ひうがなつ [Hiuganatsu] - 日向夏

Label : Club Lunatica - CL-009

Country : Japan

Year : 2000

Format : CD

So this disc finally came in, after about 2 months worth of travelling over the open seas and across the new frontier I present it you. That's what I get for cheaping out with Surface shipping. See the cover there? That's what the album sounds like: a summer afternoon tinted yellow with the diffusion of sunbeams. The low hanging cloud localised inside the corridor also fits, somehow.

It feels as if this unique scene of Japanese music is always producing surprises, a lot of good stuff here. Accordion heavy, which is always good, and with an immature light. Based on that description alone I've heard this album dozens of times before, and yet it is unique. I am not so sure if this is a scene like I said offhand before or if it is just a coincidental mishmash of likeminded musicians operating at the same time and working with the same tuneful clay. Or maybe that's just what a scene actually is.

I appreciate that they were so kind as to include an English translation of the lyrics, just a nice little touch. Though this is certainly more Francophone than Anglo given the credence towards such musicians as France Gall and Klimperei.

                        Here

Tsukimoto Tadashi [月本正] - 1983-1985

Label : n/a

Country : Japan

Year : 1987

Format : 7 inch flexi

Probably the sparsest record that's been shown a light on this blog. Each little track comes and goes as the needle crosses borders between grooves, leaving only jilted melodie and lowfi guitar and piano recordings behind.

I said before on a different site recently, this is one for fans of pseudo-children's muzak the likes of Uncle Calvin's Private Life, maybe Dragibus, etc... But this is a much more stripped down version of that kind of stuff, so donut expect some elektrik eccentricism. The influence of nursery chimes is obvious when he himself gives thanks to his childhood on the back cover. Placed above his halcyon days, he also gives thanks to the great D.D. Records, one of the greatest tape labels in Japon's fabled histry.

I believe Tsukimoto appears on the excellent DD comp "Disk Musik", performing a chune not unfamiliar to the stylings posed here. He also appeared on some compilations put out by the also excellent and eclectic Fifth Column label.

Here

Zuppa Di Pesce - Cicoria / Zucchinie Trifolate

Label : Enban - PC-2

Year : 2009

Country : Japan

Format : 7 inch

Here's a recent item from my own collection. Itoken is a rather prolific musician in the Japanese vanguard, codifying the sounds of some great groups like Harpy and Win A Sheep Free. This project is not so different from those of his past, keeping the avant-garde inclinations and nostalgic enterprises into children's music, only this time it's aiming for a cuisine-themed concept with a brass sidedish. Enban seems to be an obscure little epicentre of the Japanese style of Avant-pop that has sprung about the turn of the century or so, hosting the aforementioned Itoken and the likes of Jon.

As mentioned above, this is a food centered little slab. The titles of both tracks reference Italian dishes and even includes a nice little Italian excursion which probably talks about the foods if I knew a lick of it (see above). They actually have a CD out with the same concept, if anyone has it and is willing to share I'm all ears.

Here

Slaw - Snakes & Ladders

Label : The Doubtful Palace

Year : 2002

Country : US

Format : CD

Here's yet another CD(r) that I've yet to put on here... My review on rate your music dot com pretty much sums up my thoughts, so let's cop out:

Some ungodly and aleatoric form of children's schoolyard standards. The concept here is that you have a Chutes and Ladders board in the form of the CD booklet (also comes with dice inside the case itself) and you are supposed to somehow program your CD player to play one of the 99 tracks that corresponds with your roll. For one, I have no idea that would work on a conventional CD player and another thing, I have no idea what kind of person/group would play this thing. I probably listened to this wrong by going all the way through, I definitely enjoy the aesthetic and atmosphere of a lot of the tracks presented. It's just a bit too haphazard for an album. I give it props for using the killer7/NMH/Lain text-to-speech voice for the classic folksong corruption "Ms. Susie".

Best listened with shuffle on.

Here

(Comes with the 100th track straight from their webzone, too bad it's only 128kbps)

Schüler der Sekundarschule Laupen - Popmusik in der Schule

Label : ML - EP 17-804

Country : Switzerland

Year : 1976

Format : 7 inch

Here