Orange Milk Records Announces New LP by Koaosaeme

Today the abstract electronic music label Orange Milk Records is announcing their newest LP release by Japanese electronic musician, producer, and Yellow Magic Orchestra-collaborator, Ryu Yoshizawa, aka Koaosaeme (KO-AY-O-SA-MAY). One track, "Ellissi feat. Aylu", is available to stream on bandcamp and soundcloud now and one more single, "Azimuth", is readying for release on April 19th before the record is out, so get in touch if you're interested in partnering for an exclusive premiere! Check out more info on those singles below.

Koeosaeme is Japanese artist Ryu Yoshizawa, and OBANIKESHI, his second album for Orange Milk, is a master class in how to engineer a compelling sound-design record front to back. Utilizing a variety of recorded instruments and hi-fidelity electronics, OBANIKESHI can be linked to multiple musical lineages; the screeching strings, whispered vocals, and moments of atonality recall famous works of 20th century composers like György Ligeti and Krzysztof Penderecki, while sections of manic synthetic noise bring to mind tape-collage composer Noah Creshevsky and more recent Japanese underground artists Footman, DJWWWW, toiret status, Seiho, and others.

Yoshizawa himself has long worked in the Japanese music industry, having joined with Yellow Magic Orchestra's Ryuichi Sakamoto as a studio and live sound engineer, most notably on his "JAPAN TOUR 2005", and as part of Yukihiro Takahashi's sound creator and management company Office Intenzio before turning to production and engineering freelance work. Other notable commercial jobs includes voice and music for the Square Enix manga publication "Shonen Gangan" and ad music for the company Lotte on their "TOPPO" snack foods.

That is all to say that OBANIKESHI is the byproduct of an accomplished composer and engineer expressing himself without the pressures and restraints typically found in his commercial day job, and the results are evident. I've probably undersold how intense and frightening OBANIKESHI can be; sections play out almost like horror film sound tracks, transitioning from climaxing instrumental arrangements to detailed foley-like sound effects for imagined physical movements.