Archive for the ‘Japan’ Category

Non-music from Japan, music from a Japanese band, and horror disco

Wednesday, December 6th, 2023

Oy.

Yeah so I hoped to write more in 2023 but that sure as shit didn’t work out huh?

So what had happened was my health got worse, my podcast work got more intense, my work got busier, my social life got more hectic, and I spent about a month in the states, which ended up exacerbating several of my health problems.

(Don’t worry, none of my health issues are life-threatening and I am currently seeing multiple medical professionals to improve my health. Also, I can afford all of this, so no need to offer donations or any financial support).

In addition to all of that, this was the year it finally happened: I couldn’t find anything out-of-print worth sharing here. You know my policy; for me to share something on this blog it has to be out-of-print in the majority of the English speaking world. Sure, I would occasionally bend the rules now and then, but after my Warner Bros/YouTube bullshit copyright battle, I’m extra careful now.

I guess I could have scoured the prog store from some ultra-obscure European jazz-rock album or something that has never been re-issued, but I learned a long time ago that whenever I buy music simply because it’s out-of-print, with the intent of sharing it here, it’s rarely something I have any interest in writing about.

But recently I got lucky with three releases that I am 99% sure have songs that are 100% out-of-print, at least in the forms I’m sharing today. And they’re not video game music! They’re proper songs (well, some of them) by artists you might have actually heard of.

I actually do have a few other out-of-print albums that I want to share at some point, but I am making zero promises as to when I will actually do that. Sorry. Life. It’s in the way. Hopefully my health will improve so I can dedicate more time to writing once more.

In the meantime, if you’re really hankering for any written word by yours truly, your best bet would probably be to check out my Letterboxd page. I review every movie I watch. Sure, sometimes it’s just a sentence or two, but sometimes it’s a bit more in-depth. Typical rule of thumb: the more obscure the title is, the more likely I am to write more on it. I’m not going to go deep on something like Robocop when I watch that. Everything that can be said about Robocop has been said. I have nothing to add to that discourse.

Additionally, I am still on Twitter (sigh) and I’m also on Blue Sky. As always, those remain the best way to keep in touch with me, especially since the comment section on this website is now broken. I had to close all comments because I was getting inundated with spam and no filters were able to fix the problems. Sorry about that.

And there’s the podcast! Cinema Oblvia is still going strong! I had to cut down my production schedule a bit, again because of my health, but I’m still putting out at least one episode a month. And I feel pretty safe in saying that I’ll be able to keep that going for a while now. It’s hard work, but I enjoy it more than anything I’m doing at the moment.

If you listen to my podcast and you want to hear more of my absolutely lovely voice that no one at all finds weird or irritating, I was recently on an episode of Gayest Episode Ever talking about Benson, and was also recently on Retronauts talking about Night of the Living Dead, a film that traumatized me so much as a child that I needed to go to therapy because of it. You can find those wherever you get your podcasts. You can find my podcast on most podcast places/apps/websites/whatever as well. Except for Spotify. Because fuck that company.

Have a good new year! I’ll see you here at some point in 2024, that much I can promise.

 

Fred Myrow and Macolm Seagrave
Phantasm Disco
Okay, so there are two different songs called “Phantasm Disco” that incorporate the theme from the 1979 film Phantasm. Yes, really.

One is by an artist called Captain Zorro, which is actually a pseudonym for the disco producer Biddu. People seem to really like that version, but I’ve never come across a physical copy of that 12” single. I would buy it in a heartbeat.

This is not that version, this is a version by the people who composed the music from the film, Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave. In fact, a version of this track is on the Phantasm soundtrack proper, under the name “Phantasmagoria Silver Sphere Disco.” It’s a mix of two different tracks, actually, a spacey, creepy ambient bit followed by the disco tune.

This version is on a 7” single that completely removes the “Phantasmagoria” bits and extends the disco section. I think this version might be on the original Phantasm LP? But I don’t think it’s on the Mondo re-issue from a few years back, as that version (with both parts) is shorter than the 7” single version.

I love the fact that Japan had an exclusive 7” single for the theme to Phantasm and the B-side was an exclusive remix of an album track. Because…why?

