uguisu...

of all the japanese 78s i have, this label might be my favorite. the image, design, and colors seem much more related to 1920's japanese design and painting than japanese records on columbia, victor, etc., which tend to reflect a kind of generic 78 aesthetic (if there is such a thing...).

i picked this up several months ago as part of a big lot of japanese 78's that i'm still going through. because of the label, it was one the first discs i listened to. unfortunately the shellac surface was so hammered, i set it aside. i recently started going through some of the records again, and gave it another try. indeed side two is almost copletely shrouded in noise and the "music" most of the time can barely be found. fortunately, side one which features some insane shakuhachi playing by kobayashi shuzen, has a little more presence. it does sound a bit like listening to someone play music through a bad telephone connection; and the sound does feel distant at times, as it struggles for presence beneath the audible scars of the record's previous life of abuse. i suppose the noise is what gives this early recording an even more pronounced presence of another time...

the song is titled sugomori, which means something along the lines of "staying in the nest". i'm guessing it's probably pretty rare for a song title and record company logo image to be so connected.

click here to listen