa. What role did they have on the album? 

H: This is an objective thing to say, but by inviting people with different music styles who can do things we can’t technically do, as seen in MC.sirafu-san’s steel drums and Nakagawa-san’s vocal choruses, we created an album rich in diversity. With foodman-san, he inserted a rhythm we couldn’t come up with, and I feel like our song [with him] sounds different from our past songs. 

P: We often use synths and samplers to make music, and no one’s too good at playing any instruments. By having instrument players on the album, our music style expanded. 

Y: How did the music sound to you, Osawa-kun? 

O: Compared to our past releases, this one has a bit of an extravagance. There are many types of ambient music out there today, and it feels like this one could fit right in.

Where the album stands

—Your album has an ambient ring that feels like it exists as an extension of everyday life. 

P: Concerning everyday life, whenever we make music, we often make it in our room or other members’ rooms. We get together, work, and then drink and eat. Instead of going into a studio like, “Alright, let’s get to work,” we make music in a laidback way. Perhaps we’re unconsciously reflecting that into our music. 

Y: We made this album while being mindful of the texture of the sounds. It’s not like we imagined a fantastic place and chipped that down to express something. 

P: With our previous works, we would choose a theme and express an exotic vibe—or the distance between said vibe and us. Ultimately, the [idea of] exoticism is about distance. So, I think there’s a gap between [the sound] of every album of ours and the theme. 

Y: Yeah. We express ourselves through our work, but it’s like we conceive them objectively. With this album, we made something towards our shared idea of beauty. 

—Last, if you were to place BISHINTAI on your record shelf, which records will be next to it? 

Y: I want to put it in between ambient, contemporary music, and 80s UK music. So, it would go between Susumu Yokota’s Sakura and the Durutti Column. 

P: Gigi Masin’s Talk to the Sea and Wilson Tanner’s 69.  

O: This album sounded extravagant when I first listened to it, so the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-92.  

H: Dip in the Pool’s 12-inch, released via Music From Memory, and Oneohtrix Point Never’s R Plus Seven.

—Thank you! 

*

UNKNOWN ME
UNKNOWN ME is a four-person ambient unit comprised of Yakenohara, P-RUFF, H. TAKAHASHI, who create the music, and Yudai Osawa, who’s in charge of the graphics and visuals. With the concept “to build someone’s imagined landscape,” they use their imagination and go back and forth between time and space to create various emotions and landscapes via ambient music, new age, and Balearic music. In July 2016, they released their debut tape, SUNDAY VOID. In November 2016, they released their 7-inch AWA EP, in February 2017, they released subtropics, focused on subtropics, via the LA-based independent label Not Not Fun, and in December 2018, they released ASTRONAUTS, a concept album on astronauts,from the same label. FACT Magazine from the UK shed the spotlight on subtropics. UNKNOWN ME has played for the pioneer of ambient revival music Gigi Masin’s show in Japan and MUTEK, the esteemed electronic music and digital art festival. In April 2021, they released their long-awaited first LP, BISHINTAI, a piece of Kankyō Ongaku for city dwellers, based on the theme of the unknown beauty of the heart and body.

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