Hiroshi Yoshimura

Hiroshi Yoshimura – Surround (1986/2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 13, 2023 · Comments off

Temporal Drift proudly presents the long-awaited, first-ever reissue of Surround, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s sought-after ambient classic.

Originally released as an album in January 1986, Surround was recorded by Yoshimura as a commission from home builder Misawa Homes, intended to function as an “amenity” designed to enhance the company’s newly built living spaces. A pioneer in the field of environmental music, Yoshimura’s previous works included Music For Nine Post Cards (1982), originally produced to be played back inside a museum space, and designing sound environments for public spaces and subway systems. Surround was recorded almost concurrently with the acclaimed and popular Green (1986); the two albums are described by Hiroyoshi Shiokawa in his liner notes as being Yoshimura’s yin and yang.

In his original notes for the album, Yoshimura recommends that Surround be placed in the same family of sounds “as the vibration of footsteps, the hum of an air conditioner, or the clanging of a spoon inside a coffee cup.” And, as he suggests, “with the addition of city noise from outside the window,” you may hear Surround in a completely new way.”

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Hiroshi Yoshimura – Music for Nine Post Cards (1982/2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · March 10, 2023 · Comments off

Hiroshi Yoshimura’s classic 1982 album “Music For Nine Post Cards” available for the first time outside Japan. Yoshimura, the legendary Japanese ambient artist who passed away in 2003, originally produced Music For Nine Post Cards as a demo of music to be played in the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art. It was recorded at home using a minimal setup of Fender Rhodes and keyboard.

Known among ambient and New Age heads for his serene, Satie-influenced sound—referred to as kankyō ongaku [環境音楽] (the term given to Brian Eno’s “ambient” music when it arrived in late ’70s Japan)—Yoshimura also made environmental music for runway shows, train stations and pre-fab houses over the course of his career.

The Music For Nine Post Cards reissue is the first release for Empire Of Signs, a new label run by Spencer Doran of Visible Cloaks and Maxwell August Croy of the Root Strata label. Doran and Croy worked with Hiroshi’s widow Yoko Yoshimura on the reissue, which features reproductions of the original art and liner notes, as well as new writings from Doran, Croy and Yoshimura. The label says more Yoshimura reissues are on the way.

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Hiroshi Yoshimura – Green (1986/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · March 10, 2023 · Comments off

Barely known outside of his home country during his lifetime, the late Japanese ambient music pioneer Hiroshi Yoshimura has seen his global stature rise steadily in the past few years. The 2017 reissue of his lauded debut, Music For Nine Post Cards, along with a slow building cult internet following has helped ignite a renaissance in his acclaimed body of work, much of which has never been released outside of Japan. Known for his sound design and environmental music, Yoshimura worked on a number of commissions following the 1982 release of Music For Nine Post Cards, including works for museums, galleries, public spaces, TV shows, video art, fashion shows, and even a cosmetics company.

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