Five Japanese ambient and new age artists to watch

The first name you should learn when beginning a journey into the halls of Japanese ambient, the experimentally-minded Chihei Hatakeyama debuted in 2006 and has been hypnotising fans with his melancholic, noise-incorporating and overwhelming – but remarkably simple and beautiful – melodies ever since. The Tokyo native’s fame has started seeping across the oceans in recent years, with Hatakeyama releasing his latest album on Australian label Room40 and attracting interest in Europe as well.

chihei.org

Putting Sugai Ken in a genre box is an impossible task, as his mysterious, glitchy tunes seem to encompass the entire range of experimental electronic music. Sometimes compared to fellow avant-garde explorer Arca, the Venezuelan producer and beat maker who specialises in strangely twisting compositions, the Kanagawa-based artist also draws on traditional Japanese folk music in his soundscapes. Released in November 2017, new album UkabazUmorezU is an excellent testament to Sugai’s talent.

sugaiken.bandcamp.com

Released in 1983, Midori Takada’s Through the Looking Glass is considered a masterpiece of early Japanese ambient, with the limited-release disc a hot property among collectors ready to shell out really big yen for the original vinyl. Regular listeners can now get their hands on this remarkable minimalist amalgamation, as it was finally re-released in 2017 through the joint efforts of Brooklyn label Palto Flats and appropriately named Swiss imprint We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want. Now 65, Takada herself has taken her newfound fame in her stride, having completed a successful European tour earlier this year.

soundcloud.com/mentalgroove/sets/mtttlg

Turning out some of the most complex guitar-based drone music out there, the Tokyo-based Hakobune has to be one of Japan’s most productive musicians – in any genre – having released well over 50 records despite still being in his early 30s. It is live, however, that the man born Takahiro Yorifuji is best appreciated. Usually playing several gigs in Tokyo every month, his impossibly complex, layered sounds flow mercilessly like a river after a typhoon, making it impossible to stop listening.

hakobune.bandcamp.com

Veteran tenor saxman Yasuaki Shimizu is back in the spotlight recently thanks to a couple of high-profile reissues: 1982 album Kakashi and the analogue version of Music For Commercials, a plainly titled but fascinating compilation of past ad works. The latter is particularly noteworthy, containing wild, new age-y interpretations of bits and pieces of classical music that make you wonder what the ad men were smoking when they approved them. Shimizu regularly plays Tokyo gigs together with his long-running band, the Saxophonettes.

www.yasuaki-shimizu.com