Time Twins - Bitch Silk / Wabooba (Royal Family, 1979)

Released 1979

"Bitch Silk" is the Time Twin's triumph of a B-side. Seemingly tapping into a theory of offensive commercialism, this song will rip encouraging air out of your throat with each oncoming chorus. Daniel Lanois' engineering smooths insensitivity into exuberant coolness. The Twins both despise and are jealous of Mercedes-Benzs and chiffons, and the back cover further suggests a sarcastic uberwomensch sensibility. The 50s song structure  is above it all anyways, and I'd be hard pressed to say that it doesn't contain some 'mercury in a bottle' for Ariel Pink and the likes. 1979 Canadian groove private press on... odd and sex.

A. Wabooba

B. Bitch Silk

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Time Twins

MEMBERS: ??, ??

Canadian new wave duo who toed the line into synthpop in 1979 before dropping off the map entirely. Names unknown, possibly were genuine regals from the future, toying with past peasants.

BLOGOGRAPHY:

Wabooba / Bitch Silk (Royal Family, 1979)

Universal - Freistil (Garage Door Records, 19??)

Released sometime in the late twentieth century

The only known output of the mysterious Universal, Friestl is an album incubated in a test tube of prosumer synth tech, but with the lofty goal of re-evaluating the history of popular music. It's a baroque, death-shadowed album that creates sonic concepts and textures by borrowing elements from tunes as diverse and ubiquitous as Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Yello's "Oh Yeah" and reflecting them through its own tortured psyche. The result is a kind of commercial pun, a dialectic between silence and weight. 

A1. Elgalor
A2. Augen Müssen Brennen
A3. Das Hawkline Monster
A4. Die Sphinx Von Taharka
A5. Nova Express
A6. West Of Rome
B1. La Grande Dozza
B2. Ivory Black
B3. Le Tournevis
B4. The Prayer
B5. Gruss Für Dieter
B6. Trazom

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Res Perrot

A Swiss melody maker of New Wave/World music mantras and self-dependent composer/producer. Under the name of Universal he remains an enigmatic and shadowy figure, reminiscent of certain omnipotent torturers of the Silver Surfer. His sole musical connections seem to have been to distributors Cod Records in the late eighties.  He has since written a crime novel, Bauernopfer, and now runs a graphic design agency, Compostella+Perrot.

BLOGOGRAPHY

As UNIVERSAL
Freistil (Garage Door Records, 19??)

Tetsuro Kashibuchi featuring Akiko Yano - Hotel Lilas (Canyon, 1983)

Released 6.21.1983

The hotel seems to have had a special appeal for Japanese musicians in the synthpop era. On a trip down the highways and byways of this music, you will end up visiting many of them, perhaps beginning with Yokoo and Hosono's neon-lit pan-Asian Marienbad, the Malabar, then checking out for the nightlife at Tsuchiya's Hotel Atlantis, following that up with a rest at Yano's homey Elephant Hotel or Hosono and Koshi's serene Hotel Etoile. Most pleasant of all is Tetsuro Kashibuchi's seaside Hotel Lilas. The name's fragrance evokes the breezy, relaxing feeling of spending time with this record. A day's itinerary listed in the chorus of "Friends" is instantly enervating, though the 8:30 wake up call may be early for some. The brilliantly catchy "Himawara" and "The Two Mice in the Attic" could help with that. Kashibuchi hosts some superb collaborators too, including Akiko Yano, who duets, co-produces and shares piano and synth duty with Ryuichi Sakamoto, as well as fellow Moonrider Ryomei Shirai on electric guitar and Haruomi Hosono on electric bass. A late citypop classic.

A1. ひまわり / Himawari / Sunflower

A2. リラのホテル / Lila no hoteru / Hotel Lila

A3. Friend

A4. 冬のバラ / Fuyu no bara / Rose of Winter

A5. 屋根裏の二匹のねずみ / Yane-ura no nihiki no nezumi / The Two Mice in the Attic

B1. Listen To Me, Now!

