through the looking glass

can you recall a particularly memorable listening experience? what was the setting, what was the music? were you lying down, or with friends in a crowd?

in my life a few moments come to mind.

a field recording of found sounds listened to with the windows open on a warm afternoon. early spring. sounds of city, insects, wind melding together. curtains blowing and, inside me, a pervasive half-waking state. gray and bright and warm

.

or, as twilight darkened and the din of nightlife grew more lush, an open screen door revealing a rickety wooden porch is accompanied by the following album. a mystical moment of two worlds meeting.

midori takada - through the looking glass
1983

v click below to listen v

an overflowing tapestry of sounds vaguely reminiscent of traditional folk music, or modernism, or minimalism, or the experimental.

Himuro - Clear Without Items

2004; 12 tracks
♥
Download.

Speed, Glue & Shinki - Eve

 2010 (1971); 7 tracks hey you wanna buy some speed? you wanna buy some speed?

Here is the debut album by Japanese progressive/psychedelic rock trio Speed, Glue & Shinki.

Eve was originally released on June 25, 1971 but has since been digitally remastered, which is the version I give you.

Some of last.fm's ever-insightful artist description:

"With Kabe's crunching atonal bass runs and Smith's stop-start rhythms creating a unique foundation for Shinki Chen's euphoric blues, combined with Smith's dangerous outlaw lyrics and caustic Iggy Pop-like vocal asides, gave the band an edge that no other Japanese band could (or would have wished to) achieve.

They took their name from Kabe's love of sniffing Marusan Pro Band glue and Joey Smith's obsession with amphetamines, as evidenced by the lyrics of many Speed, Glue & Shinki songs (all lyrics being written and sung by Smith)."

"Eve is a bluesy, psychedelic album, with Chen's Hendrix-style guitar playing firmly underpinned by Smith's insistent percussion style modelled on the playing of his idol, Ginger Baker."

I don't fucking know. I just really love it. It's hazy and reminiscent of some lost era.

イヴ　前夜

Limited Express (has gone?) - Makes You Dance!

 2004; 13 tracks  Groovy and schizophrenic music in the likes of Afrirampo and Melt-Banana (maybe even some DODDODO too). It has some lovely poppy moments and plenty of noise rock elements, which is why I can never be bored listening to Makes You Dance! Limited Express (has gone?) was a Japanese experimental/noise pop duo formed in 1998 who toured worldwide and made three albums and a mini-album. This is their second album.

HOPPING

Com.A - Shot of Love

 2002; 14 tracks Com.A is a Age Yoshida, a Japanese electronic/idm/glitch musician who began releasing tracks on compilations and remixes in 1998. Shot of Love is his third full-length out of four, along with several other EPs and singles.

"To me Com.A is one of the most interesting and advanced artists in current electronic music. His tracks are very well produced and complex and they reach an incredible intensity. In most cases Com.A is combining lots of different kinds of sounds and samples with phat and/or abstract beats that can be really catchy and hiphop-esque or completely weird and ultra cut-up as well. Other tunes surprise with much straighter beats and beautiful 8bit-style electro melodies or experimental ambiences... I don't want to downgrade this by categorizing it, but all in all I would call it some kind of strange and funky alien tech breakstep hop that should be recommended to every fan of sophisticated electronica like (for example) Eight Frozen Modules."

As I am not exactly a fan of sophisticated electronica (not because I don't want to be, I'm just not), that review seems to echo my own thoughts regarding Shot of Love. It is fast and furious but not without structure. A little "tough on the neurons," at times, but worth a listen.

bitches from outer space...is my favorite song

Fantastic Plastic Machine - Beautiful

 2001; 13 tracks  Okay. The truth? I did not like this album. Not as much as I wanted to. Fantastic Plastic Machine is Tomoyuki Tanaka, a Japanese electronic/shibuya-kei artist/DJ. This is his third album, and it incorporates elements of jazz, electronic, downtempo, and even some j-pop.

Here's a review just in case you're not convinced:

"The Fantastic Plastic Machine’s third album, Beautiful, is much more steeped in disco than his previous two, which is both good and bad. It's bad in that it narrows the eclectic sound that made his first two albums so fun; it's good in that he can still pump out a great track like 'Beautiful Days.' There's no mistaking the disco strings on 'On a Chair;' 'The Whistle Song' isn't a remake of the famous Frankie Knuckles track as you might think - it's a peppy number with more of a flute than a whistle. 'I'm Still a Simple Man' sounds like it came straight from vaudeville. Not all the tracks are as charming, though: 'God Save the Mona Lisa' seems rambling and 'Take Me to the Disco' shows you why disco had a short shelf life. Still, not a bad album."

I am beautiful

Gauze - Fuckheads

 1984; 10 tracks  Gauze was a punk/hardcore group from Japan whose style of "sounding fast without playing fast" influenced many other Japanese punk bands in the 80s. Though it was their first ever release, Fuckheads is fucking destructive. 1984 was a good year.

