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V 28021LP
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The strength of the Akira soundtrack lies in its unique blend of traditional Japanese instruments and futuristic electronic sounds. Shoji Yamashiro weaves together an eclectic mix of influences, creating a sonic landscape that mirrors the dystopian and cyberpunk themes of the movie. The use of traditional chants, taiko drums, and Shakuhachi flutes alongside electronic synthesizers and orchestral elements generates a hauntingly mesmerizing atmosphere that perfectly complements the visuals on screen. The composer also drew from the chants of Noh, traditional Japanese theater. Combined with polyrhythmic drum machine beats and synths tuned to gamelan microtonal scales, these styles give a sense of ritualistic tension to the dystopian world of Akira.
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V 25AH986LP
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For this historical concert held at the Yubin Chokin Hall, in Tokyo on May 14, 1986, the legendary Japanese drummer Masahiko Togashi brought together an amazing line-up with such modern jazz luminaries as Steve Lacy (soprano sax), Don Cherry (pocket trumpet), and Dave Holland (bass). This particular album consists of four previously unpublished tracks (on vinyl), including some highly regarded Lacy's compositions such as "The Crus"" and "Quakes" and Don Cherry's African flavored anthem called "Mopti". The Lacy-Cherry frontline flies over the agile, airy rhythm section of Holland and Togashi and the interplay between the four master musicians sounds loose and relaxed. This is a must-hear for any post free jazz fan.
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V 25AH506LP
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2023 repress. Victory present a reissue of Haruomi Hosono, Takahiko Ishikawa, and Masataka Matsutoya's The Aegean Sea originally released in 1979. The album is somewhat of a companion piece to the previous year's Pacific (V 25AH426). A beautiful piece of Japanese smooth fusion-jazz with elements of traditional Greek music and Balearic grooves, it's one of Hosono's cleanest and most focused works to date. Long sought-after by collectors, this record is nearly impossible to find in original pressings outside of Japan and this is a welcome reissue of one of the greatest titles in Hosono's seemingly infinite catalog. Essential Japanese jazz fusion.
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VLF 95014LP
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Reissue of Japanese artist Jun Fukamachi's 1977 electric version of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. "This superbly crafted direct-to-disk features the versatile Fukamachi as a veritable one-man band in a lively album that captures the essence of the original Beatles' tunes throughout. The innovative arrangements of the artist, tailored to get the maximum benefit from a surrounding instrument array, produce one of the better technical efforts of this series. Synthesizer effects provide special "flavor," particularly at the close of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" on side one, and in the evocative opening of "She's Leaving Home" on side two. . . . Fukamachi blends a concert grand, electric piano, Arp synthesizer, glockenspiel, bass drum, tambourine and other electronic instruments with results that indicate a group, not a solo, with ample display of each." --Billboard, September 9, 1978
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V 25AH426
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2023 restock. Victory present a reissue of Pacific, originally released in 1978. Reuniting the best session musicians Japan had to offer to make an album that would evoke the atmospheres of the South Pacific islands, the kind of places Japanese people spend their vacations. Pacific is a treat to the ears; its theme of the southern Pacific ocean and its warm cerulean waters relax its listeners with a fusion of city pop, soft jazz, and that good old 1970s funk while remaining surprisingly fully instrumental throughout all contributions from artists Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, and Tatsuro Yamashita. A true cult LP and an inspiration for a lot of so called "vaporware" music. LP includes insert.
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V 84676LP
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Victory present a reissue of Isn't It Lupintic?: Lupin The Third TV Special Original Sound Track, originally released on CD in 1999. Yuji Ohno is a Japanese jazz musician, principally known for his musical scoring of Japanese anime. His most well-known works are for the anime-television series Lupin The Third and the feature film The Castle Of Cagliostro (1979). Ohno is also well-known as a member of a jazz trio with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Lenny White. The tracks collected here for Lupin The Third are oozing with seventies cool, exemplified by opener "Theme From Lupin III" where the snares shuffle, the pianos tease and the upright bass walks with all the swagger of a French master thief. Great funky tunes from the Japanese jazz master.
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VP 9030LP
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Masahiko Satoh's fourth album is a duet with German pianist and composer Wolfgang Dauner. Dauner is one of the very early European avant-garde jazz pianists, and he recorded the first free jazz album in Germany back in 1964. Dauner played with Eberhard Weber and Jean-Luc Ponty, and in the late '60s, he experimented with choral music. Being a passionate innovator and experimenter, in 1970 he discovered electronic devices and started using them in his music. He experimented with ring-modulated Hohner clavinets and pianos and recorded several albums for ECM. During his Japanese tour in spring 1971, he met one of the most advanced Japanese pianists of that time, Masahiko Satoh. The five compositions on this album were recorded in Tokyo in March 1971, but were not released until that autumn. It's interesting that a few months later, Masahiko Satoh will record and release his best-known, and in some sense, legendary album, Amalgamation (ASH 3040CD) -- an eclectic mix of musical genres and sounds that was probably influenced by his earlier collaboration with Dauner. Pianology, released soon after Amalgamation, wasn't as strong in comparison, and stayed in its shade for decades. Pianology is a collection of freeform classical and jazz piano duo improvs, spiced with ring modulator sounds. Includes printed inner sleeve.
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V 14699LP
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First with his band The Bunnys and later with The Blue Jeans, guitarist Takeshi "Terry" Terauchi covered many popular genres in the '60s and '70s, from garage, frat rock, and surf guitar instrumentals to sentimental ballads via his own inimitable take on the popular classics. Japan's premier guitar hero, her remains little known in the US. His style could be described as neo-surf, blending traditional surf sounds with fuzz guitar, acid organ, and impetuous drums. In 1972 the instrumental album Rashomon was released, featuring a main theme written by Terauchi for Akira Kurosawa's 1951 film Rashomon -- surf/psych with dark guitar and soaring flute. This is its first reissue.
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