About

First ever release of the album outside of Japan and first vinyl reissue since 1976
Remastered from the original Masters by Heba Kadry
Original artwork by Nobukage Torii

—

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO'S ULTRA RARE FIRST ALBUM UNDER HIS NAME - RECORDED WITH LEGENDARY PERCUSSIONIST TOSHIYUKI TSUCHITORI FOR ALM RECORDS - REISSUED FOR THE FIRST TIME OUTSIDE OF JAPAN WITH AUDIO REMASTERED BY HEBA KADRY

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the first vinyl reissue of Disappointment–Hateruma, the 1976 ALM Records release by percussionist Toshiyuki Tsuchitori and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The album is notable as Sakamoto’s first recording issued under his own name and represents one of the few occasions he explored fully improvised music during the 1970s. It provides a vital document for understanding Sakamoto’s early development as a composer and performer, capturing a period when he was experimenting with ambient soundscapes and textured improvisation. This edition features original artwork, audio remastered by Heba Kadry and new liner notes by Andy Beta. — (via Label)

—

A few years before Yellow Magic Orchestra would become Ryuichi Sakamoto’s claim to fame, his name appeared on an album cover for the first time. Disappointment-Hateruma was recorded in 1976, when Sakamoto was still a student at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, together with multi-instrumentalist and percussionist Toshiyuki Tsuchitori. On this album, he explores territories he would rarely revisit: free improvisation and Free Jazz.

On the 20-minute "Aya", Tsuchitori’s enthusiasm for African rhythms comes to the fore, demonstrating what he had absorbed from his role model, the American Free Jazz drummer Milford Graves. Sakamoto responds to the intense percussive assaults with piano playing of such rigour it suggests an apprenticeship under Cecil Taylor. Across the three shorter pieces on the second side, Sakamoto and Tsuchitori experiment with prepared piano, bells, gongs, marimba, synthesiser and their own voices – moving between ambient textures, deconstructed Japanese folk and Musique concrète. — (via HHV Mag)

↓
Label: Wewantsounds
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo
Reissued: 2026 / Originally Released: 1976
Genre: Electronic, Jazz, Classical
Style: Experimental, Free Improvisation

File under: Japanese Jazz
⦿