"When I think of home recording, I remember all kinds of experiments I did with cassette tapes in my teens. On bootlegs by Lou Reed and John Lennon they would push the record button of their reel-to-reel tape machines. I used to make demo tracks for albums with them in mind, playing the acoustic guitar in the kitchen or somewhere. It's a good old, tasty sound. On the other hand, although I recently got some new recording equipment, I didn't feel like making a demo with them because they were too gorgeous for me to use. The sound was too good. I also played around with a small old cassette recorder, but it also didn't work. Instead, I was listening back to the live recording archives which I had left unattended for more than a decade, and found out that the sound quality and content of the live concert source in Brazil about 13 years ago was quite like a home recording (there's the applause in the end, though). It's a bit sloppy, but for this release, I proposed this material to Takuroku as a response to their kind offer. Although the organizer, Peter, recorded it on a reel-to-reel, the sound was twisted in some places, and it was a bit like a lo-fi cassette. It's pretty good. Like the demo tapes, there are some tunes that haven't been officially released as studio recording yet (I will include one of them in the near future coming album dedicated to three hippies of turbulent Shinjuku in the 60’s). On the release I also play three tunes which are in my solo album “Thaumaturgy”, which was released last year. It means so much to me that I can let them go after such a long time. Well, now that I've made a series of excuses, please overlook mistakes here and there. Here you go." - Tetuzi Akiyama, May 2021 -- Composed and performed by Tetuzi Akiyama (acoustic guitar) -- Recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder by Peter Gossweiler on 6th October, 2008 at Sol da Terra / 13o Festival de Música Livre, Florianópolis, BrazilMastered by Toshimaru Nakamura in 2021Thanks to Peter Gossweiler, Toshimaru Nakamura and Japan Foundation

Chugging, dark, spacey blues - Akiyama's solo guitar is focused "on the tone and wildness of the instrument." A hard rock fan at 11 years-old, Akiyama started playing electric guitar at the age of 13. Later, with a growing interest in free improvisation and classical music, Akiyama sought to create his own genre "solo rock guitar." A treat to have him play in the early days of OTO, and even better to dust this one out the archives, re-mix and master.  --- Tetuzi Akiyama / electric guitar --- Recorded by John Chantler on the 17th October 2010. Mixed by John Chantler. Mastered by Toshimaru Nakamura. With thanks to Lee Etherington.  --- Tracklisting:  1. 17.10.10 - 31:40 2. 18.10.10 - 12:39

Three of the most important figures in Japan's improv scene combine with multi-instrumentalist Mark Wastell for this remarkable album on Confront. Foldings was awarded an honourary mention at 2003's Prix Ars Electronica, also scooping a top ten place in The Wire magazine's improvised recordings of the year list. Londoner Mark Wastell visited Tokyo's legendary Offsite venue with guitarist Taku Sugimoto, no-input mixing board maestro Toshimaru Nakamura and Tetuzi Akiyama, who on this release takes up residence behind a turntable. As with so much of the output from these musicians (certainly from around the time this performance was recorded) much of the music is tiny gestures, played with a strange logic, which barely punctuats a gauze of near-silence throughout. It's beautifully restrained though, and ranks as one of the most radical and involving documents within the electroacoustic, super-silent 'onkyo' canon. If you've got the patience for it, this is marvellous stuff. --- Tetuzi Akiyama / turntable, air duster Toshimaru Nakamura / no-input mixing board Taku Sugimoto / acoustic guitar, preparations Mark Wastell / violoncello, preparations, contact mic, amplifier --- Recorded live in concert at Offsite, Yoyogi, Tokyo on January 19th, 2002 by Taku Sugimoto. 

".... it was October 2013 ... Radu, Klaus and Nikos came to Japan. The last day of their tour, Ftarri was booked but it was uncertain what would be done there ... so we decided to invite all our friends to join just a few days before."- Taku Unami "In the fall of 2013, Radu Malfatti (trombone), Nikos Veliotis (cello), and Klaus Filip (ppooll), were on a tour of Japan where they performed in various combinations, including a number of collaborations with local musicians. For the last day of their tour, the three were invited to play at Ftarri, a music store and performance venue in Tokyo. They were joined by a stellar cast of musicians, most of whom they had long-standing relationships with (Taku Sugimoto, electric guitar; Tetuzi Akiyama, acoustic guitar; Taku Unami, electric bass; Moé Kamura, voice; Kazushige Kinoshita, violin; Masahiko Okura, tube; and Toshihiro Koike, trombone). The recording and mastering by Unami captures the proceedings in intimate detail, placing the muted shadings and open structure of the piece in natural contrast to the room sound." – Michael Rosenstein, Point of Departure  --- Tetuzi Akiyama / acoustic guitar Moé Kamura / voice Radu Malfatti / trombone Kazushige Kinoshita / violin Masahiko Okura / tube Nikos Veliotis / cello Taku Unami / electric bass Toshihiro Koike / trombone Klaus Filip / ppooll Taku Sugimoto / electric guitar --- Recorded live at Ftarri on 16th October 2013 by Taku Unami. Mastered by Taku Unami. With thanks to Mark Wastell.