If you haven’t seen Phantasm and you like beautiful, surreal horror films that aren’t that scary and don’t make a lick of fucking sense, I recommend it. Someday I’ll get around to watching the multitude of sequels and no doubt be disappointed by all of them.

 

Yellow Magic Orchestra – The YMO Micro Sampler
A Message From YMO
Tighten Up With Excerpts From The Snakeman Show…
Edited Selections From X∞ Multiplies (Nice Age, Technopolis, Rydeen, Behind The Mask, Day Tripper)
I have so many YMO albums, singles, re-issues, appearances, and compilations that Discogs has just straight up given up counting them. This is the latest acquisition in my YMO collection, and one that I was trying to find for a very long time.

It’s a five inch record that was distributed as a promo item exclusively in America to promote the group. It came out in 1980, probably around the time that the export version of X∞ Multiplies was released. In Japan, that album was an EP that had both comedy skits and some previously unreleased tunes by the group. Europe and the United States each got exclusive versions that combined songs from their previous albums with some new tunes. The US version of X∞ Multiplies is actually how I discovered the group, buying it in a used record store probably close to 20 years ago. It’s a safe bet that me discovering that record led me on the road that ended with me moving to Japan, which means that my mom probably hates that record.

This promo has three tracks, a very short 15 second intro, followed by two very short medleys of YMO tracks, oddly with excerpts from the Japanese only version of X∞ Multiplies edited in. As a thing to listen to it’s not that great, but as a historical curiosity for maniac YMO fans like myself, it’s fun.

 

David Sylvian – 日本語シートレコード (Japanese Sheet Record)
Adolescent Sex = 果てしなき反抗 (Version 1)
Adolescent Sex = 果てしなき反抗 (Version 2)
Lovers On Main Street = 表通りの愛人たち
Suburban Love = 愛の回転木馬
Speaking of things that are interesting from a historical standpoint but maybe not the best listening material…

This is the strangest thing I’ve bought all year, and I bought a lot of stupid shit this year. I found it in a used hardware store for about ¥500, and I bought it without knowing what it was because it was ¥500 and I like Japan (the band, I mean, I like the country too but anyways).

But this is not a Japan record. This is David Sylvian only. And he’s not playing any music. Instead, he’s reading Japanese lyrics to Japan songs. The lyrics were submitted by Japanese fans of the band, and they are not translations of the original lyrics, but new original lyrics that are meant to convey the musical mood of the original songs. At least, that’s what the Discogs page says. (Also, for the record, all the art for today’s post was taken from Discogs, my records are currently packed up for an upcoming move.)

I have not bothered to translate these lyrics, and I haven’t asked my boyfriend either, he has more important things to do. Sorry, but it’s already been nearly a year since my last post. If I had put it off until we had time to translate this, I might not have posted anything again until the 2030s, sigh.

 

Posted in Complete Albums, Japan, Yellow Magic Orchestra | No Comments »

The Very Best Of Lost Turntable*

Tuesday, December 31st, 2013

This has been an INSANE year. I started it in China acting as the best man in my best friend’s wedding! From there, I went to Tokyo, which set upon a series of events that now have me moving to Japan in just a few short days! This Thursday I leave Pittsburgh to visit my family in Ohio, and then on Saturday I board a plane for Japan, where I begin my career as an English teacher/professional giant.

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know that I am beyond stoked for this move. I can’t believe it took me just a little over a year (369 days, to be exact) to manage a way to not only return to the country, but get a job, apartment, and a whole new life over there! That’s not a lot of time to plan and orchestrate something that big. But waffling is for suckers, go big or go home. Jump in head first or don’t bother, that’s always been how I handle the big changes. It’s funny, when I remodeled my kitchen a few years back I spent two damn weeks going over color combinations. But I think I made the decision to sell my house, quit my job and uproot my entire existence to Japan in about two days. It’s amazing what a combination of personal malaise and disillusionment with the direction of one’s country can do for one’s drive and ability to commit.

This will definitely be the last post at Lost Turntable this year, and probably the last post for at least a week or two. I assume that adjusting to my move and starting my new job will probably keep me occupied for a bit. Don’t worry though, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll never be too busy to stop writing this blog.

