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bare strata

"bare strata" is made up of two songs, "bare strata" and "returning".
"bare strata" was recorded at the General Store live venue in Sydney on August 28th, 2011. "returning" was recorded in Hatakeyama's studio.

Before going to Sydney, Hatakeyama went to Cairns for his Australia tour.
The inspiration of "bare strata" came from the natural surroundings on the Cairns Beach where he spent his day off during the tour.
Some sound pieces in “bare strata” were also used in his previous album.
- Chihei Hatakeyama

 

There are innumerable melodies in Hatakeyama’s sounds.
I have caught the various reverberating sounds that are echoing and creating overtone resonance.

Giving myself to the sounds and losing a sense of time, I comfortably feel the sense of being in the space between dreams and realities.
And gradually his sounds encompass my body and soul.
I am very fortunate to have an opportunity to introduce Hatakeyama’s great Drone to the world.
- -Whereabouts Records Kazuhiro Takeuchi

 

“bare strata” is available in two types of package.
For Digipak, the standard package, Fabio Orsi’s photos are used on the jacket artwork, which gives it an excellent completion.

Another type of package, paulownia case, is the world’s limited edition of only 20.
Paulownia wood is often used for Japanese high-class furniture. Please enjoy the world of Chihei Hatakeyama with this great package.
You can get the paulownia case only at Whereabouts Records’ label shop.

Artist Profile

Chihei Hatakeyama Is A Sound Artist And Musician Living On The Outskirts Of Tokyo. He Has Performed For Years Under His Given Name And Also As One Half Of The Electroacoustic Duo Opitope, Along With Tomoyoshi Date .Hatakeyama Poly chromes Memory-Evoking Soundscapes With Various Recorded Materials Of Electric, Acoustic Instruments Such As Electric Guitars, Vibraphone, And Piano. His Releases Is On Kranky, Room 40, Under The Spire, Hibernate Records, Magic Book Records, Home Nomal, OwnRecords And Spekk (As Opitope).
chihei hatakeyama web
chihei mastering

selected discography

SOLO RECORDINGS
bara strata / Whereabouts Records,Japan / CD 2013
Norma / Small Fragments Recordings, Japan / CD 2012
MIRROR / room40,AU / CD 2011
Variations / Soundscaping, Norway / CD 2010
ghostly garden / own records, Luxembourg / CD 2010
A Long Journey / Home Nomal,UK / CD 2010
The Secret distance of TOCHKA / BOID,Japan / CD 2009
white sun / Taalem,FR / 3inch CDR
The River / hebernate records.UK / CD 2009
August / Under The Spire,UK / CDR 2009
Saunter / room40,AU / CD 2009
dedication / magic book records,Japan / CD 2008
Minima Moralia / Kranky,US / CD 2006

COLLABORATIVE RECORDINGS
Scale Compositions(Chihei Hatakeyama + Asuna)/ Home Nomal,UK / CD 2012
oka no ue no romero(Luis Nanook) / Flyrec,japan / CD 2012
Air(Naph+ChiheiHatakeyama) WhereaboutsRecords,japan / CD 2011
Flop(All The Frogs Are Our Week End) Kiti,japan / CD 2010
Place(Luis Nanook) / Flyrec,japan / CD 2010
Sunroom(asuna+opitope) / Students of Decay, US / CD 2010
HAU(opitope) / SPEKK,Japan / CD 2007

Interview
Change of Pace
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/2009/09/03/chihei-hakateyama-by-dan-rule/tokafi
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/2009/09/03/chihei-hakateyama-by-dan-rule/
 

Review

 

VITAL WEEKLY
The ever so active Chihei Hatakeyama has penned an extensive discography together, since he started to release on Kranky in 2006, mainly for labels like Home Normal, Hibernate, Room40 and such like. Hatakeyama plays electric and acoustic guitars, vibraphone and piano. I am not entirely sure, but I could imagine that he plays much of this in a live setting, rather than taking it all to the computer and work on it further. Maybe I believe so, because there is an image on the press release of the man with a guitar in his bands on stage and there is mentioning of a live performance in Australia, and the surroundings of Cairns Beach being the inspiration for the title piece here - one of the two pieces in total. Maybe Hatakeyama is the sort of man to use his guitar to sing in an ambient manner, with lots of sound effects on hand and foot to stretch out this body with six strings and make it sound like a vast, immense (immerse?) ocean of sound. Maybe he is like Robert Fripp, playing his own intelligent mobile unit of guitar sounds? Whatever the case, none of that is really that interesting; it's as always the result that counts. Hatakeyama's music is very atmospheric, a bit dark, a bit melancholic, a bit aloof and throughout perhaps also not the most original in the crowded field of all those who play guitar in a drone fashion. Or, seen in a wider perspective, like so many others who play drone music. Like with IA, see elsewhere, it's perhaps more important to create something that you like very much and do it the best you can. In that sense, this new work by Chihei Hatakeyama works very well. It's well made and has great relaxing texture to it. Just the way we want it. Nothing new under the sun, but it shines nicely warm. (FdW)

 

 2012  Whereabouts Records