About

The musician and DJ Ken Ishii sits right at the pinnacle of techno’s most noteworthy, but although a game changer for the artist personally – and for Japanese electronic music in general – his 1994 album Reference to Difference is something of an unsung gem today.

Now reissued and remastered, released to mark the 30th anniversary of Musicmine Records, and available on vinyl with its original track-list for the first time, this stunning, lesser-known classic is ripe for rediscovery. Born 1970 in Sapporo, Ishii was introduced to electronic music at a young age through arcade games, and Japanese and German pioneers like Yellow Magic Orchestra, Isao Tomita and Kraftwerk. During his teens, he absorbed new wave, synth-pop, EBM and industrial, before making a life-changing discovery of Detroit techno in the late 80s. As the 1990s dawned, so did his introduction to Black Dog Productions and Warp Records' Artificial Intelligence compilations. Blown away by the emerging British and American IDM, braindance, and ambient techno movements, he quickly folded their influence into his still-developing but cultivated aesthetic.

A futuristic confluence of unplaceable ambient atmospheres, space age techno, IDM and minimalist composition, Reference To Difference unfolds as an effortless series of exercises in pristine synth textures, robust man/machine rhythm and understated melodies. It teleports the listener back to a golden moment in the mid-1990s, when a dedicated generation rose out of Tokyo’s storied clubs and took the innovation, energy, and creativity of Japan’s unique techno culture to the world.

“Looking back, I can tell it was meaningful that this was one of the first techno albums by a Japanese artist that was released on a Japanese label,” Ishii reflects. “Maybe I did something that bridged between old school Japanese electronic music and ‘new school’ techno in line with the Detroit sound with this record” he adds, in modest understatement. — (via Label)

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Label: Sublime Records
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Deluxe Edition, Reissue, Remastered, 180g, 30th Anniversary Edition
Country: Germany
Reissued: 2024 / Original Release: 1994
Genre: Electronic
Style: Techno, Experimental

File under: Japanese Electronic
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