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2LP
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FREQ 002LP
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FREQ002 introduces a vinyl repress of the Future in Light album by Ken Ishii, a legendary producer from Japan known for his releases on labels like R&S Records. Ishii, a techno pioneer, has an inherent connection to anime, with iconic video clips directed by Koji Morimoto, famous for his work on Akira and Memories. The FREQ team has reinterpreted the original cover and remastered those tracks while staying true to its original aesthetics. This album showcases Ishii's blend of techno and house, and even as a repress, it continues to point to the future with the intriguing sound designs featured on this LP. FREQ Records is the record label accompanying the manga FREQ, created by Nicola Kazimir, illustrated by goodnewsforbadguys, and written by the legendary Dai Sato, who has written scripts for Ergo Proxy, Eureka Seven, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, among many others. The setting of Freq's lore unfolds in a futuristic realm where the influence of sound frequencies governs all aspects of life. In this world, everything from traffic and AR visuals to electricity, warfare, and of course, music, is orchestrated through the manipulation and extraction of sound frequencies. The narrative unfolds within the sprawling expanse of Rephlex, a vast city featuring diverse districts, factions, and social classes.
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LP
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MMDS 24003LP
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The musician and DJ Ken Ishii sits right at the pinnacle of techno's most noteworthy, but although a game changer for the artist personally -- and for Japanese electronic music in general -- his 1994 album Reference to Difference is something of an unsung gem today. Now reissued and remastered, released to mark the 30th anniversary of Musicmine/Sublime Records, and available on vinyl with its original track-list for the first time, this stunning, lesser-known classic is ripe for rediscovery. A futuristic confluence of unplaceable ambient atmospheres, space age techno, IDM and minimalist composition, Reference To Difference unfolds as an effortless series of exercises in pristine synth textures, robust man/machine rhythm and understated melodies. It teleports the listener back to a golden moment in the mid-1990s, when a dedicated generation rose out of Tokyo's storied clubs and took the innovation, energy, and creativity of Japan's unique techno culture to the world. Opened in 1993, Maniac Love was a new nightclub where Manabu Yamazaki aka DJ Yama promoted the Sublime parties, which soon became a crucial hub within the burgeoning Tokyo underground. It was here where Yamazaki rubbed shoulders with peers including Ishii and Susumu Yokota, and the trio's future became intertwined. Through talking with Ishii and Yokota, Yamazaki became emboldened to transform Sublime into a record label. Soon after, Yamazaki partnered with Hideoki Amano, who was on the verge of founding Musicmine, a now respected and longstanding independent Japanese music company. As Yamazaki tells it, Amano helped him turn his dream into a reality: Sublime Records. For Musicmine and Sublime Records' inaugural album releases, Yamazaki and Amano approached both Ishii and Yokota, resulting in the simultaneous drop of Reference To Difference and Acid Mt. Fuji respectively, on June 29th 1994. With the pair of LPs further stamping Japan on the contemporary musical globe, the scene was beginning to boom at home too. Specialist record stores, and club music magazines like Ele-King and Loud spread the word, and in the wake of Maniac Love's impact, new nightclubs like the legendary Liquid Room were opening up, bringing a steady stream of world-famous DJs to the Japanese capital. The new liner notes for this release were written Martyn Pepperell, a well-regarded music journalist who has covered Susumu Yokota for Wax Poetics and Midori Takada for Dazed, amongst numerous other articles.
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12"
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MBE 124EP
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Japan's most innovative and experimental composer and one of the most intelligent international DJs, Ken Ishii makes his debut EP on MB Elektronics with his two-tracker EP ''Wobbly Sniper'." The title-track is a pure dancefloor smasher that will not let you take a breath from start to end. The second track ''Alienated Bass'' will cause some ''hands in the air'' action, giving an even more exciting vibe to the party. On remix duties nobody else than the one and only legend Steve Rachmad delivers an amazing version of the title-track, driving it each time to another level.
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CD
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EX 302CD
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"Ken Ishii is one of the most innovative and forward thinking artists to emerged from Japan in the last decade. Hovering between techno based textures and subdued sonic bliss, Ken Ishii is clearly aiming for musical enchantment of a different kind. Having assimilated a wide array of influences (Yellow Magic Orchestra, DAF, Kraftwerk, Nitzer Ebb, Derrick May) he manages to make them come alive in a context that surpasses all comparison, mutating the very concept of techno itself. Ken Ishii has proved once again that he is at the forefront of internationally known electronic music composers and DJs without limiting his musical pedigree."
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2LP
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EX 103LP
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CD
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EX 103CD
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"Not many Japanese musicians have made it big outside their own country, but in this is as in so many things Ken Ishii is the exception to the rule. His first album, Jelly Tones, released in 1995 brought his name to the mass public both in Europe and Japan. Another two albums Metal Blue America and Sleeping Madness earned him even more respect and established him as one of the select few Japanese artists with a place on the international stage. Flatspin will undoubtedly take his impressive reputation a stage further. Originally conceived as a soundtrack to a Japanese equivalent of James Bond, it sees him pushing boundaries again whilst delivering what is his most accessible album yet. The new album includes the recent single 'Slapdash', described in the press as 'a compulsive throb of neon bright swirls'. On the other hand, stand out track 'Iceblink' is expected to be the new single, on the album it appears as an instrumental and as a full vocal, supplied beautifully by Inner City vocalist Paris Grey. All in all. Flatspin shows Ken on top form yet again."
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