DJ Mehdi
Espion EP (Collector Crystal Clear LP)

✺ Collaboration between "Grey October Sound" and Italian lo-fi hip-hop label Salad Days Records.✺ GOS' Lo-Fi Ghibli LP has sold almost ten thousand copies in the worldGaining attention with the release of high-quality lo-fi hip-hop compilations such as "Timeless" and "The Cave," Grey October Sound is a lo-fi hip-hop production team that has also gained recognition in Japan and abroad. They have released covers of famous Studio Ghibli songs in "Lo-Fi Ghibli," popular city pop tracks in "Lo-fi City Pop," and beloved Japanese anime songs in "Lo-fi Anime."A collaboration between Grey October Sound and Salad Days, widely known as Europe's top lo-fi/chill pop label, has come to fruition! This compilation features popular lo-fi tracks released digitally by Salad Days, including those by artists like ENRA, Lenny Loops, Slowheal, and Eugenio Izzi. The visual imagery, including the cover art, is handled by illustrator Rika Nagatani, who is also well known for the artwork for "Lo-fi Ghibli" series.

The album Lo-Fi Ghibli became a hit worldwide with covers of Studio Ghibli songs in a Lo-Fi hip-hop style, and it made Grey October Sound known not only in Japan but also overseas. This series became a topic of discussion even on Japanese television, and it's common to see tourists visiting Japan carrying the Lo-Fi Ghibli LP from record stores to the register. P-VINE is thrilled to announce the release of the highly anticipated sequel to this popular work, "Lo-Fi Ghibli 2." In this new release, Grey October Sound's producers have arranged Ghibli songs not included in Vol. 1, and the visual imagery, including the jacket, continues to be produced by illustrator Rika Nagatani. Placing this record on your turntable will instantly provide you with a relaxing chill time accompanied by memories of the Ghibli films.

