Fretless bass playing + Japan/Mick Karn/Percy Jones/Ippu-Do/Masami Tsuchiya/YMO/Ryuichi Sakomoto/Bill Nelson

I have yet to hear them, though. I'll give an update later. But based on presentation, these come highly recommended. Very sleek.

15th October 2006
Ippu-Do "Magic Vox" CD and DVD box set due out December 20th in Japan.

Japan members, Sandii, Bill Nelson and Ryuichi Sakamoto all feature.

The box set will include the Ippu-Do albums "Normal" (1979), "Real" (1980), "Radio Fantasy" (1981), "Night Mirage" (1983), "Live & Zen" (1984), "Rice Music" by Masami Tsuchiya and "Out of Reach" by Akira Mitake. Included are many tracks featuring performances by Mick Karn, Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri. Sandii provides backing vocals on several songs while Bill Nelson and Ryuichi Sakamoto make guest appearances on "Rice Music". The icing on the cake is that this set comes with a DVD of previously unreleased video clips and performances. All albums with the exception of "Real" feature bonus tracks.

Why be interested? Ippu-Do's front man and main songwriter Masami Tsuchiya was a member of Japan for their final tour and "Oil on Canvas". However, before that his band Ippu-Do were one of the groups contemporary to Japan that were directly influenced by their sound and style. From "Radio Fantasy" on there are clear similarities to the Japan sound, with all the subsequent relases featuring the group themselves. "Out of Reach" by Akira Mitake was produced by Richard Barbieri and is a lost gem, with a lovely smooth pop production - something later continued on the Dolphin Brothers album. I also enjoy the first two Ippu-Do albums, where Masami works through his interests in 60s guitar bands and German electronic and prog sounds - often in the same songs. Like the first two Japan albums, they have a raw sound that is pretty compelling and a nice contrast to some of the more refined material on the later recordings. Like "Nightporter"? Check out "Crystal Leaves" on "Night Mirage", a truly beautiful number. Nearer the release date there will be audio clips available on the Sony website so you can sample the sound of Ippu-Do for yourself.

Anyone have the Akiko Yano single "Kang Tong Shonen"? Love that song. I have her performing it on a live 1979 YMO video and wonder how the studio version ( as well as her album w/ YMO + Japan folks) holds up.

Also, has anyone seen the sheer VOLUME of music these guys did for Medium Productions? It's, like, 400 records that the YMO/Japan/etc. guys all have done together in various combinations. As my experience with Dolphin Bros. wasn't the highlight of my life, I have no idea if any of it is worth buying, but you can hear some of it at http://artist-shop.com/medium/

Terrible news
http://www.mickkarn.net/
Say a prayer.

D:

Awful news, he's one of the reasons I picked up a bass in the first place. Hoping for the best...

terrible news indeed

There needs to be a more obvious thread for this :/

God bless Nick, you have always been one of my heroes.

Mick. Fuck. Typos.

His website's down at the moment but I googled and found the statement. This truly sucks.

Heartbreaking news. I can't believe I started this thread 7 years ago. Clearly, he's had a giant influence on me. My thoughts are with him.

this is terrible news. seems like mick karn has had alot of hard luck during his career, despite his immense talent. will be making a donation

'advanced stages' :(

titles is sounding pretty good right now, i hadn't played it in a while. amazing how he makes his bass sound like a 303 on "passion in moisture"

really digging some of these Ippu-Do albums

about half of "Real" is one big tribute to Neu!, and unlike what I've heard in the past, it's actually pretty spot-on and awesome. "Normal" has some ace tracks too and "Radio Fantasy" is a classic.

Wow, Night Mirage is splendid. Super super lush and deep.

fuck the haters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iay1HePfFks

mick karn+david sylvian — "buoy" (1986)

wonderful track, one of my favourite solo releases from either. Big fan of Dreams of Reason all round.

Numan couldn't get Palladino for Warriors but Bill Hubbard does a fine job of holding it down on the fretless & Bill Nelson makes the album great, single most underrated album (including by Numan) in his catalog

I cherry-picked the "Warrior" tracks with Mick on bass. There's just no one that sounds like him.

I'm enjoying Dreams of Reasons Produce Monsters more than Titles, but Karn really needed contributors to bring focus to his music. He's such an unassuming vocalist, and even when he's trying to specialize in texture, the results are thin.

"Dreams" is my favorite solo Mick but "Titles" is very good as well, I had passed on it for years before listening with fresh ears. "Weather The Windmill" is particularly great. I also dig "Bestival Cluster" but after that it's cherry picking time.