May 9, 2007

Japan Zen

Zen is a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism notable for its emphasis on praxis and experiential wisdom, particularly as realized in the form of meditation known as zazen, in the attainment of enlightenment as experienced by the Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama. As such, it de-emphasizes both theoretical knowledge and the study of religious texts in favor of what it terms a "special transmission outside the scriptures" that points to each individual practitioner's inherent Buddha-nature. Satori (awakening) has always been the goal of every school of Buddhism, but that which distinguished the Zen tradition as it developed in China, Korea, and Japan was a way of life radically different from that of Indian Buddhists.In China social circumstances led to the development of a temple and training-center system in which the abbot and the monks all performed mundane tasks. These included food gardening or farming, carpentry, architecture, housekeeping, administration, and the practice of folk medicine. Consequently, the enlightenment sought in Zen had to stand up well to the demands and potential frustrations of everyday life.

The fundamental Zen practice of zazen, or seated meditation, recalls both the posture in which the Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, and the elements of mindfulness and concentration which are part of the Eightfold Path as taught by the Buddha. All of the Buddha's fundamental teachings—among them the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, the idea of dependent origination, the five precepts, the five aggregates, and the three marks of existence—also make up important elements of Zen

Zen training emphasizes daily life practice, along with intensive periods of meditation. Practicing with others is an integral part of Zen practice. Zen teachers have made the point that Zen is a "way of life" a life of humility; a life of labor; a life of service; a life of prayer and gratitude; and a life of meditation.

Koans are often meditated upon, these Koans often appear paradoxical or linguistically meaningless dialogues or questions. Answering a koan requires a student to let go of conceptual thinking and of the logical way we order the world. I dotted some between the lines to contemplate.

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We're nearing the end of my trip thru Japan, this being the 9th stage, just one more to go. In light of this posts Zen theme, the emphasis lies on contemplative side . To start of an e book of sorts a 100 poems collected 750 years ago in ancentury old translation, Ogura Hyakunin Isshu is a household word for most Japanese, here's your chance to fathom some of the Japanese spirit. Masters of Zen are two renowned musicians creating a great atmoshere with their Koto & Shakuhachi instruments playing neo-classical / traditional Japanese music. Hikashu's History is a compilation of a different kind, what else do you expect from these avant garde artists. Takahashi Yujiro brings the japanes folkmusic to life and as this has a rich and long tradition 26 tracks hardly covers it. Tujiko Noriko 's avant-pop consists of repetitive layers of samples and electronic beats and melodies being gradually added on top of each other. Yoshinori Sunahara displays his stylish dance minimalism with a depth. In my previous post i touched upon Cornelius, well considering how impressed i was with Point i couldnt let it pass here without offering it to you, in fact i've topped it up with PM an album that was compiled from the winners of the Point remix competition he wrote out.

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Fujiwara no Teika - Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (1300)
Masters of Zen - Koto & Shakuhachi (93)
Hikashu - History (01)
Yujiro, Takahashi - Min'Yo (99)
Tujiko Noriko - Hard Ni Sasete (Make Me Hard)(03)
Yoshinori Sunahara - Lovebeat (02)
Cornelius - Point / PM (01)

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Fujiwara no Teika - Ogura Hyakunin Isshu ( A hundred people, one poem each) ( 128k mp3 43mb) transl. William Porter

In 12th-13th century Japan there lived a man named Fujiwara no Teika (sometimes called Sadaie), a well-regarded poet in a society that prized poetry. At one point in his life he compiled the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (often known simply as the Hyakunin Isshu), which means “A Hundred Poems by A Hundred Poets” (literally “A hundred people, one poem [each]”).

This collection of a hundred poems is known to almost all Japanese, and over the years it has been translated by many different people. One of the early translators of the collection was William Porter. His translation, first published in 1909, was titled “A Hundred Verses from Old Japan”.

Total running time: 0:49:02, read by Kevin Steinbach

Librevox
Hyakunin Isshu @ Wiki

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It is too clear and so it is hard to see.
A dunce once searched for fire with a lighted lantern.
Had he known what fire was,
He could have cooked his rice much sooner.
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Masters of Zen - Koto and Shakuhachi  (93 flac 275mb)

Most of the music is neo-traditional composed by contemporary artists. Not completely devoid of western influence, neo-traditional Japanese continues in the classical Japanese tradition though the melodies are more complex. The pieces on this CD are played on koto (stringed instrument) and shakuhachi (flute). The shamisen (3 stringed instrument) is used along with the other two in the rendition of Star Dust. Only a duo such as Kuribayashi and Sugawara, who have been playing together for many years, could breathe together in this way and produce such intricate phrasing. The interplay between the two musicians creates an soothing and restful album, called "Masters of Zen", full of tension and release.



01 - Emu
02 - Aïka
03 - Hoshun
04 - Ame
05 - Tanshi - 1er
06 - Tanshi - 5ème
07 - Star Dust
08 - Kaze no Uta

Sugawara @ Basez
Masters-Of-Zen @ Amazon

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The light of the eyes is as a comet,
And Zen's activity is as lightning.
The sword that kills the man
Is the sword that saves the man.
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Hikashu - History (01 flac 486mb)

Makigami Koichi is one of Japan's most popular underground performers and Hikashu History follows the journeys of his remarkable rock/pop band Hikashu through over twenty-five years of musical mayhem. From techno (before the Yellow Magic Orchestra) to noise/sampler improvisation (before Ground Zero) to jazz, folk and beyond -- all with a Japanese twist. Hikashu has been anticipating trends and charting new paths in Japanese music for decades. Hikashu History documents their musical explorations through private tapes, rare demos and exciting live recordings. A fascinating view of one band's visionary directions. Featuring Makigami Koichi, Otomo Yoshihide, Lauren Newton, Inoue Makoto, Torsten Rasch and many others.



01 - Tokyo Rain
02 - Nannimonai Otoko
03 - Hi-Ai Island
04 - Pool
05 - Muscles and Fruits
06 - Puyo Puyo
07 - Zo Azarashi
08 - Mask
09 - Suika no Koshin
10 - Ryuinji
11 - Rhetoric-S & Logic-S
12 - Kujira to Kamome
13 - Shuffer
14 - Pike
15 - Yochu no Kiki
16 - Great Conductor
17 - Biro Biro
18 - Rakuten
19 - Nervous Eyes
20 - Live With Viruses
21 - Fushigi o Mitsumete
22 - Chimera


Hikashu @ Japanese Base
Hikashu @ MySpace
Hikashu @ Amazon

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In spring, hundreds of flowers; in autumn, a harvest moon;
In the summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter snow will accompany your.
If useless things do not hang in your mind,
Any season is a good season for you.
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Takahashi Yujiro - Min'Yo  ( 99 flac 350mb)

Takahashi, the leader (not to be confused with the late Takahashi Chikuzan), was born in 1933 and raised in Akita in northern Japan, a hotbed of folk song and festival music. He has been one of Japan's leading folk song teachers, performers and recording artists since the early 1960s, and while living in Tokyo still retains his rural roots. This album provides a range of styles and genres, some using traditional "smelling of the earth" (tsuchikusai) voices, others more polished: unaccompanied work songs; traditional village dance songs; geisha songs; songs in free rhythm accompanied by shakuhachi bamboo flute; powerful, flashy Tsugaru shamisen "banjo", both in its improvised solo style and accompanying the equally flashy Tsugaru-region vocals; and so forth. Although there are tons of recordings of this sort of music issued in Japan (including some older field recordings), I believe that this is the only one with full translations. Well, of course I think you'll enjoy this.



01 - Tsugaru Yamauta
02 - Tsugaru Jongara Bushi
03 - Yamanaka Bushi
04 - Yagi Bushi
05 - Kuroda Bushi
06 - Soran Bushi (work song version)
07 - Soran Bushi (stage version)
08 - Tsugaru Sansagari Kyokubiki
09 - Akita Ondo
10 - Esashi Oiwake
11 - Kagoshima Han'ya Bushi
12 - Tsugaru Aiya Bushi
13 - Nambu Ushioi Uta
14 - Shinjo Bushi
15 - Akita Nikata Bushi
16 - Hakata Komoriuta
17 - Takeda no Komoriuta
18 - Edo Komoruita
19 - Tsugaru no Komoriuta
20 - Itsuki no Komoriuta
21 - Miyagi Nagamochi Uta
22 - Yasaburo Bushi
23 - Kokiriko
24 - Tsugara Jongara Kyokubiki
25 - Akita Magouta
26 - Donpan Bushi

full translations
Takahashi Yujiro @ Amazon

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To tread the sharp edge of a sword
To run on smooth-frozen ice,
One needs no footsteps to follow.
Walk over the cliffs with hands free.
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Tujiko Noriko - Hard Ni Sasete (Make Me Hard) (03 now in Flac 331mb)

Tujiko Noriko is a Japanese avant-pop, experimental musician, sometimes compared to múm or Björk. Much of her music consists of repetitive layers of samples and electronic beats and melodies being gradually added on top of each other, with her singing on top of that, her lyriccs are in Japanese and English.Tujiko had bought her first synthesizer and sampler in 1999. Her first album Keshou To Heitai (Makeup and Soldiers) she recorded in January 2000, with her first live performance of that material at around the same time in Kyoto. In the summer of 2000, she started vigorously making music again for Shojo Toshi. In December 2000, at Buro 30 in Tokyo, she met Pita and handed over her tape. During the same month she joined SlideLab (Yoshihito, Marumaru, Noriko) This, " Hard Ni Sasete" was released in Autumn 2002

In 2004 she teamed up with Peter 'Pita' Rehberg to form DACM making the album Stéréotypie. She is currently living in Paris and is also working on experimental short movies.