B2. 朽ちた恋 / Ochita koi / Fallen Love

B3. 恋ざんげ / Koi zange / Love Confession

B4. 憂うつな肉体 / Yu-utsu na nikutai / Melancholic Body

B5. 春の庭 / Haru no niwa / Garden of Spring

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Tetsuro Kashibuchi

Drummer and vocalist for Hachimitsupai who survived its mutation into one of the most significant Japanese bands of the seventies and eighties, the Moonriders. His compositions immediately stand out for their sensitivity, sympathy, and lushly romantic sound, reminiscent of the great French chansons of the era. He remained active as Moonrider, solo artist, producer and actor until his untimely death due to esophageal cancer on December 17th, 2013.

BLOGOGRAPHY
Hotel Lilas (Canyon, 1983)

with MORIO AGATA
El Jaguar Del Bandoneon (Columbia, 1987)

Akiko Yano

Unlike most of the other "Naughty Girls" who ended up at Yen Records in the early eighties, Yano wasn't interested in playing surreal games with celebrity and self image (Togawa), or with recreating herself as an exotic intellectual from an idealized nowhere (Ohnuki, Koshi). Instead she opted to succeed Yumi Matsutoya as an expert craftsman of cutting-edge pop epics, dazzling for their sincerity, ingenuity and scale. Thanks to her virtuosic piano and synthesizer work (often in duet with sometime husband Ryuichi Sakamoto), her  records have a grandiose quality mostly missing from the YMO universe. It's all held together by the filigree of her vocals though, a strange combination of equal parts teenager and matron. Comparisons to Kate Bush are inevitable, but Yano got there first. She continues to record and play internationally.

BLOGOGRAPHY

with TETSURO KASHIBUCHI

Hotel Lilas (Canyon, 1983)

with MORIO AGATA

El Jaguar Del Bandoneon (Columbia, 1987)

SPY - SPY (Invitation, 1980)

Released: 1980

SPY's one-off, semi-synthpop new wave gem is about the closest thing you'll get to a lost Plastics record, from the jumpy, jittery sound to the Tashlin-esque band visuals. Here are thirteen wry, winsome anthems of a candy-colored consumer culture run amok. Producer Kazuhiko Kato polishes the erratic but uncluttered songs till they glow like brand-new tube TVs, and adds plenty of whimsical touches like the flurry of shutters on "Camera Club". "Lazy Secretary" is the second best amanuensis anthem of 1980. Sarcastic, satirical toy pop for a strange new world.

A1. Hello Mr. SPY

A2. ファーストクラス・ハネムーン / Fāsuto Kurasu Hanēmoon / First Class Honeymoon

A3. 女王陛下のチェスゲーム / Jou-ou Heika no Chesu Gēmu / Her Majesty's Chess Game

A4. ピンホール・ドリーム / Pinbōru Dorīmu / Pinball Dream

A5. ドミトリー・ボーイズ / Domitorii Bōizu / Dormitory Boys

A6. セラピー・チャイルド / Serapii Chairudo / Therapy Child

A7. Bye Bye Birdie

B1. カメラ・クラブ / Kamera Kurabu / Camera Club

B2. 太陽とマヌカン / Taiyou tō Manukan / Sun and Mannequin

B3. レイジー・セクレタリー / Reijī Sekuretarii / Lazy Secretary

B4. バブルガム・ボーイ/ Baburugamu Bōi / Bubblegum Boy

B5. 盗まれたレプリカ / Nusumareta Repurika / Stolen Replica

B6. Good bye SPY

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SPY

• MEMBERS: Yoshinori Toda, Hiroshi Nagata, Kenji Iwakura, Tohru Okada, Nanako Satoh

New wavers with synthesized trimmings who released one album in 1980. Tohru Okada of the Moonriders acts as keyboardist, and his work here is characteristically lively. Kittenish singer Nanako Satoh went on to a successful solo career, and guitarist Kenji Iwakura can be heard on several of Yukihiro Takahashi's mid-eighties albums.

