thread inspired by a friend on facebook posting a junko yagami youtube, i.e. this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQGvlemqUpE
song is really, really incredible. i downloaded the album and it's a bit weighed down by drab ballads, but the followup communication is 100 percent blinking synth bass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18F2Fa1czMM
anyway relying on ilm hivemind for anyone who knows of more music like this??? it's definitely probably the source of the forms that deliberate throwback j-pop groups like especia are inhabiting
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Saturday, 13 September 2014 13:44 (nine years ago) link
the only other artist in this mode i know of is toshiki kadomatsu, who started off making steely dan-ish smooth jazz rock (which is amazing) but at some point he started incorporating harsher, freestyle-ish textures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVmHJkm6qqU
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Saturday, 13 September 2014 13:48 (nine years ago) link
I don't know this style too well either but I really like that "communication" track
prob too obvious but nami shimada "sunshower"?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDIlsV81JgA
again, really obvious, but wink have a lot of freestyle in their sound:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMYOJYDx7Fk
― original bgm, Sunday, 14 September 2014 17:19 (nine years ago) link
nothing is obvious, i don't know any of this stuff!
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Sunday, 14 September 2014 17:26 (nine years ago) link
oh man "sunshower" is unbelievable
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Sunday, 14 September 2014 17:49 (nine years ago) link
yeah, I know, right?!
you may want to check out more soichi terada tracks. he produced that one. the larry levan remix is definitely what gave it worldwide traction but I prefer the original mix. the far east recording comp has some really material by him on it. unfortunately, there's nothing else with a pop vocal track on top and that's what I really love about "sunshower".
and speaking of stuff that finds its way into house sets, one of my faves on the smoother, more r&b end of 'city pop' - yasuko agawa "l.a. nights":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjZF1wh4NMs
― original bgm, Sunday, 14 September 2014 19:22 (nine years ago) link
excellent thread idea. challenge accepted
― r|t|c, Sunday, 14 September 2014 19:48 (nine years ago) link
might be a bit earlier than what yr after on the disco end of boogie, but daniel wang's always boosted a bunch of stuff like minako yoshida's "town":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Jy0_p8nPQ
― etc, Sunday, 14 September 2014 20:48 (nine years ago) link
https://soundcloud.com/funk-jap
this guy has some bits. seems to be p alone in focusing on this kinda sound in particular rather than straying into jazzfunk fusion, ymo type synth pop, city pop (now a popular vaporware™ subsidiary)..
― r|t|c, Monday, 15 September 2014 08:27 (nine years ago) link
http://originalv1.unblog.fr/tag/1984/
more on his blog too, audio links still work
― r|t|c, Monday, 15 September 2014 08:35 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpYxsBGZMEM
― r|t|c, Monday, 15 September 2014 09:10 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BcacNcpQ3c
bit pseudo, very sweet tho
― r|t|c, Monday, 15 September 2014 09:19 (nine years ago) link
yea, I like the chiemi manabi album. a couple nice ones produced by hosono on there.
― original bgm, Monday, 15 September 2014 15:38 (nine years ago) link
two v useful mixes in this link http://boingboing.net/2015/02/02/a-70-minute-mix-of-japanese-19.html
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 February 2015 05:25 (nine years ago) link
Tomoko Tane - Blue Light Yokohama:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MavgjnJr1xc
― original bgm, Wednesday, 17 June 2015 04:24 (eight years ago) link
that bassline!
wow, i love it
rly interesting (and kinda ineffably delicate sideways japanese) penthouse-and-pavement short circuit between the rarefied shade of sade ('love is stronger'-ish) with the proper uk streetsoul soundsystem reggae bassline n breakbeat
would appear this came out as relatively late as 95, and given it's the pizzicato five guy producing i guess that evidences an element of (lightly) kitsch homage
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 17 June 2015 18:43 (eight years ago) link
wowwww
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 17 June 2015 18:51 (eight years ago) link
this thread is blowing my mind
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 17 June 2015 20:39 (eight years ago) link
tomoko tane song might be in homage to
http://www.discogs.com/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%9F%E3%83%BC%E7%AB%B9%E5%86%85-%E3%82%A8%E3%82%AD%E3%82%B5%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA-Blue-Light-Yokohama/release/3649881
??
