Label: Silent River Runs Deep – SR2D-1011
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
Country: Japan
Released: 3 Aug 2022
Genre: Electronic
Style: Tribal, Ambient
Conceptual 4th world sound environments from Japanese artist and percussionist Yoshiaki Ochi perfectly reintroduced by the excellent Silent River Runs Deep label.
Ochi’s backstory is interesting to say the least. He spent much of the 80s in the commercial world, composing for TV and radio then becoming the in-house composer and performer for Japanese fashion giant Issey Miyaki. Equip with a heavy obsession for the living sound of nature, Ochi would collect the percussive sounds he encountered throughout his travels around the globe, capturing the resonance of everyday objects, the gentle pitter-patter of rain and morning calling of the birds. Natural Sonic was released in 1990 by Tokyo’s influential Wacoal Art Centre spin-off label Newsic and sits somewhere between an imaginary soundtrack and commissioned sound-installation. The vast array of timbres and sonorities present are hard to place - like a fantasy world re-rendered through the augmented sounds of nature. There’s definitely no shortage of this stuff - think Jorge Reyes’ Mayan-inspired works in the 80s, the lively percussive epic ‘Baiafro’ from Brazilian artist Djalma Corrêa, Trimopen’s tribal work-outs, Jon Hassell’s 4th world sound architecture or even the work of our local hero Contours - there’s an endless desire to create worlds more exciting and exotic than our own. But for all the attention entered on Japanese organic / environment music and the St.Giga-related canon, Ochi is a name rarely mentioned. It feels unfair - Natural Sonic embodies those celebrated aesthetics more than most in both sound and process. Another gem brought to our attention from one of the best archival labels out there.. (Mint / New - with OBI / insert / heavy textured sleeve).
Tracklist
A1 Dawning 5:20
A2 Balasong 4:32
A3 Woods From The Sea 3:43
A4 Madal Sonic 3:44
A5 Anywhere 5:06
B1 Beat The Water 2:28
B2 Beatsonic 4:48
B3 Madal Sonic #2 3:20
B4 Ear Dreamin' 4:41
B5 Urban Kogili 6:47
