Happy Birthday!
…to Miyabi Natsuyaki of Berryz Koubou and Buono!, who turns 19 today (and who’s shirt on the “Yuki Yuki Monkey Dance” single inspired this blog’s name)…
…to Elvis Costello, who turns 57…
…and a special Happy 60th Birthday to the Metal God, Rob Halford of Judas Priest, seen here with the Metal Son of God, aka The Man Who Should Be Idol (that’s right, I’m still not letting that one go, folks…):
A Hot Mix and a Cool Beverage
Summer is my favorite season of the year, and a lot of things remind me of that season: Nice hot weather (which has made me a bit of a masochist in the past decade and a half, because of how easily I get heat prostration as I get older), air conditioning (which I used to leave on 24/7 all summer when I lived at home; now my wife draws the line at that), ice cream (which doesn’t agree with me anymore – I’m seriously lactose intolerant to the point where I should just say fuck it and turn vegan)… and maybe I should stop there because this is starting to sound like a rant on how much it sucks to get older, except I left out one favorite thing about summer… mixtapes! (I know, another remark where I reveal that I’m twenty years younger than Iggy Pop. Sorry!)
OK, I know that nobody outside of the hip-hop world calls them mixtapes anymore considering that the primary sound carriers of these things are either CD-Rs or iTunes/iPod playlists, but the concept is still the same. You make a mix that you’ll be playing on the regular when you’re driving to the beach, lying on the beach, driving home from the beach, going on vacation… you get idea. The kind of tape where, if immaculately mixed and sequenced, will stay in your car all summer – maybe even during the fall and winter, too – until it either gets lost, borrowed, or left on the dashboard absentmindedly (where it’ll get fried by the sun).
And there is an art to making good mixes. You don’t just throw together eighty minutes worth of songs and call it a mix. You make the sequence as perfect as possible. You try not to be clever by putting ten-minute track from your brother’s favorite Yes album, or hip by slipping some American pop tartlet like Katy Perry inbetween tracks by Anthrax and Bright Eyes.
It’s been said by some aficionados of mixtape culture that mixtapes are going the way of the Edsel, thanks to the presence of iPods. Given that there are still plenty of participants on sites like Zen Running Order and Art of the Mix, that isn’t true. In my case, iPod/iTunes playlists have served to be the perfect test lab for making mixes. Ever since I first started using the program in 2004, I’ve used iTunes to do multiple drafts of mixes, playing the sequences on either my iPod or right on my laptop, fine-tuning the tracks until I have a sequence that a) flows well, and b) fits within the limitations of an 80-minute CD-R. That last parameter is of utmost importance – I’ve lost track of how many cassette mixes I’ve done back in the day where the tape ran out just as my carefully-chosen closing track was prematurely ended by the sudden appearance of the cassette’s plastic leader. Of course, if one could still find blank cassettes and the machines to record and playback with, one could pre-master their sequences on CD-R’s and then transfer those to cassettes – but unless one was being a retro hipster, why would you? (Hmmm… maybe I should do an eBay search for a good stereo reel-to-reel recorder and some blank reels… that would really be retro!)
Anyway, since this is the IntlWota Summer Refreshment Program we’re dealing with here, I’m contractually obligated to display both the refreshment that this program funded for me (in this case, a can from case of Arizona Green Tea – about the only goddamn thing I drink regularly thanks to being both straight-edge and lactose intolerant) and the tools that helped put this article together – my loyal laptop and one of my two iPods. Wait a minute, you’re asking: Two iPods? Yeah. They’d both be in the shot, but I had to use the other one just to take the picture.
I should explain about the two iPods – the one in the picture is a 160GB iPod Classic; a 64GB iPod Touch that is basically used like a miniature iPad/phoneless iPhone is what I took the picture with, and it’s been a rather handy device. I was on a first-anniversary weekend trip with my wonderful wife Tara and was using the hotel’s free WiFi to catch up on e-mail with the iPod Touch, when I got the go-ahead from International Wota to do this. I immediately started putting together the initial sequence right in the iPad Touch, sequenced it, and even gave it an initial spin via a very useful and very fun DJ app – wherein I discovered that my original track sequence was over 90 minutes long. Barely OK for a cassette mix – but we’re dealing with CD limits, so at least ten minutes of music had to eventually be chopped.
