|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2CD
|
|
WRWTFWW 092CD
|
$21.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 8/1/2025
WRWTFWW Records presents its third release from visionary Japanese ambient/experimental/environmental composer/producer Yutaka Hirose, this time with brand new album Voices, available on limited edition heavyweight-sleeved double LP as well as double CD, both with liner notes from the artist. Voices finds Yutaka Hirose expanding his signature spatial layering into a three-dimensional videography of sound, blending field recordings, electronic manipulations, and abstract narratives. The 12-track album is a journey through a crumbling library where books whisper, history collides, and sonic textures weave new realities. Chaos, memory, and transformation -- Hirose's voices echo throughout the space, creating a fully immersive sonic experience. The pioneering experimental and abstract electronic piece with deep hints of ambient and IDM is beautifully represented by the original artwork by Koji Shiroshita and Mifuku gracing the double LP and double digipack CD sleeves. Voices marks Yutaka Hirose's third full-length release on WRWTFWW Records, following his kankyõ ongaku classics Nova + 4 (an expanded version of his genre defining Soundscape 2: Nova album) and archival compilation TRACE: Sound Design Works 1986-1989.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2LP
|
|
WRWTFWW 092LP
|
$41.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 8/1/2025
Double LP version. WRWTFWW Records presents its third release from visionary Japanese ambient/experimental/environmental composer/producer Yutaka Hirose, this time with brand new album Voices, available on limited edition heavyweight-sleeved double LP as well as double CD, both with liner notes from the artist. Voices finds Yutaka Hirose expanding his signature spatial layering into a three-dimensional videography of sound, blending field recordings, electronic manipulations, and abstract narratives. The 12-track album is a journey through a crumbling library where books whisper, history collides, and sonic textures weave new realities. Chaos, memory, and transformation -- Hirose's voices echo throughout the space, creating a fully immersive sonic experience. The pioneering experimental and abstract electronic piece with deep hints of ambient and IDM is beautifully represented by the original artwork by Koji Shiroshita and Mifuku gracing the double LP and double digipack CD sleeves. Voices marks Yutaka Hirose's third full-length release on WRWTFWW Records, following his kankyõ ongaku classics Nova + 4 (an expanded version of his genre defining Soundscape 2: Nova album) and archival compilation TRACE: Sound Design Works 1986-1989.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2CD
|
|
WRWTFWW 066CD
|
WRWTFWW Records announce the release of Yutaka Hirose's never-heard before 11-track collection Trace: Sound Design Works 1986-1989, with liner notes from the artist. Trace is a collection of 11 unreleased tracks produced by Yutaka Hirose between 1986 and 1989, during the Sound Process Design sessions, right after the release of his classic Soundscape series album Nova. Sound Process Design was Satoshi Ashikawa's label, home of the Wave Notation trilogy (Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Postcards, Satsuki Shibano's Erik Satie 1866-1925, and Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way). Following Wave Notation, Sound Process Design worked with museums, cafes, and bars to create site-specific soundscapes, starting with the sound design of the Kushiro Museum. Yutaka Hirose was called to work on these projects. Rather than simply providing pre-recorded compositions, Hirose sought to create a "sound scenery". To achieve this, he participated in the conception of the space and paid particular attention to the accidental combination of sounds by placing the speakers, using a multi-sound source, and following the concept of "sculpturing time through sound". The composer explains: "sculpturing time through sound means that time, the space itself, the sound played in it, and the audience all become one sculpture. It is close to the idea of a Japanese tea ceremony where you use all of your five (or six) senses to taste the tea." Trace: Sound Design Works 1986-1989 is divided into two parts. The Reflection segment is based on an ambient soundscape. It narrates "a sleep that starts with the sound of water droplets at dawn and slowly disappears into darkness" and feels like a natural and soothing progression of Nova. It was played in entrance halls, at events, in cafes and bars. The "Voice From Past Technology" segment expresses the dream world born out of that sleep and is based on what Yukata Hirose calls hardcore ambient, environmental music with a noise approach. It was played in museums and science centers. All in all, Trace is a crucial addition to every Japanese environmental music fan's collection, alongside Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass (WRWTFWW 019CD/LP), Hiroshi Yoshimura's Green, Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way (WRWTFWW 030CD/LP), Motohiko Hamase's Notes of Forestry (WRWTFWW 034CD/LP), Inoyamaland's Danzindan-Pojidon (WRWTFWW 040LP), and Yutaka Hirose's very own Nova (WRWTFWW 028CD/LTD).
