Damon & Naomi

We first met the Japanese band Ghost in 1995; despite any language barriers, we understood one another immediately and soon became friends. We have since toured together in both the US and Japan, and on occasion Ghost has joined us on stage to play our songs. After a show like this in Tokyo in the fall of 1998, we decided to record an album together. Over the course of the following year, we sent our new songs to Japan, and Ghost sent back ideas for production and arrangements. They also sent music for for a new song of theirs, to which we added lyrics. Then, in the last days of 1999 and the first of 2000, Ghost came to our studio to record this album, and celebrate the New Year, together.

Recorded by Joan Vich Montaner
Edited and mastered by Alan Douglas
Produced by Damon & Naomi
with thanks to Masaki Batoh

All songs by Damon & Naomi
except The New World by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett
and Love (Toi umi et tabini deta watashi no koibito) by Yasuko Aizawa and Yoshio Hayakawa

Personnel
Damon Krukowski	Acoustic guitar, vocals
Naomi Yang	Bass, harmonium, vocals
Michio Kurihara	Electric guitar

Disc Two - DVD - Song to the Siren
	A video tour diary by Naomi Yang
	In English with optional Japanese subtitles
	Commentary by Damon & Naomi
	Discographies

Release History
Label	Cat No	Country	Format	Date	Notes
Sub Pop Records	SPCD592	US	CD + DVD	2002

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The Earth Is Blue

Tracks
1.	Beautiful Close Double	4:37
2.	A Second Life	4:46
3.	Malibran	4:39
4.	House of Glass	6:23
5.	Sometimes	4:42
6.	While My Guitar Gently Weeps	5:36
7.	Ueno Station	5:16
8.	The Robot Speaks	4:27
9.	Araca Azul	2:43
10.	The Earth Is Blue	6:47

Produced by Damon & Naomi
Engineered & mixed by Damon Krukowski at Kali Studioes, 2003 - 2004
Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music
Design & landscape photographs by Naomi Yang
Studio photographs by Kelly Davidson

All songs by Damon & Naomi © 2005 Pierre Etoile Musique (BMI) adm. Bug Music,
except The Earth is Blue by Krukowski/Kurihara/Yang © 2005 Pierre Etoile Musique (BMI) adm. Bug Music;
While My Guitar Gently Weeps by George Harrison © Harrissongs Ltd. (ASCAP);
and Araca Azul by Caetano Veloso © Terra Enterprises Inc. (BMI), lyrics reprinted by permission

Personnel
Damon Krukowski	Acoustic guitar, drums, vocals
Naomi Yang	Bass, keyboards, vocals
Michio Kurihara	Electric guitar
Guests:
Dana Kletter	Piano	5
nmperign:
Greg Kelley	Trumpet	1, 3, 6, 10
Bhob Rainey	Soprano Saxophone	1, 3, 6, 10

Release History
Label	Cat No	Country	Format	Date	Notes
20|20|20		US	CD	2005

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Shibuya O-Nest, Tokyo, Japan, June 24, 2005 (DVD, Limited)

Tracks
1.	New York City
2.	House of Glass
3.	Turn of the Century
4.	Song to the Siren (Tim Buckley)
5.	Awake in a Muddle (Masaki Batoh)
6.	Beautiful Close Double
7.	The Robot Speaks
8.	The Wind’s Twelve Quarters (Michio Kurihara/You Ishihara)
9.	A Second Life
10.	Araca Azul (Caetano Veloso)/ The Earth Is Blue
11.	Ueno Station / Sendou Kouta (Trad) *
12.	Blue Thunder (Galaxie 500)

All region DVD; 82 minutes, limited edition

Filmed & edited by Hiroo Ishihara

What is it about last shows on a tour? The band is exhausted, but at its most together; the mood can be loose, but intense because it's the last night; the feelings are celebratory, but also melancholy.

The Galaxie 500 live CD, "Copenhagen," was the last show of a long European tour; the D&N with Kurihara "Live in San Sebastian" CD was likewise recorded at the end of an exhausting tour. And earlier this year, the last show in Japan of The Earth Is Blue tour turned out to be a similarly special night for us.

First of all, we had a dream band on stage with us: Kurihara, of course. But also Masaki Batoh from Ghost, fingerpicking an acoustic guitar. Bhob Rainey, on soprano sax. And we asked the legendary singer Mikami Kan — who had opened all our shows in Japan — if he might join us on stage for an encore this last evening. He honored us by saying yes . . .

We put together a set list that reflected the group we had assembled — the band's choice of our touring material, from the new album and otherwise; plus a song by Ghost ("Awake in a Muddle"); a song by Kurihara drawn from his remarkable solo album ("The Wind's Twelve Quarters"); and, for the encore with Mikami Kan, an improvised medley of our song that is dedicated to him ("Ueno Station") with a traditional Japanese "enka" tune that he recorded on one of our favorite albums of his ("Sendou Kouta"). At the end, because the crowd asked for a second encore, and because we always get a bit sentimental in Japan, we played the Galaxie 500 song "Blue Thunder."

And then we packed up and went home. There's always so much to attend to on coming home from a long tour, and somehow the last echoes of the trip fade first.

So some months later, we were surprised and delighted when a package arrived from our friend Hiroo Ishihara in Japan — Ishihara (who directed the great Ghost DVD released earlier this year) had filmed that night's show in Tokyo, and edited it for us as a souvenir on DVD.

We're pressing a limited run of these DVDs, to share the souvenir with anyone who might have come to one of our shows this year, or wanted to but couldn't. Thanks to Ishihara and all the friends we had on stage, it's a show we will always remember from our tour of the world.

— Damon

Personnel
Damon Krukowski
Naomi Yang
Michio Kurihara	Electric guitar
Masaki Batoh	Acoustic Guitar
Bhob Rainey	Soprano Sax
Special Guest:
Kan Mitami	Vocal	*

Release History
Label	Cat No	Country	Format	Date	Notes
20|20|20		US	DVD	2005

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Within These Walls

Tracks
1.	Lilac Land	4:57
2.	The Well	6:18
3.	On The Aventine	3:40
4.	Within These Walls	5:02
5.	Red Flower	4:24
6.	Defibrillation	4:19
7.	Stars Never Fade	6:53
8.	A Silver Thread	4:06
9.	The Turnaround	3:13
10.	Cruel Queen	5:39

Damon & Naomi sing ballads in a lonely mood with rich backgrounds featuring horn
and string arrangements by Bhob Rainey, and the electric guitar of Michio Kurihara

"Myth criticism is born. Flickering, you find within these walls an icy beacon fire. Now
touch carefully Damon & Naomi’s kaleidoscope world." — Masaki Batoh (Ghost)

Produced by Damon & Naomi
Horn and string arrangements by Bhob Rainey
Engineered and mixed by Damon Krukowski at Kali Studios, 2006 – 2007
Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music
Design and still-life photographs by Naomi Yang
Portrait of Damon & Naomi by Norman Gholson


All songs by Damon & Naomi ©2007 Pierre Etoile Musique (BMI) adm. Bug Music
"Cruel Queen" is based on the traditional song "The Trees They Do Grow High"

Personnel
Damon Krukowski	acoustic guitar, drums, vocals
Naomi Yang	bass, keyboards, vocals
Michio Kurihara	electric guitar
Bhob Rainey	soprano sax
Greg Kelley	trumpet
Kyle Bruckmann	oboe, english horn
Helena Espvall	cello
Margaret Wienk	cello
Katt Hernandez	violin

Release History
Label	Cat No	Country	Format	Date	Notes
20|20|20		US	CD	2007

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Last updated: 3-Jan-2009