flows 2026: Nujabes Metaphorical Ensemble and The Orb

PRIMITIVE INC announces the new edition of flows on Sunday, December 27, at Ebisu The Garden Hall, from 2 PM to 9 PM. Two acts are confirmed: the Nujabes Metaphorical Ensemble and The Orb. More names will be announced over the coming weeks. Early bird tickets have been on sale on ZAIKO since October 26 at 6 PM.

A year-end gathering around Nujabes

flows started on December 30, 2023, under the name “flows -An Introduction-”, in the same venue, ahead of what would have been Nujabes’s 50th birthday. The producer died on February 26, 2010, at 36. He is regarded as a pioneer of lo-fi hip-hop. The Nujabes Metaphorical Ensemble, a live project from the label Hydeout Productions, made its debut there. The group blends live instruments and programming. The festival returned on December 29, 2024, with Mark Farina and Powder on the bill, then on December 28, 2025, with François K. and Knxwledge. The 2026 edition keeps the same calendar: Ebisu, late December, the Ensemble at the top.

According to PRIMITIVE INC, this is The Orb’s first visit to Japan in seven years. The project was born in London in 1988 around Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty of KLF. With The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, it gave ambient house its shape. Today, Alex Paterson and Michael Rendall lead the group. Their latest album, Buddhist Hipsters, came out on October 10, 2025, on Cooking Vinyl, with Roger Eno, Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy of System 7, and Youth. Paterson says the idea came from a dream of an escalator descending from the clouds, with Roger Eno beckoning from the top. The Orb also reunited with David Gilmour in late 2023 for Metallic Spheres In Colour, the follow-up to Metallic Spheres (2010).

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