LOVER SOULS UNITE:

The hyper kinetic atomic pop punk rock of Judy And Mary has been long heralded on this site. Their songs swing into life fusing all the best elements of bubblegum pop, twisted heavy punked-out guitars, and plenty of off-kilter melody. Their beginnings were rather humble, but as they hit their stride they ushered in a new era of Japanese pop music from the late 80's on into the 90's. Although now broken up, they left behind a legacy of influential albums and some amazingly catchy music that didn't just cross boundaries, it fused them seamlessly into a patchwork audio net of bright colourful musical expression.

As testament to the band's power, there is a newly released JUDY AND MARY 15TH ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE ALBUM in which fifteen Japanese artists and bands pay their respect to the gods (and goddess) of JAM! Truthfully, I was not familiar with most of the artists on this compilation but have been pleasantly surprised to get this and enjoy the interpretations of these great songs. Some stick closer to the original, others add their own unique elements...including a rather noisy, disjointed version of "ミュージック ファイター" (Music Fighter) by an artist known simply as Midori; whose cut comes across like a polite version of early Boredoms. Mihimaru GT throw in a trip hop rendition of "Over Drive" that includes this super goofy hip hop breakdown complete with horrible scratching and Auto-tune...in other words...awesome! Puffy is no doubt the biggest name on here and they turn in a surprisingly grungy and loose version of "Motto."

Did you read that? Yes, Puffy covering Judy And Mary!

Somewhere...a J-Pop fan just wet themselves.

GET THIS RIGHT NOW!

Come Back Jacko, All Is Forgiven:

There have been plenty of WTF moments for the loyal WFY followers of this site; and here's another one of those rare items to grace the pile. There's plenty to get excited about from the cover image alone...the goofy name (E-COUSINS?), the bling-bling style of lettering, and, oh yea, two Filipino Elvis impersonators! If that doesn' t excite you enough already, then I only need to point you to the track listing and let you know that there is a song on here called......

(wait for it)

...ELVIS ON TERRORISM!

Which contains a soul-stirring response as to what the Pelvis himself would do if he were here to combat liberty-scoffing terrorists! Well, I hate to give it away, but both Renelvis and Buddy Castillo seem to think that he would..."sing forever to win the war on terrorism!" Brilliant E-COUSINS, aren't they? Not only that, but they also decided to incorporate a rapping intro on the second track "Elvis Still Number One" which segways (incredibly) into a jumble of hit songs dropped into the lyrics. "Elvis Is Alive" is another great slow jam in which someone forgot to turn down the attempted Beatle-esque backup singers in the mix. it doesn't seem to help much as someone whispers mysteriously "Elvissss.....isss...aliiiiivvve...!"

Well, if you haven't already hit the download link by now, then I question why you would even lurk on this site.

HAIL TO THE KING(S)

Sympathy For The Big Legends:

Japan's kings of boozy biker blues sludge rock GEDO are presented here on a double live volume set from 1974 called KYONETSU NO MACHIDA POLICE. GEDO was well known as being a strong band that played the hell out of festivals all over Japan back in the 60's and 70's. While most bands of this era were concerned about enlightening the soul amidst growing political and social change, this particular group seemed more interested in the non-stop party. This is a gang who seemed to disregard most of the typical 60's hippy-drippy mystical stuff for a more meat & potatoes (or should I say "fish and rice") approach to rock and roll. It's all about losing your mind and having a good time with these guys.

The first disc starts off rather inexplicably with a spoken intro that lasts for over 8 minutes. Within this opening monologue there are jokes, band introductions, and a few bits that have been censored. Once the music finally begins, it's with a melancholy folky tune. The balladry continues for 5 songs. Then after a short interlude (which one assumes the band are plugging in and turning up) they launch into a primitive groove that features all the good elements of Grand Funk Railroad, Sabbath, and The Rolling Stones. Although there are some tendencies to lay on the jams here, GEDO rarely crosses the line into psychedelic material (although some cuts on disc two see the band flying their freak flag a little bit); choosing rather to stick close to the basic rock and roll template...keeping it loud, proud. Good times all around, then!

BYE BYE BRAIN CELLS!

