Yukihiro Takahashi

Bamboo Houses

‘excited by sound’

In 1984, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra released their album Broadcasting from Home on the Editions EG label. A familiar name listed in the accompanying sleeve-notes was that of Ryuichi Sakamoto, with a co-composition credit for the track ‘Heartwind’. The PCO’s leader, Simon Jeffes, had already enjoyed a long association with Japan by this time, his first visit having been in 1972. ‘It’s as if I discovered myself there and became more confident, musically and personally,’ he said. ‘That trip to Japan was a very formative experience which I expressed in writing. That’s how the Penguin Cafe was conceived. Really it’s a state of mind, but I started writing about this place where you would feel at home and just be yourself. You could meet other people and some kind of home music would be played by an orchestra or a band. The Penguin Cafe Orchestra is now playing that music.’

World Citizen (I Won’t Be Disappointed)

‘a conscience that will keep me wide awake’

In 2002 Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi joined forces to form a new duo outfit which they dubbed Sketch Show. It was a surprise move that delighted fans of Yellow Magic Orchestra. In particular, the project tempted Hosono back into pop territory that he had rarely inhabited since the intense but relatively brief YMO heyday from their 1978 eponymous debut to 1983’s Service.

The Art of Parties – Methods of Dance – live

‘a new energy’

It seems that Masami Tsuchiya heard the music of Japan before the band discovered his. ‘I was very touched by Japan’s music from the very first album,’ he told Bamboo magazine, ‘and I told everyone about them – what great musicians they were. The word got around and Japan got to know about it’. Tsuchiya was a founder member of Ippu-Do, an outfit with an openness to European influences. Some sessions for their 1980 LP Real even took place at Hansa studios in Berlin, originating titles such as ‘German Road’, ‘Heidelburg Symphony’ and ‘Neu! (Changing the History)’ – tracks that boast a new wave sound with synthesisers, sequencers and vocoder vox accompanying driving guitar, bass and drums.

Le Pollen – Demain

‘life is the art of encounters’

When Sadistic Mika Band broke up, Yukihiro Takahashi had a very clear vision of the musical direction he wanted to take as he launched a solo career that would span the coming decades. ‘I wanted to do something completely new,’ he confided in a radio interview in 2020 on the occasion of the re-release of his debut album Saravah! ‘I wanted to combine elements from new and old music from abroad as well as from Japan and create something unique.’

Zero Landmine

‘a real hope’

‘Lt Colonel Colin Mitchell became famous in the late 1960s as commanding officer of the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders,’ explains Chris Moon, recalling his job interview with the colonel early in 1993, as he searched for the right assignment to follow his own service in the military. ‘He set up a mine clearance charity after visiting Afghanistan, where he saw farmers unable to work their land, refugees who couldn’t go home and a Red Cross hospital full of amputees.’

REPRESS OF COLOURED VINYLS

OUT NOW FROM LUCRECIA DALT feat. DAVID SYLVIAN

Lucrecia’s new album A Danger to Ourselves is out now. All tracks produced by Lucrecia Dalt & David Sylvian, mixed by David Sylvian.

Sylvian also contributes vocal and feedback guitar to ‘Cosa Rara’ and electric guitar solo for ‘Covenstead Blues’:

Second edition repress of ‘Cosa Rara (feat. David Sylvian)’ with alternative artwork. Note that this vinyl also contains an extended mix of the ‘dopamine dub’ by Matias Aguayo, featuring David Sylvian (i.e. a different version from the first single release):