I will, however, be too busy to record new music for a while. That, and my turntable won’t be with me in Tokyo for at least a month. Which is why I’m temporarily taking Lost Turntable into “greatest hits” mode, re-posting favorite tracks from the years gone by, both chosen by me and some readers who made requests (although to be honest, it’s mostly me).

Some of the tracks I’ll be posting in the coming month or so will be re-recordings. So keep an eye out, I’ll typically mention it if they are. As always, my re-recordings always sound better than my original rips, I’m always improving with this stuff after all.

A lot of these “best of” posts will be artist or genre based, but I thought I’d start things off with a showstopper, my most favorite tracks out of everything I’ve ever posted*

*Two caveats. Like I said, I’m planning a lot of genre/artist-specific posts, so some of my all-time favorite songs have been reserved for those posts. Secondly, a few of my favorite songs are now available legally (mostly Depeche Mode stuff) and since I never post stuff you can buy legally, I won’t be reposting those.

The B-52’s
Good Stuff (12″ Remix)
Good Stuff (Remix Edit)
This is straight up the best remix I’ve ever heard. And if you know how many remixes I have, that’s really saying something.

Fine Young Cannibals
Ever Fallen In Love (Extended Version)
I want to make one thing very clear. I fucking HATE Fine Young Cannibals. I hated them when I was 11. I hate them now. It’s nice to know that some things in life remain constant no matter what. And since I fucking HATE Fine Young Cannibals, I should really fucking hate this cover, as The Buzzcocks are one of my favorite bands of all time, and their original version of this song may very well be my favorite song of all time (although I could honestly never pick ONE song as a favorite. My songs are my children, except I really don’t have a favorite, unlike most parents who lie and say that don’t when they really do).

So I should fucking hate this cover. It’s a band I abhor covering a song I adore, but…I have to admit that they totally nail it. Roland Gift’s voice, which usually drives me to Geddy Lee levels of annoyance, is perfect for the track, and the fast-paced-yet-somber production fits the urgent-yet-depressed tone of the lyrics. What I probably like most about this version though is the very end, when Roland echoes “Did you ever” over and over again. To me, that delivery makes it sound like he’s no longer asking if you ever fell in love with someone you shouldn’t have, he’s telling you that you in fact have fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t have (like if someone asked you if they fucked up and you responded with “did you ever!”). It’s an interesting take on the song that I never heard anyone else attempt, and I have, like, 80 versions of this track on my computer, so I say that with at least some authority. This is a re-recording, and vastly superior to my original rip.

Joe Strummer
Love Kills (12″ Version)
If there is a more romantic and powerful song about how love (and heroin) can lead to a murder/suicide pact, then I don’t know what it is. Seriously though, this song is incredible, one of those songs that despite being about a horribly negative topic, leaves me with nothing but overpowering feelings of elation and happiness. I don’t even know why this is the case, but whenever I listen to this song I get goosebumps of happiness and forget about my real world problems for at least six minutes and forty seconds. Awesome stuff.

Bell & James
The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (12″ Remix)
Make no mistake, while displeasure over my personal life/grand American problems drove me to flee my country, I will NEVER hate Pittsburgh. This city is the bomb. I love it. I’ve been to hundreds of big cities all across America, and Pittsburgh makes them all look like dogshit. Seriously. This place is dope.

I feel that more and more people are catching onto this fact as well. Well, at least Hollywood is. It seems that more and more movies are being filmed in this city every year. And while the chaos and madness that surrounds a movie shoot can be annoying at times, I’m always happy to see the city I love get the attention I feel it deserves.

But if you ask me, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh will always be the greatest movie ever filmed in the Steel City. And it’s theme song will ALWAYS be the greatest track of all time to feature the city’s name. Go Pisces!

RJD2
Through The Walls (Ric Ocasek Vocal Version)
There used to be an mp3 blog called Po77. Although I guess calling it an “MP3 blog” would be a bit of a misnomer. Because unlike blogs like mine, Pop77 posted complete mixes, amazing thematic mixes that sometimes incorporated audio bits from movies and other sources as well as complete songs. It was a fantastic site and I miss it.

