After the riproaring success of my indiepop mixtape of a few weeks ago, I could scarcely resist the opportunity to do the same sort of thing so soon afterwards - and here we are. This time, however, I've pulled together two collections of Japanese artists, some of whom are reasonably well known outside Japan and others who are almost certainly not.
To stress right from the very start that this is most emphatically not because I want, or have the knowledge, to set myself up as an kind of expert on Japanese music. No doubt the grouping together of these bands and artists would appear incomprehensibly idiotic to music fans in Japan. However, this is some of the stuff I enjoy listening to and as such I thought that OTFers might find it interesting or unusual.
There are two separate collections in two separate files for download, which for convenience's sake I have labelled simply Pop and Experimental. The Experimental collection is in fact fairly wide-ranging, from Rei Harakami's stunning down-tempo techno to the languid piano pieces of Tomoyoshi Date and Le Mepris, with a whole mixture of field recordings and other oddities in between.
Sawako is a particular favourite of mine, but the problem with her music is that it is so hard to pick an individual track when it is really intended to be heard in the context of a whole album. My suggestion would be to listen to all this as quietly as possible (yes yes, I know).
The pop collection draws heavily from the mid-90s bossa-esque loungecore of the Shibuya-kei scene that revolved around the likes of Pizzicato 5 and the Readymade Records label, although there is a smattering of more recent J-indie and electropop, such as Sucrette and the bliptastic YMCK.
It is perhaps worth mentioning Chappie in particular, a music project that consisted of a single album that was driven by the Groovisions design agency, who engaged a range of different artists to produce what is in effect a compilation album with the Chappie character on the album cover and posters. The track here, whose title translates as Swimming Goggles, is sung by the angelically-voiced Makoto Kawamoto.
Hey Chappie hey Chappie go Chappie go Chappie, C-H-A-P-P-I-E
Japanese Experimental
1. Le Mepris - Susu
2. Lullatone - Floating Away
3. Sawako & Sputnik Sweethearts - The Signalling Station
4. Tomoyoshi Date - Long Sequence On The White Square
5. Ami Yoshida - Track 53
6. Kota Yamori - December / Falling
7. Sawako - White Sky Winter Chicada
8. Rei Harakami - Vice-Versa
9. Sora - Live
The Experimental zipfile is here.
Japanese Pop
1. YMCK - Sabita Tobira No Dai 8 Tengoku
2. Fantastic Plastic Machine - Samba De Minha Namoradinho
3. Advantage Lucy - Solaris
4. Takako Minekawa - Kraftpark (Micro Trip Edit)
5. Pizzicato 5 - Baby Love Child
6. Sucrette - Love Prologue
7. Piana - Snowbird
8. Chappie - Suichu Megane
9. Towa Tei & Kylie Minogue - GBI (Radio edit)
10. Hiroshi Takano - Aikawarazusa
The Pop zipfile is here.
To stress right from the very start that this is most emphatically not because I want, or have the knowledge, to set myself up as an kind of expert on Japanese music. No doubt the grouping together of these bands and artists would appear incomprehensibly idiotic to music fans in Japan. However, this is some of the stuff I enjoy listening to and as such I thought that OTFers might find it interesting or unusual.
There are two separate collections in two separate files for download, which for convenience's sake I have labelled simply Pop and Experimental. The Experimental collection is in fact fairly wide-ranging, from Rei Harakami's stunning down-tempo techno to the languid piano pieces of Tomoyoshi Date and Le Mepris, with a whole mixture of field recordings and other oddities in between.
Sawako is a particular favourite of mine, but the problem with her music is that it is so hard to pick an individual track when it is really intended to be heard in the context of a whole album. My suggestion would be to listen to all this as quietly as possible (yes yes, I know).
The pop collection draws heavily from the mid-90s bossa-esque loungecore of the Shibuya-kei scene that revolved around the likes of Pizzicato 5 and the Readymade Records label, although there is a smattering of more recent J-indie and electropop, such as Sucrette and the bliptastic YMCK.
It is perhaps worth mentioning Chappie in particular, a music project that consisted of a single album that was driven by the Groovisions design agency, who engaged a range of different artists to produce what is in effect a compilation album with the Chappie character on the album cover and posters. The track here, whose title translates as Swimming Goggles, is sung by the angelically-voiced Makoto Kawamoto.
Hey Chappie hey Chappie go Chappie go Chappie, C-H-A-P-P-I-E
Japanese Experimental
1. Le Mepris - Susu
2. Lullatone - Floating Away
3. Sawako & Sputnik Sweethearts - The Signalling Station
4. Tomoyoshi Date - Long Sequence On The White Square
5. Ami Yoshida - Track 53
6. Kota Yamori - December / Falling
7. Sawako - White Sky Winter Chicada
8. Rei Harakami - Vice-Versa
9. Sora - Live
The Experimental zipfile is here.
Japanese Pop
1. YMCK - Sabita Tobira No Dai 8 Tengoku
2. Fantastic Plastic Machine - Samba De Minha Namoradinho
3. Advantage Lucy - Solaris
4. Takako Minekawa - Kraftpark (Micro Trip Edit)
5. Pizzicato 5 - Baby Love Child
6. Sucrette - Love Prologue
7. Piana - Snowbird
8. Chappie - Suichu Megane
9. Towa Tei & Kylie Minogue - GBI (Radio edit)
10. Hiroshi Takano - Aikawarazusa
The Pop zipfile is here.
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