Summer, itself, was the basis for picking out the tracks. If it came out in summer, had a summer memory attached to it, or just reminded me of or even sounded like summer in some way to me, it went in. And, befitting this blog’s general ethos – that ethos basically being putting J-Pop and Western music on equal footing – I didn’t restrict my choices to just J-Pop material.
Once I was back home, I got myself the aforementioned fresh case of tea (I’m already halfway through it as I write this – it’s been one of those fucking hot weeks up here in Pennsylvania), sat down with the laptop, and got to editing and resequencing. Below is the final result: My soundtrack for the rest of the Summer of 2011.
1. WHITEBERRY “Natsu Matsuri” – A no-brainer of a logical choice to kick off this mix. When I started to get more seriously into Japanese music, it was Whiteberry that led me on my current path. I owe them a great deal of gratitude for that. I’ve long since heard the Jitterin’ Jinn original and I must say, Whiteberry’s version has the upper hand. Yuki Madea’s voice reminds me of J Mascis as far as her somewhat raw delivery goes; her post-Whiteberry recordings, first with the band Yukki and currently with The Husky have seen her get better with age.
2. REINA TANAKA “Manatsu No Kousen” – Yep, the idol who drives my wotahood (to paraphrase something Ray said at American Wota a few years back). It’s probably no surprise that all of her recently released solo singles are on my hard drive (thank you, US iTunes!) – the surprise is how well she pulls off her solo rendition of the early MoMusu summer classic.
3. HUSKER DU “Celebrated Summer” – Another no-brainer of a selection and the first representation of Western music in general and classic punk/indie in particular on this track list. It was probably my reading Bob Mould’s recent autobiography See A Little Light as well as a book about the Huskers from earlier this year that spurred me to include this choice a lot quicker than I otherwise would have. But then again, I miss the Huskers big time and wish they’d never split up in 1988.
4. BUZZCOCKS “What Do I Get?” – Yes, this is one of those tracks that reminds me of summer – specifically, one time back in the summer of 1994 when I found a copy of their box set in a used CD store in Bloomsburg, bought it on sight, and listened to it in the car on the way home. Plus, I’m starting to make some serious plans for getting a new band together – first time for me since 1997, first time back on guitar since my first band split up in 1984, and first time ever singing lead vocals full-time – and this is one of a long list of candidates that are going to be on the prospective band’s set list.
5. MORNING MUSUME “Souda! We’re Alive!” – Throwing one of my favorite songs by my favorite band of all time into the mix, specifically one from a classic lineup of the group. Gotta love those big powerchords in the intro/chorus/outro.
6. ROKY ERICKSON “Bermuda” – I threw this classic in – specifically this superior version from the Don’t Slander Me album – to add a bit of travel-related paranoia to the proceedings. Yes, this is another selection from my soon-to-be band’s list, too.
7. SAN NIN MATSURI “Chu! Natsu Party” – I had to throw in at least one of the Hello! Project Shuffle Units, and this classic collaboration between Ai Kago, Rika Ishikawa and Aya Matsuura was begging to be heard.
8. BORIS “Hope” – Attention Please and Heavy Rocks 2011 – both reviewed a month or so ago here at TGML – came out just as summer was unofficially starting. With lead guitarist Wata singing in a fragile manner over her own driving Jesus And Mary Chain guitar riffing, the song is a perfect fit.
9. SCANDAL “Koi Moyo” – That opening chord sequence sounds very summery, even beachy. I find myself playing it on guitar a lot when I’m warming up.
10. 11WATER “BE ALL RIGHT!” – the second representation of the H!P Shuffle Groups in this mix. Eleven H!P members take on some Bosstones-esque ska punk. Love this one even though I’m a little more used to MiniMoni’s version from their second album.
11. THE BEATLES “All You Need Is Love” – This one is here for a very personal reason: The day Capitol Records put this 45 out on the racks is also the day I was born.
12. THE MINUTEMEN “Search” – When I got into my first semi-pro band after graduating high school – this was the Summer of 1985 – one of the tapes I frequently carried was the My First Bells compilation tape of all of the Minutemen’s releases prior to Double Nickels on the Dime. I find myself associating that tape with summer weather and car travel a lot.
