V.A. MAXI JAPAN! (2008)

MY FAVOURITE JAPANESE PERFORMERS SO FAR
ARTIST`````VARIOUS
MIX```````````MAXI JAPAN!
GENRE`````SHIBUYA-KEY, FUSION, ELECTRONIC, POP, NOISE, POST-EVERYTHING, AVANT-GARDE AND A TOUCH OF TRADITIONAL
YEAR````````2008

DESCRIPTION:
This is mix of old and new Japanese performers I enjoyed in recent months. As usual, there are no genre limitations. This is mostly for people not familiar with Japanese production.

OOIOO is one of the most progressive bands from Japan in recent years and they can be compared to great acts such as The Knife. Monotrona and YMCK are a beautiful retro takes on Commodore64 and Atari 8-bit sound. Fantastic Plastic Machine were probably the most important band in shibuya-kei genre during the 1990's and so I intentionaly selected their instrumental track because it shows the atmosphere of youngsters shopping for new gadgets in downtown Tokyo. Chocolate Lips are a true rarity, their cassette single Milk & Honey was somewhat a pop radio hit in the 1980's. Petty Booka is a very interesting and popular girl band from Tokyo that sings modern hawaiian music (a must have for me). Magical Power Mako is one of the finest examples of Japan's experimental and avant-garde scene. Satanicpornocultshop is a bizzare mixture of possibly every genre the band could play or sample (including Mc Hammer). Boredoms - screamy noise indie-rock band that has a cult status and everybody is asking why and how? Cornelius are a very popular, talented and established band. Their track Wataridori is one of the most beuatiful abstractions I ever heard. I definetly recommend every record they ever published. Takako Minekawa is a solid singer oftenly collaborating with western musicians. She mostly sings about her personal obssesions like pets, girlfriends, new keboards and shoes. Ikue Mori represents the finest contemporary experiments in New York-Tokyo relations that seem to produce great bands and projects every year. Asa-Chang & Junray are my most recent obssesion and I will upload their EP's and albums soon. Unfortunately, many of their works never got published outside of Japan but some of their songs were included on some respected western compilations. Tokyo Gakuso preserve the oldest style of Japanese performing arts called gagaku so they might not belong on this compilation but they definetly deserve to be mentioned.

If you know some great Japan based acts put some links in comments - I am always interested.

TRACKLIST:
01 OOIOO - Umo
02 Monotrona - Cadillac Fantasy
03 Fantastic Plastic Machine - Theme of Luxury
04 Pizzicato Five and Konishi Yasuharu - Micky Mouse Club March
05 Chocolate lips - Milk & Honey
06 Petty Booka - Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian
07 Magical Power Mako - Tsugaru
08 YMCK - Starlight
09 Satanicpornocultshop - U Cant Touch Dis - Mc Frosen Pine And Dj Ugh
10 Satanicpornocultshop - Chopstick Park (Alternative Ver. Feat. Thu Su Youn)
11 Boredoms - Okinawa Rasta Beef (Mockin' Fuzz
12 Cornelius - Wataridori
13 Takako Minekawa & Dymaxion - Brioche
14 Ikue Mori - Glimpse Of The Moon
15 Asa-Chang & Junray - Senaka (Instrumental)
16 Tokyo Gakuso Tadaaki Ohno - Ryoo Ranjo

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