I bring it up because I know that is where I first discovered this excellent track. At the time I had no idea who RJD2 was (which is funny considering that I ended up interviewing him just a few years later) but I sure as fuck knew who Ric Ocasek was – since he was the lead singer of The Cars, one of my favorite new wave bands of all time. I ended up finding this version of the track on a Def Jux sampler later that year, a sampler a stoner later stole from me. Yay for digital backups.

Crowded House
World Where You Live (Extended Version)
I think, although I’m not certain, that I discovered this song via an Eddie Vedder bootleg where he performed the track with Neil Finn of Crowded House. I’ll have to post that bootleg someday, it also has a great version of “History Never Repeats.”

Anyways, I was aware of Crowded House before hearing that bootleg, but my knowledge of them began and ended with their one US hit “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” a track that I only really grew to appreciate after hearing it in the opening of the second episode of the Stephen King mini-series The Stand (my musical memory can be oddly photographic at times).  While my first takeaway from that bootleg was that version of “History Never Repeats,” after buying some Crowded House records I found that this song really grew on me. Its lyrics are oddly..evocative? I don’t know. I can’t entirely figure the song out, but they make me think of very specific moments in my life for some reason. To me, the song is about friends/significant others who live in some form of denial about the world (where they live), and I’ve sadly dealt with too many people like that, so I guess that’s why I identify with the track so much.

This extended remix isn’t as good as the album version, to be honest. It tries too hard to extend the track with meaningless instrumental sections, none of which really add anything to the song aside from length. But it was the only way I could justifiably share the track here. And besides, it’s a great song regardless. This is a re-recording.

George Clinton
Atomic Dog (Extended Version)
I once read Roger Ebert say that a terrible movie is always too long, and a great movie is never long enough. That theory, of course, has some holes in it. I love me some Shoot ‘Em Up, for example, but that flick couldn’t hold a four hour running time. However, as I’m writing this I just got done watching Jackie Brown for the second time in a week. That movie is two hours and thirty-four minutes long, and I honestly feel like there’s enough greatness buried within that running time that the movie could be twice as long and be just as good.

So, what I guess I’m saying is that “Atomic Dog” is the Jackie Brown of 80s synth-funk jams. (Why do I feel like Quentin Tarantino would approve of that comparison?) The standard single version is a fucking masterpiece, but the 10-minute extended remix is DOUBLE the masterpiece, even though it is literally the exact same song with just an extended breakdown and some added “bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay.” I don’t care. I could listen to this track all day and all of the night. It brings all the funk. Woof.

As this was one of the first songs I ever recorded, this is a new re-recording that sounds hella better than my original one.

Andrew W.K.
Party Hard (Live)
THIS IS NOT A SONG THIS IS A MISSION STATEMENT.

And I mean that. Don’t live life, party it. Find out what’s “party” for you and fucking party as much as you fucking can until you can’t do it anymore. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Freur
Runaway (Dun Difrunt)
This song has the secret best 80s saxophone solo. It’s pretty great. It’s also one of the best songs about not wanting to be in love (or not wanting to not want to be in love).

Gekirin
Fish Story
Fish Story (Silence Version)
I have written about this movie before, and I will write about it again. That is because FISH STORY IS THE GREATEST MOVIE ABOUT MUSIC EVER FUCKING MADE. I say that realizing that it’s a rather odd description. “Movie about music”? How many movies about music are there? Sure, there are tons of musicals, and movies about performers, but how many are really about music? Off the top of my head, the only movies about music that I can really think of are Fish Story, Footloose, Almost Famous, School of Rock and Purple Rain.

I just now realize that most of those movies would easily place on my list of my top 100 movies of all time, so I guess that says a lot about me. And Prince.

Fish Story sits atop that list easily. Mountains above the other movies, and considering how much I fucking love Purple Rain, trust me, that’s saying something.

Fish Story is a Japanese movie about how a little known punk rock song saves the world. Literally. A comet is going to smash into the Earth. Fish Story stops that from happening. The story of HOW is the story of the movie. It’s also the story of the power of music. How music moves us (often in ways that we do not understand or are even consciously aware of). How music is the guiding force of our lives, how it shapes us and makes us the people we are. And it’s about how comets can’t compare with power chords.

