The album of hers I really enjoy is 峠のわが家 from 1986. It’s pretty much just plain slick studio rock but the songwriting is outstanding and there’s some cool off kilter moments. “Daniel” is amazing.
― brimstead, Sunday, 2 February 2020 03:53 (four years ago) link
She got a bit ECM in the late eighties/nineties, I really like this concert, there's a couple of misfires, including a deconstructed 'Walk On By' but when it's all poised and ambient and Bill Frisell is doing his thing, I dig that greatly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ZPn0WN8JI
Anyone heard this CD she's on with Kronos Quartet? I'd like to listen to that.
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 2 February 2020 14:53 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oNsG_5j6zI
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 2 February 2020 15:00 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np987aVZxyU
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 2 February 2020 15:05 (four years ago) link
Ahh, Akiko Yano is ace but I've often felt like I should do more of a deep dive, thanks for this thread and links!
― emil.y, Sunday, 2 February 2020 15:14 (four years ago) link
And a decent interview from 2018 -
http://www.listentothis.info/2018/10/interview-akiko-yano/
― Maresn3st, Sunday, 2 February 2020 15:18 (four years ago) link
a couple of audio interviews:https://www.mixcloud.com/dublab/suneye-wakiko-yano-in-conversation-032019/https://soundcloud.com/petercatradio/a-conversation-w-akiko-yano-november-29th-2018
― visiting, Sunday, 2 February 2020 16:19 (four years ago) link
https://images.roughtrade.com/product/images/files/000/185/303/hero/600x600bb.jpg
Well that's a coincidence. The reissue of 'Iroha Ni Konpeitou' literally popped through my letterbox last Friday.
What I've heard so far is promising and the cover is of course legendary. Hosono plays on some of it. Look forward to hearing some further recommendations.
― millmeister, Monday, 3 February 2020 15:15 (four years ago) link
Patrick South...didn't he used to post here? that's a great interview, rare to see someone who knows the subject's catalogue so well
I really love her stuff up to Oesu Oesu, still dig the albums afterwards though she did move in a slicker, New York-influenced jazz pop direction that sometimes feels sterile to me. Seems at some point she moved back into a more experimental & technopop-influenced direction but I haven't heard those albums yet. She's got a huge catalogue. You can easily spend an hour on YouTube watching live stuff, she's such a great live performer and she makes everything come off as so much fun. The videos where she duets with Hiromi Uehara are great, crazy that she's able to keep up with her
― frogbs, Monday, 3 February 2020 15:31 (four years ago) link
Asteroid and Butteryfly came out this week--her collaboration with Hiromitsu Agatsuma. Apparently the packaging has some glow-in-the-dark elements:
🪐『Asteroid and Butterfly』発売中🦋#やのとあがつま 1st Album『Asteroid and Butterfly』耳だけでなく目でも楽しめるジャケットにも注目👀強い光に当ててから、暗闇の中に入れると、タイポグラフィが浮き出るデザインになっております!是非お手に取って試してみて下さい♪#矢野顕子 #上妻宏光 pic.twitter.com/7kf4evS3Mt— 矢野顕子 Staff (@akikoyano_staff) March 5, 2020
Vinyl and CD are available on CDJapan. I'll have to save my allowance.
And then out just today, I think--a nice little tune that she wrote for an anime airing on Japanese TV this week, "Oyasan to boku", "The Landlady and I". On Spotify and iTunes.
https://jvcmusic.lnk.to/oyasantoboku
― screator, Friday, 6 March 2020 06:16 (four years ago) link
Butteryfly!
― screator, Friday, 6 March 2020 06:17 (four years ago) link
Asteroid and Butterfly is on Spotify too, at least in the UK: https://open.spotify.com/album/1SUr7AjanY3MIrA5GsXv2U?si=aQ2jR6IIRACi4VZR3sTuog I loved that first single, so really looking forward to listening to this.
― bamboohouses, Friday, 6 March 2020 08:30 (four years ago) link
really love this...anyone know what it is?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPQ44DL3ztc
― frogbs, Thursday, 15 October 2020 01:20 (three years ago) link
The song is Bara no hana from Quruli's 2001 album "Team Rock," produced by Jim O'Rourke, no less. Rei Harakami did a remix of it, which brought him to Akiko Yano's attention, and they subsequently formed the duo Yanokami. This article has some of that history: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2008/04/11/music/jazz-icon-akiko-yano-finds-her-electronic-muse/
Harakami's version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmWqyrCanoM
― screator, Thursday, 15 October 2020 03:22 (three years ago) link
has anyone looked up the lyrics to Vet?