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 17 June 2015 20:48 (eight years ago) link
http://convertibletoyokohama.com/post/42773199942/toshiki-kadomatsu
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 17 June 2015 21:23 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYfsYdo28SM
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 17 June 2015 21:24 (eight years ago) link
it's explicitly a cover of a song from 1968 but that's not the homage being made sonically
the covering of something of that vintage in itself is a meta reference, like smith & mighty doing 'walk on by' or 'remember me' etc
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 17 June 2015 21:53 (eight years ago) link
ah, i see. i didn't realize it was a cover! i can't read japanese :(
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 17 June 2015 22:01 (eight years ago) link
https://soundcloud.com/hothausrecs/whats-a-girl-to-do-dj-haus-44-edit
this isnt rly relevant like at all but since soichi terada and far east recordings was mentioned briefly upthread (and since i love crossposting to inappropriate threads so much) i may as well mention here that i have been heavily summerjamming this recent super smart dj haus flip of some glasgow wanker indie disco tune, and terada is kinda what it makes me think of... haus knows the sensibility enough to deliberately channel it too
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 17 June 2015 22:10 (eight years ago) link
oh incidentally last year i uploaded the extended "bay city" for everyone's benefit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaYdzP5Lr3A
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Thursday, 18 June 2015 00:20 (eight years ago) link
that is insanely catchy
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 18 June 2015 03:18 (eight years ago) link
i completely missed this thread
― wappy legs (clouds), Thursday, 18 June 2015 03:21 (eight years ago) link
has this been posted already?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqmkTy8V_Iw
― wappy legs (clouds), Thursday, 18 June 2015 03:22 (eight years ago) link
no it hasn't! hello
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Thursday, 18 June 2015 03:34 (eight years ago) link
oh yeah, that album is a great one.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 18 June 2015 03:37 (eight years ago) link
Was posted upthread, but the link is now dead, so repost:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIrmfoX3lVw
― Michael F Gill, Friday, 19 June 2015 05:49 (eight years ago) link
Wink has been mentioned but I wanted to share this song, cause it drove me wild in '11.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIVGQ-B9G38
― mom, Friday, 19 June 2015 19:11 (eight years ago) link
i especially love the delay on her voice during the verse starting at 1:52. Great production.
― mom, Friday, 19 June 2015 19:22 (eight years ago) link
it's shocking how many of these japanese pop records of the 1980s have some input (songwriter producing or just guest playing) from hosono. hardest working man in showbiz, i guess.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Friday, 19 June 2015 20:02 (eight years ago) link
Thank you guys so much for this thread, incredible! I only knew LA Nights and was always curious if there was more music like it.
― JacobSanders, Saturday, 20 June 2015 03:12 (eight years ago) link
OTM this stuff is grate
― the late great, Saturday, 20 June 2015 03:55 (eight years ago) link
more minako
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmAA_8TzGqI
monster boogie jam from 1980, it's way better than "town" imo.
― cock chirea, Saturday, 20 June 2015 04:14 (eight years ago) link
I go back to the first mari iijima album a lot. esp love the outro on this one:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGPSQKYxYmc
― original bgm, Saturday, 20 June 2015 19:17 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4yCIu0oobI
probably my favorite japanese song of the 80s. though that's tough because i think 80s japanese music (both pop and not) is the best period of music ever
― misterjoshua, Monday, 22 June 2015 22:29 (eight years ago) link
was a little embarrassed to be jamming out to this recently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DULR826A54
not boogie by a stretch, this is pure city pop (do we have a thread on that?)
― wizzz! (amateurist), Saturday, 27 June 2015 02:41 (eight years ago) link
i'm not entirely sure what the difference between "japan boogie" and "city pop" is. folks like the ymo peeps and tatsuro yamashita are pivotal figures in city pop, but i see a lot of their stuff called "boogie". my gut feeling on this, given that knowledge of city pop as a genre didn't seem to permeate to the english-speaking internet until around 2013 or later, is that they refer to roughly the same thing. is there a such thing as '80s japan boogie that wouldn't qualify as city pop?
― rushomancy, Saturday, 27 June 2015 13:04 (eight years ago) link
i feel like boogie has to have more dance/funk influences while a lot of city pop is pure MOR. but obviously there's plenty of overlap.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Saturday, 27 June 2015 15:05 (eight years ago) link
what's up, favorite thread i ever started. a fellow ilxor posted this on my facebook page the other day and it fuckin rules:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-akuHHopkKM
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Tuesday, 19 January 2016 07:38 (eight years ago) link
i suppose everybody here already knows this song but just in case
this is the catchiest thing i've heard in... a decade?
it's been on repeat in my house for months
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUQjdwRno5g
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 18 February 2016 19:11 (eight years ago) link
I've probably gone too far with this, but I've been enjoying the smoother side of city pop, like Horii Katsumi Project and Kingo Hamada.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvXOHIlY1KA
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 18 February 2016 19:46 (eight years ago) link
there's definitely a point when i listen to some of this when i'm like, "wait a minute, am i listening to dave koz?" and question the very foundations of my taste.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 18 February 2016 19:51 (eight years ago) link
Really enjoying this thread. Friend sent me Soichi Terada - Sumo Jungle which is wicked
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Tuesday, 7 March 2017 04:06 (seven years ago) link
this whole album is really great, but damn, this ひと夏のタペストリー in particular...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8K0zJ5x_GE&t=1423s#
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Friday, 10 March 2017 05:41 (seven years ago) link
argh, scratch that "this" :-/
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Friday, 10 March 2017 05:51 (seven years ago) link
hmmm:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8K0zJ5x_GE&t=1423s
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Friday, 10 March 2017 06:00 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8K0zJ5x_GE
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Friday, 10 March 2017 06:02 (seven years ago) link
ok, guess timestamps are tricky
tomoko aran "ひと夏のタペストリー"
good shit
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Friday, 10 March 2017 06:04 (seven years ago) link
Toshinobu Kubota - Groovin'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZYdaBD6mo
― example (crüt), Tuesday, 28 March 2017 06:00 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKmPfdYy5y8
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 28 March 2017 08:40 (seven years ago) link
wow @ this book (from the same publisher that did Obscure Sound.) another tantalizing catalogue of awesome looking records
https://www.dustygroove.com/item/752875
Japanese Groove Disc Guide A to Z (paperback)This time around, the folks at Rittor – who've given us other great record books over the years – turn their talents to the world of Japanese groove, particularly from the 70s and early 80s – a time when so many Japanese artists were picking up on the best styles in American soul, and using the music to come up with some great grooves of their own!