Cherry Blossom Baby, Shigeto's first full-length statement since 2017, sprouts out from a collective thaw, ambitious, collaborative, and fully realized. The Detroit-based, Japanese-American musician, DJ, Portage Garage Sounds label co-founder, and longtime Ghostly International artist embraces the role of producer and composer. Bold and cultivated with intention, the band-built sound honors traditions in electronic, jazz, R&B, and hip-hop, a fusion that's become his signature, now more vibrant than ever. Zach Saginaw and a group of guests and players present a snapshot in time, a celebration of self-love and an expression of vitality distinctly rooted in Detroit and informed by his family’s cultural history. "I am a cherry blossom baby," he says. "We all are cherry blossom babies, we all are resilient, we all are growing, we all will continue to."Heritage has been at the heart of Saginaw's recording project from the start; his middle name is Shigeto, a name passed down from his great grandfather, which means "to grow" — it was apt given his premature birth weight of less than a pound, and remains fitting for the evolution of his artistry, now nearly 15 years since he signed to Ghostly. On Lineage (GI-148, 2012), Saginaw grappled with an ancestral story; the artwork contrasted photos taken of his great-grandfather's home in Hiroshima in 1916 and later at the Amache Internment Camp in Grenada, Colorado, where he and his family were sent during the Second World War. The line continues through Cherry Blossom Baby, which finds Saginaw drawing inspiration from the cherry trees that bloom every spring at Hiroshima, an enduring image of hope, resilience, and renewal.Saginaw's been searching, a simmering introspection that surfaced in recent years as nightlife paused and he began to question the idea of Shigeto, the performer and Michigan fixture. "My identity is always something I've struggled with, not being really considered Japanese, not being considered white. I think Shigeto was a way for me to have this identity, to create one for myself that I can latch onto, and it suddenly didn't exist anymore." The realization pushed him to work on himself, to come back to his craft and his community, laying the groundwork for a record that rises from the figurative ashes anew.A reaffirmed sense of self, momentum, and maturation is apparent in where Saginaw situates here as a songwriter and producer arranging ideas alongside Detroit's finest, a physical manifestation of his WDET 101.9FM show highlighting “forward-thinking music from the Detroit Diaspora.” Every track is a collaboration, be it with a vocalist or multiple instrumentalists, a tradition forged in his Portage Garage studio sessions. "It's the first time I'm writing this stuff myself and getting these players to make it even better…it's impossible to have made it at this level without them." The production and mix favor a full, throwback quality, eschewing modern compression for more spacious dynamics, a nod to psych and jazz records of the '70s and '80s. "It was on purpose but also subconsciously, playing live with jazz bands and DJing b2b with mentors like Dez Andrés, playing older sounds over the last decade. Sonically I wanted to make this record feel like you could see multiple people in a studio."The group puts egos aside to pursue the best possible outcomes, like Saginaw's choice to invite drummer Ian Maciak (Machinedrum) for the early standout "Ready. Set. Flex,” which takes off with drum & bass velocity. "Ian's sound is unmatched, I can't play jungle breaks like Ian and I thought, how cool would it be if I could get another drummer to play that track?" Above the breaks and a rolling piano loop, there's Zelooperz, the ascendant rapper and Bruiser Brigade member (as well as Shigeto's partner in 2017 project ZGTO), rattling off a series of cerebral lines, with upright bass from Josef Deas (a Portage Garage alum) and Saginaw's synth flourishes."The Punch" dips into an electro-boogie vibe; it's a crew jam featuring rising star vocalist and musician KESSWA, who has worked with Shigeto on previous releases and a 2022 MOCAD museum installation and lights up half of Cherry's ten tracks with her smooth, soulful delivery. Behind the kit, Saginaw provides the percussive punch (as well as synth and glockenspiel), surrounded by the personnel that has comprised his live band and Versions (GI-340, 2019) ensemble, including Ian Finkelstein, Dez Andrés, and later, Marcus Elliot.The collaborative spirit that runs through Cherry Blossom Baby widens its range. Rapper Cleveland Thrasher brings raspy bars to the hypnotic "Runnup On'm" with harpist Ahya Simone, the trap/breakbeat-wielding "BookaMagick," and across the pop grooves of "Nothing Simple," where he bobs and weaves with producer/DJ Tammy Lakkis. Guitarist Sasha Kashperko riffs through several tracks, giving the material a loungier feel — "I've always wanted a great guitarist on my tracks," says Saginaw. Ahya Simone returns to elevate "Let's Talk" to the cosmos. Her harp parts represent a natural progression for the Shigeto sound; whereas in the past, he might have collaged string elements together, he leans back in the open space and lets it all flow organically.Expanding on the title's metaphor, Shigeto is pushing forward with the people around him: "A cherry blossom is regrowing, but it's always different too, and I'm speaking to that with all the different musicians on this record, getting everyone involved and honoring their contributions is part of that cherry blossom philosophy.”Cherry Blossom Baby de SHIGETO

★First complete limited editionA 7EP coupling "NO MATTER WHAT" produced by 16FLIP featuring ISSUGI and "I SEE" produced by DJ SCRATCH NICE from MULBE's 2nd ALBUM "LIFE GOES ON" is now available as a limited pressing!If you live, there are times to rise and times to fall. One year after his first album "FAST&SLOW", MULBE questions the reason for HIP HOP's existence with his second album "LIFE GOES ON", featuring ISSUGI and produced by 16FLIP. The 7EP coupling "NO MATTER WHAT" and "I SEE" produced by DJ SCRATCH NICE is released in a limited pressing!

There’s a new EP afoot for the three piece hip-hop unit MONJU. Currently awaiting a name, there’s a lot of mystery surrounding this first major undertaking by ISSUGI, SENNINSHO and Mr. PUG since their last EP Black de. ep released all the way back in 2008. Now veterans of the Japanese hip-hop scene, their legendary status has had no marked effect on the raw and rooted sound that has stuck with them since the early days, and we expect a fire of fresh material. All tracks will be produced by the prolific 16FLIP who has worked tirelessly with the unit’s back catalogue and many key records in Dogear Record’s rich history.