Japanese music - Deep cuts

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

I have to admit that despite living in Japan for a really long time, I didn’t really get into Japanese music until way too late. Being a hip hop head from way back, most of the stuff I’ve found that are my favorite tunes are older deep cuts, but I’m still learning and would love to hear other people’s favorites.

Here are a few to kick things off, but I won’t overwhelm the thread on the first post:

Hako Yamasaki - Help Me

Dark folk from the 1970s. Incredible electric piano and guitar, amazing voice. She was 19 when she recorded this one.

Hiromi Iwasaki - Campus Girl

1970s disco. The intro was sampled for one of my favorite SP beat tapes (Tuxedo Kamen - Supreme Pancakes). The guitar kills in this track.

Hi Fi Set - Sky Restaurant

Dope early city pop from 1975. Perhaps the precursor to city pop. On lots of city pop mixes I think, but I love the sound of this one.

Space Warrior Baldios OST - Jokyoku

Sampled for MF DOOM and Ghostface’s classic Angelz.

Yea, that’s right. It’s not a Hardy Boy mystery neither. This is real shit. This shit come on right after Hart to Hart y’all

Space Warrior Baldios - Ending (English version)

I randomly came across this when looking for other cuts and for some reason I really dig it. Apparently it’s never been released on any soundtrack records. Bummer as I would buy the 7” in a heartbeat. (Some guy on Reddit was apparently searching for it for nearly 30 years and people helped him find it.)

Kimiko Kasai featuring Herbie Hancock- Butterfly (1979)

This one is much more well known, but a favorite.

Maybe that’s all for now. I’ll post up some jazz-funk and psychedelic stuff next maybe.

Anyway, hit me with your favorites.

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#2

The Japanoise scene is top notch

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#3

Also, I love her

and her band of course

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#4

Great thread, I’ll be listening to these later. Cheers

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#5

Ouf hard to know where to start here. When I think of any genre theres almost always some japanese tracks at the top for me.

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#6

A couple of early 1970s psychedelic tracks before I head to bed

Love, Live, Life + One - Love Will Make a Better You

Stone cold classic of the genre. My cousin introduced me to this one a long time ago. Original vinyl copies are insanely expensive.

Flower Travellin’ Band - Satori Part I

Fuzz!

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#7

enjoy me some kan

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#8

Does fake Japanese music count?

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#9

That first album is really dope! Thanks for that!

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#10

love flower travellin band! came in here to post satori pt2

here’s some other stuff i really enjoy

around 7 minutes is where it really starts to get going

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#11

the healer by erykah badu, produced by madlib, samples kono samurai and is pretty great too

#12

Hard to know where to start in loads of different genres but plenty of amazing stuff posted already.

Dream Dolphin have been my favourite recent discovery:

What little story there is behind them seems almost too perfect to be real and the general aesthetic feels so ‘modern take on 90s nostalgia’ that it’s hard to believe it actually is from the 90s. She or they or whoever they were released a lot of stuff and all of it is pretty great so far.

Totally different style but the backstory reminds me a little of Tolerance in how mysterious it is:

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#13
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#14

I’m not sure if some of these count as deep cuts but I only discovered a few of these in the last few years.

Classic prog, I absolutely love everything about this. The influence of this group on early video game music can’t be overstated.

I’m not well-versed in acid but this one is ridiculously good. Probably not a deep cut for acid fans but I only found it in like 2020:

Some kind of 80s synth pop, not sure what to actually call it but I love it.

Soichi Terada is an absolute legend, this album is one of my favorites to come out in 2021.

For anybody who’s into heavy music, Dir en Grey is an absolute treat, and they have an album for probably everybody.

And if you like something a bit lighter/poppier but still want distorted guitars:

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#15

enjoy

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#16
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#17

Oh Lord. Thank you

#18

I am proud that Yoh Ohyama is a friend of mine. He is beyond excessive talent…

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#19

2 cuts from 2 perfect LPs.

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#20

Here are some 70’s rare groove cuts. Fire up the samplers :slight_smile:

Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalos - Pygmy

I really love Ishikawa Akira. I think of him as sort of the Japanese Idris Muhammad. This is maybe my favorite track from him. It features some killer fuzz guitar from Kimio Mizutani, who was actually on the Love, Live, Life album I posted above.

Akira Ishikawa - Love Is the Answer

I ski in Switzerland, down in Morocco gamblin′, handlin’

Minoru Muraoka - Yin & Yang (The Positive and Negative)

This album has so many amazing tracks. This tune was covered by Surprise Chef not that long ago. Anyway, not your typical shakuhachi album for sure.

Masaru Imada Trio - Green Caterpillar

Possibly my favorite tune off of the Three Blind Mice label. I love this one.

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