Released to highly positive reviews in 2007, Slope was the debut album from Steve Jansen (Japan / Rain Tree Crow). Exhibiting a bold combination of inventive rhythms, intricate programming and emotive vocal performances, the album features guest contributions from an impressive line-up including David Sylvian, Tim Elsenburg (Sweet Billy Pilgrim), Joan Wasser (Joan As Policewoman), Thomas Feiner, Anja Garbarek, Nina Kinert, and Theo Travis. As Jansen explains, "With Slope, I approached composition attempting to avoid chord and song structures and the usual familiar building blocks. Instead, in an attempt to deviate from my own trappings as a musician, I wanted to piece together unrelated sounds, music samples, rhythms and 'events'."
I'm biased by the fact that I feel JBK can do no wrong musically, though their work does not always strike a chord with my personal moods, this album is an exception. The idea is a novel one, and the result, superb. Jansen-Barbieri-Karn performing live some of their best material. One can almost say it is like a live Japan album minus Sylvian on vocals, as they cover material from each of their own repertoires, including a Rain Tree Crow piece. From the pulsating electro-atmospheric opener "Walkabout" by Barbieri, ending with the downbeat track "Types of Ambiguity" by Jansen, every number is a gem and performed with the utmost of professionality and originality. Expect no less from this trio.
The 2016 studio release from Steve Jansen. The second solo album release from Steve Jansen. 6 panel digipak with photography and artwork by Carl Glover. Featuring guest appearances by Thomas Feiner, Perry Blake, Nicola Hitchcock, Tim Elsenburg (Sweet Billy Pilgrim) and others.
Originally released in 1995, taking in elements of epic Art Rock and Ambient atmospherics, 'Stone To Flesh' comprises a diverse collection of pieces that vary from the dynamic to the hauntingly meditative. Featuring guest performances from Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson and Colin Edwin, and harmonica great, Mark Feltham (Talk Talk, The The etc). 2015 Kscope label digipak CD version with bonus track.
A Kscope label CD release of Lumen, a recording of the solitary Steve Jansen/Richard Barbieri concert from 1st November 1996. Performing songs from the duo's Stone To Flesh, Stories Across Borders and Beginning To Melt albums, the show was recorded at the Milky Way as part of the famous Dutch Magazine OOR's 25th anniversary celebrations. Jansen and Barbieri were joined on stage by Mick Karn and Steven Wilson.
“The Extinct Suite” is a reinterpretation of the more ambient and orchestral elements of this last album ‘Tender Extinction’. Not a remix by any means, some familiar passages are woven together with additional pieces to create a suite of instrumentals lasting over 55 minutes as one single track.
An uncompromising debut album that explores the collective psyches and diverse influences of its renowned members. The focus is on songcraft that seamlessly combines genres and lyrical perspectives that shift between shadows and light.
Collaborative effort from former Japan members Steve Jansen & Richard Barbieri (also known for Porcupine Tree) in which they join forces with ex-Spiritual Vibes techno DJ Nobukazu Takemura, creating a diverse array of tunes ranging from rock to drum 'n' bass & more!
"Bricolage," a French word meaning to assemble something from available materials, is such a perfect term for the art of the remix that it's surprising no one has ever used it before. It's less surprising that Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose work has always had a cool Continental flair despite the artist's Japanese roots, would choose such an elegant term for his swish remix collection. Focusing on reworks of material from 2005's back-to-the-roots electro-pop experiment Chasm, Bricolages features a cross-cultural and cross-generational batch of remixers including Cornelius, whose playful sense of pastiche is to current hipster Japanese pop what Sakamoto's Yellow Magic Orchestra was a quarter-century before; his take on the spoken word cut-up "War & Peace" is considerably lighter and groovier than Aoki Takamasa's tense, austere version. Former Japan drummer Steve Jansen, whose collaboration with Sakamoto goes back to the early '80s, contributes the skittering "Break With," bridging the gap between new wave disco and contemporary IDM.