Name: Sound Storing Machines: The First 78rpm Records from Japan, 1903-1912
Brand: Various

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SF115CD

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Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2021-04-16

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

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Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0843563137550

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Various

Genre GB

Rest of World

Label GB

Sublime Frequencies

Sublime Frequencies is a collective of explorers dedicated to acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers. Founded by Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls, the label showcases a diverse range of music through film, video, field recordings, radio transmissions, international folk and pop music, sound anomalies, and other forms of human and natural expression. Their mission is to bring attention to these underrepresented genres that are often overlooked by academic research, the recording industry, media outlets, or corporate foundations.

With an extensive catalog spanning various cultures and regions around the world, Sublime Frequencies offers a unique listening experience for those seeking unconventional sounds. Through their releases, they aim to shed light on hidden musical treasures that might otherwise go unnoticed. Whether it's capturing the vibrant street life in Morocco or unearthing rare recordings from Southeast Asia, Sublime Frequencies takes listeners on a sonic journey unlike any other.

Owned and operated by Alan Bishop alongside Mark Gergis, Sublime Frequencies continues to push boundaries in its exploration of global music traditions. By bridging gaps between different communities through music discovery, this label serves as a platform for cultural exchange and appreciation. With each release carefully curated by passionate individuals with deep knowledge of these lesser-known genres, Sublime Frequencies remains at the forefront of uncovering extraordinary musical experiences from around the world.

Back In Stock

Includes the first commercial recordings from Asia made in Japan in 1903 - Japanese gagaku, shakuhachi, shamisen, storytelling, folksong and more - Collected and compiled by sound artist Robert Millis - The beginning of Japan’s homegrown record industry, including a few sides taken from Japan’s notorious bootleg 78rpm industry The first commercial recordings from Asia were made in Japan in 1903 by Fred Gaisberg, the legendary producer and recording engineer who traveled the world making recordings for the Gramophone Company (later His Masters Voice). The recording industry barely existed at this time. Man’s ability to record and reproduce sound had only existed since 1877 (with the invention of Edison’s cylinder phonograph) and flat disc records, what we all collect and obsess over today, had only come into being in the late 1890s. 

It is a miracle what these fragile discs have survived: wars with Russia and China, the fire bombings (and worse) of World War II, modernization, the onslaught of Western media. They document, through a dreamlike haze of surface noise, a Japan that had just barely begun to open its doors to the rest of the world. Including gagaku, shakuhachi, shamisen, storytelling, folksong and more. these recordings are a unique glimpse into an ancient culture and an important document of the beginnings of the recording industry. Featuring important artists and those who only appeared to sing before the strange Western recording horn and then vanished. Sound Storing Machines spans only 9 years of recording—-from 1903 and the first commercial recordings made by Fred Gaisberg to 1912, the beginning of Japan’s homegrown record industry, including a few sides taken from Japan’s notorious bootleg 78rpm industry. Collected on various trips to Japan and compiled by sound artist Robert Millis (Indian Talking Machine, Victrola Favorites, Climax Golden Twins, Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan, This World is Unreal Like a Snake in a Rope, etc). 

Sound Storing Machines: The First 78rpm Records from Japan, 1903-1912

Music GB