Seriously though, Fish Story. Top 10 movie of all time. One day the world will realize this.

Alien Ant Farm
Movies (Live Acoustic Version)
Ask me why I love this song. Go ahead. I dare you.

“Why do you like th-”

I HAVE NO IDEA. I JUST DO, OKAY?!?!

Sigh. I do not like Alien Ant Farm. I hate their cover of “Smooth Criminal,” and I pretty much despise every other song of their’s I’ve had the misfortune of hearing. But I…really love this song. I think it has to do with the whole “Movies as a metaphor for broken hearts” thing, as I’ve long established that my feelings for movies go beyond typical film buff bullshit and reach a realm of rose-tinted childhood nostalgia that cannot be easily explained nor justified – just like my love for this song (minus the stupid fart noise the singer does at the end).

Japan
Life In Tokyo (Extended Disco Mix)
I am taking one record with me to Japan, and it’s the 12″ single to this song. Sure, it’s a little nail on the head, but whatever, it’s Moroder-produced synthpop and there’s never anything wrong with that.

I hope you all enjoy the reposts and discover some music that’s new to you. That’s why I started this blog eight (holy crap!) years ago, to share little-known music with others, and as an excuse for me to seek out and discover little-known music for myself as well. In good times and bad, hectic and happy, bored and crazed, this blog has always served as a rock for me. I’ve used it as an medium to ramble about shit that pisses me off; rant about the music industry; and on multiple occasions just be a goofy idiot. But if no one read it, then I wouldn’t feel the need to keep going. So thanks to everyone who has kept with this dinky little site over the years. Y’all help me out more than you know.

See you in 2014 FROM MOTHERFUCKING JAPAN!!

And remember, Party Hard.

 

Posted in Andrew W.K., B-52s, Bell & James, Crowded House, Fine Young Cannibals, Freur, Gekirin, George Clinton, Japan, Joe Fucking Strummer, RJD2 | 8 Comments »

His Mustache Gives Him The Power of Disco

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

A couple months ago I ranted about what I thought were some major problems with new vinyl releases. You can read that post here. My main points of contention were either vinyl records that didn’t include a digital copy, or records that did include digital copies, but they were of poor quality with lousy ID3 tags. Some “Hall of Shame” examples I cited were El-P’s Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 and Kanye West’s latest.

Now I want to tell you about a positive example: the Foo Fighters’ latest release, Wasting Light.

This may be the greatest new vinyl purchase I have ever made.

Much has been made of how the Foos recorded Wasting Light. No digital equipment was used. They laid it down on analog tape in Dave Grohl’s garage.  Since it was made on analog I wanted to hear it on analog, vinyl was obviously the way to go with this one.

I ordered one from Amazon last week and it finally arrived. From the second I opened the box I was ecstatic. On the cover of the album was a sticker that said the following:

45 RPM Edition – Full Length Vinyl
Recorded entirely on analog tape in Dave’s Garage.
Includes a HI-RES DIGITAL COPY (320 kbs MP3S) of the album specially cut from the original vinyl recording!
PLEASE PLAY AT MAXIMUM VOLUME.

Fuck. Yes.

They got it right. All of it. They nailed it completely. Not only did they deliver a reference quality analog recording on 45 RPM vinyl (45 RPM tends to sound better than 33 1/3 RPM), but they included an exact, better than CD-quality digital copy. And to top it all off, the album itself is actually damn good, one of their best.

Thanks Dave!

But enough about grunge, let’s talk about disco!

Every track on tonight’s post is from a bootleg vinyl compilation called Electronic Dancefloor Classics 2, which consists of nothing but songs that Giorgio Moroder produced, performed, or remixed. I just bought it last week, but I’m pretty much convinced it’s one of the best dance records in my collection. Behold its awesome.

Giorgio Moroder
Knights In White Satin
From Here To Eternity (Extended Mix)
Tears
Battle Star Galactica (Disco Version)
A lot of my friends are younger than me, and most don’t really follow “classic” dance music, so they don’t know who Giorgio Moroder is. Whenever I bring him up and someone asks who he is, I usually say, “you know electronic pop music? He did that.”

