aus

 

 

東京出身。10代の頃から実験映像作品の音楽を手がける。早くから海外で注目を集め、NYのインディーズ・レーベルよりデビュー。レコードショップOTHER MUSICに「現代のエッジと甘美さ、印象的な歌心をこれほど日本的な方法で融合させたアーティストは他にいない」と評される。身近に存在する音を再発見し、再構築を繰り返すことによって生まれる彼の音楽は「自然に変化を加えることによって新しい自然を生み出す」と自身が語るように、テレビやラジオから零れ落ちた音、映画などのビジュアル、言葉、長く忘れ去られた記憶、内的な感情などからインスピレーションを受け、世界の細かな瞬間瞬間をイラストレートする。これまでにヨーロッパを中心に世界35都市でライブを行い、国際的にも注目されるレコード・レーベルFLAUを主宰。
長らく自身の音楽活動は休止していたが、昨年Seb Wildblood主宰All My Thoughtsより久々となるシングル「Until Then」をリリース、4月にはイギリスの老舗レーベルLo Recordingsより15年ぶりのニューアルバム「Everis」をリリース。同作のリミックス・アルバムにはJohn Beltran、Li Yileiらが参加した。Craig Armstrong、Seahawksほかリミックス・ワークも多数。

aus is the solo project of Tokyo-born composer and producer Yasuhiko Fukuzono. Fukuzono has gained attention through his skillful and delicate sound production, exquisitely combining cinematic strings and electronics with sounds from everyday life.
With a passion for rediscovering and reinventing the very nature of sounds around him, inspiration is acquired from all corners of his mind: captured movie images; stumbled upon words or conversations; nomadic dreams; long lost memories; and indefinable inner feelings.
Being born and bred in Tokyo, the city is an indisputable reflection of the loud-and-quiet dynamics that permeate Fukuzono’s sound. The city is noisy, carved with canyons of commerce and sonic chaos. But a step away from the main thoroughfares lies a warren of residential lanes painted in semi-silence.
Fukuzono tends toward such spaces in his music, where he plays with the sweetness and pathos inherent in the sonic landscape he inhabits.
It’s a quality that may have been imbibed as a child as Fukuzono’s mother is a teacher of both ikebana (the art of flower arrangement) and shodō (calligraphy); two aesthetic pursuits that require equal attention to what is there and what is not. With this sensibility and a myriad of other elements firing his musical mind, music laced with charisma and intrigue naturally follows.
As well as his commercial compositions, Fukuzono also creates sound design for exhibitions; works on music production for experimental cinema; and as label owner at the FLAU imprint – which Pitchfork described as  “the nation’s premier label for hushed music” – has released a multitude of artists from both within and outside Japan.
Having released his first album proper back in the mid-2000s, it was the second long player (Lang) that garnered attention for Fukuzono, in Japan, it becoming one of the best-selling electronic albums of the new century. However, it is with the new album Everis that aus really demonstrates his ability to discern and manipulate the sonic minutiae of daily routine, providing loudness when necessary and fragility when not.
Shows at the Sonar, Summer Sonic and Mori Michi Ichiba festivals and being championed by KEXP, FADER, Dummy, i:D – through his FLAU label mixes – and by BBC Radio 1 via Ross From Friends / BBC Radio 3 by Olafur Arnalds / NTS Radio via Loraine James & Upsammy, mean that with this new record aus is now perfectly poised to exhibit the sonic parallels between his home city of Tokyo and the dynamics of his magical musical output.

DISCOGRAPHY

ALBUMS

Sonorapid (music related, 2006)
Lang (preco, 2006)
Curveland (moteer, 2007)
After All (flau, 2008)
Everis (lo recordings, 2023)

SINGLES/EPS

Until Then (all my thoughts, 2023)
Layland with Ryosuke Nagaoka (enndisc, 2023)

COMPILATIONS / REMIXES

Lang Remixed (preco, 2008)
Antwarps (preco, 2008)
Light In August, Later (someone good, 2009)
ReCollected (plop, 2013)
Revise (lo recordings, 2023)

PRESS QUOTES

I can’t imagine another artist that blends modern edginess with sweetness and effective song-y-ness in that Japanese way as well. Its kind of an update on the delicate balance reached on Nobukazu Takemura’s very first Child’s View album – OTHER MUSIC

he’s cultivated a world of hushed, understated beauty – The Japan Times

The music of aus is the music of dreams. Good dreams. If only every day could be so pleasurable – Jon Tye (Seahawks/Ocean Moon/MLO)

aus combines rich in detail,sensibly constructed arrangements with wonderful melodies that evoke feelings of melancholy and optimism at the same time – Ulrich Schnauss 

great Japanese producer – Loraine James

incredibly talented – Memoryhouse

consistently enthralling artist – Boomkat

…Sehr fein und noch viel leiser – Thaddi HerrmannDe:Bug

A master not only of taste but of exquisite sound productionthe 405

unwavering elegance and painstaking meticulousness – Brainwashed

an innocent child’s imagination – Piccadilly Records

thoroughly engrossing – XLR8R

one of Japans most impressive young artists…A powerful display of minimalist manoeuvres  Tokafi

all just beautiful painted like a delicate watercolour of sunlight playing on a sea scape,with all the grace of spring blossom fall – Musique Machine