01 - Sunahama Angel (5:58)
02 - Give Face (7:12)
03 - Hae (Fly) (7:39)
04 - Sen (Call My Name) (6:30)
05 - Karappo (5:25)
06 - Penguin (8:02)
07 - Mugen Ressha (6:12)
08 - Bikini (3:03)
09 - Umi (Sea) (10:55)

Tujiko Noriko @ MySpace
Tujiko Noriko @ Base
Tujiko Noriko @ Amazon

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When the question is common
The answer is also common.
When the question is sand in a bowl of boiled rice
The answer is a stick in the soft mud.
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Yoshinori Sunahara - Lovebeat   (02 flac 309mb)

Born on in Hokkaido, Japan, Yoshinori Sunahara started his music career heavily influenced by electronic music pioneers such as the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Kraftwerk and Art Of Noise. After playing in several different amateur bands, he joined Japan's biggest selling techno act, Denki Groove in 1992. While earning nationwide fame and international recognition with Denki Groove, Yoshinori also became known for his much inspiring solo works.

Yoshinori's music is conceptual as well as divers in musical elements. The music can sometimes be so visual that you can almost see the reflections of Yoshinori's imagination, artwork design too is another important element in Yoshinori's work. The Lovebeat video clip recieved an award at the 2001 (5th) Media Arts Festival in Japan.

After the release of LOVEBEAT , Yoshinori has been expanding his workfield to production and remixing of other artists. Such artists include ACO, Supercar and Miu Sakamoto. With the successful results of such collaborations, not only as a musician, Yoshinori is being highly rated as a producer and remixer. Recently a double cd Works ' 95 - ' 05 has been released.



01 - Earth Beat (4:56)
02 - Balance (6:24)
03 - In And Out (5:00)
04 - Lovebeat (7:25)
05 - Spiral Never Before (5:37)
06 - Echo Endless Echo (3:13)
07 - Hold'on Tight (4:48)
08 - Sun Beats Down (5:48)
09 - Bright Beat (7:30)
10 - The Center Of Gravity (7:43)

Yoshinori Sunahara @ Base
Yoshinori Sunahara @ Amazon

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Some Zen students do not realize the true man in a mask
Because they recognize ego-soul.
Ego-soul is the seed of birth and death,
And foolish people call it the true man.
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Cornelius - Point  (01 flac 290mb)

Cornelius (born Keigo Oyamada January 27, 1969 in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese recording artist and producer. Oyamada's first claim to fame was as a member of the pop duo, Flipper's Guitar, one of the key groups of the Tokyo Shibuya-kei scene. Following the disbandment of Flipper's Guitar in 1991, Oyamada donned the "Cornelius" moniker and embarked on a successful solo career. Release first solo album, “First Question Award” (94) followed by a remix album “96/69 “Cornelius Wakusei Kengaku”. In 98 he got his first international release with Fantasma, after the succesful release in Japan the previous year.

Fall 98, the remix album FM/CM came about, released in 99 in which year he would be seen at Glastonbury and Roskilde to name some. Being a true multimedia artist he released a movie "Eus" and another book “Cornelius Wakusei Kengaku”., more remix work and all that not withstanding in 2001 he released "Point" in Japan , a year later the rest of the world got to hear this masterpiece. Point is the best-sequenced and smoothest album I heard that year. It is very clearly set up to be an album as opposed to a collection of singles. It may well have turned out too perfect, too cool, when after 45 min the silence lingers it can only be to wonder how full it was..

In 2003 his second remix album “CM2”, “PM” a contest Pointmix added as bonus cd to the DVD “Five Point One” , well ive added it as a bonus to the original here. In 2004 he got to join, tour with several former YMO member projects ( Human Audio Sponge (Sakamoto) and Sketch Show) In 2005 he worked on a second videoworks project this time for the opening of 21st Century Art Museum in Kanazawa.

The music of Cornelius could be described as experimental and exploratory, and often incorporates dissonant elements alongside more familiar harmonically "pleasing" sounds. This tension, plus his practice of bringing in sounds and samples from mass culture, pure electronic tones, and sounds from nature ( Point) lead him to being sometimes categorized as an "acquired taste" hmmmm



01 - Bug (Electric Last Minute) (0:38)
02 - Point of View Point (3:53)
03 - Smoke (5:48)
04 - Drop (5:53)
05 - Another View Point (5:35)
06 - Tone Twilight Zone (3:38)
07 - Bird Watching at Inner Forest (4:22)
08 - I Hate Hate (1:42)
09 - Brazil (3:27)
10 - Fly (5:40)
11 - Nowhere (4:47)



PM Point Humans remixes ( flac 301mb)

01 - Another Psychedelic Point (Dritt Drittel Remix)
02 - Kawatolius (Kawatory Remix)
03 - Noise Of The Apache (Teruhito Tomioka Remix)
04 - MC Cat Genius' BomBassTic Re-bomb (Animal Family Remix)
05 - A Point RE:view ( Masaki Sakamoto Mix)
06 - Free From The Point ( DJ Kodomo Mix)
07 - The Walk Of The Basset Hound ( Syuhei Toyoda Remix)
08 - Rinikanau Shirimetsuretsuna Kotoba Tekkai?? (Samurai Distortion Mix)
09 - Multi-ebbing View Points (Fashion Flesh Re-Product)
10 - Flugsnappare ( Viktor Sjöberg Mix)
11 - Pointer ( Masakatu Inoue Remix)

Cornelius @ MySpace
Cornelius @ Base
Cornelius @ Amazon

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

May 5, 2007

Japan Tea Lounge Dub

On we go thru time and the 'happy' Japanese music landscape, there's no YMO involvement here, but there's weeds driving Shoukichi Kina's anger of japanese hypocrasy which he has managed to bring to fruitition in his acclaimed 'rootsy' music . The guys from Audio Active sure make no bones about what rocks their world, Adrian Sherwood guides them thru the clouds of smoke. Meanwhile the Boom Boom Satelittes really burst on the scene with their first mini album topped up with a remix disk, no longer available and never released in Japan , 7 ignitions is a confident start of their succesfull music career. Pizzicato 5 ended as Pizzicato 2 but in the meantime they released a lot of music mostly unavailable in the rest of the world, this one however, with the nicely twisted title Happy End of the World did get a worldwide release and rightly so. I think Cornelius who in his Flipper days shared credit for starting up the Shibuya-kei scene together with the Pizzicato's clearly found his own way into musical hearts of the west.

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Shoukichi Kina - Peppermint Tea House (94)
Audio Active - Happy Happer (95 )
Pizzicato 5 - Happy End Of The World (97)
Cornelius - Fantasma / FM (97)
Boom Boom Satellites - 7 Ignitions (98)

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Shoukichi Kina - Peppermint Tea House  (94 flac 283mb)

The Pacific archipelago properly known as the Ryukyu Islands, of which Okinawa is one, have been subjected to waves of cultural influence but the people's culture is neither Japanese nor Chinese. Occupied by the Japanese until some of the bloodiest fighting of WWII in April--June '45, the islands then weathered American occupation until '69, and Okinawa is still a major military base for US forces.

For pure charisma, no other Okinawan musician, past or present can match Shokichi Kina. Over a thirty year career Kina has proven he's capable of writing not just some of Okinawa and Japan's most memorable music, but songs that can stand up to anything produced anywhere, in any genre, in the world.

Kina formed Champloose or Champluse '66 (meaning 'mixture') which melded traditional and foreign influences, he was in jail '72--4 for servicing a popular recreational activity among US servicemen on the local bases, marijuana. Champloose reunited ' 76, making a live debut album '77 for Philips. Blood Line ' 80 was a breakthrough, albeit in a limited by distribution way. The album was recorded in Hawaii, it brought Ry Cooder as a guest musician as well as Makoto Kubota, Haruomi Hosono and an uncredited Sandii to boost the group's sound. Matsuri and celebration live followed, Kina's 5th album Nirai Kanai and Earth Spirit 91 are all part of this best of Peppermint Tea House album. Kina's style ranges from 'okinawan blues , reggae to jazz and Ainu melodies, i ve included a nice piece on him by Ry Cooder.

His career however is also littered with long periods of musical inactivity, during which time his albums have consisted of mostly re-recordings and re-mixes of older material. Indeed he seems to have been in such a slump the latter half of the 90s, his recent albums not even coming close to the ones he released at the start of it. Kina has survived despite himself, his music suffering at the expense of his energies, being channeled elsewhere into various causes.



