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LP
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DC 722LP
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2018 release. "We come from nowhere and fade back there again, leaving the foggy dreams and obscure anxieties of this life behind when we go. Life is enigma, and with great respect for the vagaries of this truth, Masaki Batoh's Nowhere reaches out of the darkness, with strings of steel and voices echoing out of time. In the summer of 2018, Masaki Batoh held sessions at GOK Sound in Tokyo, with the goal of making his fourth solo album. With a pure folk singer approach, he started the recordings as a basic live performance of guitar with vocal, using only two mics. If more elements were needed, they would be added -- but most important to him was to capture the performance as immediately as possible. GOK Sound is an all-analog recording facility, and once Batoh had added a few elements such as bass, percussion, harmony vocals, electric guitar, harp and a bit of mellotron (all played by himself in response to his basic performances) and added the necessary reverb, the world of Nowhere was rendered as deep and sparkling as he had hoped, consecrating the spiritual intentions of his songs. Batoh played the basic tracks with acoustic 6- and 12-string guitars, mainly a 1973 Guild D-40 and a 1972 Guild F-212. Two 1968 Gibson models (a J50 and a B12) were used, as well as a 1972 Martin D18, a 1966 Pirles long-neck 5-string banjo and a Gibson Firebird for electric guitar. Everything was tuned to drop D, a tuning taught to him in the early 1980s by the legendary British folk musician Martin Carthy, when Batoh was traveling through London. Many of the lyrics of Nowhere, sung in English, Japanese, and on one song, Latin, reference his younger days as well, when traveling the world and witnessing for himself the majesty and shame of humanity. The sound of Nowhere reflects with dimensional richness the world that Batoh has been traveling since those early days -- a vast space echoing with the music of many eras, played and sung in tongues of many nations. This is a world where the guitar can play songs as they've been played for centuries, or play in a hauntingly hallucinogenic style, or, as in the closing track, play with an open mind and heart, thinking about these things without knowing exactly where it will end. The theme of Batoh's music is finding a common tradition in all these various musics, to bring them forward in his own style and provoke a shared desire to promote humanity in the audience. Batoh has opened the door for you -- if you are able to pass through, Nowhere is waiting for you."
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LP
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DC 757LP
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2020 release. "Masaki Batoh's solo career continues to rise up with his fifth solo album, and second in the last two years, Smile Jesus Loves YOU. As long-time listeners of Ghost and The Silence are well aware, Batoh's music is of the world and for the world . . . it exists as part of the conundrum of the world, for us to hear and form thought or feeling . . . The defiance of a fixed notion in Batoh's world and music is made clear, as with the ambiguities of last year's mortality meditation Nowhere, by the title of his new album. This shouldn't be taken at face value. It might be a politically bitter statement. It might not be political at all, in this time of insane corrupt leaders who clearly believe in nothing except what they can use. It is a question for anyone who believes, or doesn't believe. Listeners must come up with their own understanding, based on their own sentiment and where they find themselves in their evolving form. Following the mostly solitary activity of making Nowhere, Batoh has invited several guests to play with him for parts of Smile Jesus Loves YOU. Like family members, collaborators from The Silence and Ghost make guest appearances, including, for two songs, ex-Ghost and legendary percussionist Hiroyuki Usui (Fushitsusha). For the journey of this new album, Batoh takes us a great distance, singing in Japanese, English, Spanish and Latin, including an amazing cover of one of his heroes, Atahualpa Yupanqui, with lyrics translated from Spanish to Japanese, giving them a haiku-like feeling. Batoh plays a variety of stringed instruments throughout, as well as mellotron and shanai, supported at times by the playing of others on flute, piano, lap steel, saxophone, contra bass and drums. The songs expand amoebically, with music styles of the world shifting and merging to form their whole. Through phases of dark and light, including some new musical discoveries in Batoh's world, we travel through the multipart epic title track to salvation. This world is a difficult place, whether or not the gods will come to save us, but there is a happy ending for us if we accept and make it so. As with all of Batoh's recent releases, Smile Jesus Loves YOU is a 100% analogue recording of absolutely human playing, with no digital copying and pasting. This allows us to hear and feel the air around the recording as if it is our own. And we do!"
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CD
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DC 471CD
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"Brain Pulse Music is the result of years of research into the bioelectric functions of the human brain combined with the traumatic aftermath of Japan's Great East Earthquake. All seven Brain Pulse Music tracks are a prayer/requiem. They are a 'tamashizume' (a requiescat) and 'tamafuri' (reinvigoration of the withered soul) to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Two pieces are composed of BPM machine recordings; the remaining five are rhythms and melodies commonly heard in religious rituals and provincial festivals using traditional Japanese instruments. This seems to have been a natural reaction for Batoh, considering these rituals were quite often carried out to appease gods thought to cause epidemics and disasters--for instance, the famous Gion and Aoi festivals held in Kyoto both originated as a purification ritual addressing the gods that bring about calamity upon the people. The BPM recordings are the furthest incursion Batoh has made into the deep space and mystery of the human condition. The acoustic recordings are the purest expressions of his traditional folk influence that he has released in over twenty years of music-making, a deep and soulful expression intended to calm and aid in the healing of all around him. And so from the rubble of Japan's damaged bodies and minds, the power of Brain Pulse Music has emerged."
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LP
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DC 471LP
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CD
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DC 180CD
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"The works that Collected Works collects are A Ghost From The Darkened Sea and Kikaokubeshi, two albums recorded and released in 1995 and 1996, during the final period of conceptualization for Ghost's Lama Rabi Rabi album. These two solo records allowed Batoh to explore musics and textures in an entirely free space from the already quite free (and rapidly morphing) Ghost. This is a solo record in a very complete sense: acoustic guitar, marimba, harmonium, voodoo drum, bells, hurdy gurdy, organ, drums, horns, duff, Moog synthesizer and the mysterious 'giri giri pee' are all played by Batoh. In addition, field recordings done by Batoh are in the mix -- birds, seashore, winds on a bluff, industrial noise, metro, mountains, etc. The two works are fundamentally different: A Ghost From The Darkened Sea being an earthy collection of folk-songs; Kikaokubeshi composed almost entirely of a dreamy ambience."
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