Release Date: 2026/09/12
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A brief, perhaps rambling, explanation: In 1998, I produced a demo tape featuring tracks that reflected the gloomy, pent-up days I was living through. The tape circulated within the industry and eventually secured financial backing from a music producer. However, my subsequent songs failed to meet professional standards, and the option contract was quickly terminated. The reason given for the cancellation was that I could not surpass the raw impact of that initial demo.
The first half of this album contains the four songs from that cassette tape. The latter half consists of rough mixes of tracks created during the same period. I invite you to listen to this collection (where cynicism and lyricism intertwine) as if racing through them in a single, continuous sweep.
My name is Iwashita Keisuke, also known as Sardine. Over the 20 years from 1983 to 2003, there are about 170 songs that I recorded using multitrack recording by myself. From 2024 to 2025, I have been releasing albums that compile these songs in chronological order. Then, in 2026, I plan to release several best-of albums based on the significance of the songs and listeners' preferences. 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.