01 - Jing Jing (Firefly)
02 - Hana No Kajimaya (Flower Windmill)
03 - Celebration
04 - Mimichiri Bozu - Danju Kariyushi (Ear Cutting Samurai Monks - What a Wonderful Day)
05 - Don-Don Bushi (Don-Don Song)
06 - Zorba De Buddah
07 - Basha-gua Suncha (The Cart Puller)
08 - Crazy Kacharsee
09 - Subete No Hito No Kokoro Ni Hanna O (Flowers for Your Heart)
10 - Haisai Ojisan (Hey Man!)
11 - Eternally Ecstasy
12 - Iyunu-Pri
13 - I-Yah Hoy!
14 - Extra track!

Shoukichi Kina @ Base
Shoukichi Kina @ Amazon

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Audio Active - Happy Happer  (95 * 377mb )

Tokyo-based Audio Active, led by shinehead Masa, got together through a mutual appreciation of reggae. These guys, however, got further than playing Bob Marley covers, they were drawn towards dub and roots reggae, and later sometimes fusing it with hard techno beats and screaming guitars .Vocalist Masa and keyboardist / programmer 2DD, formed Audio Active with drummer Shigemoto Nanao and bassist Takeshi Akimoto in 1991, naming themselves after an album by Jamaican reggae star Dennis Bovell. Guitarist Kasai joined later after the departure of Akimoto from the collective.

Their big break came when Adrian Sherwood took the band under his wing in the 1992-3, producing some of their earliest recordings and releasing them in Britain via On-U Sound their first album "Tokyo Space Cowboys", with Bim Sherman guesting on the single "Free The Marijuana" .
Using a mix of programming and live instrumentation Audio Active create a dense, dub-inspired world of sound. References to outer space and time travel-interests fostered by sci-fi films and animated TV shows like Taimu Bokan abound in their English lyrics. But it's their love of the 'erb that is impossible to ignore and sets them apart on the Japanese music scene, where controversy is anathema.
In 95 Audio Active released Happy Happer (on u 77) again produced by Adrian Sherwood, in 96 with Laraaji they released "The Way Out Is The Way In" , "Apollo Choco" , "Return of the Red I" (99) , "Bong" (00) , "Spaced Dolls" (01) remixalbums and as far as i know their thusfar latest "Stoned Age" was released fall 04.



01 - Audio Active's Adventure In Time & Space (2:41)
02 - Happy Shopper (voc. Little Axe) (5:31)
03 - Mammoth Galactica (6:40)
04 - 24 Hours Explorations (5:47)
05 - Electric Bombardment (5:17)
06 - Hot Water (4:17)
07 - Jerked + Shocked (3:52)
08 - Frog In The Well (5:06)
09 - Dub Out Of The Well (3:26)
10 - Wah Wah Zoo Mars (5:19)
11 - Dub In An Abyss (4:33)
12 - The Adventure Is Still Going On (Adventure In Time & Space Pt.2) (3:51)

Audio Active @ Base
Audio Active @ Amazon

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Cornelius - Fantasma  (97 flac 327mb)

Cornelius (born Keigo Oyamada January 27, 1969 in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese recording artist and producer. Oyamada's first claim to fame was as a member of the pop duo, Flipper's Guitar, one of the key groups of the Tokyo Shibuya-kei scene. Following the disbandment of Flipper's Guitar in 1991, Oyamada donned the "Cornelius" moniker and embarked on a successful solo career. Release first solo album, “First Question Award” (94) followed by a remix album “96/69 “Cornelius Wakusei Kengaku”. In 98 he got his first international release with Fantasma, after the succesful release in Japan the previous year.

Fall 98, the remix album FM/CM came about, released in 99 in which year he would be seen at Glastonbury and Roskilde to name some. Being a true multimedia artist he released a movie "Eus" and another book “Cornelius Wakusei Kengaku”., more remix work and all that not withstanding in 2001 he released "Point" in Japan , a year later the rest of the world got to hear this masterpiece. In 2003 his second remix album “CM2”, “PM” a contest Pointmix added as bonus cd to the DVD “Five Point One” . In 2004 he got to join, tour with several former YMO member projects ( Human Audio Sponge (Sakamoto) and Sketch Show) In 2005 he worked on a second videoworks project this time for the opening of 21st Century Art Museum in Kanazawa. Last Fall Cornelius released "Sensous" his latest album, listen in at Cornelius @ MySpace

The music of Cornelius could be described as experimental and exploratory, and often incorporates dissonant elements alongside more familiar harmonically "pleasing" sounds. This tension, plus his practice of bringing in sounds and samples from mass culture, pure electronic tones, and sounds from nature ( Point) lead him to being sometimes categorized as an "acquired taste" hmmmm



01 - Mic Check (3:01)
02 - The Micro Disneycal World Tour (3:37)
03 - New Music Machine (3:52)
04 - Clash (5:37)
05 - Count Five Or Six (3:01)
06 - Magoo Opening (2:08)
07 - Star Fruits Surf Rider (5:47)
08 - Chapter 8 - Seashore And Horizon (3:25)
09 - Free Fall (4:06)
10 - 2010 (2:03)
11 - God Only Knows (7:39)
12 - Thank You For The Music (4:53)
13 - Fantasma (0:55)

Cornelius @ MySpace
Cornelius @ Base
Cornelius @ Amazon

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Pizzicato 5 - Happy End Of The World  (97 flac 418mb)

Pizzicato 5 was formed in 1984 by Konishi and fellow founding bandmates Keitarō Takanami, Akira Kamonomiya, Mamiko Sasaki, and Shigeo Miyata. Miyata left the group almost immediately but the four remaining members kept the name Pizzicato Five. in 1985 their first single, a 12-inch called "Audrey Hepburn Complex" landed them a record deal with Sony, 2 years later their first album, Couples, was released it flopped. Sony presured to find a new lead singer. Kamonomiya and Sasaki quit, Takao Tajima came and sang on their second album , Belissima! (1988.) Their next 2 albums,1989's On Her Majesty's Request and 1990's Soft Landing On The Moon, didnt reach the expectations, exit Sony

In 1991, Pizzicato Five signed with Triad Records. Takao Tajima left and Maki Nomiya joined as the third lead vocalist.
Following 3 EPs showcasing Nomiya's vocals, Pizzicato Five released This Year's Girl. Inspired by the advent of sampling , the group put together a sound which would help start the burgeoning Shibuya-kei scene. 1992 saw a change in direction as the clubby Sweet Pizzicato Five was released. The single Sweey Soul revue became a big hit on the back of an cosmetics advertising campaign. Pizzicato Five released the album Bossa Nova 2001, produced by fellow Shibuya-scenester Cornelius

Their first international release was a compilation from their previous work, "Made in the USA" (not) released in 94.Shortly before the release of the next album Overdose in the same year, Keitarō Takanami quit the band, leaving Konishi and Nomiya as the only remaining members. Another compilation, The Sound of Music was released in October 1995, this time featuring various tracks from the Maki-era albums.

In 1997 the band signed with a new label, Readymade Records, Tokyo, and released the commercially successful album Happy End of the World - the only album to appear unchanged in both Japan and the rest of the world. Released at the peak of Tokyo’s so-called Shibuya-kei scene the album is filled to the brim with the ultra cute, ultra stylish and ultra smooth vibe with a little tongue-in-cheek mixed in that makes the world created by this music so inviting for American hipsters and hipster wannabes. It also doesn’t hurt that the album is expertly crafted, with wide-ranging musical influences layered on top of some very infectious beats.

Pizzicato released The International Playboy & Playgirl Record in Japan in 98, a year later released as "Playboy & Playgirl".in the rest of the world with a slightly different track-listing 2001 saw the Japanese release of the album Çà et là du Japon and the announcement that the band was to break up, followed by a series of live events featuring guest performances by old members and two further "Big Hits and Jet Lags" albums - Pizzicato Five R.I.P. (1998-2001) and Singles (1993-2001).



01 - World Is Spinning At 45 RPM (4:40)
02 - The Earth Goes Around (2:55)
03 - Trailer Music (1:49)
04 - It’s A Beautiful Day (4:25)
05 - Love’s Prelude (2:17)
06 - Love’s Theme (4:16)
07 - My Baby Portable Player Sound (5:04)
08 - Mon Amour Tokyo (4:55)
09 - Collision And Improvisation (4:35)
10 - Porno 3003 (9:51)
.........I. Music For Sofa
.........II. Galaxy One
.........III. It’s All Too Beautiful...
11 - Arigatô, We Love You (5:14)
12 - Ma Vie, L’été De Vie (5:03)
13 - Happy Ending (4:52)

Pizzicato 5 @ Amazon

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Boom Boom Satellites - 7 Ignitions  (98 flac  503mb)

Integrating electronica, rock, and jazz elements, Boom Boom Satellites are one of Japan's most experimental and acclaimed bands. Michiyuki Kawashima (vocals, guitar, lyricist) and Masayuki Nakano (bass, drums, DJ) formed Boom Boom Satellites while attending college in Tokyo, taking their name from a Sigue Sigue Sputnik song. With exciting and challenging albums, and live shows. While their music can be mostly coined as big beat or nu skool breaks, and they are heavily influenced by jazz, they are famous for using a lot of electric guitars and the final product often has a strong rock or punk flavor. Their first single release in Europe triggered rave reviews from magazines such as Melody Maker who compared their debut impact to the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy. In 1998 they released 7 ignitions on the belgian dance label RS, they travelled across Europe performing at 6 major rock festivals and following a European tour with Underworld they triumphantly returned to Japan to release their first official full album ‘OUTLOUD’ in October of the same year.

