Yasuaki Shimizu

Yasuaki Shimizu came up in Tokyo's jazz and studio scene before Mariah, the band he led, turned toward a strange, rhythmic art-pop that found a second audience through later reissues. His solo album Kakashi pushes saxophone through tape edits, synthesisers and clipped, playful arrangements, and Music for Commercials, released through Crammed Discs' Made to Measure series, gathers short pieces originally written for television advertising.

He later formed Saxophonettes, a project built around layered saxophones, and spent years writing for film and producing other artists. His recordings of the Bach cello suites set the tenor saxophone in large, reverberant spaces, letting the room shape the long melodic lines as much as the instrument does.