Disc One - February 23, 1974

Disc Two - September 08, 1974

Artsy Astronauts:

Trip Shakespeare, a long defunct Minneapolis-based American rock band was granted a permanent place in the early bunkers of my musical memory due to hearing their strange "Tool Master of Brainard" song repeatedly on the college radio station that I tuned into late at night. What a great song, full of glammed up guitars, a pounding rhythm section, and that unique Trip Shakespeare vocal approach that fused baroque harmonies with a decidedly goofy slant. I already posted that album back over here (oops-link is dead now. I'll repost if there is a request), so now it's time to get into their 1990 platter Across The Universe. This album carries the same trademark sounds that I have loved from this group, but this time the song craft has been sharpened a bit; revealing a bit more layered approach both in production and composition. The jangly songs are played harder, the sweet songs are sweeter, and the goofy element certainly comes into play on tracks like "The Nail" and "The Slacks" (whose lyric concept is so ridiculous that it boggles my mind that it was even recorded in a semi-serious manner). Personally, I find the more tuneful songs here to be most potent. Both "Gone, Gone, Gone" and "Late" are pristine examples of T.S.'s literary take on lyric writing and compelling and somewhat mysterious storytelling that grab the imagination while the sheer hook of the tune just drives the song deeper into the brain.

As I wrote in the previous post of this Trip Shakespeare, their music seemed to have it's own singular vision which I have never heard duplicated. Sure, the basic template is a big pop sound... T- Rex, XTC, Big Star, Posies are names that may come to mind; maybe even a little bit of Cheap trick in there. But in place of cool rockers playing this stuff, imagine the local college Poetry Club or Paisley Appreciation Society jamming it out. Yeah...corny, for sure; but a lot of fun.

SPACE OUT

Manic Spanic:

With a barrage of fast picking razor sharp melodic guitar lines, the father and son team of the Spanic Boys (Tom and Ian, respectively) seemed to have made a dent in some alternative music circles in the late 80's. I recall reading glowing reviews as a youngster in various magazines. Listening to these 12 tracks, the boy's reverential mastery of old Rockabilly is evident; as is their talent for double-lead vocal harmonies, and a clear concise approach to writing hook-laden songs!

I listened to this quite a bit this Summer and tracks like the rollicking "Too Bad, So Sad" and the minimal gallop of "Lonely Man" just seemed to make my drives pleasant as hell.

RIDE ON

Great Scots!

To announce my return from holiday in a rather festive style, here comes APB! Those of you who may have been alive and kicking in the mid 80's music scene in upstate New York may have been keen on this Scottish trio who seemed to have developed a good following in that particular region due to some key DJ's granting praise and support. And support and praise where due; because this forgotten album rules with it's sparse, skeletal funk arrangement, jagged guitar lines, and a healthy dose of New Wave danceability, APB simply seemed to push all the right buttons in this game. Shame that they were never really the big deal in global popularity seeing as just about every one of these numbers on this re-released 20th anniversary edition of their Something To Believe In record absolutely kills. Think the musical muscle of Boys Don't Cry era The Cure, Franz Ferdinand, or a less political Gang Of Four; mix in the discriminating songwriting power of early U2 or Talk Talk and you've got yourself a great record brimming with an urgent manic energy yet classy enough to hold it together with style.

YOU WILL BELIEVE!

APB one (original album + bonus cuts)

APB two (various live songs + a few demos)

Where's Jay?

Hey, WTF-ites...Jay's been on holidaze and will be b a c k soon!
Don't cry.

International Man Of Amoré:

This one will hopefully appeal to anybody who dug the Exquisite Dogshit compilation I posted awhile back. It was originally posted back in July 19, 2007. Check HERE (the megaupload link still seems to be functional). For those of you who have already downloaded that set and have lived and laughed with it for awhile; the name of Tony Fabbris should be nothing new to you. His rousing politically-charged anthems signal a new, brave tomorrow; where freedom fighters charge ahead in the name of democracy as his tracks "God Bless New York" blaze out of the red white and blue stereo speakers on the battlefield.

Well, here is the entire Tony Fabbris recording entitled LOVE AND INSPIRATIONAL SONGS INTERNATIONAL. It's a rousing set of tunes among them are the already mentioned future anthem "God Bless New York" as well as "The Berlin Wall" (also featured on the E.D. comp.).........BUT WAIT--THERE'S MORE!!!!! Tony is not just a man with social justice and anti-terrorist tunes in his repertoire; he's also got love on the mind. Special lady...special lady...all the good stuff gets juiced up and stuck in the head.

