DESCRIPTION:
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. A beautiful hour of music that will sketch itself into your beak basically forever. I try not to write anything too long on these, but have to make an exception here.

*The good: the music itself, appearances by Midori Takada & Junko Arase, the places it will take you.

*The bad: Ashikawa died a few months after this, his only record, came out at just 30 years old (in some kind of traffic accident). His death didn't just spell the end of the Wave Notation project, it also marked the end of his Sound Process label which had previously put out Hiroshi Yoshimura's 'Music For Nine Post Cards' and Satsuki Shibano's 'Erik Satie'.

Ashikawa accomplished a lot in a short space of time though; he had a degree in sociology, was a regular contributor to the live minimalist scene in Tokyo and, before Sound Process, also ran a successful art/music shop.

In the liner notes of the LP release, he writes about the commodification of music, and in particular, what he saw as the steady pervasiveness of music as it becomes further background noise in everyday life: advertising filler, the silver screen, TV, etc; how nowadays (and this was felt even 30yrs ago) it's impossible to escape some jingle somewhere.

Ashikawa writes, "In any case, the 'Wave Notation' series has begun. I hope it will be used and judged for what I had in mind as 'sound design', but of course the listener is free to use it in any way. However, I would hope this music does not become a partner in crime to the flood of sounds and music which inundate us at present."

(note: this is a rip of the 1989 CD release, as it features an extra track - Wrinkle)

Tracklist :

1) Prelude - 0:01
2) Landscape Of Wheels - 1:48
3) Still Park - Ensemble - 13:39
4) Still Park - Piano Solo - 25:43
5) Still Sky - 30:31
6) Image Under The Tree - 39:04
7) Wrinkle - 52:06

For the other two parts of the Wave Notation trilogy see:

-- Part 1 (Hiroshi Yoshimura ‎– Music For Nine Post Cards) here - https://youtu.be/zyY7NU4cbtY --
-- Part 3 Satsuki Shibano ‎– Erik Satie (France 1866-1925) here - https://youtu.be/w8buDQtwWOY --