13. SCANDAL “Secret Base” – The Osaka Four covering the Zone classic. Sometimes I think the basic story line as seen in the Zone PV reminds me of a summer romance that never got off the ground any more come September. The keyboards, however – no matter whether it’s the original or SCANDAL’s retake – remind me of early King Crimson. And I got my first King Crimson records in the summer of ’81, too, if that counts for extra credit…
14. JUNIOR MURVIN “Police and Thieves”
15. MAX ROMEO – “War in a Babylon”
I’ve been in a serious reggae mood lately – the recent Peter Tosh reissues are partly to blame – and so, rather than slip 7nin Matsuri’s “Summer Reggae Rainbow” into the set list, which would have been a little too obvious, and even though I love the song, I opted for putting some more authentic classic reggae in instead. And one can’t get more authentic and classic with reggae without gravitating towards the Bob Marley canon, than by culling from the work of the great Lee “Scratch” Perry. Both tracks sourced from the great box set Arkology – do yourself a favor and find a copy.
16. AKB48 “Heavy Rotation” - One of the best things AKB48 did last summer, if not, all of last year.
17. BUONO “My Boy” - This single might have come out a month early for the Summer of 2009, but by the time the last weekend of May rolled around, it was a perfect fit and stayed that way for the whole season and then some, making it one of Buono’s best ever singles to date.
18. BERRYZ KOUBOU “Waracchaou yo BOYFRIEND” – Likewise, this came out while there was still one month of summer left in 2006, but the 50’s style musical arrangement never fails to evoke summer nights, car hops, crusing, and the like… even if, at the time the song was recorded, most of the girls weren’t even old enough to get learner’s permits.
19. THE SEX PISTOLS “God Save The Queen” – Another deliberately personal summer memory creeping in here, this time of more recent vintage: When Tara and I were finalizing our first-dance and bridal-party song selections with the DJ we hired for our wedding reception last year, he told us to feel free to e-mail him if there were any specific songs we wanted him to play that night. Tara didn’t think of anything, but I asked for this song – admittedly, my favorite song of all time, period point blank – and got it, and got Tara to dance with me to it near the end of the night. Afterwards, our wedding photographer came up to us and said, “I never thought I’d ever hear the Sex Pistols at a wedding reception – that was fucking awesome!!”
20. THE BEACH BOYS “All Summer Long” – Yes, picking a Beach Boys track is pretty obvious for a summer mix, but I needed a good closer, and since this track closes out the American Graffiti soundtrack double-album (a favorite album since I was 7!) it was the perfect track to use. Also, there’s another summer memory attached to this song and the entire soundtrack album – the movie was available on an early pay-per-view hotel system when my family and I stayed at the Inn On The Park hotel in Toronto in 1974 (Around the same time Glenn Gould was using one of the other rooms in the building as a makeshift tape-editing studio for his recordings, I later found out), which is when I first saw the movie and heard most of the music from it. Ironically, while the movie takes place in 1962, this song didn’t come out until two years later. Go figure.
Have a good summer, everyone!
BONUS: Here’s a streaming version of the mix as I originally did it with the dJay app on my iPod Touch, before I discovered that I had to chop at least ten minutes off of the track sequence. Can you pick out the songs that didn’t make the final cut?
IW Summer Refreshment Test Mix 1 by TGML/IW Summer Refeshment
BEST ALBUMS OF 2010
This list took forever – for which I’m sorry.
I knew some of the sure fire candidates that were going to be on here – but had to think back to some of the others that had come out this year that I enjoyed. My rather slack blogging activity probably didn’t help matters, and this year I’m determined to review albums within days of their issue (JapanFiles’s sudden licensing split with UFW blew my usual trend of reviewing Morning Musume’s newest album before I had gotten my physical copy, and I never found a leak in time.) My marriage plus the holidays on top of that… you get the picture. And I wasn’t going to pull a stunt like I did in 2007 and do the entries in small installments either, at first, but since I’d rather move forward, this methodology will have to do this time around.
One caveat: the new albums from Morning Musume (Fantasy Juuichi) and Ayumi Hamasaki (Love Songs) that were just released this month are not going to be considered for this list for one simple reason: They’re too new. They’ll be eligible for the 2011 list as I’m sure I’ll be playing them a lot over the next twelve months. And with regard to Mike Watt’s hyphenated-man album, even though it came out in Japan in October, I’m holding off on both counting it for this list and reviewing it until the domestic release happens this spring.
