ISHI

Rekishi music video created by Metahaven

In their first collaboration, pianist Armen Nalbandian and drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto present 'ISHI,' an album of improvised compositions on the edge of avant-garde jazz, classical, noise, and silence. ‘ISHI’ will be released as a physical CD and digital album, with contributions from producer and writer Jing Yi Teo and artist collective Metahaven.

'Ishi' (石) is Japanese for stone. The word functions as a substring that appears in each of the track titles, with unrelated meanings: 'Rekishi' for history, 'Shishi' for lion or extremities, 'Nishin' for herring, 'Kaishita' for downstairs, 'Kurorekishi' for an embarrassing past.

For 'ISHI,' Nalbandian and Yamamoto create on the mortality of an idea; the nature of a sound to arrive and to die. Devices and motifs reappear across the album, with repetitions conveying a mortality without an arc of narrative. A thing begins and ends with variation in one way or another, existing in paradox: if it has no determinate beginning nor ending, how can it begin again?

'ISHI' was mixed and mastered by Joe Talia, and was recorded by Mitsuhisa Sakaguchi, with 'Kurorekishi' recorded in the presence of a live audience. Recordings took place at Koen-Dori Classics, a live performance venue in Shibuya, Tokyo that occupied the former backroom to the historic Shibuya Jean-Jean (1969-2000). Koen-Dori Classics closed its doors in December 2025, with its owner in search of a new location.The album's cover and physical product were designed by Metahaven, who also created the music video for 'Rekishi.' The story screenprinted on the CD body was written by Jing Yi Teo. The album and its tracks were titled by Yamamoto. 'ISHI' is produced by Teo and Nalbandian.

1. Rekishi

2. Shishi

3. Nishin

4. Kaishita

5. Kurorekishi

‘ISHI’ – album credits:
composed and performed by Armen Nalbandian and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto
recorded by Sakaguchi Mitsuhisa at Koen-Dori Classics in Shibuya, Tokyo
mixed and mastered by Joe Talia
design by Metahaven
story by Jing Yi Teo
track and album titling by Tatsuhisa Yamamoto
produced by Jing Yi Teo and Armen Nalbandian

special thanks to Taro Yokota and the audience at Koen-Dori Classics on the evening of June 20, 2024.

July Forever -- JF 007