Music for a modern living room – Vital Weekly

a supremely good electronic artist – Smallfish

Fukuzono has a keen sense of structure to keep things moving, not to mention an abundance of melodic ideas – Arcana.FM

PRESS QUOTES

I can’t imagine another artist that blends modern edginess with sweetness and effective song-y-ness in that Japanese way as well. Its kind of an update on the delicate balance reached on Nobukazu Takemura’s very first Child’s View album – OTHER MUSIC

he’s cultivated a world of hushed, understated beauty – The Japan Times

The music of aus is the music of dreams. Good dreams. If only every day could be so pleasurable – Jon Tye (Seahawks/Ocean Moon/MLO)

aus combines rich in detail,sensibly constructed arrangements with wonderful melodies that evoke feelings of melancholy and optimism at the same time – Ulrich Schnauss 

great Japanese producer – Loraine James

incredibly talented – Memoryhouse

consistently enthralling artist – Boomkat

…Sehr fein und noch viel leiser – Thaddi HerrmannDe:Bug

A master not only of taste but of exquisite sound productionthe 405

unwavering elegance and painstaking meticulousness – Brainwashed

an innocent child’s imagination – Piccadilly Records

thoroughly engrossing – XLR8R

one of Japans most impressive young artists…A powerful display of minimalist manoeuvres  Tokafi

all just beautiful painted like a delicate watercolour of sunlight playing on a sea scape,with all the grace of spring blossom fall – Musique Machine

Music for a modern living room – Vital Weekly

a supremely good electronic artist – Smallfish

Fukuzono has a keen sense of structure to keep things moving, not to mention an abundance of melodic ideas – Arcana.FM

aus

JAPAN

東京出身。10代の頃から実験映像作品の音楽を手がける。早くから海外で注目を集め、NYのインディーズ・レーベルよりデビュー。レコードショップOTHER MUSICに「現代のエッジと甘美さ、印象的な歌心をこれほど日本的な方法で融合させたアーティストは他にいない」と評される。身近に存在する音を再発見し、再構築を繰り返すことによって生まれる彼の音楽は「自然に変化を加えることによって新しい自然を生み出す」と自身が語るように、テレビやラジオから零れ落ちた音、映画などのビジュアル、言葉、長く忘れ去られた記憶、内的な感情などからインスピレーションを受け、世界の細かな瞬間瞬間をイラストレートする。これまでにヨーロッパを中心に世界35都市でライブを行い、国際的にも注目されるレコード・レーベルFLAUを主宰。
長らく自身の音楽活動は休止していたが、昨年Seb Wildblood主宰All My Thoughtsより久々となるシングル「Until Then」をリリース、4月にはイギリスの老舗レーベルLo Recordingsより15年ぶりのニューアルバム「Everis」をリリース。同作のリミックス・アルバムにはJohn Beltran、Li Yileiらが参加した。Craig Armstrong、Seahawksほかリミックス・ワークも多数。

aus is the solo project of Tokyo-born composer and producer Yasuhiko Fukuzono. Fukuzono has gained attention through his skillful and delicate sound production, exquisitely combining cinematic strings and electronics with sounds from everyday life.
With a passion for rediscovering and reinventing the very nature of sounds around him, inspiration is acquired from all corners of his mind: captured movie images; stumbled upon words or conversations; nomadic dreams; long lost memories; and indefinable inner feelings.
Being born and bred in Tokyo, the city is an indisputable reflection of the loud-and-quiet dynamics that permeate Fukuzono’s sound. The city is noisy, carved with canyons of commerce and sonic chaos. But a step away from the main thoroughfares lies a warren of residential lanes painted in semi-silence.
Fukuzono tends toward such spaces in his music, where he plays with the sweetness and pathos inherent in the sonic landscape he inhabits.
It’s a quality that may have been imbibed as a child as Fukuzono’s mother is a teacher of both ikebana (the art of flower arrangement) and shodō (calligraphy); two aesthetic pursuits that require equal attention to what is there and what is not. With this sensibility and a myriad of other elements firing his musical mind, music laced with charisma and intrigue naturally follows.
As well as his commercial compositions, Fukuzono also creates sound design for exhibitions; works on music production for experimental cinema; and as label owner at the FLAU imprint – which Pitchfork described as  “the nation’s premier label for hushed music” – has released a multitude of artists from both within and outside Japan.
Having released his first album proper back in the mid-2000s, it was the second long player (Lang) that garnered attention for Fukuzono, in Japan, it becoming one of the best-selling electronic albums of the new century. However, it is with the new album Everis that aus really demonstrates his ability to discern and manipulate the sonic minutiae of daily routine, providing loudness when necessary and fragility when not.
Shows at the Sonar, Summer Sonic and Mori Michi Ichiba festivals and being championed by KEXP, FADER, Dummy, i:D – through his FLAU label mixes – and by BBC Radio 1 via Ross From Friends / BBC Radio 3 by Olafur Arnalds / NTS Radio via Loraine James & Upsammy, mean that with this new record aus is now perfectly poised to exhibit the sonic parallels between his home city of Tokyo and the dynamics of his magical musical output.

 

 

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