So, here goes nothing…
10. ERODE AND DISAPPEAR – Scythian Lamb (self-released 12” EP/CD package; visit www.erodeanddisappear.com) This duo is actually 2/3 of the Philadelphia trio Northern Liberties, singer/percussionist Justin Duerr and bassist Kevin Riley, and the band/project’s name comes from NL’s first full length album of the same name. With NL’s drummer (and Justin’s brother) Mark having to semi-curtail his participation in the group in the wake of becoming a father, Justin and Kevin chose to occupy the idle time by continuing to make music solidly in the NL tradition, this time with Justin taking over the drum kit as well as singing. A long time in coming since the project started, Scythian Lamb makes for a more than adequate continuation/tideover of the NL sound until the trio’s next release (set for later this year).
9. GIRLS GENERATION – Hoot (SM Entertainment) – The unstoppable Korean nonet seems best taken in EP-length doses (Their second album Oh! and its companion “deluxe reissue” RunDevilRun seem to be very slow growers as far as listener appeal, despite many stellar tracks), and in the 007-vibed title track the group has its strongest song since “Genie”. How soon will SM fully target the US with these ladies, now that they’re making inways into Japan?
8. DEVO – Something for Everyone (Warner Bros.) – A fine comeback from the influential quintet. Sadly, Warners dropped the ball after their initial support for the group’s comeback, failing to release the uncharacteristic ballad “No Place Like Home” as a follow-up single as well as failing to continue their remastered back catalog program (Oh! No It’s Devo and Shout still await the deluxe treatment afforded the band’s first four albums).
7. RICK ROSS – Teflon Don (Maybach Music/Def Jam) – Although materialistic rap in general may be fading (witness the relative sales and critical failure of Lloyd Banks’ “comeback” album after making such a strong impression saleswise with his first post-Interscope single “Beamer Benz and Bentley”), Ross has a strong, booming voice and an unlimited supply of clever punchlines going for him, and when he has stellar production behind him (see: first single “B.M.F. (Blowin’ Money Fast)”, “Maybach Music III” with its live orchestral[!] backing), the songs work. When of his guest vocalists can hold their own next to the big man (see: Cee-Lo Brown on “Tears of Joy”, Jay-Z and John Legend on “Free Mason”, Drake on “Astin Martin Music”, Kanye West – who also produced – on “Live Fast Die Young”), it’s icing on the cake. When the production isn’t all there or the guest features are just lame (Gucci Mane’s terrible vocals bring down “MC Hammer” drastically), it weakens the album – but fortunately those moments are rare.
6. BUONO! – We Are Buono! (Pony Canyon) – Still unstoppable even after three albums. Does one even have to be reminded why? Now if only Miyabi, Airi and Momoko would actually pick up instruments…
5. SCANDAL – Temptation Box (Epic/Sony) – And speaking of unstoppable, the Osaka Four’s second full-length outing finds our heroines progressing nicely without losing the edge that brought them to the dance in the first place. (The companion cover versions EP R-Girls Rock!, issued a few months later, also helps ground the young ladies by reminding them of how they got to the dance in the first place.)
4. KODA KUMI – 8th AL Universe (Rhythm Zone/Avex) – Kuu-chin goes organic for the first half of the album, then goes back to her more urban/electronic side for the second half, and it all works.
3. AYUMI HAMASAKI – Rock n Roll Circus (Avex) – While not as entirely rock-influenced as the album title suggests, Ayu reached high, made up for the somewhat weak Next Level, and handed in one of her strongest albums in years (and kept going strong, what with the late-December release of yet another studio album, Love Songs).
2. NICKI MINAJ – Pink Friday (Young Money/Universal); KANYE WEST – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Rockafella/Def Jam) – 
Two artists, one a rookie and one a veteran, both with something to prove, and both succeeding both artistically and at the cash register. And both did it with high levels of creativity and without resorting to gangsteresque/materialistic bullshit. The fact that these albums outsold G-Unit flunkie Lloyd Banks’ would-be “comeback” album several times over – apiece – says, along with Nicki’s labelmate Drake and mentor Lil’ Wayne – more good things about the direction of hip-hop rap than had been said at least a year or so before.
