Pizzicato Five’s Yasuharu Konishi has kicked off the new year by launching a new label called READYMADE V.I.C.

The label is hosted on major label Victor, and the first planned release is a 2-CD collection of Konishi’s remixes, titled ATTRACTIONS: KONISHI YASUHARU REMIXES 1996~2010 (VICL-63415, out March 3). Included will be of course his best remixes of the period — Lupin the 3rd, James Brown, Supremes, Tom Jones, Cornelius, YMO, FPM, Finger 5, and Crazy Ken Band to name a few — but also six brand new remixes that he produced using Victor’s rich catalog. These new remixes comprise 50-60s hits by Izumi Yukimura (“I Want You to Be My Baby”), Naomi Sagara, Yukio Hashi, and then also Sheena & the Rokkets (“Lemon Tea”), Boys Town Gang (a classic disco version of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”), and SMAP (“Shake”). (See the full track list here.)

Speaking of SMAP, Konishi recently did the music for “Talk Like Singing,” a Broadway musical featuring SMAP’s Shingo Katori. The musical was performed in New York last November, and started in Tokyo on January 23, running until March 7.

Regarding the label’s naming, Konishi explained that he first wanted to call it “READYMADE J.V.C.” but because of complications that arise with using the JVC brand name it turned out easier to use something else. The newly coined acronym stands for “Victor Incorporated Company.”

Konishi is currently enjoying a quiet January break in Paris as he does every year, and he has been posting daily diary entries on the new label’s website. These are all mostly about all the records he’s buying. He will be back in Japan at the end of the month, just in time for DJ events Readymade Weekend (this past Saturday at Club Karma, Osaka), Jazz & Jive (January 29 at Oto, Shinjuku), and BY-PASS (January 30 at Organ Bar, Shibuya).

Patrick Benny is a web programmer based in Tokyo with a passion for music. He writes concert reports on his blog chipple.net, and a release announcement blog called Agenda. He also writes music bits on Twitter as @coolestsound, and runs used CD shop Tokyo Recohan when time permits.