vet veti like to be a vet, i vetwanna be a veti like to be a vet, i vetwanna be a vetcrocodile’s got stomach cancerhippo’s t–th are all decayedcow’s got a swollen liverlion’s got pneumoniaelephant’s got athlete’s footdog’s got a fractured hind legand your heart’s been broken by yet another girlvet veti like to be a vet, i vetwanna be a veti like to be a vet, i vetwanna be a vetdolphins with diarrhoeabats with broken radaroverweight hawaiian girls eating too much chocolatepiranhas with constipationtelephone line is on the blinkyour brother-in-law has got no moneyand your wife has turned to drinksiamese cat’s got a bloodshot left eyehorse won’t run another steppolar bear’s miscarriednow gorilla’s got a bleeding nosegoat’s gone hysterical and eaten through the peneverybody come to mei’m gonna make you well again
crocodile’s got stomach cancerhippo’s t–th are all decayedcow’s got a swollen liverlion’s got pneumoniaelephant’s got athlete’s footdog’s got a fractured hind legand your heart’s been broken by yet another girl
vet veti like to be a vet, i vetwanna be a veti like to be a vet, i vetwanna be a vet
dolphins with diarrhoeabats with broken radaroverweight hawaiian girls eating too much chocolatepiranhas with constipationtelephone line is on the blinkyour brother-in-law has got no moneyand your wife has turned to drinksiamese cat’s got a bloodshot left eyehorse won’t run another steppolar bear’s miscarriednow gorilla’s got a bleeding nosegoat’s gone hysterical and eaten through the peneverybody come to mei’m gonna make you well again
― frogbs, Sunday, 22 November 2020 05:24 (three years ago) link
the photo in the inner sleeve of Gohan Ga Dekitayo is great:
https://thevinylfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AkikoYano-Gohan-Ga-Dekitayo-LP.jpg
― frogbs, Friday, 11 December 2020 17:26 (three years ago) link
Is that Kenji Omura on the right?
― Maresn3st, Friday, 11 December 2020 17:49 (three years ago) link
its gotta be, he's the only other person who appears on more than one track
― frogbs, Friday, 11 December 2020 18:19 (three years ago) link
I was looking at his Discogs just the other day as a friend had hipped me to this Chris Mosdell record from 1982 called 'Equasian' that he played on, it's a really odd racket.
Dude cannot sing at all but there is some interesting Talking Heads/Fourth World cosplay going on, it comes across like when you see some arty New Wave band performing in an 80s film or something.
― Maresn3st, Friday, 11 December 2020 18:45 (three years ago) link
That's a pretty weird record. I picked it up in Japan last time, the packaging is quite elaborate, slip-in gatefold sleeve with booklet.
The guy left the UK for Japan in the late 70's and is mainly known as a Lyricist. He wrote the lyrics to Behind the Mask for YMO.
― Stop the tape I got spittle all over my moustache. (Talcum Mucker), Friday, 11 December 2020 19:30 (three years ago) link
YMO's English lyrics are endlessly fascinating to me. they're not as choppy as something just run through a translator but I feel like they still have a sentiment that doesn't really translate properly. like the first line on YT's "Drip Dry Eyes" - "Feels like I've been through a washing machine"...I don't think a native English speaker would ever say something like that
― frogbs, Friday, 11 December 2020 19:35 (three years ago) link
I think Mosdell wrote quite a few lyrics for YMO, no?
I know Peter Barakan worked with them during the BGM era and with Yuki's solo material.
― Maresn3st, Friday, 11 December 2020 19:52 (three years ago) link
Mosdell did everything up to SSS, then Barakan after that. he also did a number of YT solo songs (mostly on Murdered by the Music). Barakan was the translator for the stuff after that, including YT's What Me Worry and HH's Philharmony
kinda wonder how those songs were done. I have to assume they were translated from something though a few of the Mosdell tracks feel pretty natural. though Sakamoto's English I think was actually quite good
― frogbs, Friday, 11 December 2020 20:07 (three years ago) link
The washing machine line feels à la Bowie to me.
Anyone have any inside info on whether We Want Sounds is going to reissue the album with the cow on the cover? 'Cos I want that one.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Friday, 11 December 2020 20:09 (three years ago) link
that and Iroha ni Konpeitō I want more for the cover than the actual music. nothing against the music but they're two of my favorite album covers ever. from a musical perspective I'd be more into Tokimeki
she has a recent album called Welcome to Jupiter which I've been digging a lot lately. copies of it are real expensive though
― frogbs, Friday, 11 December 2020 20:21 (three years ago) link
xp
Thanks for the heads-up re: Chris Mosdell's Equasian album--that B1 quasi-instrumental (at least in the intro) "C₂H₅Emystery" is indeed a 4th W. treat, and great use of acoustic piano with the synths/FX:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2aNvX-sEEE
― call mr zbow that's my name that name again is mr zbow (Craig D.), Friday, 11 December 2020 20:30 (three years ago) link
Anyone have any inside info on whether We Want Sounds is going to reissue the album with the cow on the cover? 'Cos I want that one.― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule)
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule)
I hit We Want Sounds up on Instagram the other day and they confirmed that they would be re-releasing 'Ai Ga Nakucha Ne' imminently. Didn't say when though. Probably my favourite of hers. Been blasting it in the car recently.