Hell, there is even a FUCKING KARAOKE TRACK on here; just i case you want to bust out your own hot rendition of "The Berlin Wall" at your next fret party. Can't go wrong with this.

Not only that, but the man has moves. Do you know word went through my mind the second I discovered his videos on youtube? SCORE!

Somebody Slipped Me A Mickey:

Quick question:

Where do Tom Waits, The Replacements, James Taylor, Yma Sumac, Los Lobos, Bonnie Raitt, Syd Straw, Natalie Merchant, Michael Stipe, Sinead O'Conner, Buster Poindexter and Sun Ra all get together to express their love for vintage songs made popular by Walt Disney films?

Well, the answer is the STAY AWAKE compilation (originally released in 1988).

Thanks to visionary Hal Willner for giving us such a strange, delightful, and disturbing record.

Mind-boggling, on a few levels...even tho' it has it's pitfalls.

You Decide.

And...

a few re-posting requests:

GOLDEN's self-titled disc

and

MAN-Z is back!

***If you have not seen the MAN-Z videos yet, I suggest you travel to the original post and take a good long look.

Up There, Out There:

The wonderful sounds of Earth's own magnetosphere, captured here by American radio hobbyist Stephen P. McGreevy, are blissful tones of shimmering harmonic radiance and weird nocturnal whistles. Stephen is a bonafide VLF expert/nerd and likes to share his recording experiences with those interested (just check his website for more geek-out info). These field recordings contain lots of crackle and hiss and are most certainly an amateur affair, but it all adds to the sheer charm and pleasure of the experience.

Allow yourself to get lost within these blissful late-night waves.

Spectral Sound

Cabaret Slot:

The year is 1967 and you don't have much else to do, really. So you enter a recording booth with a handful of semi-sweet songs and lay them down to tape and walk away, visit a cat, sample some coq au vin, and then casually go back to the lounge set. You're name is Sandie Shaw.

Please?

I Love My Face:

   Another monstrous slab of jerky paranoid punk. Like a geek with muscles, NOMEANSNO burst through your mind with raging fast paced bass lines that pound into your cranium, guitar that guts your soul, and insane drumming that gouges eyeballs left and right. Black Flag meets Minutemen? Lots of classick cuts on this one..."It's Catching Up", "Two LIps, Two Lungs And One Tongue", "All Lies", and the weird "Rags And Bones" which seems to incorporate some sort of pseudo-hillbilly rap. You think Lil Wayne was checking out WRONG back in '89?

WRONG!

XBY REQUESTX:

re-up of NOMEANSNO's essential THE DAY EVERYTHING BECAME NOTHING alburm is HERE

and a smattering of chocolat ~ HENRY and her mini A LA MODE cd can be found bundled together in THIS spot.

Low Times:

   Life Without Buildings were a short-lived, post New Wave-esque band who managed to  document their great sound with this sole studio album. The musical output rendered here is quite good; with a decidedly underhanded bass-led sound, the band whip through their tunes with style and confidence. Each line seems well thought out and is a good example of a band working within the "sum equals it's parts" practice. The vocals on this one will probably be a make-it-or- break-it factor for some. Sue Tomkins waifishly belts  out her words as if she was reading from her journal. Most of her lyrics are spoken in soft Scottish tones and she is fond of repetition within the music's seductive rhythms. Taken with the group's sparse "skeletal Smiths" sound, the vocals add a unique, quivering, frail touch.

AQUIRE

Everything You Wanted To Know About Jun Togawa (But Were Afraid To Ask):

   Like falling comets or aligned planetary bodies, once in a sacred while, a singer comes along who not only displays an amazing, life-changing voice--one that stops you dead in your tracks and takes hold of your soul for life; but also possesses a complex personality which is ripe with mystery, expression, and such a strong and pure natural beauty that a cosmic balance takes place where the artist's musical output becomes simultaneously intertwined with her life and the two run into one long blood flow. Please meet Jun Togawa.

   Her musical career has been long and fruitful, but has mostly stayed within the context of her native home country of Japan. Even here, she is something of a cult hero. One quick browse through Youtube and one can get a glimpse of her artistic contributions to Japan's fledgling 80's music scene. Her songs musical content stayed pretty close to the norm of the times: keyboards, synthetic drum sounds here and there, bubbly bass lines, etc. Above all of this, Jun's voice rages and pushes forth with an intent that is both sweet, naive, and utterly sinister. One cannot avoid a feeling of strange currents in the air when her piercing cries set forth or her whispers, which have the power to poke tiny holes in the senses, invade the atmosphere. It would be enough to hear her angelic devils exorcising themselves through song to make me satisfied for life; but the extra golden points come from the fact that not only is she an amazing singer, but her personality is so free and riveting that I feel she deserves to be recognized as a national, NAY, universal treasure!