That may be an exaggeration, but it’s a slight one. In 1977 he brought electronic dance music to the mainstream with Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” but as these tracks show, he was refining his electronic pop sound well before that.  His 1976 cover of “Knights In White Satin,” while remarkably goofy, is remarkably good as well, and light years above most of the disco drivel that was polluting clubs at the time. “From Here To Eternity,” taken from the album of the same name, is the perfect blend of instrumental disco fluff and electronic experimentation done right; no doubt it was an influence on countless electronic producers and musicians to follow. His version of the Battlestar Galactica theme is mind-numbingly stupid, but it’s stupid in all the best ways – embracing the horns and other cheesetastic elements of disco and laying over even cheesier electronic bleeps and bloops over it.

But the real highlight here is “Tears,” although it’s a stretch to even call it a disco tune. It’s from Moroder’s 1972 sophomore record Son of My Father, and it has more in common with the work of Ennio Morricone and Italian prog-rockers Goblin than anything that you might hear on the dance floor at the time. But that’s what makes it so utterly brilliant. I mean, the track is nearly 40 years old at this point, and I still haven’t heard anything remotely like it – unless you want to count DJ Shadow’s “Organ Donor,” which liberally samples from the tune.

And it’s so bloody simple! That’s why it’s so goddamn amazing. It’s just a loop that is slowly built upon. It starts out quiet with a woman’s voice and a simple organ melody, but soon they are overpowered by an ever-building army of drums, guitars and keyboards until the whole thing just…climaxes in a glorious electronic orgasm. I have never, ever heard anything build as perfectly as this track does. If I heard this on a dance floor I would lose my shit. People would have to carry me away. How the hell is this song out of print? It should be in the Smithsonian, in the section marked “Fucking Awesome.”

Munich Machine
Space Warrior
Moroder released a few albums as Munich Machine. The first, while featuring an incredible cover, it is dated and seems restrained compared to most of his other work. A Whiter Shade Of Pale, his sophomore release as Munich Machine from 1978, is spotty as well, but it also includes some tracks that are batshit nuts. “La Nuit Blanche” is a disco reworking of “Also sprach Zarathustra” AKA the song from 2001, and “In Love With Love” features some of the best vocoder work this side of a Peter Framptom solo. Both albums are in print and work picking up despite their troubles.

This track comes from Munich Machine’s third album, 1979’s Body Shine, which is out of print. I don’t have that record, so I can’t testify to its overall quality. I can safely say, however, that this track is one of the best I’ve heard under the Munich Machine name. It’s groovy beyond compare, matching slick guitar licks with a pulsing electronic sound in a way that many synthpop bands would in the coming years.

Sparks
Beat The Clock (Giorgio Moroder Remix)
Sparks’ one-of-a-kind insanity fits well with Moroder’s non-stop pulse-pounding tempo in this remix. The original version was on the 1979 album No. 1 In Heaven, which Moroder produced. A lot of rock bands tried disco in the late-70s, but Sparks were one of the only ones to do it right, no doubt because of the help they received from Moroder. They were already manic and kind of nuts, so the fast tempos and odd sounds of Moroder’s production was a perfect match (made in heaven).

Japan
Life In Tokyo (Extended Disco Mix)
Japan is a band that I am just now getting into. So I can’t say that much about them. I do know that they started out as a glam-rock band in the mid-70s, but as the decade progressed they embraced their electronic side more and more, eventually becoming one of the founding fathers of the New Romantic movement that spawned Duran Duran. Moroder produced the original version of “Life In Tokyo,” which was first released as a non-album single in 1979. That version doesn’t have the drum and synth overdubs that this one has, and is actually more of a low-key tune. Both versions are excellent, this one is just a little funkier.

Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams (Giorgio Moroder Version)
Eurythmics + Giorgio Moroder = too much awesome for one mind to stand. Stand back, this track may cause your brain to explode.

Posted in Eurythmics, Giorgio Moroder, Japan, remixes, Sparks | 15 Comments »