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I began making multiple recordings in 1983 when I started working as a temporary employee at the Players Inn Music Store in Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. The manager, Mr. Minamiyama, kindly allowed me to use the store freely after it closed to learn how to handle the instruments. I recorded some of the pieces I did back then and included them in this album.
I did not save the data on a CD-R, so I bought a TEAC cassette deck the other day and tried to play back the tapes. The first six tracks recorded at a music store in 1983 (I named them "Walking Tempo") were particularly difficult to listen to, and I wondered whether I should release them, but I decided to release them as a record.
The latter six tracks were recorded in 1984 at an apartment in Daizawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. Although he lived in the gorgeous Shimokita area, he was unable to form a solidarity with anyone and continued to make music while suffering from loneliness. The label of the tape was titled "Heartbreak all over the world."
Many people will find these sound sources difficult to hear. The lyrics are immature, the instrumental performance is full of mistakes, and the pitch of the song is questionable. I myself don't find it very pleasant to listen to. However, these 12 songs are indispensable materials when talking about Keisuke Iwashita's musical history.
My name is Iwashita Keisuke, also known as Sardine. Over the 20 years from 1983 to 2003, I have recorded about 200 songs by myself. I compiled these into eight albums and released them one by one in 2024. In 2025, instead of an anthology, I will release an album edited in chronological order. Sardine's music is diverse. It ranges from accessible pop to socially conscious message songs, from progressive constructions to punk subversiveness. I'm a formidable pianist, a mad synthesizer player, a halting guitarist, a tone-reading bassist, a loose percussionist, and a clumsy singer-songwriter with solo multi-choruses. All of these parts are integrated into one persona. A mixture of romance, cold-heartedness and passion, depicting incoherent anxiety and yearning for something unattainable, this is an oldie but an evergreen. Please listen to Sardine's expressive music.