They then moved their base of live performance to the US and joined Moby in a 3 month tour around the states and subsequently receive remix requests from many artists such as Garbage and Josh Wink.This success was followed with the energetic releases of albums ‘UMBRA’ and ‘PHOTON’.

Boom Boom Satellites who worked on the soundtrack for the main scene from the film ‘Yamakashi’ directed by Luc Besson. Their unique live performances are renowned for the overwhelming energy and spiritual space they create and taking part on the soundtrack of the much talked about anime film ‘Appleseed’ written by Masamune Shiro has taken them to new heights in 2004.
In 2005 ‘FULL OF ELEVATING PLEASURES’ was released with a gospel rock ‘n roll , unveiling a new chapter in the history of Boom Boom Satellites. Their latest "On" was released last year .



01 - 4 A Moment Of Silence
02 - Joyride
03 - The Countless Past To Be Hidden (Original)
04 - Bike Ride To The Moon
05 - Low Blow
06 - The Wonderful Wizard Of Dub
07 - Dub Me Crazy

08 - 4 A Moment Of Silence (Trapezoid mix - Meat Beat Manifesto)
09 - Dub Me Crazy Ver. 02 (Optical Remix)
10 - Dub Me Crazy Ver. 02 (Depth Charge Remix)
11 - The Wonderful Wizard Of Dub (Dons Of Quixote Remix)

Boom Boom Satellites @ Base
Boom Boom Satellites @ Amazon

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* All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

May 2, 2007

Japan YM O2

The number one dance band from Tokyo again , thusfar no Japanese music act has been able to egual or surpass YMO's international acclaim, even when their run as YMO didnt last that long, their solocareers have been impresssive thusfar, with Ryuichi SAkamoto taking most of the international limelight, working on soundtrack scores and joining with international artists, something every member of the illustre trio has kept up these decades. They have kept going strong and certainly not taken the easy path, far from it, with hindsight one could say they were never more 'commercial' as in YMO.

In 93 on the back of renewed interest and a commercial push by their old record company Alfa Rec, that had gotten into financial troubles, Harry, Ryuichi And Yukihiro decided to give it another go, unfortunately the project was marred by troubles, Alfa Rec claimed the rights to the YMO name, clearing samples ran into obstinance and so the album was released as not YMO..not the best of choices, later Toshiba which released the album, bought Alfa Rec but the damage was done and after commitments were fulfilled they decided it was best to leave it at that, and persue their solocareers again.

So whats on offer today ? Hosono's best solo album according to some, to be honest i wouldnt know i haven t heard all of them, but Omni Sight Seeing is more than an intriguing title, its an exploration of music worlds to take the listener out of this one so full of greed and lust. Mr Sakamoto escaped that same year 1989 into estheticism and called his album Beauty. Thats 2 great albums for starters then Technodon the album which to me had plenty of potential and undeservedly fell thru the cracks, luckily the guys didnt wine and quickly picked up their music careers. The Technodon album had been preceded by a remix album HiTek / No Crime and the release of another live album - recorded dec 1983 with Brian Eno on the mix and with him producing The Complete Service in 1992. Considering there had been several Live Albums, not to mention several different versions under the After Service name..another strange move by the rec company, never the less the involvement of Brian Eno should gather some interest in the west, btw the album is no longer available so here's your chance. Finally Senor Coconut, 6 years after he released an album with Kraftwerk covers "baile aleman" he decided YMO deserved the same treatment and well he was right, many of the YMO tracks hold up strongly in the latin format, convince yourself.

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Haruomi Hosono - Omni Sight Seeing (89)
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Beauty (90)
YMO - Technodon (93)
YMO - Complete Service (92)
Hi Tek/No Crime YMO remixed (92)
Senor Coconut - Yellow Fever (06)

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Ryuichi Sakamoto - Beauty ( 89 flac 316mb)

Sakamoto leads a sort of world-orchestra here, because members of a pool consisting of more than twenty musicians and singers with various nationalities make some or other contribution to the album. For each track a different number of them combine into a line-up, the only constant member being of course Sakamoto himself on keyboards and vocals. This international idea behind the album is evidenced further by the song-lyrics having been written by people working in at least four different languages and the music writing, where just seven out of the eleven tracks are provided by Sakamoto. The music sounds exotic to say the least, due mainly to the percussion and vocal styles being used. Guests include Brian Wilson, Robert Wyatt, Shankar, Sly Dunbar, Robbie Robertson, Jill Jones, Youssou N'Dour and Arto Lindsay.



01 - You Do Me Ft. Jill Jones (Edit) (5:02)
02 - Calling from Tokyo (4:25)
03 - A Rose (5:02)
04 - Asadoya Yunta (4:31)
05 - Futique (4:03)
06 - Amore (4:50)
07 - We Love You (Remix) (5:02)
08 - Diabaram Ft.Youssou N'Dour (4:12)
09 - A Pile of Time (5:28)
10 - Romance (5:24)
11 - Chinsagu No Hana (7:23)

Sakamoto @ Base
Sakamoto @ Amazon

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Haruomi Hosono - Omni Sight Seeing  (89 flac 248mb)

Another pearl on Hosono's chain. Its not really ambient but i read somewhere someone considering it an excellent Astral Travel Companion, not sure if that will guide you here, anyway i topped the 100mb download up with 2 favourite tracks of mine From The Quiet Lodge/ Medicine Compilation album.



01 - Esashi (1:50)
02 - Andadura (6:23)
03 - Orgone Box (6:05)
04 - Ohenro-San (2:44)
05 - Caravan (4:16)
06 - Retort (3:33)
07 - Laugh Gas (11:26)
08 - Korendor (5:26)
09 - Pleocene (6:12)
Xs
10 - Medicine Mix
11 - Mabui Dance #2

Hosono @ Home
Hosono discography
Hosono @ Amazon

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YMO - Technodon  (93 flac 354mb)

Technodon is the seventh and final studio album to date by Yellow Magic Orchestra and released in 1993, a decade after the band's original breakup. Because the name Yellow Magic Orchestra was owned by former record label Alfa Records, the band were forced to release the album under the name YMO. At the time of recording, Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto were incorporating a lot of world music elements into their sound, which is still evident on Technodon; however, the sound is pared down, revealing simple technopop arrangements. Yukihiro Takahashi mainly used drum machines for the record as opposed to a drum kit. Like many artists at the time, YMO faced many potential legal troubles due to copyrights associated with sampled sounds from other artist's work. In this environment, using samples on the album was out of the question; a matter that Sakamoto was quite angry about. The new sound confounded older fans of the band while drawing in new listeners. Sakamoto's response to criticism was "This is YMO."

The album artwork, designed by Stefan Sagmeister, featured diffraction grating on the CD jewelcase, allowing messages composed by American artist Jenny Holzer to be read through the lens; the text is otherwise illegible. The cover's text read "Slipping into madness is good for the sake of comparison" when the disc was packaged, but Sagmeister designed the sleeves to be interchangeable, allowing the consumer to choose his or her cover.



01 - Be A Superman (Voc. William S. Burroughs)
02 - Nanga Def?
03 - Floating Away
04 - Dolphinicity ( Voc. John C Lilly )
05 - Hi-Tech Hippies (Voc. William Gibson)
06 - Tre Merli (Voc. William S. Burroughs)
07 - Nostalgia
08 - Silence Of Time (Voc. Ruriko Kamiya )
09 - Waterford
10 - O.K.
11 - Chance
12 - Pocketful Of Rainbow


YMO @ FanBase
YMO @ Amazon

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YMO - Complete Service (92 * 759mb)

YMO has released several live albums thru the years... this one was recorded dec 83 , with Brian Eno at the mixing helm, it was not until 1992 Eno did the final productionwork for the release of this double album, its no longer available as such.



YMO - Complete Service cd 1 (92 flac 387mb)

01 - Propaganda (5:44)
02 - Tong Poo (5:17)
03 - Behind The Mask (4:40)
04 - Solid State Survivor (4:47)
05 - La Femme Chinoise(5:10)
06 - Ongaku (3:30)
07 - Focus (3:48)
08 - Shadows On The Ground (4:27)
09 - Ballet (4:42)
10 - Perspective (5:09)
11 - Wild Ambitions (5:17)
12 - The Madmen (5:28)

--YMO - Complete Service cd 2 (92 flac 372mb)
01 - Limbo (3:43)
02 - Chinese Whispers (4:17)
03 - Expecting Rivers (4:48)
04 - Kai-Koh (4:10)
05 - See-Through (3:43)
06 - Key (4:36)
07 - You've Got To Help Yourself(4:43)
08 - Firecracker (5:24)
09 - Kageki Na Shukujo (4:25)
10 - Kimi Ni Mune Kyun (4:47)
11 - Technopolis (4:14)
12 - Rydeen (4:46)


YMO 500 youtube hits

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Hi Tek/No Crime YMO remixed   ( 92 flac 414mb)

Can't have a YMO special without remixes, well the nineties didnt pass without gracing the Technodons of YMO with some remixes, considering this album was released in 92 one could say they set the trend. Ive added some remixes from the Technobible release a year later.



