― Salvador Saca (Mr. Xolotl), Thursday, 4 November 2004 02:07 (nineteen years ago) link
If you like her, I also highly recommend Chakra, Ippu-Do, Masami Tsuchiya, Moon Riders, Miharu Koshi, Melon, Apogee & Perigee, Halmens, Salon Music, Portable Rock, Zelda. Those are all Japanese synth-pop bands from the early '80s, though they're mostly more accessible than Jun Togawa's work (but they're definitely not mainstream!).
― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 4 November 2004 02:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Salvador Saca (Mr. Xolotl), Thursday, 4 November 2004 03:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 4 November 2004 13:56 (nineteen years ago) link
http://park10.wakwak.com/~techno/
http://www.artcontext.com/music/artskool/jem/
― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 4 November 2004 13:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Salvador Saca (Mr. Xolotl), Thursday, 4 November 2004 16:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 4 November 2004 16:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Salvador Saca (Mr. Xolotl), Thursday, 4 November 2004 17:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Patrick South (Patrick South), Thursday, 4 November 2004 19:14 (nineteen years ago) link
my girlfriend's been sending me some youtubes of jun togawa. this is my favourite, a song about a girl's first period, produced by haruomi hosono:
― a somnambulist in an ambulance (r1o natsume), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 20:31 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWGuc6E2UaI
amazing
― a somnambulist in an ambulance (r1o natsume), Thursday, 4 June 2009 10:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Damn, I was hoping this would be about Erol Alkan's secret indie band shame past.
Wasn't David from The Boyfriends/Luxembourg also in this London Indie supergroup?
Oh, OK, OK, I'll listen to the YouTubes. I like the idea of a song about a girl's first period! But I would.
― If My Body's A Club You're My Disco Ball (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 4 June 2009 10:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Actually, this is great!
― If My Body's A Club You're My Disco Ball (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 4 June 2009 10:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Been listening to 'Energy For Remodeling' a lot recently. Really need to track down the other two.
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 4 June 2009 18:24 (fourteen years ago) link
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VFb2U5FbSds&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VFb2U5FbSds&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
― a somnambulist in an ambulance (r1o natsume), Thursday, 4 June 2009 23:36 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFb2U5FbSds
a question for patrick south (or whomever else knows the answer): where can i find the jun togawa version of "yumemiru yakusoku" (2nd youtube above)? haruomi hosono recorded a version which is on the hosono box: 1969 - 2000 compilation, but i really need a decent recording of the jun togawa vocal. discogs has nothing, and google only knows the hosono version.
― a somnambulist in an ambulance (r1o natsume), Friday, 5 June 2009 18:45 (fourteen years ago) link
video for yapoo's 'roudou ian shouka' confuses wfmu blogger
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/08/戸-sichuan-pure-労-働-sings-comfortably.html#comments
― Milton Parker, Friday, 21 August 2009 21:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Koji Ueno did some great music for this obscure game called Gadget:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaIRkDYJCpA
As one of the earlier computer game I played (around the time stuff like Myst was big), it made a pretty lasting impression. It was striking & odd, tons of uncanny valley & shades of La Jetee. Apparently David Lynch was once in talks to collaborate w/ the developers but nothing came of it.
― xcixxorx, Friday, 21 August 2009 21:16 (fourteen years ago) link
r1o
The Jun Togawa version of "yumemiru yakusoku" is the final track on the album "Kyokuto Ian Shoka" by the Jun Togawa Unit.
