Back in the mid 90's, it wasn't so easy to find electronic music. If you didn't have turntables, you weren't very likely to find an abundance of cutting edge stuff. MP3s were just getting off the ground, so finding obscure music in this sense was a pain. As such, there was a plethora of underground electronic music that I missed, despite all the searching.
Until recently, I had never heard of Tetsu Inoue. While he's obviously Japanese (a native of Tokyo), he's not really well known in Japan. Almost all of his work is pressed in Europe (quite a few on Pete Namlook's FAX label). If you search for his stuff online, one would search in Romaji, as opposed to Japanese. After doing some digging on a few music sites, I learned of his first release, Ambiant Otaku
Originally recorded in 1994, this minimalistic ambient CD lies somewhere between the spacey sounds of really early Tangerine Dream, and soothing melodies found on the CDs posted earlier in this thread. The 2nd track, low of vibration, while relaxing, makes me imagine many pieces of hanging glass or metal, vibrating in harmony. The ending tracks go a little more into the weird area rather than soothing, but they're still very enjoyable.
Despite the fact that this was Tetsu Inoue's debut album, the initial 500 (or 1000) copies sold out fast. To answer to the ridiculous prices (over $100 USD) and rampant CD-R copying of the CD, Pete Namlook put out a re-release (reportedly another 1000 copies) on Ambient World, pictured below.
Either are still pretty hard to find, although I got the reprint for $18 a few weeks ago (one went on Ebay a few days later for $28). People still want $80-$100 for the original pressing. Now, you're probably saying to yourself that only an asshole would keep posting his favorite CDs that are impossible to find. Well folks, this one is not impossible to find. In fact, if you join
emusic you can get 20 or so free downloads to try the service out. I joined, and haven't looked back. You basically pay X amount per month, and can download a limited amount of songs. It works out that you're paying something like $.40 for each MP3, but they're yours. No Digital Rights bullshit. Put 'em on your iPod, burn 'em to CD. Whatever. The site is focused around indie stuff, so you'll not find the latest U2 album there. You will, however, find a mountain of music that you may otherwise not be able to find without some serious searching. My first months worth of downloads were done pretty quickly, and I excercised restraint. I'm very happy with the service, and think everyone should try it out. This album alone is worth the signing up. Trust me.