01 - Camouflage (Mark Gamble Micro-Mix) (1:40)
02 - Light In Darkness (The 808 State Remix) (5:10)
03 - Behind The Mask (The Orbital Remix) (5:50)
04 - Multiplies (The Altern 8 Syncopated Remix) (3:49)
05 - Loom (Mark Gamble Micro-Mix II) (0:47)
06 - La Femme Chinoise (The LFO Remix) (4:48)
07 - Tighten Up (The Robert Gordon Remix) (6:09)
08 - Firecracker (Zero B Mix) (5:03)
09 - Castalia (Mark Gamble Micro-Mix III) (2:26)
10 - Shadows On The Ground (The Sweet Exorcist Remix) (5:57)
11 - Rydeen (The Graham Masey Remix) (5:20)
12 - Firecracker (Additional Production, Reconstruction And Mix By The Shamen) (5:36)
13 - Tong Poo (The Orb Remix I) (9:46)
15 - Light in Darkness (...Spark) (The 808 State Ambient Reprise) (1:30)
14 - Tong Poo (The Other Orb Remix II) (9:40)
16 - Neue Tanz (something wonderful remix) (5:34)
17 - Firecracker (special dj copy 1978)
18 - Rydeen (The Graham Masey Long Remix) (7:07)
19 - Pure jam (the sideways remix) (7:52)
20 - Multiplies (The Altern 8 12" Remix) (6:05)
21 - Technopolis (single mix version 1979)
22 - Computer games (Mark Gamble Micro-Mix ) (2:03)

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Senor Coconut - Yellow Fever (06 flac 289mb)

Uwe Schmidt (aka Atom™, Señor Coconut; born in Frankfurt, Germany) is a German DJ and producer of electronic music.
Schmidt, also known as Atom Heart, as well as a number of other aliases, produced dance music during the first half of the 90s. In 1994, Schmidt started his own label, "Rather Interesting" with the aim of developing music that doesn't follow the traditional paths of electronic music. By 1996 he was thoroughly bored by European dance music and moved to Santiago, Chile to explore Latin music. He quickly adopted the intentionally ridiculous Señor Coconut moniker, and soon released El Gran Baile. His next release, in 2000, was the Latin-Kraftwerk fusion of El Baile Alemán. The album featured Kraftwerk classics reworked with Latin instrumentation and rhythm. El Baile Alemán was intended as a salute to, and a parody of Kraftwerk. In 2006 Senor Coconut released "Yellow Fever" latin-covering Yellow Magic Orchestra tracks, something which must have endeared Haruomi Hosono who's musical scope certainly includes latin. That said even Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi feature on this latin take of YMO's music. The sunny side up !



01 - My Name Is Coco (0:20)
02 - Tong Poo ( Ft. Jorge Gonzales, Ryuichi Sakamoto )(5:06)
03 - Coco Agogo ( Ft. Jorge Gonzales) (0:37)
04 - Limbo (Ft.Yukihiro Takahashi) (3:21)
05 - What Is Coconut? (0:30)
06 - Behind The Mask (3:22)
07 - El Coco Rallado (0:25)
08 - Pure Jam (4:03)
09 - Mambo Numerique (Ft.Marina, Towa Tei ) (1:28)
10 - Simoon (Ft.Mouse On Mars )(6:48)
11 - El Coco Loco (0:18)
12 - The Madmen ( Ft.Haruomi Hosono) (3:51)
13 - What Is Coconut ? ( Ft. Constanza Martinez)(0:32)
14 - Music Plans (4:36)
15 - Breaking Music (Ft.Dandy Jack , Schneider TM) (0:32)
16 - Rydeen (4:26)
17 - El Coco Roto (Ft.Towa Tei )(0:19)
18 - Ongaku (3:19)
19 - What Is Coconut ? (Ft.Towa Tei )(0:33)
20 - Firecracker (Ft Lisa Carbon) (5:32)
21 - Bleep (0:06)

Senor Coconut @ Casa
AtomTM @ Base
Senor Coconut @ Amazon

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* All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Apr 28, 2007

Japan YMO

Japan YMO, yes i didnt forget about them, in fact it was YMO that first brought japanese music home to me. For 5 years i collected most i could get my hands on at that time -early eighties. Then in 1984 YMO folded and somehow the distribution channels towards Europe dissappeared aswell.

YMO was originally conceived as a studio project by Hosono, the other two members being recruited session musicians - the idea was to produce an album fusing orientalist exotica (cf their cover version of Martin Denny's Firecracker) with modern electronics. However the first album (with its cutting-edge production) was very popular, and the studio project grew into a fully fledged touring band and career for its three members. In fact it was Hosono's previous album "Paraiso" which started it all , and lay at the base of the name aswell as it was released as Haruomi Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band , anyway track 6 Femme Fatale has the YMO recording together for the first time.

For a few short years YMO were recording, performing and producing others aswell as releasing solo work, i wonder where that Kraftwerk comparison has come from, them germans were never that active, nor have i recognised much humor in their work.
Making abundant use of new synthesizers, samplers, digital and computer recording technology as it became available, YMO's popularity and influence extended beyond Japan. In fact 6,5 studio albums wasnt that much considering their combined solo output passes a 100 albums by now, but as said they really wizzed at the time. A decade later they got together again but the release of that album was marred by a rights issue about the YMO name and some samples, though Technodon is a good album they found out that working together as YMO no longer provided the energy and inspiration it once did. Though Hosono and Takahashi with the occasional dash of Sakamoto have released several albums these last years under the name of Sketch Show.


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Hosono, Haruomi and the Yellow Magic Band - Paraiso (78)
Ryuichi Sakamoto - 1000 Knives Of (78)
Yello Magic Orchestra - YMO I (79)
YMO - Xoo Multiplies (80)
YMO - Technodelic (82)

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Haruomi Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band - Paraiso (78 * 207mb)

In ways the fore runner of YMO as the closeness of the name implies, on femme fatale the trio records together for the first time. Still this is Hosono doing his thing. The style here is exotica and more like a tropical band album than a synth album so musically this isn't much connected with YMO's style apart from YMO carrying over many exotica references on the debut, as such Parasio is relatively distant from YMO (Cochin Moon is actually closer to YMO due to heavy synth use) and Takahashis debut solo "Saravah" could clame that pre YMO title.



01 - Tokyo Rush (3:31)
02 - Shimendoka (4:44)
03 - Japanese Rhumba (3:33)
04 - Asatoya Yunta (2:13)
05 - Fuyiyama Mama (2:49)
06 - Femme Fatale (5:00)
07 - Shambhala Signal (3:36)
08 - Worry Beads (4:27)
09 - Paraiso (4:33)

Hosono @ Home
Hosono discography
Hosono @ Amazon

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Ryuichi Sakamoto - 1000 Knives Of (78 flac 326mb)

Ryuichi attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he earned a B.A. in music composition and an M.A. with special emphasis on both electronic and ethnic music. This, his first album, shows where he was going at the time, Sakamoto had just spent some time helping out at Hosono's Paraiso album and he would be producing Takahashi's first soloalbum " Saravah" later that year. So the future YMO brethern acquinted themselves thoroughly in 1978, the next years he spend working with them , until the offer of a movie role aswell as the soundtrack composing of Merry Christmas mr. Lawrence opened up a new avenue to him, by now he has composed some 20 scores, apart from his other work.



01 - Thousand Knives Of (9:34)
02 - Island Of Woods (9:50)
03 - Grasshoppers (5:16)
04 - Das Neue Japanische Elektronische Volkslied (8:05)
05 - Plastic Bamboo (6:31)
06 - The End Of Asia (6:21)
Xs
07 - Riot In Lagos (4:06)
08 - Lexington Queen (4:50)
09 - Warhead (4:32)

Sakamoto @ Base
Sakamoto @ Amazon

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Yellow Magic Orchestra - YMO I  (79 flac 214mb)

Although this is the very first album released by the Yellow Magic Orchestra, it is immediately very good. YMO gets into the groove straight away. Humour is the word here the sheer fun they must have had making it clearly shines through and, I find, is irresistible.
Both this and their second album have that initially disorienting blend of the old and the new, a theme expressed visually by the robot-girl in kimono on the cover. This means familiar pop-music forms dressed up in vaguely oriental synth sounds, which at the time were quite advanced technologically. At first hearing it can sound slightly kitschy, which perhaps it was meant to be, but repeated listening also reveals quite complicated and musically interesting, indeed orchestral arrangements. The vocoder-sounds may appear outdated, but the overall sound is still fresh and original after all these years



01 - Computer Game (Theme From "The Circus") (1:48)
02 - Firecracker (4:51)
03 - Simoon (6:27)
04 - Cosmic Surfin' (4:54)
05 - Computer Game (Theme From "The Invader") (1:01)
06 - Yellow Magic (Tong Poo) (6:14)
07 - La Femme Chinoise (5:53)
08 - Bridge Over Troubled Music (1:16)
09 - Mad Pierrot (4:21)
10 - Acrobat (1:12)

YMO @ FanBase
YMO @ Amazon

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YMO - Xoo Multiplies ( 80  179mb)

This album has had a confusing array of releases,  well record company's what do you expect ? But as such its a good album, plenty to enjoy.



