Archive for July, 2014

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Quick and Dirty with Dinosaur Jr.

Monday, July 14th, 2014

Just one track tonight, sorry. Busy day it’s 10pm and I have to be up in seven hours oh god I need to get ready for bed.

Dinosaur Jr.
Get Out Of This (No Words Just Solo)
Sometimes I feel that the world doesn’t know that J Mascis is one of the greatest guitar players on earth. While his early stuff with Dinosaur Jr. surely hinted at this, I feel that their post-reunion stuff has been even heavier on the heavy shredding, really showcasing just what an amazing virtuoso he really is. If you still don’t believe just try to play that shit on Rock Band, it ain’t easy.

This is taken from a single-sided 10″ single for “Feel The Pain,” one of the best tracks to come from the “solo” Dinosaur Jr. years. In addition to this live solo (which just fucking SHREDS if you haven’t already figured that out), the 10″ also included a live acoustic version of “Repulsion.” However, you can buy that on iTunes so I’m not including it here tonight. Sorry.

Tomorrow’s post will probably be brief as well, but it will also be fucking epic. You’ll see.

Posted in B-sides, Dinosaur Jr. | No Comments »

Trepidation and Italian Manifestos

Sunday, July 13th, 2014

Today was very long, monotonous, fun, grueling, thrilling, boring and potentially exciting.

I must sleep. But here are two songs that are ruling my life at the moment.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Broadway Boogie Woogie
I know I just posted some Sakamoto in my last post, but I just discovered this song a few days ago and I would feel remiss if I didn’t post it immediately. The song is from his 1986 album 未来派野郎. According to Discogs and other sites, the English title of it is Futurista, however, according to one of my Japanese co-workers (and the coolest person I met in Japan yet) the direct translation is Futurist Bastard.

Not only is that a way cooler title, it’s also far more descriptive of the album’s overall sound, as it takes elements from the Italian futurist movement of the early 20th century and, well, bastardizes them to fit into a contemporary pop landscape. If that sounds familiar it’s because Art Of Noise did the same thing just a few years earlier. It’s also what Sakamoto compatriot Tachibana did with his insane and utterly brilliant 1984 album Mr. Techie & Miss Kipple.  If you’re curious as to what the hell futurist music really is, wiki that shit. It’s crazy.

While Sakamoto wasn’t the first to incorporate futurist themes into a sample-filled pop landscape, he was the first to build a futurist pop song primarily out of samples from Blade Runner and a radical sax solo that would make that guy from Lost Boys blush, so that’s something.

Pet Shop Boys
It’s Alright (Extended Dance Mix)
And reset the “Number of Days since a Pet Shop Boys Remix was Posted on Lost Turntable” counter back to zero.

It’s actually been four months exactly. Eerie. Even eerier, it’s almost a year to the day since my last post of Pet Shop Boys music that wasn’t a repost. Fucking trippy.

This remix is from a 10″ single, and is not the same as the 12″ dance remix. It’s actually a bit longer than that one.

Posted in Pet Shop Boys, remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto | 2 Comments »

坂本龍一 リミックス

Thursday, July 10th, 2014

In complete and total shit news, Ryuichi Sakamoto has been diagnosed with throat cancer.

As you probably know, Sakamoto is one of my favorite composers/performers/songwriters/people alive. As the keyboardist of Yellow Magic Orchestra, he is responsible for some of the greatest synthpop of all time, and as a solo composer he created some of the most hauntingly beautiful music I’ve ever heard, including the Oscar-winning score for The Last Emperor.

Here’s hoping that devil cancer was caught early enough so that the treatment is effective in slaying the fucker and getting Sakamoto back to full health as soon as possible.

Here’s some rare Sakamoto I’ve never posted before.

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Behind The Mask
Risky (Untitled Remix)
Risky (Remix)
Risky (Ultimix Edit)
This version of “Behind The Mask” is drastically different than the original version by YMO, featuring an entirely new arrangement and vocals written by Michael Jackson. How the hell did that happen? Well, I wrote about it a while ago for my other blog Mostly-Retro, so head over there and check it out for the full story!

As for “Risky,” the original version of that track first appeared on Sakamoto’s album Neo Geo, which I think was the closest he ever go to mainstream solo success in the states (which is to say not that close). The track was a superstar collaboration of sorts, featuring music co-written by producer/songwriter/bass player extraordinaire Bill Laswell (of Material fame) and lyrics/vocals by the legendary Iggy Pop. At least, I think that’s him.

Okay, well I know it’s him on the latter two mixes, but on that untitled remix, which is taken from the “Behind The Mask” single, it really doesn’t sound like Iggy Pop. However, there is no vocalist credited in the linear notes, so I have no idea as to who it might be. Anyone out there know?