   This is the SELF SELECT BEST & RARE 1979-2008 album and it's a a huge collection of music; three separate cd's with stuff ranging from her solo works, some jaw-droppingly intense live songs, as well as music recorded with a few of her other bands (Yapoos, Guernica, etc) and Jun's vocal range is so varied on some of these tracks. When I say "vocal range" what I feel I should be saying is "personality range" for it seems as if she takes the music, turns it into an outfit, slips it on, then oozes her own demons and vice and sweat and tears through it all to merge into one beautiful beast. Some cuts here float along with a distinctly festival-like feeling...one can picture swinging paper lanterns swaying in the breeze on a summer's night drinking party, other songs are far darker...slightly camouflaged by a subtle pop audio canvas and then to suddenly have Miss Togawa's dramatic words slash through the party with venom and bite. Still other songs presented here on this stellar collection reflect to the listener like a woman lying on a bed, surrounded by blurred photos of the same man, sticking bananas in her eyes...God I love that photo. Hell, if you haven't already started downloading at least one of these discs by now after reading this and seeing these amazing photographs I've posted...then there is no hope here for you, friend. Hell, I forgot to mention that there is a rare cover song here of Jun Togawa working through The Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale"!

   She has stood on her own for many years, gone through lots of personal hell (too much to really post here) and collaborated with and impressive group of colleagues (Haruomi Hosono and Otomo Yoshihide to name a few), and she has been a beacon of inspiration to a large group of artists. I'm proud to present this here and I hope you will enjoy this powerful body of work.

VIVA JUN TOGAWA!

LEGEND OF TOGAWA DISC I

LEGEND OF TOGAWA DISC II

LEGEND OF TOGAWA DISC III

Sweet Times:

   Two quick single from very popular j-pop singer Chara who possesses one of the most unique voices...simple and childlike yet very sultry and somewhat bluesy. The music on these two singles are heavy on the light pop. LEMON CANDY is a certified pop classic that will get stuck in your head no matter how much Japanese you understand. The CHARA + YUKI single was a one off released back in 1999 which paired Chara with Judy And Mary's lead singer, Yuki. This song is really hard to take with a really funny/bad rapping part and overall a weird song that doesn't suit either singer and they both sound strangely out of tune and straining their voices. BUT...the song has steel pan drums in it. Weird.

Both are Here.

More Chara and JAM coming soon...well...if you want.

JAWS:

   The Japanese dub group DRY & HEAVY get the remix treatment from dub master KING JAMMY and the results are a satisfying swirling journey into some deep dark summertime dub. Perfect soundtrack to the upcoming April days.

IT BITES

Hanoi Rocketh Me Tonyte:

    There's so much I could write about Hanoi Rocks... what a great band! Full of sleaze and dripping with that trash/glamour image that they seem to sport so well in their heyday. I also loved the fact that this band retained a sense of mystery and myth. Their songs are kick-up anthems of wasted days, girls, booze, yet written with incredible style. They were never afraid to incorporate elements like reggae, surf, rockabilly, yet gel them together into one highly impressive body of work. They always seemed to unfortunately get lumped in together with bands like Poison (whom they obviously influenced) but Hanoi Rocks were so much more than a goofy hair metal band.

    I was unsure of which album to post here first, but we'll start with this masterpiece BACK TO MYSTERY CITY to get the ball rolling. Tons of great songs on here, some classics, and a few really weird ones. For fans of New York Dolls, the first Motley Crue album (TOO FAST FOR LOVE, i.e. the good one) and I even hear a little bit of The Clash in here as well.

ROCK NOW!

MESSAGE FROM YOUR ASS~MASTAH:

Guess what, people:
I found another 60 copies of "THE A CAPELLA CANTATA" cd in my barn in death valley. These are the last remaining copies of the original (and only) pressing of 500 copies of this album.
Contact me nondor@gmail.com
to buy one. They're 20$ each.

JEEZUS==stop looking at this and just GET GET GET you consumer mole!
http://www.myspace.com/n0nd0rn3va1
HAIL<<<<<