― Jack Burton, Monday, 7 September 2009 00:08 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkuc_PJ9HR4
everyone watch this video. so amazing
― missingNO, Saturday, 25 December 2010 02:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Does anyone knows where this Yapoos song comes from? Pure bliss…<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5hw5GsFuSCQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
― Coryphe, Friday, 18 February 2011 00:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Sorry:http://www.youtube.com/embed/5hw5GsFuSCQ
― Coryphe, Friday, 18 February 2011 00:11 (thirteen years ago) link
(learning, ach…)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hw5GsFuSCQ&feature=player_embedded
― Coryphe, Friday, 18 February 2011 00:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Guernica on TV (1982), interviewed by Takahashi & Hosono & performing a short medley:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_yCb1NBmtM&feature=player_embedded
― Coryphe, Friday, 18 February 2011 00:18 (thirteen years ago) link
A 1982 clip for ‘Yume no Sangaku-chitai’, a track of their 1st LP:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKPKmAF6xG8&feature=player_embedded
― Coryphe, Friday, 18 February 2011 00:23 (thirteen years ago) link
That Yapoos video is from one of their live DVDs. "Live + Clip" or something like that. It's bundled with the big Togawa box that came out a few years ago. Don't think there's a studio version.
― 11spp, Friday, 18 February 2011 01:25 (thirteen years ago) link
thanking all for youtubes
― Milton Parker, Friday, 18 February 2011 06:38 (thirteen years ago) link
Thanks for the answer!Guernica is an amazing project. Does someone knows Keiichi Ohta’s Jingai Daimakyo LP? http://www.discogs.com/artist/Keiichi+Ohta
It’s a collaborative concept album released on Yen records in 1983. Lyrics by Ohta, music by Koji Ueno. No Jun Togawa sadly but Koichi Makigami (Hikashu), Keiichi Suzuki (Moonriders), several unknown female singers (only Tamao Koike made other records) and the great Hosono himself, here are a few tracks. One of my faves of this era, I'd die (almost) to find a vinyl copy of this, impossible…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsSSltrVvg0&feature=player_embeddedA1. Jingai Daimakyo Vocals - Koichi Makigami
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9nD1dGIPtk&feature=player_embeddedA3. Pigumii Chorus - Hibari Children's Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYMqfmdWA40&feature=player_embeddedA7. Kijuu Rakuen Deza Barimo Vocals - Haruomi Hosono
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvEaL023IqQ&feature=player_embeddedB1. Kyokuhoku No Kaii Vocals - Ikuko Sato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSAhLAa9tUA&feature=player_embeddedB7. Siian No Kodomoichiba Vocals - Makito Hayashi
― Coryphe, Friday, 18 February 2011 08:54 (thirteen years ago) link
One last gem for the Guernica fans. Ueno produced ‘Atomic Bomb Rock’ a song for Maki Nomiya’s Pink no Kokoro (Pink Heart) 1981 LP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzwnv_XWcfE&feature=player_embedded
― Coryphe, Friday, 18 February 2011 09:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Keiichi Ohta’s website has a page dedicated to Guernica, full of great memorabilia: http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~keiticle/guernica/index.html
― Coryphe, Saturday, 19 February 2011 14:30 (thirteen years ago) link
I am in love with Jun Togawa. Pretty much all I've been listening to for the last couple of days.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 01:30 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm getting into the Yapoos records; Togawa is definitely one of the most eccentric Japanese vocalists I've heard
I first heard of her because she toured with Susumu Hirsawa in the late 80's and appears on some of his albums...the song "Rocket" has her singing and it's very, very over-the-top
― frogbs, Monday, 11 April 2011 15:49 (thirteen years ago) link
been listening to Togawa's 1984 live album - it's really nuts, her mic seems to be turned way up and she screams her way through nearly the entire thing. and yet the packed crowd absolutely loves it; was she really so popular around this time???
― frogbs, Monday, 15 August 2011 15:03 (twelve years ago) link
love this live vid so much:https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-uxpylXf5fQ
(same song that 1984 live album closes with)
― original bgm, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:32 (eleven years ago) link
i can see why they do it last. her voice must be completely destroyed after that. i dig the tracks where she kind of switches mid-song. like this one which is sung like a pop song but suddenly goes into this operatic chorus. this video has the lyrics which are pretty twisted as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c45a1WTr-wY
after watching this I realized there's a Denki Groove video that seems to closely parody/pay tribute to this. guess I know what this is all about, then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFOgjHSx9go
― frogbs, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:41 (eleven years ago) link
I mean there's something seriously disturbed about that video. She doesn't just want the guy to love her, she wants to be destroyed by him. "Say you love me or I'll kill you" - if only American pop stars would dare to be so blunt!