Yellow Magic Orchestra
Behind The Mask (SEIKO Quartz CM Version)
This is the original version of “Behind The Mask,” recorded for the a watch commercial. This makes “Behind The Mask” the most successful commercial jingle of all time I think. Yes, even more than “Convoy.”

Posted in remixes, Ryuichi Sakamoto, YMO | 4 Comments »

Golden Pulp

Wednesday, July 9th, 2014

Looks like by the time that typhoon hits Tokyo later day/early tomorrow that it will just be a lot of rain and some heavy winds (aka my typical day off in Tokyo). I have to stop listening to Japanese people when they talk about the weather. Everything is the worst thing ever. It’s going to be hot this weekend, my students act like it’s going to be the hottest day ever. When it got “cold” (around 30 degrees Fahrenheit) they acted like it was the coldest day ever. I feel like they wouldn’t survive a year in Ohio, where you can actually have something close to the hottest day ever and the coldest day ever in the span of like five months. And tornadoes.

Why the fuck does anyone live in Ohio again?

 

Goldie
Inner City Life (Rabbit In The Moon’s Vocalic City Mix)
Inner City Life (Rabbit In The Moon’s Escape From Vocalic City Mix)
Inner City Life (Rabbit In The Moon’s Return to Vocalic City Mix)
Twenty-five minutes of Goldie remixes? Sure, why not.

These are kind of banged up, I found this in an electronic music store in Tokyo for about 500 yen (five bucks). Let me tell you something about records in Tokyo – they cost a fucking fortune usually. “Budget” shops don’t exist and sales just knock down prices to more realistic prices. On the plus side, you’re usually getting what you pay for – a copy of Nevermind priced as if it’s in perfect conditions is probably actually in mint condition. People in Japan take care of their damn records.

Of course, the reverse is true, and if you find a record for five bucks then it was probably run through the meat grinder a few times – as was the case with this one. There are few pops and crackles on these that I couldn’t get out, and the sound isn’t perfect. So if anyone out there has better copies of these tracks let me know please. Might be hard though, I don’t know if they were ever given a proper CD release?

Pulp
After You (Pulp vs. Soulwax)
After You (The 4am Desperation Disco To Disco Dub Version)
These remixes were  on a Record Store Day 12″ last year. I would have assumed someone who likes it when people pay them money for music would have given them a proper digital release by now, but I guess not. So here you go.

Posted in Goldie, Pulp, remixes, Soulwax | 3 Comments »

The Lady Or The Tiger

Tuesday, July 8th, 2014

ladytiger

Toyah & Fripp
The Lady Or The Tiger
Discourager Of Hesitancy
I’ve been meaning to post these tracks for about five years now. Seems like now is a good time to finally get around to doing that.

In case you couldn’t already figure it out, Toyah & Fripp are Toyah Wilcox and Robert Fripp. The former being one of the most unjustly forgotten 80s new wave frontwomen of all-time, and the later being the frontman of King Crimson and part-time collaborator of Brian Eno, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Blondie, Daryl Hall, Andy Summers, David Sylvian, The Orb, Van Der Graff Generator, Peter Gabriel, The Future Sound of London and Porcupine Tree (to name a few).

As prolific as both are, I feel safe in saying that neither have ever put out another album like The Lady Or The Tiger, which first came out in 1986 and has yet to be re-released digitally or on CD. Because while both have put out some wacky experimental shit in their days, this has to be the only spoken word album ever released by either of them.

Each track on the album isn’t a song, they’re short stories, both written by American author Frank R. Stockton. Both are equal parts logic puzzle as they are short stories, presenting readers with a near-impossible “what would you do” scenario at each story’s end.

Toyah recites both stories, while Fripp provides his trademarked ambient guitar Fripptronics, layer-upon-layer of distorted, manipulated guitar effects that help to give both stories the dream-like, otherworldly quality that the author no doubt had in mind.

Even in the experimental realm of Fripp solo records and side projects, this album is a little out there and probably isn’t for everyone (or most people for that matter). But I find it fascinating, and I’d listen to Toyah recite a phone book with that voice, so I hope you like it too.

Posted in Complete Albums, Robert Fripp, Toyah | No Comments »

Techno & Typhoons

Monday, July 7th, 2014

There’s a goddamn typhoon heading for Japan. I guess Okinawa is projected to get the brunt of it, so no one worry about me. Instead, keep an eye on the news and if Okinawa does get hammered then remember that the Red Cross is always the best place to give your donations.

Hopefully things won’t be that bad though! Now dance music.