BLOGOGRAPHY
SPY (Invitation, 1980)

Morio Agata - El Jaguar Del Bandoneon (Columbia, 1987)

 

Released 1.21.87

Technically, "jaguar" should be pronounced with a soft "h" sound. This is not how Morio Agata pronounces it. His jaguar is hard, sharp, jagged, dangerous. With this album, Agata discovered tango, and in it perhaps the ideal medium for the switchblade violence always inherent in his furious, sarcastic vocals and relentlessly propulsive songwriting. One can imagine that, finding folk too laconic, psych too meandering, synthpop too brittle, Agata turned in calm desperation to something more solid with which to express himself in greater clarity. Unlikely as it may at first seem, tango's exquisite blend of complete command and sweeping, cosmic romanticism suits Agata perfectly. At the same time, Agata remains a restless experimenter, introducing strands of synthpop and rock to create a new breed of music, a notable forerunner of today's electrotango, but perhaps still without direct descendants. Conceptually cohesive, it is held together by a constant tension between the turn of the century Euro-American avant-gardism that acts as its model and the more cutting edge, distinctly Japanese electronic sound of the instrumentation and arrangement, similar to Kato's Papa Hemingway or Miharu Koshi's Boy Soprano (Koshi also sings a prelude here).  The record is bristling with appearances from, amongst others, three Moonriders (Shirai, Kashibuchi and Suzuki), Nobuo Nakahara, Takehisa Kosugi, Koji Ueno, and a duet with Akiko Yano.

Lado Pierra (地上篇 / Chijou hen / Above Ground)

A1. La Vuelta Del Barón / 男爵のおかえり / Danshaku no okaeri / Return of the Baron

A2. Para Dos (El Jaguar Del Bandoneon) / バンドネオンの豹 / Bandoneon no hyou (Jagaa) / Jaguar Bandoneon

A3. El Tigre Que Murió En Paris / パリで死んだ虎 / Pari de shinda tora / The Tiger that Died in Paris

A4. Bandoneón Bajo La Luna / SP「月光のタンゴ」 / SP 「Gekkou no tango」 / SP "Moonlight Tango"

A5. Invierno En Buenos Aires / ブエノス・アイレスの冬休み / Buenos Airesu no fuyu yasumi / Buenos Aires Winter Vacation

A6. Amor Humano (Extrano Amor Del Doctor Megata) / 博愛（目賀田博士の異常な愛情) / Haku-ai (Megata hakase no ijou na aijou) / Benevolence (The Strange Love of Doctor Megata)

A7. A Media Luz (Luna Road) / 夢のルナロード / Yumē no luna rōdo / Lunar Road of Dreams

A8. Super Expreso Tango / タンゴ超特急 / Tango chou tokkyū / Super Express Tango

A9. Uno (Triste Bandoneón De Quién) / 誰が悲しみのバンドネオン / Dare ga kanashimi no bandoneon / Whose Sad Bandoneon

Lado Fondo Marino (海底篇 / Kaitei hen / Undersea)

B1. Recuerdo /夜のレクエルド / Yoru no reku-erudo / Nighttime Recuerdo

Suite: La Cruzada Del Fondo Del Mar / 組曲「海底十字軍」/ Kumikyoku「Kaitei juujigun」/ Suite "Underwater Crusades"

B2a. La Cruzada Juvenil / 少年十字軍（星の界）/ Shōnen jūjigun (hoshi no kai) / Juvenile Crusades (World of the Stars)

B2b. Para Dos - En 78 Rpm; Mono / SP「バンドネオンの豹」/ SP「Bandoneon no hyou」 / SP "Jaguar Bandoneon"

B2c. Fondo Del Mar /  海底の豹 / Kaitei no hyou / Jaguar Under the Sea

B3. Pescadores De Las Perlas - Frágil Anhelo / シフィリスの真珠採り / Shifirisu no shinju tori / Pearl Fishers of Syphilis

真珠採りのタンゴ〜シフィリスのもののあわれ / Shinju tori no tango ~ Shifirisu no mono no aware / Pearl-taking Tango ~ Aesthetic of Syphilis

