Finally listening to P-Model + Big Body.
"Nice mmm-hmmmnice mmm-hmmm"
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 16 February 2018 18:14 (six years ago) link
p model is so siqq they sound like a japanese oingo boingo
― kurt schwitterz, Friday, 16 February 2018 18:38 (six years ago) link
オインゴ ボインゴ
― MaresNest, Friday, 16 February 2018 19:04 (six years ago) link
they had the most classic look during those years too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfbjxwHQ-Uk
those albums hold up remarkably well considering how pretty much everything else in the early 90's that sounded like that really hasn't
― frogbs, Friday, 16 February 2018 19:17 (six years ago) link
Taken me a while to realise in "Biiig Eye" he's singing "I'm screaming in the lens" like Singing In The Rain.https://www.whosampled.com/sample/461050/P-Model-Biiig-Eye-Aphrodite%27s-Child-Loud%2C-Loud%2C-Loud/
I think I prefer Big Body to the selftitled album.
"2D Or Not 2D" and "Lab=01" are a lot of fun from P-Model. But Big Body has 5."Welcome to the House of 'Time's Leaking Through Equal Distance Curve' (時間等曲率漏斗館へようこそ Jikantō Kyokuritsu Rōtokan e Yōkoso, Welcome to the House of Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum)", "Binary Ghost" and "Homo Gestalt"
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 17 March 2018 00:07 (six years ago) link
love the way they use the sample on that track. "shouting - AAAAAAAAH!!!" one of the few times he acknowledges one of his influences.
and yes, track 5 is quite great. love "Homo Gestalt" a lot too though I can't help but notice the similarity to "Wire Self"
you might like the stuff by Kaku P-Model, which is just Hirasawa under a different name. basically, he wanted to return to the P-Model sound, but didn't want to work with other people. the track "Big Brother" is maybe the most insane track he ever did - the only thing comparable is Dan Deacon.
I lucked out and found some dude who ripped a bunch of Hirasawa DVDs to MP3, so I'm currently going through those. The Vistoron Live show is very nice and contains a number of 92-93 era tracks. Kind of bummed out that live stuff from 81-86 exists - I have a boot from the Karkador era and it's incredible, but the sound quality is atrocious! I wish they hadn't stopped the Virtual Live series at Perspective...they were just getting interesting!!
― frogbs, Saturday, 24 March 2018 02:24 (six years ago) link
Is there any place where the MP3 rips of DVDs are available? I haven't had the money to pick up any live DVDs yet (I have bought The Method of Live 2 however, which has a live version of Sim City and Gardener King which are both breathtaking), but some of the live versions of past songs are absolutely wonderful!
In particular, some of my personal favourites are,This version of "Clear Mountain Top" from the PHONON2550 live shows, it's an absolute crime this wasn't featured in the PHONON2550 CD.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfP1DEJe6b0
This version of "Rocket", which looks like it's also from the PHONON2550 live shows (yet it was also not included in the CD, what a shame).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0wv5QpYh8
This version of Siren *SEIREN* from the Planet Roll Call live shows. The performances of the guests (particularly in the chorus) in this song are beautiful. Hirasawa's choice to overlay Delay Lama over bits of the song is a little suspect though haha, it doesn't quite work all that well in my opinion.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOTTnNpxbcQ
This version of Lotus from PHONON2555. Unrelated to Lotus, but the Phonon 2555 Vision DVD includes a performance of Dune from Hirasawas first album, which I would love to hear, I've always been a sucker for Hirasawas early solo material.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4-95kK8D5M
I'm also very curious about the 9th Mandala memorial card, since apparently it includes a 2017 version of Archetype Engine and a bunch of other songs, like Adios and Byakkoya. Unfortunately you had to be present at the live show to get your hands on it, but I'm hoping it'll eventually go on sale for everyone like the WORLD CELL 2015 memorial card did.
― WIRESELF, Thursday, 26 April 2018 09:09 (six years ago) link
hello WIRESELF :)
you on soulseek ?