01 Jingle 'Y.M.O.' (0:20)
02 Nice Age (3:46)
03 Snakeman Show (1) 1:56
04 Tighten Up (Japanese Gentlemen Stand Up Please!) 3:41
05 Snakeman Show (2) 2:05
06 Here We Go Again - Tighten Up 1:07
07 Snakeman Show (3) 1:26
08 Citizens Of Science (4:30)
09 Snakeman Show (4) 2::08
10 Multiplies (2:57)
11 Snakeman Show (5) 3:45
12 The End Of Asia 1:32

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YMO - Technodelic (82 flac 268mb)

I had a hard time chosing between Technodelic and BGM i like both albums very much, ive chosen Technodelic as its a little more adventurous- specialy vocally and i think its a classic which productionwise lacks just that edge which would have completely raised it above everything else ( no chance it will ever get a full kling klang treatment), that said it sure was one of my favourite albums of 1982.



01 - Pure Jam (4:30)
02 - Neue Tanz (4:59)
03 - Stairs (4:15)
04 - Seoul Music (4:47)
05 - Light In Darkness (3:39)
06 - Taiso (4:22)
07 - Gradated Grey (5:34)
08 - Key (4:34)
09 - Prologue (2:32)
10 - Epilogue (4:22)

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* All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Apr 25, 2007

Japan V

Japan V and were still in the early eighties and on vinyl, that is apart from Yani, this is a rip from a cd John Zorn compiled from Akiko's mid eighties work, Logic System showed that programming moogs and synths does have a creative part. Susan's short music career was cut short by war and not to forget the full schedule of her backing band YMO, whose members were releasing solowork everyyear aswell. What me Worry being the result of Takahashi working a lot with befriended british popstars resulted in an almost british electro pop album. Yen records commemmorated itself with a fine sampler and founder Kunihiko Murai with a special 12 " track God Be With Us Till We Meet Again. As an off bonus a soundphile A drumbattle in Highest Fi of the day

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Logic System - Venus (81)
Susan - The Girl Can't Help it (81)
VA - Yen Memorial (85)
Yukihiro Takahashi - What, Me Worry ? (82)
Akiko Yani - John Zorn 84-88 Compilation
The Drum Battle (79)
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Logic System - Venus (81 * 249mb)

Logic System is a musical project of Hideki Matsutakem he started as an assistant for Isao Tomita in the 70's and is well-known as the sequencer programmer and modular synthesizer operator for the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), but he wasn't a member of YMO. He worked on several of their albums and toured with his huge collection of synths. He also did sequencing work for numerous technopop albums for other artists, particularily in the early 80's. In 1996 he performed in a big concert event organized by Isao Tomita and was also guest on Towa Tei albums. On his website is a huge number of MIDI files he released, with some of YMO's original songs. He released 3 albums under the moniker Logic System, Logic, Venus and Orient Express.



01 - Venus (5:00)
02 - Morpheus (3:06)
03 - I Love You (4:44)
04 - Plan (3:00)
05 - Take A Chance (4:29)
06 - Automatic Collect, Automatic Correct (5:25)
07 - Be Yourself (5:03)
08 - Prophet (5:05)
09 - Metamorphism (4:08)
10 - Equivalent (0:33)

Logic System @ Info
Logic System @ Amazon

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Susan - The Girl Can't Help It (81* 67mb)

Susan was born Susan Nozaki in Japan, her mother was Japanese, her father a US serviceman with French ancestry. She has starred in musicals and presented TV shows, made many appearances in commercials and is now re-establishing herself as a performer of techno-pop music. Susan has recently made links with young fashion designers in Japan and she is working to popularise the Japanese Gothic Lolita style in a more sophisticated way. Her music is technopop in style, mainly featuring synthesisers and drum machines. n 1980, Yukihiro Takahashi from the Yellow Magic Orchestra met Susan at a TV studio and was impressed by her energetic personality. This led to her re-launching her career as a pop singer. Yukihiro and Susan collaborated with co-producer Kenji Omura on an album “Do You Believe In Mazik? The album featured all three YMO members (Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Takahashi), Kenji Omura, Makoto Kubota (Sandii & The Sunsetz) and Hajime Tachibana (The Plastics)

By 1981 it was decided to launch Susan in Europe. She took part in a campaign alongside Ippu-Do, Sandii & The Sunsetz and YMO to promote Japanese pop music in the West. The same year Susan recorded her second album with the YMO members, called “The Girl Can't Help It”. This time, guest musicians included Masami Tsuchiya (Ippu-Do/Japan), Shigeru Umebayashi and Sandii. The material on this album uses a mixture of styles. A big launch event was planned for Susan in the UK in early 1982. Various TV appearances that had been arranged and a single version of “I Only Go Out At Night” was released. Unfortunately, this coincided with the outbreak of hostilities between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland Islands and so her trip was cancelled. Next year she married a member of the Rokkets, got pregnant and well family life.. Meanwhile 2007 she's back performing and recording aswell as working in fashion.



01 - You're My Number One (4:09)
02 - Koi Seyo Otome (3:33)
03 - Training (4:16)
04 - Blow-Up (2:25)
05 - I Need Your Love (4:12)
06 - I Only Come Out At Night (5:06)
07 - Go Go (3:39)
08 - Nuit De Saint-Germain (4:08)
09 - Tokyo Sue (4:46)
10 - My Love (4:56)

Susan

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VA - Yen Memorial (85 * 99mb)

YEN Records existed from 1982 to 1985. Hosono and Takahashi had a great deal of creative input on just about all of them. It was an imprint of Alfa so sometimes people identify Alfa material erroneously as YEN. During those years they released well over 30 albums and 16 singles (depends on how you count). Nearly all of the albums are superb and worthwhile. In 1993 Alfa Records apparently went bankrupt and was purchased outright by Toshiba EMI. They issued the landmark and now out of print YEN BOX collections and kept some material in print. They also reissued many new best of collections with no unique material.

When Yen Records founder Kunihiko Murai died, all Yen artists participated in this album or remixes and an original 12". Takahashi and Hosono produced album consisting of-- a 12" with (writers in parenthesis parenthesis) God Be With You Till We Meet Again and an album



01 - Yen Artists - God Be With Us Till We Meet Again (7:43)
02 - Yen Artists - Platonic Stochastic(edit) (4:33)

03 - Yellow Magic Orchestra - Rydeen (Remix Version) (3:26)
04 - Hajime Tachibana - Rock (New Recording) (3:22)
05 - Sandii & The Sunsetz - Sticky Music (Makoto Kubota , Yasuhiko Terada French Remix) (3:23)
06 - Guernica - Maronie Dokuhon (Akitsugu Doi , Koji Ueno Remix) (3:41)
07 - Miharu Koshi - Petit Paradis (English Yasuhiko Terada Remix) (3:38)
08 - Inoyama Land - Pokala (Akitsugu Doi , Makoto Inoue , Yasushi Yamashita Remix) (2:25)
09 - Keiichi Ohta - Seean No Kodomoichiba (Akitsugu Doi , Koji Ueno Remix) (3:46)
10 - Koji Ueno - Adagietto (Yasuhiko Terada Remix) (3:25)
11 - Yukihiro Takahashi - It's Gonna Work Out (Yoshifumi Iio Remix ) (4:19)
12 - Super Eccentric Theater - Beat The Rap (Yoshifumi Iio Remix ) (3:18)
13 - Testpattern - Modern Living (Masao Hiruma, Yoshifumi Iio Remix) (4:08)
14 - Jun Togawa - Do Not Renai (New Recording) (1:40)
15 - Interior - Hawks (Daisuke Hinata , Yoshifumi Iio Remix) (3:28)
16 - Tamao Koike - Kagami No Naka No Jugatsu (Yasuhiko Terada Remix) (3:40)
17 - Haruomi Hosono - Yunemiru Yakusoko (Original Version) (3:18)

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Akiko Yano - J Zorn Compilation ( 84-88 Flac 259mb)

Born Akiko Suzuki in 1955, (Tokyo, Japan), Akiko Yano studied jazz piano in high school and recorded her first album, Japanese Girl, in 1976. To the familiar wispy, girlish voice of Japanese idoru, Yano added something different: a whimsical sense of mischief and the ability to simultaneously sing and improvise on the piano. Japanese Girl caused a sensation in the Japanese music scene, with Yano standing out from the J-pop scene of the time as something entirely original and different. After a failed marriage to Makoto Yano, the producer of Japanese Girl, she went on to become the wife and musical partner of Ryuichi Sakamoto, soundtrack auteur and former member of legendary '80s Yellow Magic Orchestra. The partnership saw Yano join YMO on tour worldwide in the early '80s as support keyboardist, and she began to cultivate her own following in the US. Little Feat supported her on the West Coast, and she also participated in recordings with UK rock band Japan, led by David Sylvian (who still writes songs with Sakamoto), and Thomas Dolby. Separating from Sakamoto, she moved to New York in the '90s, where she now gigs regularly and records with a range of musicians, mostly in the jazz field.



