A simpatico pairing, Sakamoto and VIDEOTAPEMUSIC work well together, with Shintaro’s almost tropical guitar overlaying samples from Thai artists like Dao Bandon and Phairin Phonphibun. Fuko Nakamura’s strong vocal performance adds an enchanting, otherworldly layer to an already textured experience, promising that soon the dream will end, but for right now it remains.
Category: Japan
First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 3
For much of Japan’s youth, the five nationally televised Beatles concerts of 1966 were transformational. Japanese academic Toshinobu Fukuya stated that the Beatles embodied a new identity for the country’s youth. Their presence had signaled that “one did not always have to obediently follow arrangements prescribed by adults; it was possible to follow one’s own path and still be socially and financially successful in life”
In this vein, we open this third installment of First & Last with a track from 1974 by 田中寛 (Hiroshi Tanaka) & 不破洋一 (Yoichi Fuwa), who in their liner notes written by a friend, dub the band as the “Late-Arriving Heirs of the Beatles.”
Yasuaki Shimizu :: Kiren
NYC-based label Palto Flats continues its Yasuaki Shimizu reissue series with Kiren—the Japanese saxophonist and composer’s previously unreleased 1984 “work for experimental dance music.” It follows his previous art-rock ascents on 1982’s Kakashi and 1983’s Utakata No Hibi (his last under the Mariah moniker), and finds him boldly moving forward in ambient-techno-fusion excursions.
First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 2
Welcome to the second installment of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.” This second entry picks up where volume one left off, including a live recording from a concert compilation (track one), and music from the incredibly rare First Album, by Elf, of which only fifteen copies were manufactured.
First & Last: Japanese Private Press, Vol. 1
Welcome to the opening installment of First & Last, a series of mixes providing a glimpse into the world of Japanese private press, or 自主盤, pronounced “jishuban”, which loosely translates to “independent board.”
This first mix, a menagerie of songs from across the spectrum of Japanese private press, serves as an introduction to subsequent mixes. Tanoshī.
Oscilation Circuit / Série Réflexion 1
A mysterious entry in the canon of Japanese minimalism, Série Réflexion 1 was the debut and swan song of Oscilation Circuit, a short-lived ensemble helmed by composer Kenichiro Isoda. Released in 1984, the album was intended to launch a new series for Satoshi Ashikawa’s Sound Process label, whose Wave Notation albums had already heralded a new phase of ambient composition.
Yura Yura Teikoku :: Robot Deshita
Prior to disbanding in 2010, Tokyo’s Yura Yura Teikoku banged out 10 studio albums, a handful of EPs and a live record. Over the course of their 21 years as a working band, the trio’s sound morphed considerably, stretching from their inception as a garage rock outfit to the lush, considered arrangements of their final LP, Hollow Me — an album that would anticipate the direction vocalist Shintaro Sakamoto would soon explore via a solo career.
Miroque :: Botanical Sunset
One of the many fabricated genres used to classify the music of Japan’s Miroque is “toy sentimentalism.” That feels like an accurate enough description for the pianist and electronic composer’s 2001 album, Botanical Sunset, freshly reissued by Slow Editions.
Tarah Kikuchi :: Science EP
Tokyo based Tarah Kikuchi is by turns throwback and on-trend. His homespun recordings feel snug, warm and familiar. Songs like “Railgun Girl” reside in a sweet spot between Hosono and Demarco, but it’s when he ventures out from that place of comfort, sonically, on a track like “Veronica,” the results feel especially inspired. High-pitched harmonies hop over Os Mutantes grooves as Kikuchi’s palette veers into pop-bop. If that all sounds a bit like Beck’s Tropicalia that’s because it does, in the most welcome way.
Shintaro Sakamoto :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Fresh off the release of The Feeling of Love, Tokyo-based songwriter Shintaro Sakamoto joins us to discuss steel guitar, the influence of Allen Ginsberg, favorite record stores, and New York City music.
The Lagniappe Sessions :: Yuma Abe
For his debut Lagniappe Session, Tokyo-based singer-songwriter Yuma Abe cites influences and inspirations, including Devendra Banhart, who toured with his band Never Young Beach in Japan and contributes guitar to Fantasia, and Haruomi Hosono (Chu Kosaka’s former bandmate and frequent collaborator).
Interior :: S/T (1982)
Originally released in 1982, INTERIOR’s debut blends fluttering loops of melody with punched-up percussion and heaps of moody echo. The whole album finds synthetic and acoustic sounds working in symbiosis. Sopranino sax and 808 snares share space alongside trance-like acoustic piano progressions and finger snaps. Warping bass lines commingle with Linndrum kicks. To this day it still sounds somewhat revelatory.
Kohsuke Mine: First | J Jazz Volume 3: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan
As previously noted, BBE’s ongoing Japanese archival jazz series continues to impress. Unearthing rare finds from an incredibly verdant period roughly spanning 1962-1984, the label’s curators (Tony Higgins and Mike Peden) have thus far released three compilations and reissued 8 lps. Two recent entries from the series to hook our ears are the post-bop Kohsuke Mine lp, First, and the compilation J Jazz Volume 3: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan.
Between and Beyond :: Japan’s Mutant Pop Underground
Over the past five years, Light in the Attic have offered wanderlusting listeners a series of primers with reissue compilations featuring music not yet released officially outside of Japan.
The label’s latest collection is called Somewhere Between. Subtitled Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988, this compilation attempts to connect the dots between various fringe figures operating outside of the country’s monolithic commercial music industry.
Shintaro Quintet :: Evolution
Out later this month, BBE Music’s seventh installment in their archival Japanese jazz series highlights the Shintaro Quintet’s lp, Evolution–an album originally released in 1984 via the independent label Streetnoise Records.
A modal affair led by bassist Shintaro Nakamura, the session was cut in New York City and comprised of a Japanese-American band featuring pianist Jeff Jenkins, trumpet player Shunzo Ohno, saxophonist Bob Kenmotsu, and drummer Fukushi Tainaka.