Visible Cloaks, Yoshio Ojima & Satsuki Shibano – FRKWYS Vol. 15: serenitatem

In 2010, Portland-based electronic duo Visible Cloaks released Fairlights, Mallets and Bamboo, “an investigation into fourth-world undercurrents in Japanese ambient and pop music, years 1980-1986.” The seminal mixtape would introduce a new generation of listeners to the ’80s Kankyō Ongaku “environmental music” and experimental ambient explored by artists like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, Yasuaki Shimizu, Midori Takada, Mkwaju Ensemble, Music Interior, St. Giga, and others. Fast forward to 2019, Visible Cloaks would collaborate with Yoshio Ojima and Satsuki Shibano, two trailblazers of the Japanese ambient music scene highlighted in the “Fairlights” mix, for RVNG’s intergenerational FRKWYS series. Written through “a game of exquisite corpse playing out over the fiber optic internet cables underneath the Pacific,” serenitatem delivers a contemporary update on Japanese ambient featuring Visible Cloaks’ futuristic sound design and generative digital techniques infused with spoken word, piano, and ancient folk traditions.

Recommended – Full Listen