pop_and

This is the second of a series of label projects pertaining to
film directors. The first one was for Andrei Tarkovsky, the third
one is currently in progress and pertains to Michelangelo
Antonioni's "Tetralogy" (L'Avventura/La Notte/L'Eclisse/Deserto
Rosso).

This second release turns its focus upon Yasujiro Ozu's use of
"pillow shots" (i.e. short poetic pauses that appear between
the acting segments of his films. The term "pillow shot" was
not coined by Ozu himself, but several years after his passing
in the early 1960s by a Japanese journalist who was trying to
draw a comparison of the intermediate scenes to "pillow
words" found in traditional Japanese poetry. This is a double
CD release with both CDs featuring audio plus a
cross-platform compatible PDF booklet containing pillow shots
(courtesy of Criterion Collection) and liner notes.

Each artist who appears on this release was asked to choose
one or more "pillow shots" to use as inspiration for their
pieces. A link to web pages containing a large assortment of
pillow shots" was provided, and accordingly, the pillow shots
were reserved on a first come, first served basis. The artists
also watched the films from which the pillow shots came from
in order to get a sense of how their chosen pillow shots were
employed by Ozu.

The sound work featured represents a wide range of artistic
approaches, but as always with these projects, the artists were
chosen specifically, based on their previous work and on how
it might contribute to the collective whole of each project.

Featured artists include:

ALEJANDRA & AERON
AONO JIKKEN ENSEMBLE
ASUNA
MARC BEHRENS
KEITH BERRY
LAWRENCE ENGLISH
HERIBERT FRIEDL
BERNHARD GUNTER
HACO
JOHN HUDAK
JASON KAHN
HITOSHI KOJO
KOURA
DALE LLOYD
YOSHIO MACHIDA
ROEL MEELKOP
KIYOSHI MIZUTANI
DEAN MOORE (with Michael Shannon)
STEVE RODEN
SAWAKO
MICHAEL SHANNON
STEINBRUCHEL
TAKU SUGIMOTO
SUKORA
TOSHIYA TSUNODA

Text by Doug Cummings (Masters Of Cinema and
Filmjourney.org) and Dale Lloyd (and/OAR).

BODYSPACE.NET (FEBRUARY 2008)
É surpreendente dar conta de que por vezes basta activar um
conceito inteligente para alumiar uma perspectiva até aí
desconsiderada ou pouco questionada. A partir de uma
selecção que privilegiou a consistência e validade da matéria,
a and/OAR, selo prestigiado de Seattle, conseguiu, através de
uma dupla compilação, provocar uma reavaliação da relação
a manter com o cinema do mestre japonês Yasujiro Ozu -
conhecido também como o poeta do quotidiano, tal era a sua
tendência para retratar a rotina da classe média japonesa do
seu tempo, frisando aspectos globais como a circularidade e
o carácter transitório da vida, e recusando, sempre que
possível, colocar em prática acessórios ocidentais como a
moral fácil e artifícios melodramáticos.

Ao longo dos cinquenta e quatro filmes que compõem o seu
muito apreciado (e imitado) cânone, Yasujiro Ozu manteve-se
fiel aos mesmos temas e estrutura narrativa utilizada. Sobre a
última, sabe-se que progredia através de diálogos e outras
vulgares ocorrências familiares, e que - respeitando a
resistência do público - abria espaço a momentos reflectivos
através da inserção pontual de pillow shots (conhecidos
também como espaços intermediários). A funcionalidade dos
pillow shots assentava principalmente na necessidade de
assinalar a passagem do tempo de um modo neutro e
desvinculado de um só personagem – por regra, consistia
simplesmente num plano único de uma paisagem campestre
ou industrial, um estendal de roupa sujeita à vontade do vento,
o registo circunstancial da circulação de comboios ou barcos.

A and/OAR reconheceu perspicazmente o valor dos pillow
shots como pontos de referência passíveis de interpretação
livre por parte de diversos artistas sonoros - levando isso a
que distribuísse por algumas dezenas desses estetas um
generoso número de pillow shots, encorajando a que a
imagem atribuída fosse considerada como parte do filme a
que pertence. O resultado materializou-se na compilação
Hitokomakura, que, além dos exercícios reunidos, contém, em
cada um dos seus discos, um ficheiro PDF que corresponde
cada pillow shot a seu dono e, assim, permite uma mais
completa contextualização de tudo o que por aqui desfila.

