Great Japanese Pop

Pop-off Tuesday!

The last 10 years has seen some decent if a little uneven garage action from Teengenerate, The 5-6-7-8's, Texaco Leatherman, Gasoline, Guitar Wolf, The King Bros. and The Zoobombs.

A friend of mine once gave me a tape by a really good indie rock japanese band, mid-nineties. They had a song called "White Volkswagen". Female vocals, mostly in english. I can't remember what they were called, but I think it began with an S. Ring any bells with anyone?

If the first disc is "Happy" and the second disc is "Trance/Mellow," then the whole thing would be ... ummm ... curses, who knows.

Also Mansfield's mini-album - can't recall the name - the one with his astonishing version of "The New Pollution" with Yukari Fresh.

Don't know much current 2002 J-pop, but Morning Musume are amusingly inept and occasionally hit the POP! button, while Speed's "White Love" has to be my all-time favourite quasi-sophisticated teenage pop guff.

Any more advice would be cool as I'm going to be DJ at a "cool J-pop" night in London soon.

escalator is also a great label for that type of stuff... yukari fresh, losfeld, neil + iraiza, american rock, cubismo grafico, miniflex (miniflex is GREAT)...

buffalo daughter is of cuorse great, they have a new one coming out in about 2 weeks called "i"... check that out most definately.

also investigate maher shalal hash baz and nagisa ni te, who have recently had retrospectives released on Stephen Pastel's Geographic Records in the UK. much different stuff, more of a belle and sebastian/syd barrett/neil young circa "on the beach" feel to it... good savant psych pop. they have become 2 of my favorite bands as of recent.

and, i back nick (momus) wholeheartedly when i say

BOREDOMSBOREDOMBOREDOBOREDBOREBORBOB

also check out OOIOO, yoshimi from boredoms' other semi-main band... feather float has been issued in the US on birdman and i pretty easy to get, and their last LP gold & green is also essential... and if you like that there's a remix LP of those 2 albums out on shock city/trattoria...

for some classic j-pop try the plastics, 80's new wave japanese devo shit... or pink lady, 70's japanese bizarro abba type shit...

i know i am missing stuff but there is a lot of great shit...

dig in and enjoy!!

thanks

a websearch turned up some joker hosting her new album online, I'd mention Shuukyo and Stem, who can tell me more?

Trattoria has become 1ct Records if I remember correctly.

Anybody remember when Pink Lady had a weekly variety show on U.S. teevee? I think it was a summer replacement thing, mid-70s. That shit was wierd.

and then... 2004 Pop albums from Japan I like to varying degrees:
Sweets - Sweets
Ex-Girl - Endangered Species
Tommy February6 - Tommy Airline
Olivia - Lost Lolli
W - Duo Uandu
Yukari Rotten - Not Dead

Late seventies.

In celebration

It's on DVD

I saw the damn thing when it first aired!

Karuki Zamen Kuri no Hana?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14RxICxtM5Q

So good. Been listening to Miharu Koshi all across youtube. Lots of cool stuff.

And yes it does have a Led Zeppelin reference in the lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsPXl-OxW28

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEZSpj5R5L4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIVGQ-B9G38&list=PL36B51C25BBF3B00B

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2wW--l1OHk

electro prom in the foggy forest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSYWR6jKjpA

The intro to this is straight out of a Final Fantasy boss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u393a9VJo2Y

Mariah Carey cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTOfH3Sjb9U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73e-gV50SKk

The piano necktie on a miniature red piano is amazing. So 80s.

RIP

Yumi Ito
1941 - 2016

Death of Yumi Ito of twin pop duo The Peanuts confirmed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX0rrArs46A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR7GAvKBIO4

man I could tell in the first 5 seconds that was Hosono

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Arg36CZvHA

Not 80s but Nihonjin:
https://open.spotify.com/track/4mrih3yZgEBes83YSy3WXM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KKCt_Ur2ik

i've been listening to Salon Music's "My Girl Friday" (1983). i absolutely love the opener song "Muscle Daughter". kind of reminds me of The Vaselines.

was surprised when they apparently got robert fripp in to do the guitar solo

yeah that solo rules

also that must be an early mix (i think for a vinyl release) on the album, she sings first. can't get enough of this song lol. every time i hear it sounds more and more like an alien version of Roxy Music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzLi5M7iQhE

i downloaded this from youtube a few years ago, it's not online anymore so i re-uploaded it. wish i had the full thing but it's not easy to find this stuff.

the video for "muscle daughter" by salon music has been taken down and i can't find much of their music available legally or illegally in the u.s. if anyone has any leads on how i can get that song specifically or their albums in general, i would appreciate the info. i asked my one friend who has lived in japan for years and is into indie/punk/shoegaze music and she had never even heard of them.

i ended up buying two Salon Music LPs off ebay, "My Girl Friday" (which opens w "Muscle Daughter") and "La Paloma Show". both really cool records. "Muscle Daughter" feels like the intersection of Roxy Music and Beat Happening. they have a kind of amateur DIY sound at times but clearly have a lot of good influences (they cover "See Emily Play" and a lot of songs seem to ape Brian Eno's pop albums (Frippertronic guitars throughout)). "Din of Love" is cool, it has a Bollywood style to it. "Hunting on Paris" was a guitar-and-organ indie hit single and is a really cool New Wave pop song. they did a remake of it for a wonderful Trattoria compilation called "Bend It! Japan '98". the "La Paloma Show" album has a more synth pop feel to it, "Voyager of the Beagle" is a trippy early stab at exotica revival, "Paradise Lost" is pretty cool cold war synthpop ("Too much doubt/in America/Too little trust/in Russia"). overall i really love these two albums and recommend picking them up on vinyl. they can be had for under $25 w shipping.

XP - sent you a mail NA

What? Give the drummer some

https://we.tl/IMAu8QFWSU

thanks dudes

ty listening to "Chew It In A Bite" right now "Paper Doll" this is some solid 90s alternative rock right here w Japanese punk flavor. love it.

"Paper Dog" rather

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLZ8ddRbQ5o

Salon Music good at shoegaze

Nice one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhetXL7KmZA

this is some really sick 80s dance pop. that snare is pure cocaine.

yes! all late 80s toshiki is fucking awesome ("sea is a lady" is my favorite)

oh this one, yeah, i have this comp called "made in the eighties" that has this and some other great stuff, dee-dee-phone by the ab's, dress down by kaoru akimoto, free way 5 to south by fujimal yoshino...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVYqqrw6eQU

been listening to this cos of the amazing album cover. also the Hosono production!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOZac0bNJqw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brec06BA6JU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT5BlCZsiCQ
nonstop doopees for me the past 3 weeks. I've become a treble head for Caroline's vocals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlhukAkkSN8

untootooku gets posted in these threads like once a year (not complaining, it's amazing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUQjdwRno5g

why is none of this music on spotify?

spotify hasn't been in japan very long and is missing many label deals there. digital music also just never quite caught on in japan in the way it did elsewhere etc

ah yeah, I seem to recall Tower records thriving in Japan...

This guy runs a little engine with 30 something hours of City Pop and leaves it streaming on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCOIZMzsiZw

Poison Girl Friend - Fact 2 (from Melting Moment)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQZ7O7GWuN0

oh word, i listened to that EP for the first time last week and have had the same track in heavy rotation since. love it.

original love, tomoyo harada, olivia, clammbon