Power Fuck Head Shot

CDR - CDR on CRD

2008; 14 tracks

CDR is Japanese breakcore/electronic artist Hikaru Tsunematsu, who is sometimes called a "madman." It's not often you'll hear something this fast-paced and strange.

Download.

ルナパーク・アンサンブル (Luna Park Ensemble) - Mushi Kui Mandala

1998; 17 tracks

"Uber-whimsical art rock screwiness from the endlessly fascinating 80's Japanese undeground. This CD compiles material from their two very rare LP releases and presents a group with a pronounced affection for After Dinner-like delicate pop discombobulation."

Here we have a creative ensemble of sounds from various styles - free-form psychedelic, dazzling and fantastical pop-inspired jazz. It is ingenious, it is fun, it is great.

01 スクランブル・スーツ
02 虫喰いマンダラ
03 今夜視る夢
04 たきびが消えた
05 傘とお弁当
06 わたしの宝物
07 森の抜け道
08 恋の中毒
09 葡萄の蔓
10 ワルツ(ああ,だめだ)
11 可愛い私のドッペルゲンガー
12 水晶宮殿
13 抗うつ済
14 ネッカーズ・ワルツ
15 パノラマ島
16 青空落下
17 無題

Download.

Ｓｔｉｌｌ - Pale Face EP

1985; 5 tracks

Here is the 1985 EP released by Japanese experimental group Ｓｔｉｌｌ, the silken vocals provided by Toshie Santo. Their style consists mostly of jazzy guitars, poppy beats and an overall light and airy atmosphere. Some might consider their sound as new-wave. Pale Face is easy and whimsical to listen to, with not a second of filler that I could detect.

The live track "Orgel" is recorded in this link.

Download.

note: the folder included in the file is mistagged - it should say "pale face" instead of "real time."

朝生愛 (Ai Aso) - Lavender Edition & Chamomile Pool

2004; 9 tracks


Download.







2007; 10 tracks


Download.

朝生愛 (Ai Aso) is psychedelic-y folk-ish pop music with dreamy vocals to add to it. Not much can be said about substance, ethereality being a focal point, but it's the perfect accompaniment to a night spent reading spooky Wikipedia articles (one of my favorite pastimes) and checking out the neglected books site. So many books that never get read.

So, um... AI ASO. Musique précieux.

二階堂和美 (Nikaido Kazumi) - また おとしましたよ

2003; 13 tracks

Nikaido Kazumi is a lovely young Japanese singer of mellow pop/folk music. With just her and her guitar, these lovely waves of tracks turn simple melodies into gorgeous songs, as warm and beautiful as a day by the ocean. Nikaido's music is a precious blend of cute, heartbreaking, and ethereal. I realllllyy recommend this!

"また　おとしましたよ (Mata oto shimashita yo), or You Dropped Something Again, Didn't You?, is a foray into beautiful and simplistic pop album that focuses on Kazumi Nikaido's beautiful voice as the instrument of choice. Fragmented melodies that feel so innocent and playful in the most childish manner ever. What we have here is mostly just soft acoustic strumming that manages not to sound like every other singer/songwriter who uses an acoustic guitar. It's even slightly experimental, and Nikaido uses her voice to great effect, whether it's sounding more intimate or more screechy (like in "Even Though the Time Passes"). Nikaido can make eight minute songs seem like nothing; you really do just drift along with her music."


Download.

C.C.C.C. - Love & Noise

 1996; 3 tracks I wish

Pale Cocoon - 繭

 1984; 12 tracks The echoes of a dream, lost in a nebulous emptiness deep inside your head. 繭 (Cocoon) was released as a cassete in 1984 by Japanese duo Pale Cocoon, and it is unreal.

This music seems to have spawned from a disconnected TV program from a far away universe, broadcasted over time that is not time to finally echo inside our heads while we dream. I have never experienced an album so illusory, but the sensation is incredible. There is no structure, no direction - just as in a dream... Enigmas raining from the sky in unpredictable patterns. Distant hums of an unimaginable instrument accompany dreamlike and utterly surreal vocals. From time to time the mirrored sounds from a remote childhood make themselves heard (as on "Toy Box") alongside the sheer strangeness of Pale Cocoon, a band as mysterious as their music. Some aspects of this could be called shoegaze, or dreampop, but it is more experimental than anything else, and incapable of fitting into any one genre. I am so glad I got this, though it was purely on a whim. It seems as though whenever I find something completely randomly it always ends up being infinitely more enjoyable than something on one of my many "music to listen to" lists.

a very private sonic universe

Jack or Jive - Kenka

2004; 14 tracks

This is the cover artwork of the re-issue from 2004, which contains 5 bonus tracks. The original was released in 1997, with 9 tracks and this artwork.

Jack or Jive is a Japanese duo consisting of husband and wife Chako and Matoro Hattori. I had never heard of them before until yesterday, in fact. I found a picture of them somewhere and thought it might be a good idea to try out their music. It turns out that the two have created quite an amount of albums, so I chose one at random. Kenka, the one I chose, was a gem of raw ethereality and dark ambience.