1. MORNING MUSUME – 10 My Me (Zetima) – MoMusu at their most experimental, closing out their “emo” period with finality and looking forward to the future – and this would be just part one of their current story. The December 2010 release of the equally strong (and less experimental) Fantasy Juuichi and the addition of the 9th Generation members are merely the beginning of another chapter. They’ll keep going and going and going, and music will be better for it.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday, first to my generation’s Elvis – Mr. Costello to you – who turns 56 today:
…and to Miyabi Natsuyaki of Buono! and Berryz Koubou – she whose T-shirt on the “Yuke! Yuke! Monkey Dance” single cover inspired this blog’s name – who turns 18 today:
Apparently, it’s also Gene Simmons’ birthday today, but given recent developments on his part, I’d rather kick his mother in the cunt instead for what she did 61 years ago…
Happy 4th!
Fourth Blogging Anniversary, that is…
I almost forgot to post something today, but I have a good excuse: Today was also my fiancee’s bridal shower, and guess who had to schlep gifts back and forth in his car? Yep…
I should note that for the past few weeks I’ve been – on top of planning towards the wedding and subsequent move into mine and my wife-to-be’s new apartment – finishing up the novel (yeah, still… but then again if I didn’t have to hold a day job it would have been finished already), working on a screenplay for Script Frenzy, working on a couple of reviews for this blog (they’ll be up this week), and working on my guitar.
And last night, boy, did I work on my guitar… I got this thing (Epiphone Les Paul) a few months ago, but I never changed the strings until last night. Such was my Saturday night:
And to keep things J-pop related, here’s another part of what helped keep me sane, especially today:
Besides, I couldn’t figure how to equal or better the live MoMusu and Stooges clips from last year! But what I can do is (even though I didn’t get this finished until after midnight when the 11th became the 12th) update a list I posted two years ago on my second blogging anniversary at MotokoAoyama.com, which would make this “A List That Took Four Years To Make”:
Continue reading
It’s Poll Time Once Again (With A Few Random Thoughts To Go With It)
Paul Thomas and his mad coding skills have struck again, and of course, I had to, had to take the poll, which this year came as a two-parter – one for individual members and one for groups. Some of the results as I filled them out should be of no surprise, others should not:
My fandom hasn’t changed very much. Reina is still on top for me, Takitty is right behind, but for whatever reason JunJun and LinLin have moved up in the ranks. Much of this ranking of individuals from #3 on down could change from day to day, though, so this is just what I was feeling tonight.
The group fandom was less hard to figure out. Morning Musume are still my favorite band, Buono! still rock, and I still like Berryz and C-ute even though I still can’t recognize some of the members on sight (obviously picking Miyabi, Momoko and Airi out thanks to their Buono! work isn’t hard, and I can recognize Risako and Chinami, but that’s about it at the moment) and C-ute’s new album hasn’t completely grabbed me yet like 10 My Me and We Are Buono! did.
I try never to let a day go by without playing some MoMusu music, no matter how many other musical mood swings I go through from day to day and week to week (In one example, for whatever reason, I went on quite the Minutemen/fIREHOSE jag the past week, as my last.fm page will attest). But, my listening habits have always been that way and that’s not likely to change, ever.
The bottom rows of both polls stayed the way they were from how Paul organized the default selections for a good reason: Erina Mano’s music hasn’t exactly grabbed me, and I’ve never listened to Guardians 4 or S/mileage so I can’t comment on them.
Other than that, I get married in 89 days (yikes – time’s flyin’!), which means that as that day looms forward I need my favorite band and their compatriots to keep me sane. That also means I have to cram in a lot of activity on here before then… and then cram in some more after the nuptials.
BEST SINGLES OF 2009
Before I reveal the top two albums of the year, I figured I’d throw in something different to prolong the agony of revealing those two top albums… by throwing up a second list, and a first for this blog (and its predecessor): A top singles list.
#10) MILDRED AND THE MICE “I Like My Mice (Dead)” (Third Man)
Officially supposed to be a socially awkward goth chick from a small town in Kentucky, but more rumored to be the wife of Jack White playing a rather eccentric character, with a few Raconeturs/Dead Weather members posing as Mildred’s “band”. Either way, this is demented two-chord garage punk that makes The Cramps look like the Carpenters.