A partir dos múltiplos matrimónios instigados por Dale Lloyd
(patrão da and/OAR e participante directo em Hitokomakura),
descobre-se então o germinar de outros enquadramentos
lógicos que poderiam, porventura, passar despercebidos até
aqui. Serve isso para esclarecer que Ozu dedicava meticuloso
cuidado às suas composições visuais tal como às sonoras -
sendo habitual escutar aos seus filmes passagens que
somam ou isolam o cantar de pássaros, o ruído de
transportes e o burburinho constante de uma localidade
habitada (gomos de uma mesma roda dos sons comuns).
Hitokomakura esmera-se por demais em prestar elegia a
essa noção de que Ozu era, além do celebrado poeta do
quotidiano, também um estudioso do som e do seu
enquadramento na vida de cada dia. É evidente que isso
cativa estudiosos das propriedades do som como Taku
Sugimoto, Toshiya Tsunoda ou Marc Behrens – esses que,
entre outros, se servem do mote para, à sua maneira,
elaborarem um diário metódico directamente inspirado pelo
tal pillow shot. A partir de field recordings e instrumentos
acústicos, obtêm-se postais naturalistas que nem sequer
deixam de parte a harmonia zen-budista parcialmente
presente no cinema de Ozu (essa perspectiva é nitidamente
constatável nas participações de Yoshio Machida e do Aono
Jikken Ensemble).

Contudo, cada levantamento verificado é inevitavelmente
hipotético. Hipotético porque, na vida tal como no cinema de
Ozu (o corpo e o seu espelho), tudo se encontra submisso a
uma relativização a que não há escape possível.
Hitokomakura acaba por ser um objecto de um valor imenso,
pelas tais pistas que deixa soltas em relação à composição
sonora, enquanto subestimada extensão do génio de Ozu.
Além disso, repare-se que funciona em pleno mesmo quando
à revelia desse paralelo – assim dita o seu desdobramento
em paisagens perfumadas e divisões (templos) propícias ao
apuramento de uma estabilidade espiritual superior. Fica-se
pelo excelente, mas... (Miguel Arsénio)

WHITE_LINE (JULY 2007)
From a very simple premise, that of inviting experimental
musicians and sound workers to interpret the film work of a
renowned Japanese director, comes a startling and
invigorating panoply of sounds and visions in the form of the
and/OAR double CD release, “Hitokomakura”.

Interlocking at the threshold of perception, “pillow shots” are a
device that film directors utilise to cut away between “action” or
narrative, a discrete segue that mainstream directors and
audiences alike invariably attach little significance to, in
preference of the more meaty intricacies of production, plot,
narrative, action and acting . Yasujiro Ozu, famed in the main
for his intimate portraits of the everyday, a series of seemingly
mundane occurrences finely wrought in hyperreal detail, and a
gentle, enveloping pace,(his work seemingly composed
entirely of overlapping pillow shots in themselves) has
become the focus of attention for label curator, and cinephile
Dale Lloyd.

Hitokomakura is without doubt, Lloyd’s labour of love, and like
the recently released Extract booklet by NVO, shares a similar,
towering roster of some 25 artists,of varying pedigree. To focus
attention on any one artist from such a wealth of talent would
be to relegate others of equal stature, so I will save any kind of
musical analysis or critique for those braver and better than I.

One unique selling point of this scintillating double CD pack is
that it is enhanced by the addition of a series of Windows and
Mac compatible pdf files, that house some of Ozu’s images,
and gives the artists an opportunity to describe their approach.
Very often, source material is gleaned from the most obtuse
and elliptical angles, and each artist defines their approach
concisely, elevating this release way above it’s contemporaries
for sheer entertainment value alone. Needless to say, most of
the soundworks on display here are subtle workings and
reworkings of pillow shots, or in some cases take the pillow
shots, or other fundamental elements of Ozu’s ouevre as the
point of departure, a catalyst for musical inspiration that in
most instances touches on beautifully nuanced, meditative
works of Zen-like ambience.

