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. FLAU82
Release Date: Japan - Oct 2nd / Overseas - Sep 18th, 2020
Format: DIGITAL/CD
Schmo、オーストラリア・パース出身の作曲家Harry Hohnenの新しいプロジェクトによるSpring Storiesは、世界に散らばる景色や時間を切り取った美しいサウンド・コラージュです。それは、街角のかすかな記憶、どこかでぼんやりと覚えている音、どこでもない場所の音を一度にコラージュした作品です。彼のサウンドは、タイムラプスの花のように、あるいは埃をかぶった封筒の中に古い家族の写真を見た時に流れる感情のように、自然に、有機的に展開していきます。Hohnen自身が言うように、それは頭脳的なプロセスではなく、ものづくりと実験の絶え間ない実践なのです。
春を前に希望に満ちた哀愁が耳に残る「January February」の暖かいピアノのループから、感動的な「Black Rook in Rainy Weather」の風合いのある木管楽器まで、Spring Storyの曲は時間と愛情を込めて真摯に作り上げられました。それは、サンプルをアレンジし、音楽がどのように進行していくかについて「何が正しいと感じるかを見つけようとしている」ことから生まれたものです。
「私は手を加えることを楽しんでいます」とHohnenは話します。アルバムのアートワークは、彼の父親が描いたシリーズの一部であり、その色や明快さ、静けさは、アルバム全体にシームレスに配置されたインストルメントのはっきりとした色彩とマッチしています。陽気で機械的な「Moszár」と幽霊のような「Hajós utca」は、第二次世界大戦中に難民となる前に彼の母親の両親が住んでいたハンガリー・ブダペストの通りのことを指しています。Schmoという名前自体も、彼の父親がつけたあだ名だといいます。
好奇心のガラスケースのように、モダニズム的な記憶のパッチワークのように、巧みにループするビネットと優雅な音の詩の中で、すべてが巧みに作られた春の物語。「無から有への何か」とHohnenは説明します。「他の何かに繋がる場所を配置して、照らす光を掴むことのできる空間を正しいやり方で作りたいのです。」
Spring Story by Schmo (aka Perth, Australia, composer Harry Hohnen) is a collage of sound. It is faint recollections of street corners, the sound of somewhere vaguely remembered and the sound of nowhere all at once. His work evolves naturally, organically opening like a flower in time-lapse, or like the emotion that flows when you open a dusty brown envelope and see an old family photo. As Hohnen himself puts it, “It’s not really a cerebral process. It’s practical work of experimenting and crafting.”
From the warm piano loops of ‘January February’ imprinting their hopeful pre-spring melancholy onto your ears, to the textured woodwinds in the touching ‘Black rook in rainy weather’, the songs of Spring Story are lovingly crafted. It’s a product of arranging samples and “trying to find what feels right” with how the music progresses.
“I enjoy tinkering,” Hohnen says, “Moving sounds around, seeing what fits together.”
There’s family connection in Spring Story, too, with the album artwork part of a series painted by Hohnen’s father, its “colour, clarity and calm” matching the distinct daubs of instrumentation that slot together seamlessly throughout the album. Both the jaunty and mechanical ‘Moszár’ and ghostly ‘Hajós utca’ refer to streets in Budapest neighbourhood where his mother’s parents lived before they became refugees during World War II. Even the moniker Schmo itself is a nickname given him by his father.
Overall, Spring Story echoes in the mind like a treasure chest of sound, a display case of curios, a modernist patchwork of memories, all expertly crafted in artfully looping vignettes and graceful sound poems — “something from nothing,” explains Hohnen, “placing one room next to another, hoping to create a space that catches light the right way.”