#9) BIF NAKED “I Won’t Cry (Fuck You 2)” (Her Royal Majesty)
Bif’s big comeback single after her cancer-forced layoff… and boy, did she come back swinging! Never before did a standard 50’s doo-wop chord sequence sound so menacing.
#8) WE ARE THE FALLEN “Bury Me Alive” (self-released)
Mistake this for Evanescence, and you wouldn’t be far off, as three-fifths of this group were the creative hub of Ev. Throw in a more fuller-bodied-voice compared to Amy Lee (courtesy of American Idle alumni Carly Smithson), and you’ll wonder why The Open Door didn’t sound like this. The band had planned to slip out leaked tracks every month or so, but fate – and a contract with Universal Music – intervened. Now this is just a teaser for next spring’s LP.
#7) CARL SAGAN “A Glorious Dawn” (Third Man)
This song – comprising of AutoTuned monologues from the late scientist/TV personality’s Cosmos mini-series – started off as an experimental pro-science viral video with a free download available to those who wanted it. Then Jack White heard and saw the video, wanted to put it out on his own label, and the rest is history – just like the Voyager Golden Record whose design is reproduced on the back of the one-sided single.
#6) AYUMI HAMASAKI “Sunrise/Sunset ~Love Is All~” (Avex)
Two ways (uptempo and ballad) of saying the same thing, and both done very well.
#5) KODA KUMI “3 Splash” [EP] (Rhythm Zone/Avex)
Three sides of Kuu-chin in one handy single: Upbeat pop-rocker (“Lick me”), heavy techno in the vein of “Taboo” (“Ecstasy”), and a solid foray into funk-rock (“Hashire!”) – and all with PVs to go with it. Sold.
#4) MORNING MUSUME “Kimagure Princess” (Zetima)
The opening high-register vocals notwithstanding, after three rather emo singles a more upbeat number was the perfect track to close out both one of Morning Musume’s most triumphant years as well as Koharu Kusumi’s tenure in the band.
#3) AKB48 “Namida Surprise” (King)
In my opinion, the best of AKB48’s four single releases this year. It was definitely the most memorable, both for the title track and for the solo cut by Team K member Erena Ono, “First Kiss”.
#2) MORNING MUSUME “Shouganai Yume Oibito” (Zetima [Japan]/JapanFiles [US])
Referring to this particular period of Morning Musume’s singles as their “emo” period should not be interpreted as a putdown, because it isn’t. The fact that this single took Morning Musume back to the #1 spot on the singles chart in Japan shows that they were on the right track at the time; it’s definitely the standout of the three “emo” singles.
#1) BUONO! “My Boy” (Pony Canyon)
The guitar riffs in this song alone are insane – putting the sweet voices of Airi, Miyabi and Momoko makes it sound even more insane thanks to the seeming clash of elements, but it works, big time.
BEST ALBUMS OF 2009: #4: BUONO! “Buono! 2″
BUONO!
Buono! 2
(Pony Canyon)
Available on CD, CD/DVD, and on iTunes Japan
What was initially thought to be a temporary unit by most followers has certainly shocked us all in more ways than one. Buono!’s sophomore effort turned out to be the start of a killer creative year for the trio, as succeeding singles (including “My Boy” – the best of all the post-album singles so far – and the recently released “Bravo Bravo” in particular) have proven. The passage of a year has not diluted my closing remark about the album in my review this past February: “Buono! has beaten the sophomore jinx to a bloody fucking pulp.”
Happy Birthday!
First, to Miyabi Natsuyaki of Berryz Koubou and Buono! (one of whose shirts inspired this blog’s name), who turns 17 today…
Then to Megumi Ohori of AKB48 (well, until October, anyway) and subject of our sister worship blog My Sweet Meetan, who turns 26…
…and finally to Elvis Costello, who turns 55 today.
Survey Says…
Paul at Hello!Blog has done it again with his annual desire to combine his love of Hello! Project with some mad coding skills. This time around, the survey incorporates all of Hello! Project, including the Elder Club, making for what should be some rather interesting results. Here’s the “tall” version of my survey graphic (the long version I’m going to use as the basis for a future header).
Now I get to explain myself again… Continue reading
