Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian -- Bamboo Houses

 

As I've mentioned before, I'm like my five-year-old self lost in a department store (five minutes away from getting screamed at by Mom for not sticking by her side) when it comes to the many genres within electronic music. I have never heard of grime music before aside from the fact that it originated in London around a quarter of a century ago. For those who are also unacquainted with the genre, you can take a listen to the samples above.

But apparently, this musical collaboration between Yellow Magic Orchestsra's Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Japan's David Sylvian called "Bamboo Houses" is seen as a prototype for grime music, some twenty years before it was actually born. Released as a single in July 1982, it's been labeled on Wikipedia under electronic, avant-pop, New Wave, proto‑grime and synthpop. Within my personal limited knowledge, I can definitely go with the technopop and New Wave and I'm sure back when it was released, most kayo kyoku fans were probably remarking "Uh, yeah...that's the Professor going weird on us again!". Indeed, it is original. Even the cover with a pouty Sakamoto in dapper tie, shirt and suspenders...and eye shadow probably took people's breath away. 

I'm not sure about the bamboo house, but strangely enough (and perhaps as of this writing, I'd eaten too many roasted peanuts), I kinda think the collage of sound in "Bamboo Houses" makes me feel as if I were stumbling through a crystalline forest of bamboo trees. But at the same time, it's oh-so-Sakamoto! Several months later, the Professor and Sylvian would work together again on "Forbidden Colours" whose variant song is known under a much more famous title.

Nobue Matsubara -- Enka Michi（演歌みち）

Yahoo News

Unfortunately, this week of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" will begin with some sad news from the Japanese music industry. Along with a number of famous people in the USA and UK who have passed away recently, I also have to inform readers that veteran enka singer Nobue Matsubara（松原のぶえ）died suddenly yesterday at the age of 65 although the cause hasn't yet been determined definitively. I found out last night through the Mixi news feed.

Born as Nobue Hirohara（廣原伸恵）and raised in Oita Prefecture, she was scouted into the show business industry as a junior high school senior and made the move to Tokyo while in high school. "Onna no Defune"（おんなの出船）was her debut single in 1979 which earned her a Best New Artist prize in a number of competitions. She would have to wait several years until the invitation from NHK came for her to appear on the 1985 Kohaku Utagassen to sing that hit song, though.

Matsubara made a total of seven appearances on the Kohaku between 1985 and 1992. Her second appearance came at the end of 1986, thanks to her 10th single released in June 1985, "Enka Michi" (The Path of Enka). Written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, it comes across as a bittersweet telling of the life of an enka singer with all of its ups and downs. I'm not sure whether it was meant to be autobiographical or just a general impression of a career of someone in the industry. 

My condolences go out to Matsubara's family, friends and many fans. Her 67th and final single, "Tsutenkaku no Sora no Shita"（通天閣の空の下...Under the Sky of Tsutenkaku） was only released last October.

TPO Meets Linda Masters -- Rock the Hour

From Discogs

Well, if I'm going to jump and burrow down a rabbit hole, why not do it on a sunny Sunday afternoon? Plus, I also gotta shake off the post-lunch narcolepsy. All this began became I was scrounging around to sate my curiosity on other Japanese technopop bands; one can't survive simply on YMO alone. Then I found this 2025 album titled "Techno Kayō Vol. 1 - Japanese Techno Pop 1981 - 1989" which was produced in the Netherlands.

One track tugged at my ears and it was called "Rock the Hour" from the 1985 album "Linda". This was a collaboration that went by the moniker TPO Meets Linda Masters (getta load of that big 80s hair!). Neither band nor singer were familiar to me; from Gemini, I found out that Masters was an American chanteuse who was active in the 1980s synthpop and Hi-NRG scene, especially via Japan. TPO may have stood for Tiny Panx Organization and it was also active during the 1980s. Their membership included keyboardist Taku Iwasaki（岩崎工）who was involved with the technopop band FILMS and then much later got into the soundtrack for the 2013 anime "Gatchaman Crowds".

"Rock the Hour" isn't rock at all but it is a fascinating and catchy blend of City Pop and technopop with Masters' plaintive vocals that often get into some nice jazzy harmonies. It was noted that TPO had wanted to bridge the gap between YMO's technopop and the 80s dancefloor stuff, and "Rock the Hour" has been provided as one big example of this bridge. Plus, for all those pop culture nostalgia buffs, there is plenty of music (including orchestral hits) from those old-fashioned synths and drum machines. As well, I do love the design of the cover. The Memphis Group would be so proud.