― frogbs, Thursday, 26 April 2018 13:05 (six years ago) link
I just created an user on it, the username is WIRESELF
― WIRESELF, Thursday, 26 April 2018 17:41 (six years ago) link
search for a user called "Bonzalez". should be online now, if not it'll be later tonight
I've grabbed a lot of the stuff from his website in the past, even though the prices & method of delivery has been pretty odd. Had to jump through a lot of hoops just to spend $15 on some alternate versions of Blue Limbo tracks. Wish he'd just chuck everything up in some easily accessible place but Japanese musicians tend not to do things like that :)
― frogbs, Thursday, 26 April 2018 17:51 (six years ago) link
Haha yeah I feel you, the sites can be a bit iffy and he has some weird things restricted from the international shop, like having only AURORA3 available for purchase off of the Live Byakkoya memorials package internationally.
Thank you for the leads, it's much appreciated! I'm also glad to find that I'm not the only one who enjoys Hirasawas works to a great degree.
― WIRESELF, Thursday, 26 April 2018 18:02 (six years ago) link
I know I'm probably talking to a mirror here but if you haven't heard the latest KAKU P-Model album you really should...its one of his most bonkers, and I think one of his best (obviously I don't say that lightly)
every single track on it is good but this one is my favorite right now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_or3uyB3CA
― frogbs, Saturday, 11 May 2019 03:10 (five years ago) link
Cant see it on amazon uk or ebay.
Most original P-Model albums still cost a fortune but there's quite a bunch of solo stuff for £20-£30. I can do that but not too often. Happy to see Ash Crow is all the Berserk soundtracks in one.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 11 May 2019 10:38 (five years ago) link
Is it really true that Japanese music sellers are selling common stuff at scalper prices? If I went to big stores in japan, would all this stuff be so expensive?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 11 May 2019 10:41 (five years ago) link
One look at Hirasawa on CD Japan looks like an average of about $25 for a CD, not scalping but pretty high.
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/person/700102636?s_ssid=e36c625cd73da8f416
― MaresNest, Saturday, 11 May 2019 21:26 (five years ago) link
you can get some of them on Japan iTunes but their selection is pretty spotty. ultimately you're going to have to pay $25-30 for the CDs. sadly the Ashu-on P-Model boxset is no longer available, because that was actually a pretty decent value (about $15 a disc I think, many of which had 2 albums on them)
― frogbs, Monday, 13 May 2019 13:36 (five years ago) link
What is this tribut album by Vidra
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 31 March 2020 19:28 (four years ago) link
Actually, it's a single
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 31 March 2020 19:29 (four years ago) link
pretty cool. I wonder how well the lyrics are translated.
here's an interesting cover - an 80's P-Model tune covered in the style of 90's P-Model, it works pretty well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s9tAmbTHIg
― frogbs, Tuesday, 31 March 2020 20:18 (four years ago) link
by the way, it's his birthday today. 66 years old
― frogbs, Wednesday, 1 April 2020 14:08 (four years ago) link
Happy birthday Mr Hirasawa
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 1 April 2020 15:35 (four years ago) link
https://www.discogs.com/Susumu-Hirasawa-Town-0-Phase-5-%E5%BA%AD%E5%B8%ABKing/release/14342441
just alerted to the existence of this. even though $20 is kind of ridiculous to pay for a 7 inch I believe this is the only Hirasawa thing you can get on vinyl outside of the original P-Model LPs (which have never been repressed and are $60-$100 to import to the US, if you can find them at all)
checking in on his RYM page, it looks like Technique of Relief has been bolded which is pretty cool. seems like people are rallying around that one as a starting point, it's got 600 ratings which is pretty awesome. only a few years ago I think it was well below 100.
― frogbs, Friday, 17 April 2020 15:49 (four years ago) link
Even though that last KAKU P-Model album was nearly on my ballot in 2018 (too low!), it's somehow only just now that I've first listened to Susumu Hirasawa's solo(...ish) stuff. Technique of Relief is some densely-layered hypnotism! Needs more unpacking, but that opening track is pure gold.
― tangenttangent, Wednesday, 30 September 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
last time I listened to it I was struck by how much it seemed to incorporate a lot of Mike Oldfield's ideas. it's kind of in the same subgenre as Ommadawn. obviously I prefer Hirasawa's stuff way more but I'd surprised if that wasn't a big influence on him back then
still think "The Man From Narcissus Space" is one of the prettiest songs ever written. still gives me the chills
― frogbs, Wednesday, 30 September 2020 17:20 (three years ago) link
Returning to Technique of Relief after a few weeks feels like emerging into an actual paradise. It's some of the best music I've ever heard.