01 Bring Flowers
02 Overflow 03 January February04 Crumbles Cookie Wise
05 Moszár
06 Gambit
07 Alphabetical08 South from Here
09 Pears
10 Black Rook in Rainy Weather11 Solomon
12 Hajós Utca
13 Alma Shuffle
14 North from There
15 Over and Out
cheerful warm-white dreamscapes – FAZE MAG
result of honest musical craftmanship and versatility…most playful and friendly collection – Nitestylez
nostalgia-tinged album – A Closer Listen
a narrative that grows and sprouts, taking on new life – Artnoir
sequence of snapshots atmospheric, imbued with fragile melancholy…now ecstatic, now spectral, Hohnen sensitively captures an ecosystem of sounds and sensations that slowly unfold in spring – Rockerilla / Music Won’ts Save You
Schmo reaffirms to possess the sensitivity of the great artist, building a work much more complex than it can reveal a superficial listening, between experimentations and educated embroideries – Music Map
Collages of found sound can also contribute to the individual impression, if the particles of the beautiful or interesting are not put together too arbitrarily. This year the Australian Harry Honen alias Schmo shows how this can be done – Groove
fine bricolage – Amusio
all a lot of charming melodies, which were captured fluffy and well produced – Musik an Sich
soundtrack of the spring advent and the whole project seems to capture the emotions of that time – ToPeriodiko
CAT No. FLAU82
Release Date: Japan - Oct 2nd / Overseas - Sep 18th, 2020
Format: DIGITAL/CD
01 Bring Flowers
02 Overflow 03 January February04 Crumbles Cookie Wise
05 Moszár
06 Gambit
07 Alphabetical08 South from Here
09 Pears
10 Black Rook in Rainy Weather11 Solomon
12 Hajós Utca
13 Alma Shuffle
14 North from There
15 Over and Out
Schmo、オーストラリア・パース出身の作曲家Harry Hohnenの新しいプロジェクトによるSpring Storiesは、世界に散らばる景色や時間を切り取った美しいサウンド・コラージュです。それは、街角のかすかな記憶、どこかでぼんやりと覚えている音、どこでもない場所の音を一度にコラージュした作品です。彼のサウンドは、タイムラプスの花のように、あるいは埃をかぶった封筒の中に古い家族の写真を見た時に流れる感情のように、自然に、有機的に展開していきます。Hohnen自身が言うように、それは頭脳的なプロセスではなく、ものづくりと実験の絶え間ない実践なのです。
春を前に希望に満ちた哀愁が耳に残る「January February」の暖かいピアノのループから、感動的な「Black Rook in Rainy Weather」の風合いのある木管楽器まで、Spring Storyの曲は時間と愛情を込めて真摯に作り上げられました。それは、サンプルをアレンジし、音楽がどのように進行していくかについて「何が正しいと感じるかを見つけようとしている」ことから生まれたものです。
「私は手を加えることを楽しんでいます」とHohnenは話します。アルバムのアートワークは、彼の父親が描いたシリーズの一部であり、その色や明快さ、静けさは、アルバム全体にシームレスに配置されたインストルメントのはっきりとした色彩とマッチしています。陽気で機械的な「Moszár」と幽霊のような「Hajós utca」は、第二次世界大戦中に難民となる前に彼の母親の両親が住んでいたハンガリー・ブダペストの通りのことを指しています。Schmoという名前自体も、彼の父親がつけたあだ名だといいます。
好奇心のガラスケースのように、モダニズム的な記憶のパッチワークのように、巧みにループするビネットと優雅な音の詩の中で、すべてが巧みに作られた春の物語。「無から有への何か」とHohnenは説明します。「他の何かに繋がる場所を配置して、照らす光を掴むことのできる空間を正しいやり方で作りたいのです。」
Spring Story by Schmo (aka Perth, Australia, composer Harry Hohnen) is a collage of sound. It is faint recollections of street corners, the sound of somewhere vaguely remembered and the sound of nowhere all at once. His work evolves naturally, organically opening like a flower in time-lapse, or like the emotion that flows when you open a dusty brown envelope and see an old family photo. As Hohnen himself puts it, “It’s not really a cerebral process. It’s practical work of experimenting and crafting.”
From the warm piano loops of ‘January February’ imprinting their hopeful pre-spring melancholy onto your ears, to the textured woodwinds in the touching ‘Black rook in rainy weather’, the songs of Spring Story are lovingly crafted. It’s a product of arranging samples and “trying to find what feels right” with how the music progresses.
“I enjoy tinkering,” Hohnen says, “Moving sounds around, seeing what fits together.”
There’s family connection in Spring Story, too, with the album artwork part of a series painted by Hohnen’s father, its “colour, clarity and calm” matching the distinct daubs of instrumentation that slot together seamlessly throughout the album. Both the jaunty and mechanical ‘Moszár’ and ghostly ‘Hajós utca’ refer to streets in Budapest neighbourhood where his mother’s parents lived before they became refugees during World War II. Even the moniker Schmo itself is a nickname given him by his father.
Overall, Spring Story echoes in the mind like a treasure chest of sound, a display case of curios, a modernist patchwork of memories, all expertly crafted in artfully looping vignettes and graceful sound poems — “something from nothing,” explains Hohnen, “placing one room next to another, hoping to create a space that catches light the right way.”