Leftfield
Afrika Shox (VW Remix)
Afrika Shox (Jedi’s Elastic Bass Remix)
Afrika Shox (Radio Edit)
Dusted (Pressure Drop Remix)
Dusted (Si Begg’s Buckfunk 3000 Remix)
Dusted (Tipper Remix)
Dusted (The X-ecutioners Remix)
I think I own remixes of Leftfield tracks than actual proper Leftfield tracks. I love all of them, one day I’ll actually sit down and listen to Rhythm & Stealth in its entirety. I mean it. I really will.

Sigh, I never will.

Anyways, of these tracks I like “Afrika Shox” more, because it features the legendary Afrika Bambaataa (although he’s barely on the remixes), a man I love even if I have to double check the spelling of his name every single time I type it. “Dusted” is also great, and it features vocals by Roots Manuva, another person whose name I can never freaking spell correctly.

Oh, and the “Elastic Bass Remix” is aptly named, with crazy bass effects that might melt your head if you listen to it on headphones. You’ve been warned.

Moby
I Feel It (I Feel It Mix)
I Feel It (Victory Mix)
Classic house Moby. I love both of these (radically different) mixes, I can’t decide which I like the most. I love the classic uplifting piano sound of the “I Feel It Mix,” but I love the hard-ass synths-all-up-in-yo-grill sound of the “Victory Mix” just as much. Intense, super-distorted techno synth is the best synth. It’s like “Cubik” up in this joint.

Random free association fact: for some reason whenever I hear synths like the ones in this song I immediately start thinking of the music from late-80s Apple IIGS game Tunnels Of Armageddon.

You fucking try to figure that one out, I got no clue.

Utah Saints
Something Good
Something Good (Single Edit)
Utah Saints’ first album is out of print and that should be a goddamn crime. But hey, that fact lets me post these tracks – so enjoy.

Posted in Leftfield, Moby, remixes, Utah Saints | 2 Comments »

Famicom Music

Friday, July 4th, 2014

I love it when I say “I wish I had this album” and then I immediately find the album the following day.

famicom music

Famicom Music (Complete Album Download Link)

As I mentioned in a post from a few months ago, Famicom Music was the third release by GMO Records, the game music-centric label started up by Japanese electronic-pop pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra. It was the first of their developer-specific compilations, with releases focused on Konami, Data East, Taito and just about every other important Japanese game developer from the 80s following suit.

The early GMO releases are different than a lot of other game music albums that came after because they would often incorporate the gameplay sound effects into the tracks. Sometimes this is rather annoying (I’d rather hear the Yie Ar Kung Fu theme without punch effects) but sometimes it worked to great benefit. The Mario Bros theme track uses the block smashing sounds in some interesting ways, and the 12″ single “Xevious (Hardcore Mix)” (which I will feature here someday) really uses sound effects in an interesting way that expands on the original music.

Also of note here are the arrange versions (arrange means remix) of themes from two classic Nintendo games, Super Mario Bros. and Balloon Fight. In an era before CD-quality game audio, FM synthesis or anything remotely resembling dedicated audio boards, these arrange versions were usually the only way to hear what the composers of the games had probably had in mind when creating the music for the games. In the case of the Mario Bros. one, it’s almost like a portent of what the game’s music would eventually become in the 16-bit era and beyond.

As this is some of the earliest game music around, this CD is kind of  a mixed bag when it comes to music you’ll actually want to listen to. Obviously the Mario and Zelda themes remain timeless classics, but Wrecking Crew, Donkey Kong and a lot of the others included here are more sound effects than music. Still, they’re interesting from a historical perspective, and will probably trigger massive waves of nostalgia for anyone who grew up on these classic games. Enjoy.

Posted in Complete Albums, Game Music, soundtrack | 1 Comment »

Dracula and Divine

Thursday, July 3rd, 2014

Writing about disco and drag queens. Listening to Yes.

Hot Blood
Terror On The Dance Floor
Soul Dracula
These are two tracks of horror-themed eurodisco that I ripped off of a 12″ promotional single. The “group” Hot Blood is really the alias of one Stefaan Klinkhammer, a German producer and songwriter who had a string of moderate hits in the late 70s in his native Germany. He was also apparently instrumental in the formation of the German disco/reggae(???) act Boney M. Sadly, he passed away in 2001. You can read more about him here.

In the great pantheon of gimmicky disco tracks, I think that the Hot Blood stuff that I’ve heard ranks somewhere in the middle. It’s certainly better than musical sewage like “Disco Duck,” but I don’t know if it’s as catchy and downright fun as a track like “Kung Fu Fighting,” which, by the way, is a pretty great song and Carl Douglas could sing like a motherfucker. I think what hurt this track’s mainstream appeal wasn’t its complete idiocy or it’s lack of any real structure (plenty of dumber, less-catchy disco tracks made it to the top of the charts – I just mentioned “Disco Duck” remember?). No, I think the real problem with this track is that it came out in 1977. That was a good year for disco, giving us “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” arguably the greatest disco song of all-time. It also gave us “I’m Your Boogie Man” – speaking of great horror themed disco – and you just can’t compete with that.

