FLAU

ABOUT

FLAU is a record label based in Tokyo, Japan, was founded in December 2006. curated by Yasuhiko Fukuzono aka aus.

2006年末に設立された東京のレコード・レーベル。

 

CONTACT

General Information: flau@flau.jp
Press: press@flau.jp
Booking (for FLAU artists only): booking@flau.jp
Music Promos (for Radio): promos@flau.jp

 

NEWSLETTER

ENGLISH
JAPANESE (日本語)

 

DEMO POLICY

We are only accepting demos in digital form. Please email demos@flau.jp with links to audio files (but NO email attachments), SoundCloud, and Dropbox etc.
We are not releasing Japan only edition or CD only edition. Please do not send us demos that already have a record contract.

 

PRESS

the nation’s premier label for hushed music – Pitchfork

Flau releases are sonically quite diverse, from acoustic folk to dream pop and complex drum experiments. And though eclectic, never before has a label’s oeuvre come together to so closely sound the way a cherry blossom looks – The FADER

one of the biggest names in the world of really small sounds…the perfect soundtrack to a Sunday evening – Timeout Tokyo

consistently impressive – XLR8R

Flau has associated itself with a signature sound…association with Flau suggests a superior level of pop craftsmanship…What’s remarkable about Fukuzono’s project, which launched at the end of 2006, is that he’s achieved quality control without uniformity – exclaim!

Flau has shown that sometimes silence beats flashiness – METROPOLIS Magazine

flau seem to have a magic touch; everything they put out..has a celestial, positively glowing aura about it that has us longing for more..sonically the label is incredibly diverse, but what its releases share in common are a playful curiosity, an unmatchable quality and a genre-bending commitment to evoking time and space within their sounds – DUMMY

Flau label casts its net across a worldwide community of artists with a particular affection for fragile arrangements and microscopic songwriting…A reliable resource for all the finest, quirkiest exploratory electronic pop music – Boomkat

it combines genuine emotion with a sense of playfulness – Fluid Radio

everyone’s favourite Japanese label and, of course, we make no exception – Going Solo

constantly surprising, consistently stunning – Dummy

un monde de l’infiniment fragile et doux – Ondefixe

one of our favourite labels – Textura

Flau are one of those unassuming labels, which since 2007 have been quietly making their way in the world releasing a diverse range of high quality albums…their roster of international artists blend field recordings, acoustic instruments, microsounds, and voice, in a sound that has become truly synonymous with the label – Furthernoise

worth finding – Foxy Digitalis

grow, pushing boundaries and releasing gems – Drifting, Almost Falling

An inner experience and pure fascination to little things concept and microscopic sounds. FLAU is the latest Label Of The Moment – Otsechka

the Tokyo label’s dreamy and cinematic aesthetic seems tailor-made for two favourite hobbies: idleness and letting the imagination run wild – Solar Flares

This label collects very particular artists from all over the world all under one roof that eclectically holds them together. Each artist is so unique, that you would like to read a whole book about them – PonyDanceClyde

 

FLAU NIGHT

2008-09 London, Cafe OTO
2009-09 Melbourne, Toff In Town
2010-08 Berlin, Altes Finanzamt
2012-05 Malaysia, Black Box Map
2012-05 Macau, LMA
2012-05 China Tour Beijing-Shanghai-Hangzhou
2012-06 Tokyo, Fujimigaoka Church & VACANT
2012-06 Kyoto, Metro
2013-04 London, Cafe OTO
2013-04 Berlin, Antje Øklesund
2013-12 Tokyo, VACANT
2016-03 Tokyo, VACANT

SCHEDULE

ARTISTS

SEE FULL LIST

©FLAU

The Boats Our Small Ideas

CAT No. FLAUR09
Release Date: June 7th, 2012
Format: CD/DIGITAL

Buy for japan

Buy for overseas

元Hood、The Remote ViewerのCraig Tattersall とAndrew Hargreavesによるマンチェスターのフォークトロニカ・デュオ、『Sleepy Insect Music』に続くレアトラック集第２弾。
The Boatsが運営する自主レーベルからリリースされた初期の名作「Our Small Ideas」を中心に、本国のみで限定発売されたツアーEP、未発表曲など、どこか人肌を感じるエレクトロニクスとギターを中心とした生楽器を、繊細に構築したノスタルジックな楽曲を全19曲収録。盟友Danny Norbury、Need More Sourcesとしても活躍するChris Stuartらがゲスト参加。ausによるリミックスも収録。

Thinking back Our Small Ideas was a return to our bedroom recording past. Where recordings were made quietly in the early hours so as not to disturb the neighbors. Our Small Ideas is the not quite album we made while working on our ‘electronic’ debut for Flau. Some of these songs would be revisited on our grown up records in the future, but somehow the naive charm of the original was lost.  The album has always been a favorite of ours and we are tickled pink that Flau have decided to release this new edition giving more people get a chance to hear this album.