― frogbs, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:46 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, "suki suki daisuki" is great. hosono produced that track, right?
here's a cool article with some context on where togawa may have been coming from:http://groundzeromongkok.blogspot.com/2010/12/memory-and-gender-in-music-of-jun.html
Elsewhere, her lyrics present romance as a violent conflict which (like the aidoru industry itself) inscribes it’s violent territorialisation on the female body, as in the chorus to the single Suki Suki Daiksuki (which is otherwise a perfectly optimistic and upbeat aidoru-pop song):KISS MELike a punch as blood stains my lip!HOLD MEAs my ribs are breaking!I love you so much! (x3)Say you love me or I’ll kill you!The capitalised lyrics are sung in English, mimicking aidoru-pop's anglophonic tendencies.
KISS MELike a punch as blood stains my lip!HOLD MEAs my ribs are breaking!I love you so much! (x3)Say you love me or I’ll kill you!
The capitalised lyrics are sung in English, mimicking aidoru-pop's anglophonic tendencies.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
ever hear her cover of "because the night"? seriously great vocal performance.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uyIqycVeuk
that denki groove vid is pretty hilarious btw.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:56 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, I've read that article before - one of the few critiques you can find on the internet in English. It's pretty good as a resource for further stuff to find, and definitely interesting, but b/c there's so little else out there it's difficult to know quite how relevant the stance is to her work overall...
xp
― emil.y, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 16:57 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, it's frustrating how little information is out there, I agree. the article itself mostly rings true but what do I know? most everything in there is new to me.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 17:06 (eleven years ago) link
xp - who's that a cover of?
No idea if Hosono produced that track. it does sound a bit like his work with Miharu Koshi. I know Hosono wrote "Tamahime Sama". If you're really familiar with his work it's apparent right away. Interestingly enough Hirasawa produces some of her later stuff, mostly with Yapoos, who are perhaps not as interesting conceptually as Togawa's solo works (or Guernica), but musically sound a bit better.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 17:47 (eleven years ago) link
oh, I did not know that. just the title track and not the whole lp, I'm guessing?
hosono did this one too, I'm sure you've heard it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lnkoT9t1xs
probably my fave togawa track, and again, great live performance.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 18:06 (eleven years ago) link
oh, missed your question. that's a patti smith cover.
― original bgm, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 19:22 (eleven years ago) link
oh yeah, great song off an album I'm kind of lukewarm about. that one's got YMO's fingerprints all over it (particularly Service-era YMO)
― frogbs, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 19:59 (eleven years ago) link
Greatly digging Togawa Fiction from 2004, it is utterly all over the place and fantastically so...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QdTKR_B9P8
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 16 February 2016 22:48 (eight years ago) link
Wow, that's great
― space prophet wogan (ultros ultros-ghali), Wednesday, 17 February 2016 01:56 (eight years ago) link
This is a pretty good read.
http://aramajapan.com/aramaexclusive/arama-interview/jun-togawa-discusses-35-years-industry-return/82068/
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 14:48 (six years ago) link
OMG, thank you for this, I hadn't seen it before.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 18:28 (six years ago) link
well, that explains what happened to her voice. so glad it seems to be coming back somehow.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 8 November 2017 19:31 (six years ago) link
Escalating feelings that far exceed common senseA rose colored love that popped up like a sudden mutationA love so pure that you could call it violentA love so forceful that it's already been engraved into the Showa era
Kiss me as if you're punching me, until my lips bleedHold me until my ribs make a cracking sound and breakI like you, I like you, I love youI like you, I like you, I love youI like you, I like you, I love youIf you don't say you love me, I'll kill you
Eros takes shape and breaks down the everydayRomance overlaps with instinct, creating an endless hellAn intuitive recognition of anti-nihilismTriggers a tendency towards latent infantile violence
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 17 June 2020 09:41 (three years ago) link