― millmeister, Friday, 11 December 2020 20:57 (three years ago) link
that Mosdell record is genuinely confusing! 'The Archers of Ardour' has not left my pop music phone playlist for a few years now, inexplicably good
― Milton Parker, Friday, 11 December 2020 21:01 (three years ago) link
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Friday, 11 December 2020 21:22 (three years ago) link
I've linked to this before so pardon me if you've heard this already, this is a short interview I did with Peter Barakan four years ago about his background with YMO -
https://www.mixcloud.com/JapanAlternativeSessions/japan-alternative-sessions-edition-22-ymo-special-peter-barakan-interview/
― Maresn3st, Friday, 11 December 2020 23:46 (three years ago) link
Up for a limited time, if I'm understanding the translation correctly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjlogaQZisA
― Maresn3st, Monday, 15 March 2021 00:20 (three years ago) link
she seems to be impervious to age, could've easily convinced me this was from 20 years ago. though I guess you could argue her voice was kind of suited for an older person right from the start.
― frogbs, Monday, 15 March 2021 14:25 (three years ago) link
from last year but still lol
Man, don’t! But thank you😝 https://t.co/ywporY7Q9k— 矢野顕子 Akiko Yano (@Yano_Akiko) May 4, 2020
― frogbs, Thursday, 20 May 2021 03:19 (two years ago) link
New Album "Music is a Gift"
― visiting, Monday, 26 July 2021 16:55 (two years ago) link
The single is good! Has a slight Laura Nyro thing going on.
― Maresn3st, Monday, 26 July 2021 16:59 (two years ago) link
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Wednesday, 8 September 2021 20:02 (two years ago) link
Looks like there is a more affordable CD version as well, with the same liner notes but not all the session photos and whatnot that come with the vinyl.
― eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Wednesday, 8 September 2021 20:10 (two years ago) link
she has a lot of records I would totally buy if they were like...20% less expensive. I don't know if I like this one enough. I did import a copy of Oesu Oesu though, that one's incredible start to finish
her new album is very good if you like her jazzier singer/songwriter type stuff. amazing how she still looks and sounds pretty much the same as she did 25 years ago
― frogbs, Wednesday, 8 September 2021 20:11 (two years ago) link
spotted the dolphin album at a Chicago shop! of course I had to grab it. it's better than I remembered. "Ike Yanagida" is so great. I never realized it's just keyboards and drums. also didn't catch that one of the tunes is a full version of that little instrumental at the end of Hosono House
― frogbs, Thursday, 10 March 2022 05:07 (two years ago) link
I'm blown away by Gohan ga Dekitayo, my first exposure to her music. I see why she gets compared to Kate Bush so much - the similarity in their voices and songwriting - but she stands apart enough. And I think this album might be more consistent than any of Kate's?? Maybe I'm crazy to think that. So looking forward to listening through the rest of her output
― Vinnie, Monday, 28 November 2022 23:21 (one year ago) link
the long track with that crazy electronic breakdown is so stunning. as is that piano track that sounds like a samba. her vocals are so good on it.
I see Love Life was just reissued, I may pick it up. there's a cover of "The Letter" which is really great. she does such amazing covers.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 04:45 (one year ago) link
there's such a breadth to the tracks, hard to pick favorites, but I love both the ones you mentioned. I listened to Tadaima and I'm not as blown away, but she moves into tons of new sounds and styles. like "ROSE GARDEN"?? must have been listening to Remain in Light but it's an excellent, unique track in its own right
― Vinnie, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 10:50 (one year ago) link
I've just been listening to this album, the cover seems designed to make you think it's a Visage album or something... but it's mostly definitely not a Visage album! Anyway, I don't really know what else to compare it with so I'll let Chris himself, er, describe it...
https://chrismosdell.com/equasian/
― Renaissance of the Celtic Trumpet (Tom D.), Saturday, 17 June 2023 14:02 (ten months ago) link
Excellent new discography guide: https://simulacreage.com/akiko-yano-guide
― screator, Sunday, 9 July 2023 22:03 (nine months ago) link
amazing
― NickB, Sunday, 9 July 2023 22:17 (nine months ago) link
yeah that is really excellent... the most extensive thing i've seen written about her in english and it's good to see that they've covered everything, not just her 70s/early 80s stuff.
― visiting, Sunday, 9 July 2023 22:36 (nine months ago) link
as i was reading i was thinking they've skipped the live albums, they've skipped the piano albums... and then there they were.
― visiting, Sunday, 9 July 2023 22:39 (nine months ago) link
Time to get the giant 'Honto no Kimochi ichiban' foam finger out again, but good to see it getting the props it deserves.
― MaresNest, Sunday, 9 July 2023 22:43 (nine months ago) link
Oh that's excellent and useful, thanks for sharing. I now fully agree with their assessment that Gohan ga Dekitayo is one of the finest pop albums ever - not a weak moment imo. I listened to Japanese Boy and OSOS more recently, and liked the former but loved the latter. I'll probably end up listening to everything eventually
― Vinnie, Sunday, 9 July 2023 22:58 (nine months ago) link
haven't listened back to it yet but apparently she was the guest of gilles peterson's show this weekend...
https://www.instagram.com/p/C2pJKPvNwoJ/
― blazin' squab (NickB), Monday, 29 January 2024 08:56 (two months ago) link
show is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001vj7k
― blazin' squab (NickB), Monday, 29 January 2024 08:57 (two months ago) link
Yeah, checked if this meant any UK shows but not afaict?
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 29 January 2024 09:36 (two months ago) link