DRFT21
Takuro Okada
Konoma
LP / Digital / StreamingPre-order via Bandcamp
Release date: November 21, 2025
1.Mahidere Birhan
2.Sunrise
3.Nefertite
4.Galaxy
5.Portrait of Yanagi
6.Love
7.Acute Angle Black Button
8.November Owens Valley
For years, Takuro Okada has carried a quiet question: how can a Japanese musician honor the music of African Americans without simply borrowing it? That search shapes his new album Konoma, a work guided by the idea of “Afro Mingei.” The Tokyo guitarist, producer, and bandleader has lived inside this tension since childhood, drawn to blues, jazz, and funk records that nourished him, yet hesitant in the face of the histories they hold. The concept of Afro Mingei, which Okada first encountered in an exhibition by artist Theaster Gates, gave him a way forward. Gates connected Black aesthetics with Japanese folk craft, both rooted in resistance — “Black is Beautiful” defying racism, the Mingei movement preserving everyday beauty against industrial erasure. That kinship became the compass for Konoma, a record attuned to echoes across cultures and time.
Konoma holds six originals and two covers, all shaped by this dialogue. The elegantly unhurried “Portrait of Yanagi” drifts like a standard half-remembered from another era, while the brief but potent “Galaxy” gestures toward Sun Ra’s late 1970s electric organ experiments, the fractured propulsion of Flying Lotus’s early beat tapes, and the shadowy atmospheres of trip-hop. Okada’s choice of covers sharpens the conversation: Jan Garbarek’s “Nefertite” shimmers with the cool austerity of 1970s ECM, reframing Europe’s own search for identity inside jazz, while Hiromasa Suzuki’s “Love” channels the electric vibrancy of 1970s Japanese fusion, when musicians fused psychedelia, funk, and folk into a distinctly local dialect. Together, they anchor Konoma in a lineage of artists who bent borrowed forms toward something new.
Okada’s life has been shaped by such crossings. He grew up in Fussa, where the Yokota U.S. Air Force base loomed large, learning guitar in rowdy clubs for American servicemen while teaching himself recording at home. That hybrid education led to collaborations with Haruomi Hosono, Nels Cline, Sam Gendel, James Blackshaw, and Carlos Niño, and to a body of work spanning film soundtracks, collaborative projects, and exploratory solo albums. Earlier this year, Temporal Drift released The Near End, The Dark Night, The County Line, which features selections from Okada’s expansive archive of recorded material, cementing his reputation as one of Japan’s most adventurous contemporary musicians. With Konoma, co-released by ISC Hi-Fi Selects and Temporal Drift, Okada delivers his most personal and expansive statement yet: a meditation on connection, influence, and the beauty that survives across cultures.
- Words by Randall Roberts
A1. Mahidere Birhan
Written by Junya Ohkubo, Takuro Okada
Alto Sax : Kei Matsumaru
Tenor Sax : Shoei Ikeda
Double Bass : Marty Holoubek
Drums, Percussion : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Electric Guitar, Wurlitzer, Korg MS-10, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
A2. Sunrise
Written by Kei Matsumaru, Shoei Ikeda, Takuro Okada
Alto Sax : Kei Matsumaru
Tenor Sax, Rhodes: Shoei Ikeda
Korg MS-10 : Yuma Koda
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
A3. Nefertite
Written by Jan Garbarek
Alto Sax : Kei Matsumaru
Tenor Sax, Rhodes: Shoei Ikeda
Korg MS-10 : Yuma Koda
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
A4. Galaxy
Written by Takuro Okada
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Clavinet, Electric Bass, Korg MS-10, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
B1. November Owens Valley
Written by Kei Matsumaru, Takuro Okada
Alto Sax : Kei Matsumaru
Double Bass : Marty Holoubek
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Baritone Guitar, Wurlitzer, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
B2. Portrait of Yanagi
Written by Shoei Ikeda, Takuro Okada
Tenor Sax : Shoei Ikeda
Wurlitzer : Yuma Koda
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Pedal Steel Guitar, Electric Bass, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
B3. Love
Written by Hiromasa Suzuki
(Akira Ishikawa Cover)
Flute : Kei Matsumaru
Wurlitzer : Yuma Koda
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Percussion : OKD
B4. Acute Angle Black Button
Written by Takuro Okada
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Electric Bass, Korg MS-10, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
Recorded by Toshihiko Kasai, OKD at Place Kaki, STUDIO Dede, OKD Sound Studio
Additional recording by Kazuhiko Masumura
Mixed by OKD
Co-Mixed by Toshihiko Kasai
Mastered by Dave Cooley
2.Sunrise
3.Nefertite
4.Galaxy
5.Portrait of Yanagi
6.Love
7.Acute Angle Black Button
8.November Owens Valley
For years, Takuro Okada has carried a quiet question: how can a Japanese musician honor the music of African Americans without simply borrowing it? That search shapes his new album Konoma, a work guided by the idea of “Afro Mingei.” The Tokyo guitarist, producer, and bandleader has lived inside this tension since childhood, drawn to blues, jazz, and funk records that nourished him, yet hesitant in the face of the histories they hold. The concept of Afro Mingei, which Okada first encountered in an exhibition by artist Theaster Gates, gave him a way forward. Gates connected Black aesthetics with Japanese folk craft, both rooted in resistance — “Black is Beautiful” defying racism, the Mingei movement preserving everyday beauty against industrial erasure. That kinship became the compass for Konoma, a record attuned to echoes across cultures and time.
