Opitope - hau (2007, Spekk)

This is the first Opitope album, a Japanese duo formed by Chihei Hatakeyama and Tomoyoshi Date in 2002. At the time of this release in 2007, Chihei Hatakaeyama's discography was limited to his "Minima Moralia" (2006) album on Kranky and Tomoyoshi had only released a track on the "Small Melodies" (2005) compilation of Spekk.

Sketches For Albinos - days of being wild and kind (2010, Nothings66)

Based at Reykjavik, Matthew Collings releases music as Sketches for Albinos and this his is fourth release under this alias.

The use of references around the release of this album or older ones is somehow excessive as you can read things like "if Kevin Shields was a one-man band playing Steve Reich" or " resemblance to the works of veterans such as Godspeed You Black Emperor, Sigur Rós and Tortoise".

Chihei Hatakeyama - august cdr (2009, Under The Spire)

My discovery of Chihei Hatakeyama's works has been delayed by his first album on Kranky, “Minima Moralia”, which failed to convince me, but the discovery of his magnificent project Opitope decided me to give him another chance, and everything I've heard gave me a strong impression.

“August” seems a good place to start, three tracks and just below forty minutes, a CDR release on this small but astonishing label based in Wales, Under The Spire. Only 200 copies exist and of course, it is out of print.