No longer a fledgling label, and/OAR has gained ground and
reputation on a series of releases with an almost obsessive
focus on field recording, and it’s associated personnel, and on
Hitokomakura, Lloyd simultaneously reconfigures the
definition of what field recording actually is, and in turn
presents us with a simulacra, a second hand field recording at
a distance, but nevertheless, a singularly beautiful collection of
sounds ,images and texts..this is the kind of stuff that I live
for…exceptional. (Baz N)

SMALLFISH (JULY 2007)
When an album of this calibre drops onto the Smallfish
doorstep it's really a rare treat. Based around the idea of
legendary Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu's 'Pillow Shots'
('still life or neutral images in films that serve as visual and
emotional resting points') the artist were invited to choose a
Pillow Shot by Ozu (and you can see these in the
accompanying PDF documents on the discs) and then
compose a track to accompany it having watched the entire
film that the shot came from to give it some overall context. The
range of styles is, frankly, marvellous and features some real
heavyweights from the world of contemporary electronic music,
electro-acoustic sound and field recordings. Steve Roden,
Steinbruchel, Sawako, Kiyoshi Mizutani, Alejandra & Aeron,
Lawrence English, Roel Meelkop, label owner Dale Lloyd,
Heribert Friedl, John Hudak, Keith Berry and plenty more all
feature and from that list alone you should be able to get a
sense of how expansive this double CD is. From micro-fine
minimalism, through to deeply beautiful sculptured sound and
on into cleverly adapted field recordings that seem to capture
the essence of the frames perfectly. A brilliant work of musical
art (literally and otherwise) that really deserves your attention
as work of this calibre is something to savour. Remarkable.
(Mike Oliver)

IGLOO (SEPTEMBER 2007)
These thirty-one imaginary soundtracks combined in a deluxe
two-pack are based on the films of Yasujiro Ozu. A very diverse
international compilation that includes work by John Hudak,
Roel Meelkop, Steinbruchel, Steve Roden, Taku Sugimoto,
Marc Behrens and many others. They've each created their
own visual/visceral sound experience for the listener to explore
with conceptually dramatic sequencing throughout. In a
combination of field recordings, samples and electronic
experimentation, most of what is contained herein is a wash of
drone and ambience – especially noted in the beautiful
three-minute piece "Ukigusa" by Alejandra & Aeron.

Doors creak in syncopation, a stream flows quick and softly,
with a light roar from the mysterious outdoors. On Behrens'
"Samma No Aji" there's a dramatic shift between
understanding the listening experience as sine waves or the
nature of crickets. The tone is sharp and postured like stalking
prey, while incidental chirping distracts the potential of the
situation. The work is dramatically dense and ordered, and not
necessarily through common sense, but the shared
experience, the happenstance of aural cinema perhaps. As
you listen, read deeply into the well-written liner notes from
Masters of Cinema's Doug Cummings, who truly gives a quick,
yet rounded historical interpretation of Ozu's film work and how
it can possibly endure through recordings such as this. The
shaking feedback in Asuna's short "From Scene 99 To The
End - Kohayagawa-Ke No Aki" alludes to the never-ending buzz
of the fixed machine age. It changes the continuum of energy
here, but is much needed grounding.

Kiyoshi Mizutani presents two pieces titled two tables (1 and 2)
where field recordings of domestic scene, watching television
in the kitchen are layered with exotic birds and the hiss of a
light rain. Part 1 sounds like the bass roar of a waterfall
combined with the delicate gathering of well water, or bathing.
There are voices and knocking (industrial or 'peckers?).
Rustling through woods can be heard over a fine din of more
rapturous rain, along with vehicles whizzing by and a few
cawing birds. It's all quite noir, really. "Tooi Soba" is Sawako's
unusual free-form ambient noise contribution. Sauntering in
slippers, perhaps prepping breakfast with the clink of teacups,
it's definitely morning. There's a frustrated bit of pacing, and a
few sparse words as familiar birds call. This is the morning
after (what though)? Dale Lloyd contributes one of the few truly
melodic pieces here called "Return To Me Who Sleeps" which
closes the set. Strumming on strings, with the echo of a
gong-like instrument, there's a distinctly Japanese quality to
the timing of his playing as it fades softly. (TJ Norris)