B4. Jardín De Perle-Déco / パール・デコレーションの庭 / Paaru dekorēshon no niwa / Garden of Pearl Decorations

B5. Bandoneón Bajo La Luna / 月光のバンドネオン / Gekkou no bandoneon / Moonlight Bandoneon

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Morio Agata

BLOGOGRAPHY

El Jaguar Del Bandoneon (Columbia, 1987)

with TANOSHII ONGAKU

Yappari, (Kurichan Record, 1983)

Tanoshii Ongaku - Yappari (Kurichan Record, 1983)

Released 7.83

This 8" EP's title roughly translates to "Just as I Thought". Put the title and band-name together and the cover reads "Just as I Thought, Fun Music". Which is about right. From the mesmerizingly catchy first track through to Owakare Suingu's giggling sayonaras, Tanoshii Ongaku's premiere record startles with a perfect balance of pop and perversity. It's childlike, nonsensical, funny, as well as sneakily affecting. The title track, a lullaby murmured by Agata over intermittently clarified radio static, seems wistful, affectionate, and adult, for all of its faux-naivety. And despite their brevity, home-studio engineering, and simple melodies, each of these songs is densely packed with both synthesized and analogue instrumentation, multiple vocals, and samples that are as unsettling as they are silly.

In addition to regular members Katakuriko and Katô, Morio Agata sings and Yoichiro Yoshikawa (of D-Day and Yapoos) appears on tracks 5 and 9. Comic artist and actor Yoshikazu Ebisu provided the liner manga and the lyrics for Pirania Boy. The cover is by Emiko (Carol) Shimoda. Each copy came with a different (probably repurposed) trading card. Ours was a kaiju.

A1. にっぽん絵葉書模様 / Nippon Ehagaki Moyou / Japan Picture Postcard Design

A2. ピラニア・ボーイ / Pirania Boy / Piranha Boy

A3. 道でばったり動物たち / Michide Battari Doubutsutachi / Suddenly, Animals in the Street

A4. まわるよ / Mawaruyo / Spinning

A5. やっぱり / Yappari / Just as I Thought

B1. お茶の間 / Ochanoma / Living Room ('Ochanoma' is the specific word for a traditional Japanese-style living room, with tatami and zabuton and a low table, etc., almost any of the rooms in Ozu's films. Its literal translation is "place to have tea." So you can make the english title "Living Room" or "Japanese Living Room" or "Tea Room," really.)

B2. プラネタリウム投影機 / Puraneteriamu Toueiki / Planetarium Projector

B3. オール怪獣総進撃 / Ōru Kaijuu Soushingeki / Destroy All Monsters 

B4.いやいやニコニコ / Iya Iya Niko Niko / No No Smile Smile

B5. スピークスペル / Supiiku Superu / Speak Spell

B6. おわかれスイング / Owakare Suingu / Goodbye Swing (or you can call it 'Separation Swing' or 'Parting Swing': in the song the singer is just saying, "well that's the end of Tanoshii Ongaku, thank you for listening, goodbye....")

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Panel 1 - THE STORY OF KURI-CHAN THE BIG LIAR by Yoshikazu Ebisu

P2 - "Hey, do you know the difference between fun music and modern music?"
P3 - "Is something wrong Ichiro-kun?"
P4 - ...
P5 - Slap
P6 - Slap slap slap slap slap slap slap slap
P7 - "Kuri-chan I don't like you because you're a liar!!"
P8 - Azeeen
P9 - Ichiro-kun, you misunderstood me..." "Pun pun" Continued...

Tanoshii Ongaku

MEMBERS: Katakuriko, Ryosuke Katô

We don't know much about this pair, beyond that they had cool friends; their two known releases feature members of D-Day, Yapoos, Katra Turana, and Morio Agata himself. The result is synth driven childrens' music for brave adults, a more melodic but equally zonked Picky Picnic.

BLOGOGRAPHY
Yappari, (Kurichan Record, 1983)