― tangent x (tangenttangent), Wednesday, 3 February 2021 00:50 (three years ago) link
Is that this one?https://www.discogs.com/Susumu-Hirasawa-%E6%95%91%E6%B8%88%E3%81%AE%E6%8A%80%E6%B3%95/master/429724
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 3 February 2021 19:28 (three years ago) link
It is! Just the best synthpop album of all time.
― tangent x (tangenttangent), Wednesday, 3 February 2021 20:26 (three years ago) link
someone hearing it based on that description alone would be mighty confused, though. I've described it as "really great, powerful New Age music" but somehow that doesn't interest people (plus, I think that applies much more to Philosopher's Propellor)
in other news - a little birdy told me the Berserk soundtrack is getting repressed as a 2xLP set, just in case you were considering dropping $300 for one of the 2019 versions that sold out in ten seconds
― frogbs, Wednesday, 3 February 2021 20:35 (three years ago) link
look who keeps popping up over and over:
https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/all-time/g:electropop/exc:live,archival/
has it happened? have they become aware?
― frogbs, Thursday, 4 February 2021 05:12 (three years ago) link
new album today (on Bandcamp!) and it's really excellent. real proggy in spots, a bunch of these songs are mini-epics. vocals and guitars kinda remind me of Yes. also he covers Klaus Nomi's "Cold Song" in the most grandiose way possible.
― frogbs, Thursday, 29 July 2021 03:35 (two years ago) link
God it’s so so good. The number of ideas he crams into every song is astounding. Landing is a real highlight. Possible AOTY.
― tangent x (tangenttangent), Wednesday, 11 August 2021 14:17 (two years ago) link
yeah between this and the last Kaku P-Model album he seems to be at another creative high point
these clips from his 24th Mandala performance are great...apparently he's playing with a band again? way more interesting than the last 25 years of shows where 75% of it was just prerecorded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRFvgpV6U3s
― frogbs, Thursday, 12 August 2021 14:52 (two years ago) link
HAHAHAH yes put me in the poor house baby
https://columbia.jp/artist-info/hirasawa/info/76147.html
― frogbs, Wednesday, 18 August 2021 03:35 (two years ago) link
dude killed it at Fuji Rock. maybe the single best performance of his I've ever seen, even if the guitar pedal started wildly malfunctioning during "Solid Air"
― frogbs, Saturday, 4 September 2021 03:10 (two years ago) link
just checked out Technique of Relief after seeing the very high rym rating and being familiar with Hirasawa's lovely Berserk OST already. I wouldn't say I love ToF but it has a charming, beautiful messiness and I want to check out more! I was also surprised that I already knew one of the ToF tracks from waayyy back in the Napster days, where someone had mistakenly labelled it as a Berserk song haha
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 25 January 2022 08:07 (two years ago) link
that should be ToR in both places, obv
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 25 January 2022 08:37 (two years ago) link
The guitar solo on Chevron sounds like Fripp guesting on a '70s Eno vocal record.
Like probably most people on the internet, I first heard of him because of the Satoshi Kon soundtracks, and began to wonder about exploring further because of Frogbs. I've been poking around here and there for a month or two, feeling more "okay this is interesting but..." than really won over. But this week something shifted and now everything is starting to sound angelic. Been listening a lot to selections from Beacon and Big Body, and Kakeari Pop on repeat. All that has been awesome enough, but last night I heard The Iron Cutting Song, and now there's clearly no going back.
― TheNuNuNu, Sunday, 17 March 2024 13:12 (two months ago) link
in a DJ set I played "Nice Nice Very Nice" and some people thought that was Fripp as well. I do think he might be a lapsed progressive rock dork - P-Model did evolve out of a prog band, after all - if you look for them you can find all sorts of King Crimson/Mike Oldfield influences on his albums. parts of the latest one even sound like Yes to me.
it has been awesome seeing his actual albums start to get attention. always found it a bit frustrating how much praise there was for Paprika and the Berserk stuff...reading some of those reviews all I could think was "an actual Hirasawa LP would take your head off"
― frogbs, Tuesday, 19 March 2024 14:32 (two months ago) link