01 - Highland
02 - Ramen Tabetai (I Want to Eat Ramen)
03 - Mufujotai (Eye of the Hurricane)
04 - Pastorale
05 - Gokigen Wanisan
06 - Owari No Kisetsu (Season of Parting)
07 - Omocha No Cha Cha Cha (Toys Go Cha Cha Cha)
08 - David
09 - Greenfields
10 - Komado Kara (From a Small Window)
11 - Fuimukeba Kaeru
12 - Home Sweet Home

Akiko @ Base
Akiko @ Amazon

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Yukihiro Takahashi - What, Me Worry? (82 flac 347mb)

Another Takahashi album, unfortunately i dont have his first "Saravah "(78) produced by Sakamoto , one which would fit nicely in the YMO history. Next time I will post the 2 other solo albums by Sakamoto and Hosono that were released that year and which laid the groundwork for the emergence of YMO. More on that in my next post.
Meanwhile here we have Yukihiro sounding very british eighties , clearly the title inspired to do what he liked and not to live up to others expectations. This being his 4 th solo album, with another 20 or so that followed to date, Hiro almost keeping up with Hosono output wise.



01 - What, Me Worry? (1:05)
02 - It's Gonna Work (4:00)
03 - Sayonara (5:33)
04 - This Strange Obsession (3:42)
05 - Flashback (5:17)
06 - Real You (4:45)
07 - Disposable Love (4:29)
08 - My Highland Home In Thailand (1:11)
09 - All You've Got To Do (3:31)
10 - It's All Too Much (4:41)

11 - Futari No Kage Ni (4:39)
12 - Disposable Love (Japanese version) (4:29)
13 - Ich Bin Der Glucklichste Mensch Auf Der Welt (4:00)

Yukihiro @ Base
Yukihiro @ Amazon

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The Drum Battle (79 * 54mb)

This is a bonus, a bit out of the regular musical context, however it is an example how the Japanese tried to achieve the highest sound quality sound onto vinyl, their pressings already had a high status this album is a socalled direct master cut, no inbetween tape adding distortion limiting seperation etc, so the cymbals crash and the snares snap . All this suits the jazz format , live cutting in the studio. Well something for the freaks i guess, as it aint very long and in line with the drive for best audioquality i upped the grade to ogg-9 here .



01 - Jumping At The Woodside (5:20)
02 - Bernie's Tune (7:03)
03 - Drum Boogie (11:43)

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* All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Apr 21, 2007

Japan IV

Japan IV, again all vinyl rips, rather time consuming but hey those Beatniks were terribly cool in their day, and dare i say still have held some aura..the beat generation..existentialism big questions , break on thru to the other side..Miharu Koshi is H Hosono's muze and she will not dissapoint you either. Those frank Chickens have taken themselves always more serious then their name or lyrics suggest. Masami Tsuchiya had been flirting with andronygy like David Sylvian or his mate on this album Ryuichi Sakamoto Bowie comes to mind but the music is great.Yukihiro Takahashi the singing YMO drummer shows what he can do with a little help from his friends. Lastly an outside extra as it is a comedy radioshow mainly in Japanese, so get it and tell your friends what it is about..


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Beatniks - Exitentialism (81)
Miharu Koshi - Tutu (83)
We Are Frank Chickens (84)
Masami Tsuchiya - Rice Music ( 82)
Yukihiro Takahashi - Neuromancer (81)
Snakeman Show - Bootleg (83)

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Beatniks - Exitentialism ( 81 * 57mb)

In 1981, elsewhere in Japan, the not-nearly-as-popular-but-still-great Moon Riders had just released the highly regarded "Camera Egal Stylo," which marked their about-face into new-wave, and were working on the highly-regarded album "Mania Maniera," which was apparently too bizarre to release upon its completion in 1982. Lots of elevated regard was floating around between YMO and them apparently. Therefore no surprise that the 1981 album by the Beatniks, the on-again-off-again collaboration between YMO frontman and drummer Yukihiro Takahashi and head Moon Rider (and Earthbound soundtrack scribe, to you video game fans) Keiichi Suzuki, is as fantastic as it is.

The oddly named "Exitentialism" (yes, ExiTENtialism...don't ask me!) is, to be sure, a bit tilted in the YMO direction. YMO, and especially Takahashi, were stars; the Moon Riders were and are Not. Consequently, Exitentialism is a bit of a 60%/30% split in Takahashi's favor--not a huge problem, as by this point Keiichi Suzuki's voice was at the beginning of its steady decline. As an album, Exitentialism plays like a combination of YMO's "BGM" (think U-T and Cue), the Moon Riders' "Camera Egal Stylo". They released 4 more albums over the 2 decades that followed. Exitentialist A Go Go [1987] , Another High Exit [1994], The Show Vol.4 Yohji Yamamoto Collection Music [1996] , M.R.I. Musical Resonance Imaging [2001] . Easy does it...



01 - Le Sang Du Poete (2:24)
02 - No Way Out (4:05)
03 - Ark Diamant (4:00)
04 - Now And Then... (3:52)
05 - Loopy (2:58)
06 - Une Femme N'est Pas Un Homme (3:26)
07 - Mirroris (3:27)
08 - Le Robinet (3:01)
09 - L'etoile De Mer (3:36)
10 - Inevitable (5:38)

Beatniks @ Amazon

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Miharu Koshi - Tutu (83 * 67mb)

Miharu Koshi made her debut as Kayo-kyoku idol singer and started her artistic activity with the YEN label as she became crazy about multiple recording with synthesizers. She's become one of the most intriquing characters in Japanese electronic music culture, almost always involved when there is something going on with Haruomi "Harry" Hosono, Hosono Jr, or Ryuichi Sakamoto. She has collaborated with Thomas Dolby as well.

Her style is really interesting and fresh and new. She often sings in German or in French. Wonderfully ambient and intriguing. tracks made with old analog synthesizers programmed by Hosono are really fantastic and you can recognize them to be Harry's work just as soon as you hear them. Haruomi Hosono's Omni Sight Seeing was another CD I found in which Miharu Koshi beautiful voice and genuine style shines through. Tutu is her 4th album she's been releasing a steady stream of albums since 1979 Her latest album is Corset (2003) which was produced by Haruomi Hosono naturally.



01 - L'Amour Toujours (3:44)
02 - Laetitia (5:50)
03 - Scandal Night (4:19)
04 - L'amour... Ariuwa Kuro No Irony (5:25)
05 - Sugar Me (3:38)
06 - Pussycat (4:47)
07 - Keep On Dancing (5:06)
08 - Nichiyo Wa Ikanai (5:20)
09 - Petit Paradis (4:11)

Miharu @ Base
Miharu @ Amazon

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Frank Chickens - We Are Frank Chickens (84 * 71mb)

A three-month vacation Kazuko had been planning turned into a four-year absence from her native Japan, during which she brought all the joys of Japanese youth culture to the jaded London punk scene. Hooking up with two other vibrant Japanese women – Kazumi Taguchi and Moriko Iwatsudo – Kazuko Hohki created The Frank Chickens and produced work that took avant-garde pop from the bargain bins of the 1980s and launched it into the next millennium. Using fashion, art and electronics, The Chickens pioneered future pop.

With their brilliant use of simplistic drama, fast wit and spontaneity making for a fun live show, they were invited to support, The Smiths on another successful jaunt around the country. A second collaboration with Beresford and Toop produced the excellent GET CHICKENIZED (1987) with subject matter even more mind-bending than before. It included tales of runaway lesbians and female wrestlers, ironic rap (“Yellow Toast”), and a traditional tune from the Chindon Ya – Japanese street advertisers.



01 - Cheeba Cheeba Chimpira (4:47)
02 - Mothra (4:59)
03 - Green Banana (3:41)
04 - Madam Fatal (6:37)
05 - We Are Ninja (3:23)
06 - Yellow Detective (3:56)
07 - Shellfish Bamboo (4:18)
08 - Pikadon (3:37)
09 - We Are Frank Chickens (4:42)
10 - Saké Ballad (3:09)

We Are Frank Chickens @ Base
We Are Frank Chickens @ Amazon

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Masami Tsuchiya - Rice Music (82 * 279mb)

Bowiesque guitarist Masami Tsuchiya, leader from the Ippu Do. . Tsuchiya's voice is high but gutsy and always in control (even when yelling) — on Rice Music his first solo LP Masami gets lots of help from YMO's Ryuichi Sakamoto, and several tracks include members of Japan (the band) and Bill Nelson on e-bow guitar. He toured with Japan during the oil on canvas tour. He returned to Ippu Do but in 85 said goodbye.



01 - Rice Music (4:00)
02 - Se! Se! Se! (4:19)
03 - Haina-Haila (4:32)
04 - Tao-Tao (4:03)
05 - Neo-Rice Music (1:58)
06 - Kafka (4:27)
07 - Rice Dog Jam (4:30)
08 - Secret Party (4:11)
09 - Silent Object (2:21)
10 - Night In The Park (5:53)


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Yukihiro Takahashi - Neuromancer (81  flac 270mb)

Yukihiro Takahashi first came to prominence as the drummer of The Sadistic Mika Band, and became known to western audiences after this band (led by Kazuhiko Katoh, formerly of The Folk Crusaders) toured and recorded in the United Kingdom. After the Sadistic Mika Band disbanded, some of the members (including Takahashi) formed another band called The Sadistics, who released several albums. Finally Takahashi recorded his first solo album Saravah in 1978, later that year. he joined Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono to form the Yellow Magic Orchestra.

