Shun (band)
| Shun | |
|---|---|
| Also known as |
|
| Origin | Tokyo, Japan |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1984 – 1996? |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts |
|
| Past members |
Susumu Hirasawa Akiro "Kamio" Arishima Akemi Tsujitani Iwao Asama Yuji Matsuda Teruo Nakano Hiromi Seki Shuichi Sugawara Shigeo Motojima The oldman, who was on the way to IWATE. Motohiro Yamada Sacol Trakranprasirt Supal Kuntatun |
Shun (旬) (later known as "Syun") was a Japanese experimental sampling unit created by Susumu Hirasawa. The unit, while essentially over, never officially ended, with its last work being released in 1996.
History
In 1983, Tokuma Japan Communications, the label that P-Model was signed to, postponed the release of the album Another Game by 4 months, requesting that the group must redo the lyrics of the song "Atom-Siberia", claiming that the original lyrics "encouraged discrimination"; after this fact, P-MODEL broke their contract with Tokuma and created the "P-Model Another Act" project, where the group would release records with compositions made separately by each member on styles different from the standard P-MODEL ones through the group's management company, Model House (although the first 2 records were released on independent labels). Hirasawa's releases were made under the name "Shun", which was the only name that was used more than once. The releases made under this name had a more experimental nature than P-Model's works, and featured heavier use of the Heavenizer, a sampler that was created by Susumu Hirasawa. with a keyboard and a tape echo machine due to the prohibitive costs of professional samplers; each release had a different lineup of artists performing different tasks (notably, the group's second release featured then P-Model roadie Teruo Nakano, who would later join the band as a proper member; the song on that record, "1778-1985", was re-recorded by P-Model for the Karkador album, and was performed by the band on live shows before the album's release). 2 years after the end of the "P-Model Another Act" project, a fourth Shun record was released containing re-recordings of "Ⓘ-Location" from the first Shun record and "1778-1985" & two new songs, the record also featured Hiromi Seki, who was the second bassist of Hirasawa's defunct Progressive rock band Mandrake; less than a year after the release of the fourth record, Model House released a VHS tape with music videos for all songs, P-Model also played the new version of "1778-1985" on their live shows, with it being the last song played on their last show before being "frozen" in 1988.
Shun stayed dormant after the freezing of P-MODEL; in 1994, Hirasawa created SYUN (named after the group, whose name was until then written as "Shun"; the label's logo was the cover of the fourth Shun release), a label with DIW to be able to have freedom to release some of his less commercial works, starting with a compilation of all previously released Shun songs. Later that year, the SYUN label released the CD Landscapes, the first new release from the unit in 6 years; it featured, instead of sampling, sounds created by the Vista landscape design software for the Amiga. In 1995, SYUN re-issued the VHS tape, this time a segment with Hirasawa talking was cut from the original release. In 1996, SYUN released Kun Mae on a Calculation; at the time, Hirasawa was heavily interested in Thailand, and his albums (both solo and with P-Model) had heavy Thai influences; Kun Mae on a Calculation was also Thai influenced, being created by Hirasawa and 2 Thai persons.
After Kun Mae on a Calculation, no more albums were released under the Shun/Syun name (with the SYUN label also stopping, with its last 2 releases on 10 December 1996); although Hirasawa has continued to use the sounds that originated in the Syun albums, most notably in his soundtracks for the adaptations of Berserk, motion graphics of twenty2product and the works of Satoshi Kon (Kon himself requested for Hirasawa to refit certain songs from Landscapes and Kun Mae on a Calculation for Millennium Actress, with "Landscape-1" being used in the film's prolougue). On the 29th of February 2012, Hirasawa released the box set Haldyn Dome on his website; it contains Hirasawa's works made in the 20th century remastered by Masanori Chinzei; Disc 13 includes OOPARTS, while Disc 14 includes Landscapes and Kun Mae on a Calculation, effectively making Haldyn Dome a compilation of every single Shun/Syun work (disregarding the VHS).
Discography
| Title | Release details |
|---|---|
| shun (旬) Ⓘ-Location Conditioning Cycle |
|
| SHUN 2nd (旬 II) 1778-1985 |
|
| SHUN (旬) IIIrd SHEETS (TABLE BEAT) P-MODEL ANOTHER ACT 4 |
|
| SHUN・4 SHUN |
|
| SHUN・4 VISION (旬IV VISION) |
|
| OOPARTS OUT OF PLACE ARTIFACTS |
|
| Landscapes |
|
| Kun Mae on a Calculation (計算上のKun Mae Keisanjō no Kun Mae) |
|
Members
- Susumu Hirasawa - All releases
- Akiro "Kamio" Arishima - shun and Landscapes
- Akemi Tsujitani - shun
- Iwao Asama - shun
- Yuji Matsuda - SHUN 2nd, SHUN IIIrd SHEETS and SHUN・4
- Teruo Nakano - SHUN 2nd
- Hiromi Seki - SHUN・4
- Shuichi Sugawara - SHUN・4
- Shigeo Motojima - SHUN・4
- The oldman, who was on the way to IWATE. - SHUN・4
- Motohiro Yamada - Landscapes
- Sacol Trakranprasirt - Kun Mae on a Calculation
- Supal Kuntatun - Kun Mae on a Calculation
- Yūichi Hirasawa - SHUN・4 VISION (except SHUN・II)
- Hiroshi Moriguchi - SHUN・4 VISION (SHUN・II only)
- Kiyoshi Inagaki - SHUN・4 VISION ("GRAPHIX")
External links
- SHUN/SYUN Discography at NO ROOM - The official site of Susumu Hirasawa (P-MODEL)
- Shun at Discogs
- Shun at Rate Your Music
- 旬 at MusicBrainz
- Japanese Hirasawa fansite (lists Shun/Syun releases and advertisements)
- Japanese Hirasawa encyclopedia (list relationships between songs of the Shun/Syun albums and other Hirasawa songs)
- Hirasawa fansite in English (talks a bit about Shun/Syun)
|