2006年末に設立された東京のレコード・レーベル。
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
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
SEE FULL LIST
©FLAU
CAT No. FLAU91
Release Date: 2021-05-07
Format: DIGITAL/LP
東京のシンセディオ、クリスタル5年ぶり2枚目のアルバムは、相変わらずの80sなフィーリングながらもフューチャーファンクとテクノ歌謡のフレイバー強めな大注目作。近年はクラブ寄りのかっこいい路線の曲も多かったものの、きわどい曲を作るというコンセプトに立ち返り、YMO、1986オメガトライブ、米米クラブ、一風堂などを思わせる歌ものにも果敢に挑戦。変わらない過剰なシンセと前作よりも少し肉体的なリズム感で迫ります。
Late 2020 saw the release of CRYSTAL’s Ecco Funk EP, inspired by 1992 Sega Megadrive classic Ecco the Dolphin. And hot off the back of those small-scale synth explorations, the duo kick things off in 2021 with their second full-length release, Reflection Overdrive.
The scene is set with YMO-inspired ‘Disco na Koi’, a bouncy track that also takes melodic cues from John Lennon’s ‘Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him’. Between the phasing chords and kalimba synth, Ryota Miyake (vocals, composition) stretches out his voice with lines about microbes dancing in a forest.
CRYSTAL has always been experimental, but this album sees the duo returning to their roots — taking a retro-futurist approach to synth but refitting it with bold, modern sensibilities. But inspiration also seeps into the release via ‘90s pop outfits like KomeKome Club, WINK and Ippu-do, further solidifying the duo’s unique sound that steers clear of city pop revivalism.
True to form, frenetic basslines rip through the album: tracks like the ‘Phantom Gizmo’, strewn with MIDI, and the album reworking of Ecco Funk’s titular single. Elsewhere, Matias Aguayo lends his talents to ‘Kimi wa Monster’, complete with its angular, collage construction, and Vincent Ruiz playing bass on the frantic ‘Taxi Hard’, which sounds something akin to a cosmic racetrack.
But CRYSTAL’s latest outing isn’t always about breakneck speed. It also takes time to sit and reflect. One moment you’re swimming through space age undersea soundscapes in the form of ‘The Golden Disc’ — a nod to Sheila E. — the next you’re in the midst of Gorillaz-esque melancholy in ‘TV Fuzz’, featuring Julián Mayorga on vocals.
With influences taken from far and wide, Reflection Overdrive is true to its name: a mirror held up to music, styles and artists that have come before, all reflected through a magnifying lens of boundless creativity for a true journey of an album.
Northern Taurids
Ecco Funk (Album Version)Solidary Sonar
TV Fuzz (feat. Julián Mayorga)
Kimi Wa Monster feat. Matias Aguayo (Album Version)
The Golden Disc
Refraction Overdrive
Slow Universe
Reflection Overdrive incorporates city pop, electro synthesizers, video game aesthetics, techno, and new wave influences – Vinyl Factory
Bouncy, playful electronic music from the Japanese duo with the delightfully cheesy madcap air of ’80s and ’90s video game soundtracks – Bandcamp (new & notable)
This music sounds like what we thought future would sound like in the late 80s and early 90s. It’s the Sega Mega Drive as an album but in HD and super slick. These future funk ultra hyper disco synths make me want to eat foot long sherbert straws and play arcade games. SUPER FUN. For those who dig: the goofy electro futurism of Justice, Thundercat when he’s being a nerd, PC Music, future funk, Japanese synth pop… – Limited Addition Records
weird, unexpected, more than likely not right – but ridiculously enjoyable – Cyclic Defrost
it exists on its own plane…a feel-good album, one that can instantly transport listeners to an imaginative alternate universe that draws from past fiction, but looks towards the future – Audio Femme
a strong EP that pays homage to the bouncy melodies, slinky synths, video game influenced sonics and playful motifs associated with 80’s New Wave and synth-pop…Crystal has a winner in their hands – Scientific Inquirer
…vibrant with racing synth and neon basslines; original work from a different time – ADSR Collective
Reflection Overdrive was both close to reality and suspended above it: dancing, joyous, thoroughly technical and slightly strange pop music – The Glow (Best Japanese Album 2021)
beautiful addiction – Iggy Magazine
retro-future. fusion-galore. Shimmy-excellence – Comeherefloyd
wonderful Japanese playfulness – Beatrader
delightful and dizzying bit of techno-pop throwback – Make Believe Melodies
très futuristique et décalé – Djolo
If there is a band that not only combines the pastel-bright to squeaky-colored sound colors, but also the avant-garde-optimistic, retrofuturistic spirit of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, the experimental, but always pop-affine way of working and thinking, the limber machine funk in a crisp, clear and everlasting pop into the present time, then the Tokyo duo Crystal – Groove
synth funk retro futurista – Mickeys Weekly
The guys share the style with all their hearts, dive headlong into the old-school pop sound of the 80s and this nostalgic performance will definitely become a cult among vaporwave connoisseurs – Myshka
CRYSTAL’s music always feels a little bit like constructivist art: A red triangle here, a blue square there, a black squiggle or two, all set in arrangements of bold, jagged simplicity – Yes/No Music
ベイパーウェーブ以降の80’sインスパイアながら世界観の作り込みに余念が無く、一切の“ヌルさ”を感じさせない内容…天然なのか確信犯なのか判然としない傑作 – Sound & Recording Magazine
シンセポップというよりは、そのジャンルはむしろ、YMOなどを経由しながらもP-Funk的なものにより近い、強力なデジタル·ファンクという位置付けの方が妥当だろう。つまり、そこには当然過去も存在するが、加えて未来へ向けた強靭さや…「きわどい曲を作る」というCRYSTALが持つ独創的なユーモアも詰まっている – Uncanny
フューチャリスティックでサイバーな質感をまといながらも、骨っぽいファンクや、80年代のテクノ・ポップ、更には当時のシンセ歌謡的な雰囲気すら引き寄せた内容は、現在世界的なトレンドとなっている〈ニュー・レトロ〉的世界観とも強く触れ合う – Mikiki
CAT No. FLAU91
Release Date: 2021-05-07
Format: DIGITAL/LP
Northern Taurids
Ecco Funk (Album Version)Solidary Sonar
TV Fuzz (feat. Julián Mayorga)
Kimi Wa Monster feat. Matias Aguayo (Album Version)
The Golden Disc
Refraction Overdrive
Slow Universe
東京のシンセディオ、クリスタル5年ぶり2枚目のアルバムは、相変わらずの80sなフィーリングながらもフューチャーファンクとテクノ歌謡のフレイバー強めな大注目作。近年はクラブ寄りのかっこいい路線の曲も多かったものの、きわどい曲を作るというコンセプトに立ち返り、YMO、1986オメガトライブ、米米クラブ、一風堂などを思わせる歌ものにも果敢に挑戦。変わらない過剰なシンセと前作よりも少し肉体的なリズム感で迫ります。
Late 2020 saw the release of CRYSTAL’s Ecco Funk EP, inspired by 1992 Sega Megadrive classic Ecco the Dolphin. And hot off the back of those small-scale synth explorations, the duo kick things off in 2021 with their second full-length release, Reflection Overdrive.
The scene is set with YMO-inspired ‘Disco na Koi’, a bouncy track that also takes melodic cues from John Lennon’s ‘Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him’. Between the phasing chords and kalimba synth, Ryota Miyake (vocals, composition) stretches out his voice with lines about microbes dancing in a forest.
CRYSTAL has always been experimental, but this album sees the duo returning to their roots — taking a retro-futurist approach to synth but refitting it with bold, modern sensibilities. But inspiration also seeps into the release via ‘90s pop outfits like KomeKome Club, WINK and Ippu-do, further solidifying the duo’s unique sound that steers clear of city pop revivalism.
True to form, frenetic basslines rip through the album: tracks like the ‘Phantom Gizmo’, strewn with MIDI, and the album reworking of Ecco Funk’s titular single. Elsewhere, Matias Aguayo lends his talents to ‘Kimi wa Monster’, complete with its angular, collage construction, and Vincent Ruiz playing bass on the frantic ‘Taxi Hard’, which sounds something akin to a cosmic racetrack.
But CRYSTAL’s latest outing isn’t always about breakneck speed. It also takes time to sit and reflect. One moment you’re swimming through space age undersea soundscapes in the form of ‘The Golden Disc’ — a nod to Sheila E. — the next you’re in the midst of Gorillaz-esque melancholy in ‘TV Fuzz’, featuring Julián Mayorga on vocals.
With influences taken from far and wide, Reflection Overdrive is true to its name: a mirror held up to music, styles and artists that have come before, all reflected through a magnifying lens of boundless creativity for a true journey of an album.