After the Yellow Magic Orchestra disbanded in the mid 80s, Takahashi went solo and released a large number of solo albums, primarily intended for the Japanese market. Takahashi has collaborated extensively with other musicians, including Bill Nelson, Iva Davies of Icehouse, Keiichi Suzuki of the Moon Riders (often as a duo dubbed "The Beatniks," although Suzuki essentially functioned as a member of Takahashi's backing band during the Moon Riders' brief hiatus) and in particular Steve Jansen.



01 - Glass (6:01)
02 - Grand Espoir (4:38)
03 - Connection (5:03)
04 - New (Red) Roses (3:46)
05 - Extra-Ordinary (4:22)
06 - Drip Dry Eyes (5:29)
07 - Curtains (3:41)
08 - Charge (2:33)
09 - Something In The Air (4:50)

Yukihiro @ Base
Yukihiro @ Amazon

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Snakeman show - Bootleg (83 * 76mb)

This is a little extra for my Japanese visitors as all the gags from the Snakeman radio show are in Japanese, and well the rest of us will be lost without translation, however there's a nice YMO 5 min.megamix to start of the album..introduced by wolfman jack. The cover art ain't half bad either..



1 - Snakeman Show Introduction
2 - YMO Medley
2.1-Technopolis
2.2-Rydeen
2.3-Tong-Poo
2.4-Nice Age
2.5-Behind The Mask
2.6-Insomnia
2.7-Multiplies
2.8-Citizen Of Science
2.9-Multiplies
2.10-Solid State Survivor
2.11-Absolute Ego Dance
2.12-Firecrackers

3 - Snakeman show Gag 1
4 - Snakeman show Gag 2
5 - Snakeman show Gag 3
6 - Snakeman show Gag 4
7 - Snakeman show Gag 5
8 - Snakeman show Gag 6
9 - Snakeman show Gag 7

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* All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Apr 18, 2007

Japan Sushi

Japan Sushi, well i expected a longer stay in the hospital, that didnt come about, so i might aswell do a regular post on a slightly short notice. Again all vinyl rips , all with an arty touch, some tastes to be acquired..


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Japanese sushis..

Toshinori Kondo - Taihen (84)
EP-4 - Lingua Franca-X (83)
E.D.P.S - Blue Sphinx (83)
Haruomi Hosono - Philharmony (82)
Sheena & The Rokkets (80)

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Toshinori Kondo - Taihen ( 84* 228mb)

Toshinori Kondo (December 15, 1948 ) is an avant-garde and jazz trumpeter and the most celebrated improvising musician of his country. He has lived in Japan, New York City, and Amsterdam. In college he was a member of the band "Funky Beaters" and by 1976 he was a member of an ensemble which gained some notice in his native Japan. His early influences were Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis. That said, his style is quite distinct from theirs and influenced by his religious studies, among other things. In the mid-1970s his career gained new momentum on moving to NYC, where he worked with members of the 'Downtown' scene, including Bill Laswell and John Zorn; his first solo album coming out in 1979. Back in Japan, Kondo formed International Music Activities (IMA). Releasing "What Are You Talking About?" (IMA, 1983). "Kuuchuu Fuyuu" (Domo, 1983 - Absord, 1999). Taihen (Polydor, 1984) backed the trumpet with the rock format of guitar-drum-bass. Metal Position (EFA, 1985) used a similar setting with the addition of Haruo Togashi's synthesizer and piano. Konton (Epic, 1986) featured a line-up of trumpet, keyboards, guitar and drums. His proximity to rock music was confirmed by the EP China Boogie (Polydor, 1985), featuring Bill Laswell, Anton Fier, Fred Frith, etc.Later he moved to the Netherlands where he lives today. He has kept a comparatively low profile in the Netherlands and has little to no connections to the Dutch jazz scene. In 2002 he worked on an international peace festival in Hiroshima after being approached by the Dalai Lama about organizing one. He has also done musical, and possibly acting, work for Japanese crime films. He is currently known for Free jazz and electronica music. In these, or related, capacities he has worked with DJ Krush and Tom Cora. He is also known for being avant-garde and was a former member of Praxis.



01 - Taihen (7:42)
02 - The Day After (6:36)
03 - Takao Blue (5:59)
04 - A Song For Buddha (7:11)
05 - Oiwake (5:42)
06 - Shosuke-San (7:22)

Kondo @ MySpace
Kondo @ Amazon

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EP-4 - Lingua Franca-X ( 95 * 30mb)

Experimental, Funk, Cold Wave, members ; Kaoru Sato (Voc), BANANA Kawashima ( keyboards).], Tatsuo Kohki (gitar), Yung Tsubotaj (Percussion), Tohru Sanjo ( drums), Koh Sakuma (bass). Couldnt find much else on them besides being from Kyoto and this discography. Seifuku Nikutai ( 83), Released as cassette book. Multilevel Holarchy ( 83), Lingua Franca ( 83), The Crystal Monster (85), Five To One ( 85) , Lingua Franca X ( 93) Released as book, Found Tapes ( 94 ) .



01 - Coco (8:00)
02 - dB (5:17)
03 - Zoy (4:42)

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E.D.P.S - BLUE SPHINX ( 83 * 61mb)

E.D.P.S. was lead by Tsunematsu Masatoshi and is qualifiable as art-punk/wave I guess



1 - To Rule The Night 4:48
2 - Death Composition 4:27
3 - Be Your Slave 4:32
4 - This Time 3:42
5 - Ma Wa Re 3:04
6 - Sphinx 2:44
7 - Namari No Yoni 4:51
8 - It's Your Kingdom 7:42
9 - Too Much Dream 6:28

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Haruomi Hosono - Philharmony ( 82 flac 251mb)

Mr. Hosono started his musical activity with Apryl Fool, a legendary psychedelic rock band, in 1969. Since then, he has played a critical role in Japanese music history moving to Happy End, Tin Pan Alley, Y.M.O. He also established \EN label (with Mr. Takahashi) and Non Standard, and he is eager to discover new artistic talents.

Philharmony captures Hosono's genius, as he deftly uses the (then) emerging technology of digital sampling, it was originally recorded way back in 1982 and represents the first time digital sampling was ever used to construct an entire musical album. It begins with Picnic, a quirky little instrumental that is neither ambient nor structured, but in a league, like so many of Hosono's works, all by itself. The second track, Funiculi Funicula, is a uniquely Japanese and more uniquely Hosono-esque "adaptation" of the traditional Italian folk song.
The real ambient pieces on the album, Birthday Party and Air-Condition, are typical Hosono all the way - eerie, dark, a-musical, enthralling, and even aggressive; finally disintegrating into a loose cloud of fractured noise. These two tracks are actually the antithesis of the harmonic, relaxing, passive, and even genteel ambient style developed by that other musical trailblazer of the 70's and 80's. Brian Eno, this is most definitely NOT! The title track is simply incredible. Philharmony is a brilliant display of musical technology for technology's sake, as Hosono uses only a digitally sampled voice to construct the entire piece. More Hosono later this month.



01 - Picnic 1:58)
02 - Funiculi Funicura (4:35)
03 - Luminescent/Hotaru (4:25)
04 - Platonic (4:24)
05 - In Limbo (2:26)
06 - Living Dining Kitchen (3:48)
07 - Birthday Party (3:52)
08 - Sports Men (4:06)
09 - Philharmony (3:27)
10 - Air-Condition (4:38)
bonus Videogame music EP ( ogg 24mb)
11 - Super Xevious (8:50)
12 - Gaplus (5:20
13 - Tower of Draga (1:46)

Hosono @ Amazon

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Sheena and The Rokkets (80 * 54mb )

Mentai Rock is the name given to the collection of Japanese artists who gained national popularity during the late 1970's. Continuing through the early 80's, the collective had little in common other than their origin - the Hakata ward of Fukuoka City. The phrase, Mentai Rock, was derived from the name of a local delicacy, mentaiko, made from roe. Many believed that their origin also had a common influence on the overall sound, despite the wide variety of genres represented, one of its bigget names was Sheena and the Rokkets. They supported Elvis Costello on his 78 Japan tour, which was their first ever tour, they recorded this their first album after that and saw it released spring 79. Alfa records picked them up , and their next albums "Synkou Pack" "Channel Goo" "Pinup Baby Blues" and "NEW HIPPIES" followed the next 5 years. Inbetween Sheena did a soloalbum"BEAUTIFUL" with Haruomi Hosono



01 - Batman theme
02 - You May Dream
03 - Sentimental Fool
04 - Omae Ga Hoshii (one more time)
05 - Lazy Crazy Blues
06 - Moonlight Dance
07 - Stiff Lips
08 - Heaven or Hell
09 - I Got You, I Feel Good
10 - You Really Got Me
11 - Radio Junk
12 - Rocket Factory

Sheena @ Amazon

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* All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !