Archive for February, 2019

Original Music by Imitation

Thursday, February 28th, 2019

Imitation – Original
Complete Album Download

Sometimes buying an album strictly because the cover pays off, as was the case with this one, Original, the hilariously-named debut album from Japanese synth act Imitation, which came out in 1980.

Imitation’s name is quite a misnomer, as they’re one of the most original and striking Japanese synthpop acts that I’ve come across. While most of the 80s pop scene in Japan was content to release polished radio-friendly AOR with a synth overlay, Imitation seemed to be way more out-there. To me, they’re akin to The Plastics, another avant-garde experimental synthpop group from the same time, as both groups seem to draw heavily from Talking Heads and Public Image Ltd., thanks to their willingness to mix synthpop with other genres and styles like funk and reggae. Imitation actually remind me the most of Polyrock, due to their tendency to use simple, repetitive rhythms akin to Philip Glass (who produced Polyrock’s records). However, since no one in any country bought Polyrock’s records, I can only guess that this must be a coincidence.

In addition to their musical style, another thing that Imitation has in common with Polyrock is that nobody bought their records either. At least, that’s what I’m assuming since I never come across them used and have never heard them mentioned in articles discussing 80s Japanese synthpop (including the ones I’ve written). It looks like they had some famous fans though, or perhaps the right connections. Their first record includes lyrics written by Chris Mosdell, who was the regular English songwriter for YMO and was produced by Kazuhiko Katoh, another longtime YMO associate. Their second LP, Muscle and Heat, includes a contribution from Sandii of Sandii and the Sunsets, while Hideki Matsutake, AKA Logic System, AKA the dude who programmed all of YMO’s sequencers drops in on their third and final album, Happy Hunting.

I haven’t been able to come across those records yet, as they’re even rare than this one. So all I’m sharing tonight is my copy of Original. It’s a vinyl rip, but I think it sounds pretty damn good. And since CDs of this sucker go for over $100 I doubt that I’ll be buying one those anytime soon. I hope that I can dig up their other two albums someday, along with the singer Cheebo’s sole solo album, as I really want to dive in more into their out-there sound.

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Synthwave(maker)

Friday, February 15th, 2019

Wavemaker – Where Are We Captain?….
Complete Album Download

Wavemaker is the third synth-focused project associated with BBC Radiophonic alum Brian Hodgson that I’ve shared on this blog. The first was Eletrophon, who released a collection of classical covers performed on electronic instruments in 1973 called In A Convent Garden. The second was the amazing Zygoat album, which came out a year later. While Hodgson is not credited on that release, that album was recorded in his Eletrophon music studio, and I can only imagine that he played some role in its creation, even if it was minor.

Wavemaker is a proper Hodgson release, a collaboration between him and Eletrophon co-founder John Lewis. Their 1974 debut release Where Are We Captain?… feels like a counterpoint to Zygoat. While the latter was a synth-funk jam of the highest degree, pushing the boundaries not only of what synthesizers were capable of in the mid-70s, but what could be considered popular music as well, Wavemaker takes things down a more restrained road with their release. Where Are We Captain?… is a spacey, out-there record for sure, but it’s far more concerned with traditional song structures, hooks, and melodies than anything on Zygoat. The only time Wavemaker takes things entirely into the experimental and avant-garde is with their namesake track, which forsakes melodies and rhythm for eerie soundscapes and excursions into “let’s see how much we can make our instruments sound like spaceships” territory.

This album also is different than Zygoat in that it features a smattering of acoustic instrumentation as well. Much of the percussion here is performed on actual honest-to-goodness drums (and tympani). The drumming, which is loose and free-flowing, contribute an almost jazz-like feeling to the proceedings, almost reminiscent of synthesizer-heavy krautrock that was coming out at the time. Unlike krautrock like Harmonia and Can though, this all sounds much more organized and put-together. There might be a smidge of improvisation here, but most of this record sounds tightly-written and well put-together. These weren’t some Berlin School dudes high on acid experimenting with knobs and sprockets, these guys knew what the hell they were doing and it shows. It almost feels like Hodgson and Lewis were trying to re-invent classical music for the 20th century, especially with the first half of the album. You could probably re-work those tracks for a proper symphony and musically speaking, they would still sound strong.

While Where Are We Captian?… lacks the what-the-fuck-is-this insanity and intensity of Zygoat’s release, it still a tremendous album, and was no doubt a technological breakthrough when it was first released some 40+ years ago. A lot of the sounds on this record still sound out-of-this-world, I can’t imagine what they must’ve sounded like to people in 1975.

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Jamma Slamma

Tuesday, February 5th, 2019

I was going to write a super long post tonight about an avant-garde out-of-print synth masterpiece, but I just don’t have it in me. Here are a shitload of Michael Jackson remixes.

Michael Jackson
Jam (7” Edit)
Jam (Roger’s Jeep Mix)
Jam (Atlanta Techno Dub)
Jam (Roger’s Jeep Radio Mix)
Jam (Teddy’s Jam)
Jam (More Than Enuff Mix)
Jam (Atlanta Techno Mix)
Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough (Masters At Work Remix)
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (Brothers In Rhythm House Mix)
For a short time I would say that “Jam” was my favorite Michael Jackson song. It was the fourth single off of Dangerous, following “Black or White,” “Remember The Time” and “In The Closet.” I dug the shit out of “Black or White” when I was a kid, but I was not big on those other two numbers. “Remember the Time” just felt like a mediocre mid-tempo love song to me, and I just outright hated everything about “In the Closet,” I just thought (and still think) it’s a crappy song.

But I got on “Jam” hard when it came out. The video, which featured Michael Jordon, probably had something to do with that. Like every 12 year old boy in 1992, I was a Bulls fan, often rocking my dope Bulls Starter jacket to school, so to see MJ with MJ (see how they planned that) was just too much for my little brain to take. And the song is just fucking great, even as a kid I preferred upbeat, silly dance tracks to emotional ballads or mid-tempo pop hits. I was ready to get in a groove even then.

I’ve been buying singles for “Jam” for what must be over a decade now. I’ve bought 12″ vinyl singles at least twice, both back in the states and in Japan, and each time they were scratched to high heaven. All attempts to clean them up digitally always failed. Thankfully, I was finally able to find the singles on CD this year, and get not one, not two, but seven goddamn remixes of the song. Word. Score.

But even better than the a-side remixes are the bonus cuts, remixes of MJ classics “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” by the legendary production crews Brothers In Rhythm and Masters At Work. Holy shit.

I’m still amazed that all these fantastic remixes are sitting on a self somewhere, unreleased and unable to purchase in 2019. I get that there are…issues with MJ at the moment (I have no educated opinion on that so no comment from me) but the demand is certainly there. I don’t know how much I’d be down with another album of newly mixed and/or finished MJ tunes that were previously unreleased, but I’d be totally down for the MJ estate to re-release all of Michael’s singles, complete with their remixes. Am I in the minority here? The lack of 12″ mix re-releases by huge artists like MJ, Prince and even Madonna make me feel that maybe the demand just isn’t there. I guess that kind of makes sense, maybe most people don’t need eight versions of “Vogue” and five versions of “Smooth Criminal” BUT I SURE AS FUCK DO AND DAMMIT THEY SHOULD CARE ABOUT ME.

Seriously though, just put this shit on iTunes and streaming services already, what the fuck do they got to lose? Assholes like me are just going to share it all anyways.

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