AQUARIUS RECORDS (AUGUST 2007)
Yasijiro Ozu was a Japanese filmmaker (1903-1963) who had
emphasized restraint throughout the 54 films of his career,
offering emotionally rich, if purposefully understated narratives
about the simple pleasures and pains of everyday life. This
compilation is a tribute to Ozu's tableaux; and given that Ozu
quietly punctuated his tales with shots of clouds,
arrangements of bottles, industrial landscapes, and other
environments, the tribute features a handful of suitably quiet
sound artists who often use field recordings or environmental
space within their work. Steve Roden is the perfect artist for
such a tribute; and fittingly, he opens this compilation. His
circular softness for chimed guitar and tapped drum patterns
is a wonderful departure in which Roden pushes his sound
design closer to the post-rock elegance of Bark Psychosis.
Roden's piece is one of the better tracks on this compilation,
with other highlights including Keith Berry's mournful
grayscapes of drone and slow-motion crackle, Toshiya
Tsunoda's impeccable recording of aerated hiss, a series of
lilting lullaby chimes from John Hudak, There's plenty of raw
phonography from the likes of Hitoshi Kojo (aka Spiracle),
Kiyoshi Mizutani, Michael Shannon, and Ralph Steinbruchel.
Taku Sugimoto's piece has to be noted for its sheer blankness
except for six piano notes that emphatically emerge after 3 and
a half minutes of silence.
This happens to be the second tribute to filmmakers from
And/OAR, following the now out-of-print compilation homage to
Tarkovsky Another Kind Of Language.

THE WIRE (SEPTEMBER 2007)
Japanese film maker Yasujiro Ozu became famous in the
post-war period for his depictions of family life amid the
tensions of modernity, and his influential use of 'pillow shots' -
images of empty domestic space inserted between the main
scenes. The latter inspired this wonderfully conceived and
executed tribute to Ozu's art. Each artist was invited to select
one of these shots, electronic images of which accompany the
package, and compose a track to compliment it. Despite the
range of idioms on display, from delicate electroacoustic
tapestries (Bernhard Gunter) and meditative drones (Keith
Berry) to bucolic field recordings (Kiyoshi Mizutani) and
frequent uses of silence (almost all), each perfectly serves
their respective image. Highlights include Steve Roden's
beautiful pairing of chiming guitar and hushed percussive
patterns; label owner Dale Lloyd's gently shifting gamelan
shapes; and Taku Sugimoto's "Tengu In Linguistics", where he
drops six strident piano notes into a reductive vacuum,
reflecting another of Ozu's themes, the eschewal of action in
favour of the contemplation of the surrounding space.
(Spencer Grady)

FUTHERNOISE.ORG (OCTOBER 2007)
The and/OAR label, which mainly focuses on “environmental
recordings,” has beaten the odds and delivered a highly
engaging concept record in the form of a double CD, various-
artist tribute to the late Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu.
Steve Roden, Alejandra & Aeron, Bernard Gunter, Marc
Behrens, and John Hudak are a just a few of the notable artists
that contributed works.

At first glance, Hitokomakura could have been a disaster;
seemingly random contributions from big-name artists, 31
tracks long, a slightly over reaching selection of genres -
and for us audio snobs - the apparent lack of a mastering
engineer. To be fair, it would be next to impossible to
sequence this type of compilation to give it a natural flow.

However, this tribute succeeds because of its ability to draw
implicit parallels between Ozu's film making technique and the
aesthetic choices the compilation’s contributing artists employ
to create meditations on environmental space.

The handsome CD packaging includes a well-written
introduction by Doug Cummings that provides context to Ozu’s
contributions to film. We learn the filmmaker employed “pillow
shots” to provide emotional resting points or dramatic pauses
in the narrative. Think of these cinematic moments as “still
lifes” where the content is devoid of any meaning, but inserted
to set pacing. I will admit to never having seen an Ozu film, but
after reading the introduction, I went straight to my Netflix
queue to fix that problem.

According to Dale Lloyd, and/OAR label boss, audio
contributor, and executive producer of Hitokomakura, “…all the
artists featured on this release were invited to choose one or
more pillow shots from an assortment of Ozu films; then watch
the film (or films) and create new pieces based on their
impressions.”

Various Ozu screenshots, Lloyd’s liner notes, and other helpful
reading material are included as part of the overall product in a
PDF contained within the CD's.

I recommend that if you find a particular photograph or scene
compelling, skip to that track first then jump to the next
interesting scene or track using the PDF document as a
reference. Remember, all the pieces are derivative or inspired
by some meditative scene or pillow shot. This may help
explain why I feel the CDs are not cohesively sequenced when
listened to straight through without any visual context.

