Matsuo Ohno was born in the Kanda district of central Tokyo in the late 1930’s, which was subject to constant bombing raids through the end of World War II. During the long period of rebuilding after the war he was unaffected by contemporary pop music and culture, aside from the electronic experimentation of German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen and left-wing filmmaker Fumio Kamei. His first experience in sound design was with the famous Bungaku-za theatre group, which staged performances of ancient classics and contemporary plays from the West. He also worked at Japan’s national broadcasting network NHK in their equivalent of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop, but became frustrated by the corporate restrictions and quit, his exceptional skill giving him the rare opportunity to work as a freelancer, where he refined his techniques with the latest and greatest in analog synthesizers. The tracks on Roots of Electronic Sound are primarily experimental sound effects and motifs that were originally recorded between 1963 and 1966, with many cues used in the animated adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s unbelievably influential Mighty Atom (Astro Boy), one of the first anime productions ever. This is the first domestic issue of this album, and includes a printed insert with liner notes in Japanese.

black vinyl pressing

includes printed insert (text in Japanese)

limited edition

original release year: 1975

music label: Survival Instinct 2019

reviewed by ONLY A LAD 06/2019