Archive for the ‘Deee-Lite’ Category

Towa Tei Or Towa Die

Friday, May 25th, 2018

Towa Tei has a new album coming out this summer, in a sense. It’s actually a collaborative effort between him, fellow Metafive member Yoshinori Sunahara and someone who goes by the name Bakarhythm (“baka” is Japanese for “stupid” FYI). The project is using the name of an old Towa pseudonym, Sweet Robots Against The Machine.

I have high hopes for this one, despite the fact that the original SRATM album a rather forgettable affair. I’m much more of a fan of Towa’s current sound than his older stuff, and anything he’s done with anyone from his Metafive crew has just been fabulous. His albums Sunny, Lucky, Cute and Emo are all top-notch dance-pop bangers so here’s hope the streak continues with what he has coming up next.

In the meantime, let’s check out some of the stuff he put out in the past, which I coincidentally bought last week.

Towa Tei
Let Me Know (TT Remix)
Let Me Know (Mighty Bop Remix)
Let Me Know (Mighty Bop Remix Instrumental)
This is a track from Towa’s 1999 album, Last Century Modern, featuring Chara on vocals. This is very 90s Towa, with a heavy emphasis on that ever-so-hard-to-define “lounge” sound that he typified at the time. I really dig this stuff, but only in really small doses. It’s very much a singles genre for me. A whole album of it tires rather quickly. It’s just not uptempo enough for me. I need some more beats. I guess that’s why I prefer his newer stuff, it finds a happy middle-ground between his low-key lounge act stuff and the hyperactive techno that’s still relatively popular here in Japan. These remixes came from a 10″ single that, in addition to being green, has the cutest damn cover ever.

Deee-Lite
Pussycat Meow (The Meow Mix)
Pussycat Meow (Murk Boys Miami Mix)
Pussycat Meow (The Pussy Power Remix)
Pussycat Meow (Infinity Extended Mix)
Pussycat Meow (Murk Bonus Dub)
I’ve listened to this track about 10 times now and have gone from kinda liking it to kinda outright hating it. It’s such a non-song. Man, Deee-lite is fucking tragic. I’m including this for all your remix completists out there and for no other reason at all. I can see why I disliked a lot of early Towa Tei now, he had to get stuff like this out of his system.

Also, if you like this song, HEY THAT’S COOL MAYBE DON’T LEAVE A COMMENT ABOUT HOW I’M STUPID FOR NOT LIKING IT.

Posted in Deee-Lite, remixes, Towa Tei | 2 Comments »

The extra “E” still annoys me.

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013

As I start planning out my move to Japan, it’s becoming apparent to me that I won’t be able to update the blog consistently with new music for probably at least a month. This is partly due to the fact that I just won’t have time when I first get to Japan, between my job, finding a place to live and all the other stuff that comes with a major move. But honestly, a much bigger reason for the impending lack of updates will be because I’ll be without a turntable for at least a month – I’m not having mine shipped out to me until I get firmly settled.

(And before any of you ask, I’m not just going to buy another turntable in Japan because my turntable is a rare custom-modded black Technics SL-1210Mk2 and it is DOPE.)

I do, however, want to keep some sort of regular content going on this site in the meantime, so I think the best solution will be for me to temporarily take this blog into a “greatest hits” mode – highlighting some of the best tracks that I’ve posted over the years.

I already got a good line-up of tunes planned for this, but if you want to browse my archives (all seven years worth, holy shit) for some tracks you may have missed over the years, now is the time. Leave a comment in this post with your requests, and if I also enjoy the track in question/have the MP3 still/want to re-record it because the old file sounds like dogshit, I’ll be sure to include it in the month long Lost Turntable retrospective. And don’t bother mentioning Depeche Mode, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys or Madonna. I’m already planning on reposting any still hard-to-find cuts by all of them. You might as well throw in Big Country and Big Audio Dynamite into that mix as well.

Until then, here are some tunes by two bands who I thought were the same band when I was 10 years old. Because 10-year-old me was kind of dumb.

The B-52’s
Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland (Extended Mix)
Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland (12″ Mix)
Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland (Dub)
Seems like an odd vacation choice.

This is…not a very good song. I love the beat and the vocal hook would be fine too if it wasn’t, k’now, half of the damn song. This is definitely one that works better as a brief single. However, since I’ve posted every rare B-52’s remix I own, it would be silly to stop now.

Deee-Lite
Groove Is In The Heart (Meeting Of The Minds Mix)
Groove Is In The Heart (Peanut Butter Radio Mix)
Groove Is In The Heart (Jelly Jam Beats)
What Is Love (Holographic Goatee Mix)
What Is Love (Frenchappella)
What Is Love (Rainbow Beard Mix)
I used to hate “Groove Is In The Heart.” In fact, I think the only song young me hated more than that was probably R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People” (which featured Kate Pierson from The B-52’s). And while I continue to hate “Shiny Happy People” with a fiery hatred of a thousand suns, “Groove Is In The Heart” has finally started to grow on me. I think it took me discovering good disco and 80s house for me to finally appreciate the song and what it’s trying to do. I still hate that slide whistle though.

“What Is Love” still kind of annoys me though, but the Rainbow Beard Mix is pretty great.

Posted in B-52s, Deee-Lite, remixes | 9 Comments »