Hitokomakura contains artists working within a wide range of
genres, including microsound, onkyo, minimal electronic,
phonography, and acoustic ecology. In many ways their
contributions feel like excerpts from larger pieces, melodic
ambient segue ways, or even interesting noisy room tone
recordings. Ozu’s “pillow shots” as expertly translated by
sound artists provide Yoga for the ears, and present a case for
more subtle, peaceful banality in our audio diet.
(Derek Morton)

TOUCHING EXTREMES (OCTOBER 2007)
We owe a lot to labels like and/OAR. Not only because they
present us with some of the most extraordinary
environment-based aural experiences, something that Dale
Lloyd's imprint releases with impressive constancy, but also
for their contribution to what we used to call "culture", either in
terms of "learning to penetrate both the essence of sound and
the absence of it" (which, on a second thought, means much
more than culture) or "encouraging new artistic interests"
through cross-references to different fields of contemporary
creativity.

Enter Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963), a highly
respected figure in the opinion of movie connoisseurs, his art
being mostly constructed upon "insights into family relations,
everyday struggles and simple pleasures", as per Doug
Cummings' liners. Characteristics that, in today's
self-indulgent world, assume a fundamental meaning since
our very life - the life outside the circles of "powers" and
"establishments", the good old "regular existence" that once
was a given if one just stayed on a course, and today is
threatened unless you bend to not exactly explained "rules" -
can keep going on exclusively by nourishing the core of
normality, an extraneous annoyance for the non-silent majority
("money, sex, fame" is nowadays' single refrain). When one
takes the whole under a microscope, comparing the activity of
listening "in" silence and "to" silence to the inner balance that
we should always maintain, and which seems to stimulate
abnormal behavioural responses in a largely repressed
human neighbourhood, then it's possible to acknowledge the
importance of such an edition.

A double CD comprising 31 tracks - their compositional
methods analyzed in the PDF booklet available as a file in both
discs - whose beauty is reinforced by a series of factors that
include the depth of the location recordings constituting the
foundation of the large part of this music, the sensitive use of
instruments and electronics complementing them, the
pregnant hush that leaves spaces for the mind to add its own
variations and colours and, last but not least, the earnestness
of the participants (among the many, Marc Behrens, Keith
Berry, Lawrence English, Heribert Friedl, Bernhard Gunter,
Haco, John Hudak, Jason Kahn, Dale Lloyd, Roel Meelkop,
Kiyoshi Mizutani, Steve Roden, Sawako, Steinbruchel, Taku
Sugimoto, Toshiya Tsunoda). There are outstanding moments
of contemplative self-collection (a personal highlight is the
Berry/Mizutani/Michael Shannon consecutiveness on the
second disc) and several sections where we struggle to
distinguish between record and reality (until, in my case, I was
brought back to the latter by the firing guns of the nearby
hunters during Gunter's wonderful flute meditation, reminding
that the battle against men's stupidity is definitely a lost cause).
All things considered, Ozu is probably smiling somewhere, as
this is a gorgeous piece of sound art that succeeds in every
account, the perfect tribute to painful sensibility.
(Massimo Ricci)

CYCLIC DEFROST (JANUARY 2008)
Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu has never so much tried to
express his own thoughts as he has endeavored to help clarify
those of others. Hitokomakura, a double CD comprising
thirty-one tracks, may be taken as reciprocation, as a
counter-gift or sacrifice on the part of the artists involved. Steve
Roden, Keith Berry, Bernhard Gunter, Taku Sugimoto, and
Toshiya Tsunoda, amongst a welter of others, each select a
'pillow shot' by Ozu, view the remainder of the film, and then
fashion a work which portrays and carefully brings into clarity
the particular investments underlying the sublime scene in
question. The work thus stands as a a tribute and a festive
challenge. That each artist took pains to respect the structure
of each shot is evident enough, but in reflecting on the scenes
in such an undistorted manner, characteristics of a personal
sort seep through its pores and challenge the listener to reflect
upon the ever-changing relation of this filmmaker to
present-day society. A concern with sound and sonic
relationships abounds. While flirting with silence, Bernhard
Gunter keeps the music mobile, leading the listener through a
succession of warm, often delicate, acoustic states. On a
similar wave-length, Taku Sugimoto has full, harmonically rich
piano notes ease ever-so gently into one another, until the
piece comes to partake in a rumination on still, seemingly
neutral spaces, a common theme in Ozu's works. Asides from
compositions of an electro-acoustic bent, the album
canvasses a good many other forms, from minimalism to
sound art, and it does so with remarkable naturalness and
lack of contrivance, stressing the communicative aspects
linking all of these poles. One is left with a simplicity of
construction and presentation which has an elegant way of
being open to interpretation. (Max Schaefer)