Banka / 晩夏
My new track Banka is now available to share with everyone around the world today. This track was included on the compilation CD ~ Lake Of Illusions ~ which was released only in Japan this year. Finally, you can listen to it on Spotify etc. I’m glad if you really enjoy this.
Banka means late summer in Japanese. In fact I created this in late summer. I went to my local sea several times and felt inspired. There was the presence of sea breeze and the aroma of seaweed.
LIMITED EDITION KWAIDAN TEE
In light of the recent crisis, many of my upcoming shows are uncertain. However, I have hope that things will get better eventually.
I’m also happy to share that I’ve partnered with Everpress to release a Kwaidan t-shirt in celebration of the upcoming 2nd repress of Kwaidan on vinyl via Evening Chants coming soon. The t-shirt is available for only two weeks. I hope you enjoy this.
Purchase at https://everpress.com/meitei-t-shirt
Thank you for your support and I hope everyone takes care of themselves and stays safe!
Beautiful design by Jasmine Ho
Lounge Sai in Tokyo
Last Saturday night, I played at “Lounge Sai”, an exhibition of beautiful fashion brands in Tokyo. I prepared an original program for this Lounge Sai. And played it. I think it was a breathtaking time. The venue was full of tension and the audience was focused on sound for 60 minutes. This was my first experience this scene. It was a wonderful experience.
Thank you very much!
Meitei new mix for Bleep
A new mix has been created to commemorate the release of Kwaidan. Here is a mood that cannot be expressed in Meitei’s original work. But that is one of the most important Japanese moods. You can enjoy this mix as an extra work of Kwaidan and Komachi. I am very happy to share such expressions with everyone. Thank you.
KWAIDAN LP
One of the most striking releases of the last couple of years, ‘Kwaidan’ is a spellbindingly curious study in the “lost" art of Japanese ghost story-telling and horror folklore, marking the sublime first release on Singapore’s bijou Evening Chants imprint. It’s now finally available on vinyl for the first time on a heavyweight 180g pressing mastered by Taylor Deupree. Edition of 500. Includes a download dropped to your account.
Inspired by living in Kyoto for the past two years, ‘Kwaidan’ - a form of Japanese ghost story - is focussed on musically crafting a form of “Japanese Mood”, or Meitei. Taking this word as his moniker, Meitei becomes his subject in a pointed effort to revive or at least keep this artform alive, using a combination of frayed, enigmatic backdrops to tactfully limn a specific mood.
The delicate approach and febrile, shapeshifting results recall to our ears the subtly suggestive sound sets of Sugai Ken as much as Jan Jelinek at his dreamiest, conjuring winding passages of crackle and shimmering subaquatic chords, finding beauty lurking in the low key and peripheral, spectral and metaphysical realms.
Pics by Boomkat
KWAIDAN LP
Last year, my album “Kwaidan” was released on cassette by
. I am very excited to share that it will be released on vinyl for the first time. There is also a second pressing of the cassette, that has been sold out for awhile. It will be officially released on 11 October, 2019.
Hailed as many as one of the best experimental albums of last year, Meitei / 冥丁’s strong debut “Kwaidan” continues to make waves. Evening Chants is more than thrilled to present this work of art on vinyl for the first time.
Remastered by Taylor Deupree, the “Kwaidan” 12" vinyl (and second tape pressing) will be released on 11 October, 2019. Limited pressings available for both formats.
Finally I came to this stage. I remember when I released it at Bandcamp in the winter a year and a half ago. I have met many people and now I have a lot of support from listeners around the world. I really appreciate everyone. And I am excited about the fact that a new impression of Japan is growing up now.
Pre-order sold out.Thanks to your support!
Meitei’s first show in Japan
This time, the first show of Meitei will be held in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. I did not expect that I would be doing a show. But from now on, I intend to actively work on the show / live format. I’m still a beginner in this style, but I’m aiming for a deep performance in the near future. Now I have started a new challenge.
In this show, I will prepare a Komachi / Kwaidan new arrangement. I realized that doing a show can announce an existing track as a new version. That might be very interesting. I think it will eventually be possible to show more interesting styles. I’m interested in it. Thank you 👻
Lounge Sai at Urasando Factory, Tokyo 6.22-23.2019
A-Garie : https://www.instagram.com/tomo_kishida
Aviva Jifei Xue : https://www.instagram.com/avivajxue
DSecond : https://www.d-second.com/
Kei Shigenaga : https://keishigenaga.com
Thoughts of Other : https://www.instagram.com/thoughtsofo…
Tai Unuma : https://www.instagram.com/taiunuma
Soundtrack by Meitei : https://open.spotify.com/artist/5TS4D…
Mind & Molecules in Syzygy by Jona Sees
A field orbits an axis that contains a gateway.
While the austere EŸN VAS wardrobe exists outside the field, the shoes stop short of the edge, and inside the field material considerations are absent.
The nucleus unifies surrounding elements of mind and matter with the question of its interior constitution.
Viewers may remain comfortably outside the field or enter into this plane where the known holograms can fade as new ones take shape.