The Boats Summer 2012

Originally released as a super limited edition CD-R back in 2008 this new edition includes a further seven tracks of hard to find or previously unreleased material.

Our Small Ideas finds The Boats operating at their most fragile and mysterious. Softly plucked guitars riding on rusty music box chimes emerge form a hiss filled either. Distorted vocals covered in a blanket of hiss and hum. Clicks from un-tuned radios create a jerky rhythm that some how hold the delicate parts together as a whole. This is skewed pop at its finest and most beguiling, melancholic melodies throwing spears of hope.

KEEP READING

Track List

Album Preview

 

01 You Need To See Through Better Eyes

02 Information For Employers

03 Please Return

04 Raindrops Remain (First)

05 Personal Evacuation Plan

06 We Sometimes Forget

07 Procedure Details

08 A Party At Break-Neck Speed

09 This Song Has Been Intentionally Left Blank

10 They Gave Me This To Keep Me Quiet

11 At Little Time

12 Through Leaf Filtered Light (First)

13 I Had Forgotten How To Look Over The Sides

14 Things Can Only Get Bitter

15 Raindrops (version)

16 Little Song At Little Time (remixed by aus)

17 The List Of Our Mistakes (Boats Remix)

18 You Didn't Expect Me To Care

19 May Our Enimies Never Find Happiness (Boats Remix)

Press Quotes

It captures the (then) duo in organic early hours territory making some of their most intimate, rustic, twinkly sounds….a definitive album of their career (9/10) – Norman Records

“Our Small Ideas” is the most bewitching Boats album since 2005’s lovely “We Made It For You” and will make for the perfect musical accompaniment for those dense winter evenings and misty early hours. – Boomkat

innocent and intimate come to mind as the electronic pop miniatures fill the room – Textura

warmth and minimalism, restrained melody and romance… Their music reminds of having a rest in a house at a lake, close to fireplace in house slippers – Sound Proector

Petite boucle mélodique toute mignonne à base de toy-piano, glockenspiel ou boîte à musique – EtherREAL

The Boats Our Small Ideas

CAT No. FLAUR09
Release Date: June 7th, 2012
Format: CD/DIGITAL

Buy for japan

Buy for overseas

Track List

Album Preview

 

01 You Need To See Through Better Eyes

02 Information For Employers

03 Please Return

04 Raindrops Remain (First)

05 Personal Evacuation Plan

06 We Sometimes Forget

07 Procedure Details

08 A Party At Break-Neck Speed

09 This Song Has Been Intentionally Left Blank

10 They Gave Me This To Keep Me Quiet

11 At Little Time

12 Through Leaf Filtered Light (First)

13 I Had Forgotten How To Look Over The Sides

14 Things Can Only Get Bitter

15 Raindrops (version)

16 Little Song At Little Time (remixed by aus)

17 The List Of Our Mistakes (Boats Remix)

18 You Didn't Expect Me To Care

19 May Our Enimies Never Find Happiness (Boats Remix)

元Hood、The Remote ViewerのCraig Tattersall とAndrew Hargreavesによるマンチェスターのフォークトロニカ・デュオ、『Sleepy Insect Music』に続くレアトラック集第２弾。
The Boatsが運営する自主レーベルからリリースされた初期の名作「Our Small Ideas」を中心に、本国のみで限定発売されたツアーEP、未発表曲など、どこか人肌を感じるエレクトロニクスとギターを中心とした生楽器を、繊細に構築したノスタルジックな楽曲を全19曲収録。盟友Danny Norbury、Need More Sourcesとしても活躍するChris Stuartらがゲスト参加。ausによるリミックスも収録。

Thinking back Our Small Ideas was a return to our bedroom recording past. Where recordings were made quietly in the early hours so as not to disturb the neighbors. Our Small Ideas is the not quite album we made while working on our ‘electronic’ debut for Flau. Some of these songs would be revisited on our grown up records in the future, but somehow the naive charm of the original was lost.  The album has always been a favorite of ours and we are tickled pink that Flau have decided to release this new edition giving more people get a chance to hear this album.

The Boats Summer 2012

Originally released as a super limited edition CD-R back in 2008 this new edition includes a further seven tracks of hard to find or previously unreleased material.

Our Small Ideas finds The Boats operating at their most fragile and mysterious. Softly plucked guitars riding on rusty music box chimes emerge form a hiss filled either. Distorted vocals covered in a blanket of hiss and hum. Clicks from un-tuned radios create a jerky rhythm that some how hold the delicate parts together as a whole. This is skewed pop at its finest and most beguiling, melancholic melodies throwing spears of hope.

KEEP READING