"Mellow piano based music with some strange Liz Frazer type vocals, with a few samples and percussion thrown in, creating an eerie soundscape where dark ambient and neo-classical meet."

The band's site offers a view on the album from the opposite side of the globe:

"When the earthquake struck Hanshin region, Hiroshima has also shaken.
The spooky quake lingered deep inside my body.
But the day started as if nothing has happened.
Along my way to the school in the car, I heard that many was crushed to death
in their houses by the earth quake early in the morning.

I was surprised that somebody died in that quake.
In afternoon in the lunch room,I heard teacher talking agitatedly that
"About 50 people has been killed".I watched the news on hurry.
What I saw there was a Kobe city completely destroyed.
I thought this is a catastrophe. But it was only the beginning of the tragedy.

There is some sort of the music that tries to make you cry with eerie sound and
weepy lyrics. Most of them doesn't have any soul in them.
The face of the creator cannot be found in that sort of music.
I rather see the foppish grin of the arrogant creator. They make me puke.

A person like me, wandering in Hiroshima maybe should not say this,
but I had some bad feeling because the theme was the theme.
But JACK OR JIVE made it, I felt their presence in the album.

"Kenka" hurts.
"Kenka" is painful.

It feels like being shaken off icily.

When the earth quake struck, I was glad that it was not on Hiroshima.
I feel ashamed of it. I was also glad that JACK OR JIVE were safe.
I am ashamed of myself that I can't think about the earth quake more than that.

Behind the "Kenka", I see JACK OR JIVE and somehow beautiful city of Kobe.

-written by Hideaki Yoshimura"

Download / Order

Susumu Yokota - Love or Die

2007; 12 tracks

Susuma Yokota is a highly prolific ambient electronica artist from Japan. Love or Die is his third most recent album. Good music to listen to on the train.

"Love or Die appears to be a mixture of Yokota’s work within the past ten years. Though he remains intent on toying with triple metre structures, he reverts back to a form of piano-based loops and melodies that was demonstrated brilliantly in Grinning Cat. Love or Die is certainly one of the most eclectic albums of his career though, as murmurs of synth pads and touches if IDM are prevalent on tracks like 'A Song Produced While Floating Alone on Christmas Day' and 'A Slowly Fainting Memory of Love and Respect, and Hatred' within his usual accompaniments of strongly layered loops and rhythmic patterns."

"Yokota blends soft keyboard lines, strings, warm padded washes and a busy tempo of beats culled from a host of genres - break beats, techno stomp to the soft lilt that underpins the guitar and piano refrain of track four. This prolific artist has a canny knack of taking key elements from modern electronica and dance and melding them into something accessible and unchallenging."


Download.

友川かずき (Kazuki Tomokawa) - やっと一枚目 (Yatto Ichimaime)

1975; 14 tracks 

"Poet, singer, artist, bicycle race commentator, essayist, actor, drinker. An artist who miraculously embodies the romance of the vagabond poet, a rarity in an age where our very freedom means we have forgotten how to live." This is one of the rawest albums I've ever heard in my life. Tomokawa is like... a slightly more folky/melodic (and Japanese) Jandek. This is his first album, and what a debut it is. Here is the tracklisting. I recently found a series of 3 videos from Vincent Moon called "The Take Away Shows #98" focusing on Kazuki Tomokawa. Here is my favorite, one that shows the attitude of Tomokawa's music quite nicely (you might wanna skip along to 2:05):

Kazuki Tomokawa - A Take Away Show #98 - Part II from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

  Download.

Morita Douji (森田童子) Discography

Instead of re-doing everything, have a look at this post from the infamous Flying Teapot.

A Boy is one of my favorite albums ever now.

友川かずき (Kazuki Tomokawa) - Ore no Uchi de Nari-yamanai Mono

 1978; 10 tracks  Kazuki Tomkawa was a Japanese folk singer/songwriter most popular in the seventies, but he still makes music today. A nice biography of the artist can be found here. The title of this, his second album, translates as "Poems that won't stop crying from with me: Nakahara Chuya collection." Chuya Nakahara was an early 20th century Japanese poet and Tomokawa uses his poems as lyrics.

"Tomokawa's style is generally described as edgy, underground folk, which emerged from a Japanese folk revival in the 70s. This studio album, however, features crooning vocals and a rather dated sound, like a hybrid between light disco and traditional Japanese ballad."

This album is a one-of-a-kind acid folk/jazz work, exposing both the tenderly lighthearted and passionately romantic sides of Tomokawa's voice. Also, he is quite dreamy :3

Download.

Syzygys - Complete Studio Recordings

2003; 19 tracks

Syzygys is Nishida Hiromi and Shimizu Hitomi, a Japanese avant-garde duo who "play 'microtonal pop music,' specifically just intonation in the form of Harry Partch's 43-tone scale." Not sure what that means exactly, but all the same this music is purely enjoyable and even lovely at times.

Download.