Graphic design: Hitoshi Odajima

Hundred Sound of Bracket by Sanagiya Chouchou

“Bracket” – I feel nostalgia from the word which takes me back to the old memories. I rarely hear that creaking and squeaking sound these days that I used to hear when I was a kid. Thanks to the high-efficiency gel, I guess. The classic antique bracket collector saying “there were no brackets in the age when the parts of furniture and houses were connected with wood. The metal industry flourished following the modern age (or after the war) there was a sudden rise of brackets. ” and continued there is an assumption that “the today’s ‘society with no bracket sound’ went back to the Edo era or even before that culture.”

Chouchou is a popular rakugo performer in the beginning of the 10s. It is a little-known fact that he carefully recorded, collected and archived the metal sound of brackets. (Cute Chouchou playing with the bracket on the booklet!) There is no end to the number of enthusiasts who treat him as one of the original industrial music groups (especially silent one).

What I understand from listening to this disc is that Chouchou is a fine environmental musician and also a master of musique concrète and sound collage, which also suggests that he is a great editor as well.