Japanese New Wave listening club - new albums every Monday

this is the single most kinetic & danceworthy thing I have heard in a very, very long time & i can restrain these restless limbs no longer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGdUpPE60rg

oh man, the synths on that one

only Koshi album I have is the one with "Pussy Cat" on it, which is a hell of a tune

Wait, isn't there a TV performance of this song with Harry Hosono and some other luminaries playing? Where did I see that?

Can anybody school me a little on Tatsuro Yamashita?

Revive. Was watching some Sandii & the Sunsetz videos on YouTube. Found a compilation with them, YMO solo, and some other people I don't recognized on a used LP.

We should totally get this going again!

finally picked up on that Oorutaichi rec above, and yeah, this is maybe sort of a modern take on Zolo? definitely love "Pan 1 Nonaki" a ton, total headfuck from start to finish

starting to catch up on some of the bands mentioned here, Soft Ballet has been really sticking out as a potentially great band - can definitely see why Hirasawa seemed to like them. this early track is really cool. sound like Nitzer Ebb + Human League to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rIC84HEqMA

Nice one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKY38Nx8dSo&t=1802s

huh, anyway that link was supposed to be: Yasuaki Shimizu - Kakashi.

https://youtu.be/HKY38Nx8dSo

That's the one that comes up on a load of people's yt recs. Pretty nice record.

ha, yeah thats how i discovered it. cheers to the yt reccomendation engine and the hive-mind for it's excellent taste. a very ahead of its time record. hope someone reissues it at some point.

speaking of which just picked up a new pressing of this which was another yt sidebar discovery uploaded by the same guy . on the transcendent forest gamelan tip:

Midori Takada - Through The Looking Glass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWGjYg2LmZQ

https://youtu.be/DWGjYg2LmZQ

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/04/11/music/hard-core-vinyl-fans-fueling-revival-obscure-japanese-music-1980s/#disqus_thread

Just realised that I've never seen a foreign documentary on a foreign band or genre. You'd think there'd be lots of subtitled documentaries on youtube.

I am deep in a Mishio Ogawa rabbit hole right now -

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

good find

have you heard 4 to 3 yet? love that record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P43Q3xzbX-s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv2tS46rl1k

mishio live with haniwa all stars

lol, I love that Haniwa live record but never actually watched any live footage before, those are some magnificent solo faces right there. Also I was somehow unaware that Mishio Ogawa had solo records though I really like Wha-ha-ha and Chakra, so I ought to get on that

I love Chakra but I never realised that she had a solo career until recently and I've liked everything I've heard so far including 4 to 3, which is ace.

Why do I ignore this thread? Afraid people will yell Devo at me out their car windows?

The Love, Peace, and Trance album (Mishio + the lady from dip in the pool + one other lady + Haroumi Hosono) is quite lovely

There's a track by Shoukichi Kina and Champloose that I'm dying to share here because it's totally brilliant, it's a mix of traditional Okinawan music and loose folk with crazy monosynths recorded live in 1977, however it's not anywhere I can share :(

Some great selections here. Anyone heard those Fairlights Mallets & Bamboo compilations? I generally don't like various artists compilations but these might be pretty helpful.

Those compilations are great yes!

I see they were brought up in the YMO BGM thread and a bunch of non-genre threads. I'll get them someday. Wasn't there a few related compilations?

This from the JT link upthread, it seems they've been part of the catalyst that has resulted in the renewed interest in some dusty areas of 80s J music.

"He helped artists such as Prins Thomas acquire copies of “Utakata,” who then put songs from it into mixes shared online, helping turn the record from virtual unknown to secret gem. Beyond Shimizu, the internet played a central role in spreading older Japanese sounds. Portland-based producer Spencer Doran’s 2010 mix “Fairlights, Mallets and Bamboo — Fourth-World Japan, Years 1980-1986” attracted attention, while Gorchov says YouTube’s “suggested” algorithm kept highlighting ’80s Japanese songs."

We play a bunch of this type of stuff on our little show and it's def become easier to track down and to get information on over the last year too, which is great, we're going to interview Patrick St Michel soon and ask him whats going on.

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/djmix/bo_en/plastic_platform__c67___bo_en/

This is the other one I was thinking of but it's not all Japanese.

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/various_artists_f2/ymo_rewake/

Anyone heard this?

Decided to bump this thread to up some Yasuyuki Okamura, who is not really YMO-adjacent like most of the stuff here but does fit into the funkier division of the New Wave scene. He appears on albums by Cornelius and Denki Groove and if you're into J-pop you may see his name crop up a lot. He reminds me a lot of Falco, but with Prince's falsetto and Michael Jackson's sense of rhythm. He actually borrows a ton from Prince but that's obviously not a bad thing. Anyway, he was pretty huge from 1987 to 1990, during which he released four albums, a greatest hits, some singles, and starred in a film. He's slowed down considerably since then, always "active" in some sense (mostly as a producer and songwriter) but he's only released three actual solo albums after 1990, plus some self-cover discs and collaborations. Partially this is due to two drug arrests which derailed his career; if you know anything about Japanese drug law, getting caught with anything is bad news, even if you're a celebrity. But he's actually managed to become a hot name again these last few years, mostly due to the success of the single "Viva Namida" which wound up a high-profile anime theme.

I find his music to be totally addictive, but I couldn't really figure out what album to upload here; in my opinion they're all pretty good, but he's one of those artists where there's a large gulf between his best work and everything else. So I decided to make a playlist, which I've been jamming like every day this month so far. It starts off with his early hits and more pop-oriented work and then goes into his funkier and stranger material. Included are covers of "Burning Down the House" and "Turtles Have Short Legs", the latter of which is from a collaboration with Takkyu Ishino of Denki Groove. Enjoy!!!

Link: https://mega.nz/#F!4qxw1KCJ!Cp2zeKsnP4-SRb3fISUKuw

sounds great, thanks!