Azabu cover
Recorded
Released

How can we catch up with the past when it begins to overwhelm the present? This 1971 recording is the beginning of Ranta’s life as a percussionist and composer. Recorded in one Tokyo district (Azabu-Juban), this album combines percussion and field recording and analog synthesis for two very long tracks that are completely realized. There’s a spoken section that sounds like it could be Ranta talking about himself, someone saying his life didn’t begin until he arrived “here.” Azabu sounds like that kind of real awakening.

Sasha Frere-Jones

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