3 × Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Remastered
Box Set

Triple vinyl LP pressing in deluxe Stoughton tip-on jacket, slipcase and poster. Light In The Attic's Japan Archival Series continues with Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990, an unprecedented overview of the country's vital minimal, ambient, avant-garde, and New Age music - what can collectively be described as kankyo ongaku, or environmental music. The collection features internationally acclaimed artists such as Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Joe Hisaishi, as well as other pioneers like Hiroshi Yoshimura, Yoshio Ojima and Satoshi Ashikawa, who deserve a place alongside the indisputable giants of these genres. In the 1970s, the concepts of Brian Eno's ambient and Erik Satie's furniture music began to take hold in the minds of artists and musicians around Tokyo. Emerging fields like soundscape design and architectural acoustics opened up new ways in which sound and music could be consumed. For artists like Yoshimura, Ojima and Ashikawa, these ideas became the foundation for their musical works, which were heard not only on records and in live performances, but also within public and private spaces where they intermingled with the sounds and environments of everyday life. The bubble economy of 1980s Japan also had a hand in the advancement of kankyo ongaku. In an attempt to cultivate an image of sophisticated lifestyle, corporations with expendable income bankrolled various art and music initiatives, which opened up new and unorthodox ways in which artists could integrate their avant-garde musical forms into everyday life: in-store music for Muji, promo LP for a Sanyo AC unit, a Seiko watch advert, among others that can be heard in this collection. Kankyo Ongaku is expertly compiled by Spencer Doran (Visible Cloaks) who, with a series of revelatory mixtapes as well as his label Empire of Signs (Music For Nine Postcards), has been instrumental in shepherding interest in this music outside of Japan. Together with Light In The Attic's celebrated anthologies I Am The Center and The Microcosm, Kankyo Ongaku helps to broaden our understanding of this quietly profound music, regardless of the environment in which it's heard.

Tracklist

A1 –Satoshi Ashikawa - Still Space
A2 –Yoshio Ojima - Glass Chattering
A3 –Hideki Matsutake - Nemureru Yoru (Karaoke Version)
A4 –Ayuo Takahashi - Nagareru
B1 –Joe Hisaishi - Islander
B2 –Yoshiaki Ochi - Ear Dreamin'
B3 –Masashi Kitamura + Phonogenix - Variation・III
B4 –Interior - Park
B5 –Yoichiro Yoshikawa - Nube
C1 –Yoshio Suzuki - Meet Me In The Sheep Meadow
C2 –Ryuichi Sakamoto - Dolphins
C3 –Toshi Tsuchitori - Ishiura (Abridged)
C4 –Shiho Yabuki - Tomoshibi (Abridged)
C5 –Toshifumi Hinata - Chaconne
D1 –Yasuaki Shimizu - Seiko 3
D2 –Inoyama Land - Apple Star
D3 –Hiroshi Yoshimura - Blink
D4 –Fumio Miyashita - See The Light (Abridged)
E1 –Akira Ito - Praying For Mother / Earth Part 1
E2 –Jun Fukamachi - Breathing New Life
E3 –Takashi Toyoda - Snow
E4 –Yellow Magic Orchestra - Loom
F1 –Takashi Kokubo - A Dream Sails Out To Sea - Scene 3
F2 –Masahiro Sugaya - Umi No Sunatsubu
F3 –Haruomi Hosono - Original BGM