Divine
Hey You! (The Full and Frantic Mix)
Hey What! (Take It To The Max Mix)
Yes, the same Divine who ate dog shit in Pink Flamingos.

No, he (he preferred to go by “he” from what I can tell) could not sing. Although, I really don’t think he’s trying to on these tracks. It’s more like screaming, or maybe growling. It sounds like the lead singer from a death metal band trying to give disco a go. It’s pretty fucking intense.

I have Divine’s complete discography, and it’s really…something.

Posted in Divine, Hot Blood, remixes | 1 Comment »

Acid House Live From Tokyo

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014

In case you were worrying that all of the posts this month would be nothing but weird Japanese shit, don’t worry. I have plenty of weird British, American, Canadian, German and who the fuck knows what else shit for you all to enjoy too.

The Orb
Asylum (Andy Weatherall Blood Sugar Mix 1)
Asylum (Andrea Parker’s Bezirkskrankenhams Mix)
Asylum (Kris & Dave’s You Are Evil – But I Like You- Remix by Kris Needs & Henry Cullen)
Asylum (Thomas Fehlmann’s Mix)
Four Orb remixes = 30+ minutes of music. They’re all also drastically different from each other. I dig all of them, but my favorite is this radically-named “You Are Evil” mix because, yo, that shit sounds evil. It’s like someone took an ambient house track and dragged it through Aphex Twin’s basement or something. Brutally great stuff.

808 State
Olympic [Live In Tokyo, 29 June 1993]
10 x 10 [Live In Tokyo, 29 June 1993]
These are from the Tokyo edition of the brand new Zang Tuum Tumb compilation The Organisation of Pop. The album was released in three different regions, USA, UK and Japan, and each got an exclusive version with exclusive cuts. I really can’t tell you how different they all are because I haven’t gone through the hassle of comparing them all track by track, but from what I’ve gleamed, the Japan version wins in terms of exclusives, with awesome live cuts like these being a big reason why. I was shocked to hear how much “10 x 10” works as a live cut. It’s just amazing.

If I can find the time and find it worthy, I might write up a full review on this in a week or so. I have to work past something I’m writing about Emerson Lake & Palmer first.

You heard me.

Posted in 808 State, live, remixes, The Orb | 1 Comment »

We’re YMO, We Come From Tokyo

Tuesday, July 1st, 2014

Okay, so I said I was going to do it and here I am. Five posts a week, every week, for the entire month. I hope this can get me back into the habit of writing on a regular basis. I tend not to write when I’m busy, but I noticed that when I don’t write, I often find myself getting depressed easier. Of course, when one gets depressed it becomes harder to write. So here’s hoping I can break that stupid cycle once and for all and get back into the thick of things, some seven months after my arrival in Japan.

So here we go, and I’m starting with a doozy.

002

Yellow Magic Orchestra – YMO World Your 1980 (Complete Album Download)

There are many YMO live albums. Of those, some seem like proper, well thought-out releases (Complete Service, Public Pressure) while others seem more like crash grabs released by a label desperate to milk a fanbase for more money (Live At Budokan 1980).

That is thankfully not the case with World Tour 1980, a 3LP/2CD live set that was first released in 1996. Unlike many of the other YMO live releases, World Tour 1980 takes the chance to showcase never-before-released live versions of many YMO tracks, as well as several YMO-related tracks that were previously only available on various solo albums by the band members.

For example, this album features live band versions of Sakamoto’s “Riot in Lagos,” as well as Takahashi’s “The Core Of Eden,” which was first released on his incredible 1980 album Murdered By The Music. It even features tracks that were originally released by YMO-collaborators, such as Kenji Omura’s “Maps” and the song “Kang Tong Boy,” which was originally recorded by Sakamoto’s then wife Akiko Yano. The album also includes one bonus studio track, “Jiseiki Hirake Kokoro,” which was never released on a proper YMO album (although it’s appeared on a few compilations).

I have a lot of YMO (okay, I have all the YMO) and World Tour 1980 is one of my favorites. Not only is it a stelllar live LP, but it’s a great sampling of some of their best works. If you love YMO you’ll obviously love this album, but if you don’t know much about the group, consider this to be a great sampler into their imp
ressive catalog of work.

Posted in Complete Albums, YMO | No Comments »

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