Entertained a guest the past few days, which was very fun. It’s always great to show someone around Tokyo for the first time. It’s also incredibly exhausting. Holy shit I’m tired. Hence the short random post tonight. And hence the first post without proper art of any kind since December of last year. Damn. I was on a roll too.
Nah, fuck it. Here’s a picture of dancing mascots.
Okay, the streak continues.
Ram Jam World
Bluesy Baby
Bluesy Baby (Instrumental)
Bluesy Baby (Ed Rush & Optical Remix)
Ram Jam World is a Japanese drum and bass act. That was a surprise to me, because in my four years here I have yet to find anyone who remotely enjoys DnB. On the few occasions that I visit dance music record stores, I rarely come across the genre. Most dance music here is house or techno. I had no idea the act was Japanese when I bought this single. I snagged it solely because it featured a remix by Ed Rush and Optical, my favorite drum and bass act of all-time.
Now that I am aware of Ram Jam World’s existence, I hope that I can find some of their CDs proper. I really want to track down Uta To Oto, since it features Tomohiko Gondo from Metafive. This track doesn’t feature any luminaries of the Japanese electronic music scene (as far as I know) but it does feature Speech from Arrested Development. Speech is big in Japan. I have no idea why. I just know that he toured here as recently as 2016, and has several albums that either are exclusive to Japan or came to Japan first. So the next time someone drops on you that Mr. Big and Scatman John are big in Japan, you can throw that fact on them too.
Of course, no one in Japan is bigger than me in a literal sense because I’m a giant.
Gershon Kingsley
Popcorn (2000 Instrumental)
Popcorn is, of course, not a rare track. It’s probably still one of the most popular and recognizable electronic songs of all time. But this version is, as it was a vinyl only bonus track to the Grand Royale compilation At Home With The Groovebox. That album contains another version of this song that features Gershon Kingsley describing how he created the song the first time around. This version strips away that explanation and leaves us with a rather interesting modern take on the song, one that I can assume was created primarily with digital synths and computers of the era. It doesn’t have the classic analog sound of the original version, but it’s still great. And the wordless vocalizing that fades in near the end of the track is a nice touch that serves the song well.