Konoma holds six originals and two covers, all shaped by this dialogue. The elegantly unhurried “Portrait of Yanagi” drifts like a standard half-remembered from another era, while the brief but potent “Galaxy” gestures toward Sun Ra’s late 1970s electric organ experiments, the fractured propulsion of Flying Lotus’s early beat tapes, and the shadowy atmospheres of trip-hop. Okada’s choice of covers sharpens the conversation: Jan Garbarek’s “Nefertite” shimmers with the cool austerity of 1970s ECM, reframing Europe’s own search for identity inside jazz, while Hiromasa Suzuki’s “Love” channels the electric vibrancy of 1970s Japanese fusion, when musicians fused psychedelia, funk, and folk into a distinctly local dialect. Together, they anchor Konoma in a lineage of artists who bent borrowed forms toward something new.
Okada’s life has been shaped by such crossings. He grew up in Fussa, where the Yokota U.S. Air Force base loomed large, learning guitar in rowdy clubs for American servicemen while teaching himself recording at home. That hybrid education led to collaborations with Haruomi Hosono, Nels Cline, Sam Gendel, James Blackshaw, and Carlos Niño, and to a body of work spanning film soundtracks, collaborative projects, and exploratory solo albums. Earlier this year, Temporal Drift released The Near End, The Dark Night, The County Line, which features selections from Okada’s expansive archive of recorded material, cementing his reputation as one of Japan’s most adventurous contemporary musicians. With Konoma, co-released by ISC Hi-Fi Selects and Temporal Drift, Okada delivers his most personal and expansive statement yet: a meditation on connection, influence, and the beauty that survives across cultures.
- Words by Randall Roberts
A1. Mahidere Birhan
Written by Junya Ohkubo, Takuro Okada
Alto Sax : Kei Matsumaru
Tenor Sax : Shoei Ikeda
Double Bass : Marty Holoubek
Drums, Percussion : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Electric Guitar, Wurlitzer, Korg MS-10, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
A2. Sunrise
Written by Kei Matsumaru, Shoei Ikeda, Takuro Okada
Alto Sax : Kei Matsumaru
Tenor Sax, Rhodes: Shoei Ikeda
Korg MS-10 : Yuma Koda
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
A3. Nefertite
Written by Jan Garbarek
Alto Sax : Kei Matsumaru
Tenor Sax, Rhodes: Shoei Ikeda
Korg MS-10 : Yuma Koda
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
A4. Galaxy
Written by Takuro Okada
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Clavinet, Electric Bass, Korg MS-10, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
B1. November Owens Valley
Written by Kei Matsumaru, Takuro Okada
Alto Sax : Kei Matsumaru
Double Bass : Marty Holoubek
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Baritone Guitar, Wurlitzer, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
B2. Portrait of Yanagi
Written by Shoei Ikeda, Takuro Okada
Tenor Sax : Shoei Ikeda
Wurlitzer : Yuma Koda
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Pedal Steel Guitar, Electric Bass, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
B3. Love
Written by Hiromasa Suzuki
(Akira Ishikawa Cover)
Flute : Kei Matsumaru
Wurlitzer : Yuma Koda
Percussion : Kazuhiko Masumura
Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Percussion : OKD
B4. Acute Angle Black Button
Written by Takuro Okada
Drums : Shun Ishiwaka
Electric Bass, Korg MS-10, Electronics, Percussion : OKD
Recorded by Toshihiko Kasai, OKD at Place Kaki, STUDIO Dede, OKD Sound Studio
Additional recording by Kazuhiko Masumura
Mixed by OKD
Co-Mixed by Toshihiko Kasai
Mastered by Dave Cooley