SAB

Crystallization

$40.00

We have secured copies for this upcoming release.

This is one of Vanity Records' earliest releases, a Japanese (pre)New Age masterpiece that has been re-evaluated in recent years, and is now being reissued on a standalone LP, much awaited worldwide!

Release date:  June 13, 2025 

Cat number: EMC025

LISTEN:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GCRp4IaSaU

Translated from distributor site:

This is the long-awaited solo LP reissue of the Japanese (pre-)New Age masterpiece, one of the earliest releases from Vanity Records, which has been re-evaluated in recent years.


This definitive edition has been AD converted from the original master, and has been remastered with the latest high-resolution audio. It also comes with the correct track titles to clear up long-standing misunderstandings.
Commentary: Yuji Shibasaki.


"Crystalization," released in 1978 as the second release from Vanity Records, an indie label representing Osaka during the post-punk era, is an album in which a magnificent musical epic imagined by a genius musician called SAB, who was only 19 years old at the time, was "crystallized" on magnetic tape using electronic music equipment. It is a masterpiece of pre-New Age music that appeared before the term and customs of "New Age" spread in Japan.
Although he was assisted by two musicians in the recording, most of the work was produced by SAB himself using multi-track recording, so-called "home recording" based work.
SA's only solo release, "Crystalization," has arrangements and instrumentation that hint at the influences of Brian Eno, Obscure label, and Popol Vuh, but at the same time, SA also tries to avoid those influences, and as a result, it has earned the status of "a masterpiece that does not belong to any lineage of synth music" (note). It has become a new classic for the audience of the 2020s.
In addition, with the recent emergence of new age revival and the rediscovery of Japanese environmental music, it has become even more brilliant in music value over time.
The agate illustration on the artwork was drawn by Marinoru Unii (wife of Seigo Matsuoka) inspired by the writings of the philosopher Roger Caillois.

Track list:
A1. Yume-no-ishi "marble"
B1.I (9:20)
B2.II (4:38)
B3.III (7:07)