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2LP
|
|
WRWTFWW 066LP
|
2024 restock; double LP version. WRWTFWW Records announce the release of Yutaka Hirose's never-heard before 11-track collection Trace: Sound Design Works 1986-1989, with liner notes from the artist. Trace is a collection of 11 unreleased tracks produced by Yutaka Hirose between 1986 and 1989, during the Sound Process Design sessions, right after the release of his classic Soundscape series album Nova. Sound Process Design was Satoshi Ashikawa's label, home of the Wave Notation trilogy (Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music For Nine Postcards, Satsuki Shibano's Erik Satie 1866-1925, and Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way). Following Wave Notation, Sound Process Design worked with museums, cafes, and bars to create site-specific soundscapes, starting with the sound design of the Kushiro Museum. Yutaka Hirose was called to work on these projects. Rather than simply providing pre-recorded compositions, Hirose sought to create a "sound scenery". To achieve this, he participated in the conception of the space and paid particular attention to the accidental combination of sounds by placing the speakers, using a multi-sound source, and following the concept of "sculpturing time through sound". The composer explains: "sculpturing time through sound means that time, the space itself, the sound played in it, and the audience all become one sculpture. It is close to the idea of a Japanese tea ceremony where you use all of your five (or six) senses to taste the tea." Trace: Sound Design Works 1986-1989 is divided into two parts. The Reflection segment is based on an ambient soundscape. It narrates "a sleep that starts with the sound of water droplets at dawn and slowly disappears into darkness" and feels like a natural and soothing progression of Nova. It was played in entrance halls, at events, in cafes and bars. The "Voice From Past Technology" segment expresses the dream world born out of that sleep and is based on what Yukata Hirose calls hardcore ambient, environmental music with a noise approach. It was played in museums and science centers. All in all, Trace is a crucial addition to every Japanese environmental music fan's collection, alongside Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass (WRWTFWW 019CD/LP), Hiroshi Yoshimura's Green, Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way (WRWTFWW 030CD/LP), Motohiko Hamase's Notes of Forestry (WRWTFWW 034CD/LP), Inoyamaland's Danzindan-Pojidon (WRWTFWW 040LP), and Yutaka Hirose's very own Nova (WRWTFWW 028CD/LTD).
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2CD
|
|
WRWTFWW 028CD
|
WRWTFWW Records present an expanded reissue of one of the most fascinating Japanese ambient/environmental albums ever made, NOVA by Yutaka Hirose, originally released in 1986. The expanded reissue includes the album known as Soundscape 2: Nova, sourced from its original masters, as well as four never-released-before recordings over 50 minutes. Initially released in 1986 as part of the Soundscape series. Commissioned by Misawa Home Corporation for use in their prefabricated houses, Yutaka Hirose's NOVA has grown to become a mythical piece of the Japanese minimalist/ambient/environmental scene of the eighties. Initiated around the enchanting landscapes of the two first tracks recorded for the project, "Nova" and "Epilogue", Yutaka Hirose's magnum opus serenely blends vintage synth with nature sounds, exploring soothing palettes and organic backdrops. For "Slow Sky", Hirose explains he "went for a pointillism-like sound, and tried to express a scenery of awakening, where the portal of a heart is opening up", while on "Humming The Sea", he "tried to compose a kind of music that expresses the daily, lazy life of child-like innocence in a summer vacation in some small town." The bonus material gathers four long unreleased pieces created around the same period of time for installations, described by Yutaka Hirose as "not music per se but rather sound sculptures", and including the haunting "Shadow Of A Water Droplet" which was recorded for an Ikebana exhibition. All in all, NOVA + 4 is a transcendent experience of nature in the urban context, an oeuvre which, much like Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass (WRWTFWW 018LP/WRWTFWW 019CD/LP, 2017) or Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way (1999), holds the power to appease the soul in turbulent times. As one inspired YouTube commenter once said when describing Yutaka Hirose's masterstroke: "I can't tell if the birds are singing inside or outside! Thank you!" Includes liner notes in English and Japanese. Double-CD version comes as a digipack.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2LP
|
|
WRWTFWW 028LTD
|
2022 restock; double LP version. Gatefold sleeve: Includes liner notes in English and Japanese. WRWTFWW Records present an expanded reissue of one of the most fascinating Japanese ambient/environmental albums ever made, NOVA by Yutaka Hirose, originally released in 1986. The expanded reissue includes the album known as Soundscape 2: Nova, sourced from its original masters, as well as four never-released-before recordings over 50 minutes. Initially released in 1986 as part of the Soundscape series. Commissioned by Misawa Home Corporation for use in their prefabricated houses, Yutaka Hirose's NOVA has grown to become a mythical piece of the Japanese minimalist/ambient/environmental scene of the eighties. Initiated around the enchanting landscapes of the two first tracks recorded for the project, "Nova" and "Epilogue", Yutaka Hirose's magnum opus serenely blends vintage synth with nature sounds, exploring soothing palettes and organic backdrops. For "Slow Sky", Hirose explains he "went for a pointillism-like sound, and tried to express a scenery of awakening, where the portal of a heart is opening up", while on "Humming The Sea", he "tried to compose a kind of music that expresses the daily, lazy life of child-like innocence in a summer vacation in some small town." The bonus material gathers four long unreleased pieces created around the same period of time for installations, described by Yutaka Hirose as "not music per se but rather sound sculptures", and including the haunting "Shadow Of A Water Droplet" which was recorded for an Ikebana exhibition. All in all, NOVA + 4 is a transcendent experience of nature in the urban context, an oeuvre which, much like Midori Takada's Through The Looking Glass (WRWTFWW 018LP/WRWTFWW 019CD/LP, 2017) or Satoshi Ashikawa's Still Way (1999), holds the power to appease the soul in turbulent times. As one inspired YouTube commenter once said when describing Yutaka Hirose's masterstroke: "I can't tell if the birds are singing inside or outside! Thank you!" Includes liner notes in English and Japanese.
|
|
|
|