Nash Music Library -- SC-1903

 

We don't have the autumn foliage yet but I think the above photo by Wolfgang Weber is suitable enough to describe a nice Sunday morning. I had to shake off some major post-Sunday breakfast drowsiness to get back into shape to get some grocery shopping done as well as the daily blogging.

Once again, I'm happy to have Nash Music Library pay a visit to our humble blog and this one sticks out for its very technical title of "SC-1903". It's not the first time that I've come across NML tunes that sound like starship registry numbers; there is "SC-4702", a rollicking piano and synthesizer tune. Another point that distinguishes this one is that it's actually quite long for an NML entry at a dozen seconds under five minutes.

Perhaps I can "humanize" this one here with a title such as "Whimsical Sunday at Home" instead of "SC-1903", because it does sound like a typically rumply yet comfy Sunday at home with Dad trying to read the newspaper on the sofa, Mom fleeing with her friends to the nearest cafe while the kids are arguing in their room upstairs. In fact, I'd say that there is something quite sitcom-friendly with the arrangement here. The track belongs to the March 1998 album at NML, "Long Size".

Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Sukoshi Dake Yasashiku（すこしだけやさしく）

 

Within our television viewing habits as kids, one of the genres we watched was nature programming. "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" was must-see TV and every episode, we got to see Marlin Perkins, Jim Fowler and Stan Brock observe and occasionally wrestle the heck out of the bigger beasts. In fact, it was the running gag on the late-night talk shows that Jim would be getting mauled by a lion while Marlin was narrating the adventure while sipping on a martini.

Somehow, I get the feeling that Japanese TV coverage of animals has been far more docile. In fact, between 1983 and 1992, TBS had run a popular show titled "Waku Waku Doubutsu Land"（わくわく動物ランド...Exciting Animal Land） which combined a couple of TV show genres: the nature show and the quiz show. 

As for the ending theme, it's natural that the producers would have wanted an adorable voice singing it, and what more adorable voice was there at the time than the one belonging to actress/singer Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）? So, she was tasked to record the cute march "Sukoshi Dake Yasashiku" (Just A Little Bit Nicer) as the co-A-side to the cool "Tantei Monogatari" (探偵物語）from May 1983.  Created by the same triumvirate, lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, this is a song so nice and kid-friendly that the animals themselves were probably prancing happily all over the field while listening to it.

Fuyumi Sakamoto/Ikuzo Yoshi -- Kumanoji e（熊野路へ）

From Nekosuki via Wikimedia Commons

 

Although I have visited Wakayama Prefecture which is the home of my ancestors, I have yet to visit its World Heritage Sites including roads and shrines associated with the Kumano Kodo（熊野古道）series of pilgrimage routes that are located in Wakayama, Mie and Nara Prefectures.

Enka singer Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）is another star from Wakayama Prefecture, and as her September 2018 single, she released "Kumanoji e" (To the Kumano Road). Written and composed by fellow enka singer Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）with Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）as the arranger, "Kumanoji e" launches with an epic intro that doesn't really sound like one for a conventional enka song. It sounds more like something for a pop/rock tune although it quickly settles down into an introspective set of verses before the dramatic chorus chimes in. Still, the instrumental bridge is just as epic as the intro and there's even some added oomph at the end of that bridge with what sounds like a thrumming synthesizer. Yoshi and Wakakusa really wanted to fortify this one. "Kumanoji e" reached No. 54 on Oricon.

Yoshi provided his own slightly quieter cover of the song in the same year.

Hiroaki Igarashi -- Hatsukoi no Machi（初恋の街）

 

Man, I hope he was able to steer that boat safely. Yes, I am talking about singer-songwriter Hiroaki Igarashi（五十嵐浩晃）. I have no doubts about his day job but I'm not sure how he did with the craft there.

But all that could have been just for the cameras when Igarashi and the powers-that-be were taking shots for the cover of his August 1981 3rd album "Sailing Dream". I'm assuming that the release was all about the City Pop and AOR. For example, one track "Hatsukoi no Machi" (The Town of My First Love) seems to be doing a split between jaunty pop and AOR. Written by Tetsuya Chiaki（ちあき哲也）and composed by the singer himself, it's quite the happy-go-lucky musical accompaniment of a man returning to his hometown after a while away (which apparently includes a synthesized version of an ocarina...maybe?) to see old buddies, and maybe that first girlfriend. He's being pretty coy about his intentions and putting on the strong front that he has no desperate need to see her but if this were a Japanese rom-com, I just know that he'll strain himself into all sorts of predicaments to see his old flame...without looking like he's trying to see his old flame. The song has that feeling.