大地が深淵に臨む中核を廻る
あまねく物質は質量を忘れ 沓底は地平線に留まり EŸN VASは上天に生ずる
境に並ぶ心意と身躯は融解し 一つの意思をもって中核へと還る
安住の地にて心像と対峙し像を保する あるいは 越境の果てに心像は再設され新たな像が結ばれる Translated by Ryo Miyamoto
Soundtrack by : Meitei from kwaidan
As the Reiwa Era begins, Japanese music producer Daisuke Fujita, aka Meitei, is looking forward while sticking to the traditions of the past.
I am very happy to have a great interview offer! It is an honor to be told here as a Japanese artist.In Japan, a new era “Reiwa” has started. I feel the inevitable coincidence that the music of Meitei began at such time.
Blending modern techniques with deep reverence for history, producer Meitei sets out to recapture a “lost Japanese mood"
In storytelling, to build a world is to set the boundaries of a shapeless void. Writers set out to fill that vast emptiness with natural laws, intricate systems that interact with one another and organize the stories of their inhabitants. Some worlds are rooted in fantasy, while others are more grounded in the annals of history. Komachi, the new album from Hiroshima-based producer Meitei, draws heavily from both of these notions, resulting in sonic landscapes that are as indebted to J. Dilla and Steve Reich as they are to East Asian instrumentation and noted Japanese producers like Susumu Yokota.
Crafted with the stated mission of recapturing what he describes as a “lost Japanese mood,” the tracks on Meitei’s latest release were inspired by the recent loss of his 99-year-old grandmother. The album derives its title from Ono no Komachi, the eighth century waka poet whose mythical beauty and profoundly wistful writing earned her countless suitors and elevated her to the stuff of legend. (In Japanese, komachi is often used as shorthand for a great feminine beauty.)
Beauty manifests in many forms throughout Komachi. Gone are the ghost stories of Meitei’s 2018 release Kwaidan, which were conveyed via raspy spoken-word fragments and gloaming ambience. In their stead are brighter peals, intricately woven with traditional Japanese percussion. Field recordings and the familiar warmth of tape hiss are still present but rarely oppressive, providing a naturalistic undercurrent throughout. Some songs, such as “Chouchin,” sound as if Meitei lifted fragments from an ancient dream and laid them out across the 16 pads of a modern-day MPC beat machine. On other tracks, like “Ike” and “Sento [Pt.I],” babbling brooks peek out from underneath layers of plucks and noise.-Noah Yoo
“I want to revive the soul of Japan that still sleeps in the darkness”
- Meitei / 冥丁
Out now on Spotify
Composed as individual sonic dioramas, Yabun have been crafted to not only evoke feelings of nostalgia but to also explore the dichotomy of ancient and new in modern Japanese society. This pervasive narrative runs throughout, calling to mind the work of authors Yasunari Kawabata and Natsume Soseki, as well as the films of Yasujirō Ozu and Hayao Miyazaki, artists similarly fascinated by the reflective tranquillity that permeated traditional Japanese domestic life. And This EP is a preparation before listening to Meitei’s New album Komachi.
The Lost Japanese Mood Yabun EP
Japanese producer Meitei / 冥丁 intricately transposes old night into an ambient fever dream. Out now on spotify.
Kwaidan refers to Japanese ghost stories from another era, a folk tradition that hinges on a tale’s strange tone as opposed to the raw horror favored by today’s generation. Across nine bewitching tracks, Hiroshima composer Meitei translates the tenor of kwaidan to music. Featuring spoken word snippets, faint field recordings, haunting half-melodies, and the accumulated dust of a century or two, it’s a record that whispers into your ear long into the night. – Ruth Saxelby
The Lost Japanese Mood Kwaidan
Japanese producer Meitei / 冥丁 intricately transposes horror folklore into an ambient fever dream. Out now on spotify.
horrorjapan
horrorjapan
“Japanese critics have frequently dismissed Honda as worthy of consideration, regarding him merely as the director of entertainment films aimed at children. By contrast they have elevated Kurosawa to the status of national treasure. As for the men themselves, by all accounts Honda and Kurosawa had nothing but respect for one another’s work. Prospective studies of the history of Japanese cinema should therefore treat Honda’s direction of monster movies and Kurosawa’s interpretation of prestigious sources such as Shakespeare as equally deserving of serious discussion.” - Inuhiko Yomota
Another Christmas present, this time Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. I’m a big fan of Godzilla (who isn’t?), but it’s exciting to have a book that’s about the director himself. Not only to read about his non daikaiju films like Matango and Half Human, but to read about the man himself.
Whether it’s Shigeru Mizuki, Akira Kurosawa or Masaki Kobayashi, some of these post-war mangaka and directors have life stories that are as exciting as their work. More than anything it’s interesting how their life experiences directly contribute to their creativity.
I’m real early in so far, but it’s great to read a book that places Honda in the context of Japanese cinema rather than as this offshoot monster movie guy. Having the input of Honda’s own family is a real interesting touch much like tim Lucas’s leg-breaking Mario Bava book.
You can buy
Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa
here, doing so helps this blog :)
