Five essential releases from one of the world’s most enigmatic labels — now available through In Sheep’s Clothing, no import required.

“To make a long story short, I will only say something conclusive: EM Records is researching a hypothesis that ‘the spirit may reside in the musical form itself.’”

That’s Kōki Emura, founder and guiding force behind Osaka’s EM Records, offering something like a thesis during a recent conversation with In Sheep’s Clothing’s Phil Cho. Since 1998, Emura has followed that instinct across genres, countries, formats and eras, seeking out music that holds weight. The curator selects his releases with a remarkable ear for creative singularity.

Pre-Order Available Now: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/product/tapes-summer-jam-c-w-summer-jam-live-acid-mix-10/

At In Sheep’s Clothing, our relationship with EM has grown out of shared values: careful listening, deep context, and reverence for records that live outside of easy categorization. This past April, we hosted a listening party at Estuario in Highland Park to mark the release of Tim Hodgkinson and Atsuko Kamura’s Haiku In The Wide World. On a Thursday afternoon, a room full of friends, collectors, and deep listeners came together for an uninterrupted playback.

EM’s catalog resists shorthand. It moves across regional folk, electronic experiment, avant-pop, and music that doesn’t belong to any tradition at all. Some releases explore forgotten cultural histories. Others feel like dispatches from parallel timelines. What binds them is the sense that each record is doing something necessary.

We’ve developed a direct relationship with EM that allows us to offer their releases in the U.S. without the added weight of international shipping costs. It’s a practical advantage, but also an important one, removing a barrier that might otherwise keep these records out of reach.

Here are five recent releases that carry forward the label’s quiet intensity, and that we’re currently stocking in the shop.

Mari Sekine – Beginner’s Mind

As delicate as it is direct, Beginner’s Mind finds Tokyo-based composer Mari Sekine working in miniature. Vibraphone and keyboard sketches unfold in quiet, deliberate patterns. Some pieces evoke Erik Satie or Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Others lean toward the soft geometry of Japanese ambient. What holds them together is mood: clear, contemplative, a kind of melodic restraint that leaves room to breathe.

Available Now: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/product/mari-sekine-beginning-12/

Kumachan Seal – Kumachan Seal

The title nods to play, but this is deep listening disguised as whimsy. Kumachan Seal assembles digital fragments — toy keyboards, synthetic tones, processed vocals — into strange little structures that feel as much like experiments as songs. Imagine Soothing Sounds for Baby rebuilt from a glitching cassette deck. Oddly sweet, vaguely haunted, and totally its own.

Available Now here.

Clan Caimán – Asoma

Led by Argentine bassist Santiago Schleder, Clan Caimán drifts through desert noir, low-lit psych, and post-exotica haze. Asoma feels like a private soundtrack, half dream, half detective film, with slow-motion grooves and shadowy textures. No throwback gestures, just mood and muscle rendered in slow dissolve.

Available Now: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/product/clan-caiman-pica-pau-woodpecker-lp/

Goat – New Games: Rhythm & Sound

Not the Swedish psych unit. This is Osaka’s Goat: precise, percussive, and relentless. New Games strips music to its raw elements: bass, drums, sax, feedback. Every sound is intentional. Every rhythm carved out and repeated until it takes on the shape of something else entirely. Think post-minimalism with teeth, or a noise ensemble that found the pocket and refused to leave it.

Available Now: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/product/goat-new-games-rhythm-sound-lp/

Mustapha Skandrani – Istikhbars and Improvisations

Originally recorded in 1960, this solo piano session by Algerian master Mustapha Skandrani blends Andalusian tradition with a deep sense of personal voice. The playing is lyrical but rooted, technical but never showy. EM’s reissue restores the mono recording beautifully, giving Skandrani’s subtle phrasing the room it deserves. One of those rare documents where tradition and invention meet.

Available Now: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/product/mustapha-skandrani-istikhbars-and-improvisations-lp/

These and other EM releases are available now through the In Sheep’s Clothing shop, ready to ship without the international markup. For information on wholesale for these records, please send an email to [email protected]