Kyoto EP, by Site Nonsite

Kyoto EP

by Site Nonsite

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Sean Eskimo I like to start my day slowly and quietly listening to music while I just... be. The right music transports me to a peaceful forest or windswept coastline. The right music stops time. That's what this EP does for me. It feels like Spring or Autumn, the seasons changing but changing as they always have done. It's familiar and magical in equal measure. Favorite track: Nightfall in Gion.

Robb Owen Back when the Hiroshima EP released, I was really surprised at how nice it was to experience it on a cassette.

Aside from the first single, I've avoided streaming any more of the Kyoto EP because I wanted to hear the full thing on tape for the first time.

My tape just arrived so it's in my cassette player and in my ears. It was worth the wait Favorite track: Tombi (To the Circling Kites).

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

The complete download includes two PDFs featuring a location map, track-by-track notes and diary entries.

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Cassette + Digital Album
The second of four special edition cassettes. Includes mini fold-out location map, track-by-track notes and translations, diary entries and die-cut holographic sticker.

Includes unlimited streaming of Kyoto EP via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Full Digital Discography

6

releases

Get all 6 Site Nonsite releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Remixed, The Japan Series, Tokyo EP, Osaka EP, Kyoto EP, and Hiroshima EP. , and , .

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1.	Moss Garden 05:26	buy track
2.	Tombi (To the Circling Kites) 06:13	buy track
3.	Sutra for Your Happiness 02:07	buy track
4.	Nightfall in Gion 03:29	buy track
5.	Mono No Aware 06:29	buy track

about

"One of my favourite tape series in recent years... a wonderful multimedia project.”—Lippy Kid, Electronic Odyssey

The second of four multimedia projects documenting experiences in Japanese cities, this EP celebrates the nature and spirit of Kyoto.

1. Moss Garden recounts a peaceful walk around the beautiful garden at Saihō-ji, a.k.a. Kokedera (moss temple), and considers the gardeners quietly tending the grounds with great care and respect.

2. Tombi (To the Circling Kites) escapes the downtown bustle of Shijō bridge and gives thought to the soaring Black Kites above, reflecting on the negative attitude to the bird despite its sacred status in historical texts.

3. Sutra For Your Happiness documents the ceremony at Saihō-ji, built around the chanting of Buddhist scriptures to bring happiness and ancestry. Copying the scriptures earns attendees the privilege of entering the moss garden.

4. Nightfall in Gion attempts to capture that evening’s timeless beauty with dusty minor chords. In the vapours, you can hear the hushed delight of onlookers as maiko (apprentice geisha/geiko) ghost through darkening streets.

5. Mono No Aware is a term that has evolved over the centuries and can be interpreted as “an intimate harmony with nature”. The track is an impression of escaping the crowds and sailing upriver for two days of isolation and birdsong.

Complete liner notes, location metadata and translations included with both cassette and full download, and online at sitenonsite.com

Site Nonsite is a project researching and documenting a connection to place. Site is the source, a place rich with scattered information and experiences; Nonsite is the resulting document, a multimedia abstraction of that place. (These guiding thoughts are adapted from land artist Robert Smithson’s 1968 Theory of Non-Sites.)

credits

released November 4, 2022

Written, produced & mixed by Simon Collison.
Mastered by Simon Mills (One Half of Bent).
Translation by Geri Coady and Mika Iijima.
Design & photography by Simon Collison & Geri Coady.

The additional spoken word was provided by an anonymous acquaintance of Yūsuke Sumida. Field recordings were collected during Spring trips to Kyoto in 2016 and 2018.

Catalogue no. OTSN-02, published by Obvious Things.

license

about

Site Nonsite Nottingham, UK

“Eerily beautiful experimental compositions” (Electronic Sound) / Live shows this May-July / The Japan Series and Remixed albums out now

shows

May 12

Fat Lil's

Witney, UK

discography

Remixed

Feb 2024
The Japan Series

Feb 2024
Tokyo EP

Oct 2023
Osaka EP

Apr 2023
Kyoto EP

Nov 2022
Hiroshima EP

May 2022

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