This time around, the folks at Rittor – who've given us other great record books over the years – turn their talents to the world of Japanese groove, particularly from the 70s and early 80s – a time when so many Japanese artists were picking up on the best styles in American soul, and using the music to come up with some great grooves of their own!
― brimstead, Wednesday, 6 September 2017 02:55 (six years ago) link
SEXY ROBOT
― calstars, Wednesday, 6 September 2017 16:42 (six years ago) link
I've been enjoying this compilation a lot lately:
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Lovin-Mighty-Fire-Nippon-Funk-Soul-Disco-1973-1983/release/9886561
― boxedjoy, Sunday, 24 September 2017 19:47 (six years ago) link
'rainbow paradise' by masayoshi takanaka on that is a keeper
― flopson, Monday, 25 September 2017 02:14 (six years ago) link
I'm still working through the entire thing (thanks for the rec) but the Hosono track seems like the best composition so far.
― calstars, Monday, 25 September 2017 02:23 (six years ago) link
ya that one's great too. could listen to the jam in the last minute and a half of it for a long time
― flopson, Monday, 25 September 2017 02:31 (six years ago) link
Live streaming city pop tunes on YouTube w/ driving footage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IiPLJfANrM
― MaresNest, Monday, 25 September 2017 20:49 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojqKOE9Ezf0
― DPRK Nowitzki (lpz), Wednesday, 27 September 2017 17:44 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbpS_elm8Q4
― flopson, Friday, 23 March 2018 00:49 (six years ago) link
oh yeah that's the stuff
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 23 March 2018 00:53 (six years ago) link
lit
― big C (calstars), Friday, 23 March 2018 02:53 (six years ago) link
I posted this in the future funk thread but have you guys figured out why this has 8 million plus views https://youtu.be/3bNITQR4Uso
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Friday, 23 March 2018 16:46 (six years ago) link
combo of youtube suggestions algorithm + autoplay afaict? comments section is full of the phrase "randomly stumbled upon this." very dissimilar form the comments section on my "bay city" upload which is at least 30 percent yung bae and vaporwave references
what a jam also
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 23 March 2018 16:56 (six years ago) link
the youtube embeds in this thread all disappearing is a bummer :\
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 23 March 2018 16:57 (six years ago) link
oh man it's such a shame having only looked in here for the first time.
That Junko - Communication album is so whopper!
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Saturday, 24 March 2018 07:59 (six years ago) link
This may well have been posed in a previous YouTube upload, but deserves its place in here. Also the artwork is stellar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdBEwe1KKmg
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Saturday, 24 March 2018 08:00 (six years ago) link
plastic love's yt popularity seems to be entirely a quirk of The Algorithm. it constantly appears as a recommended video for basically any japanese music on there and even more now, to the point where it's become a joke among some jpop fans i know. I'm presuming it at some point early on was very successful at getting recommend video clicks which snowballed to make the algorithm push it extremely heavily
― ufo, Saturday, 24 March 2018 10:23 (six years ago) link
props to the Singles Jokebox for sending me to this endless City Pop mix
― Simon H., Wednesday, 4 July 2018 13:39 (five years ago) link
oh yeah that's been in my youtube recommendations for months lol
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 July 2018 13:47 (five years ago) link
it's seriously excellent
― Simon H., Wednesday, 4 July 2018 13:47 (five years ago) link
(I was directed via comments on Yubin's "Lady" which also slaps)
― Simon H., Wednesday, 4 July 2018 13:55 (five years ago) link
been jamming this a lot: https://cultures-of-soul.myshopify.com/products/tokyo-nights-female-j-pop-boogie-funk-1981-to-1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnXrLjVODaw
― adam, Wednesday, 4 July 2018 15:44 (five years ago) link
Anyone itt fuck with Hoodoo Fushimi?
https://youtu.be/1s8aWYlAuZg
― the oxford book of chaos (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 27 October 2019 19:44 (four years ago) link
That^ whole album, Thanatos of Funk is extremely strong front to back
― the oxford book of chaos (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 27 October 2019 19:45 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRgLhEGEetc
― JacobSanders, Sunday, 19 December 2021 16:19 (two years ago) link