When I look at the titles occupying my various listening playlists, I notice a lot of catalog titles. That doesn’t bode well for 2009 releases. How can I make a Favorite Edition list when I’m not paying attention to what’s being released? As a result, only nine slots on this list of 10 are filled. I haven’t done much research to see if Q3 promises anything to fill that last spot, and if it did, what are the chances some old album by the Dukes of the Stratosphear won’t distract me?
VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE is set to release a new album titled SA-KA-NA ELECTRIC DEVICE on July 29, reports Bounce.com. Band leader Ahito Inazawa wrote all lyrics and music for the 10-track album, which is the first-full length release by the band since 2006’s ANDROID ~like a house mannequin~. VOLA is also working on a split single with Italian band Hey Hey Radio titled WEEKEND LOVERS and will appear at a number music festivals this summer.
This entry is less a review and more of a reminiscence.
The first time I listened to this collection of Morton Feldman’s work was in 1992. I was on a student exchange program to New York City and having a rough time with homesickness. I was also nowhere near coming out of the closet, and on the night this album was playing on my boombox, a fellow exchange program participant approached me and said maybe I should come out of the closet.
That talk was the first time another person voiced what I had been thinking, but before we entered that discussion, he remarked the music sounded like some horror movie soundtrack.
The album, titled American Masters: The Music of Morton Feldman, was on loan from CRI, where I worked as an intern that year. I brought it back and considered buying a copy for myself, but I never got around to it.
So my latest excuse for not updating this site: I finished writing a novel.
I showed some friends this unfinished manuscript I’ve had sitting around since 2004, and they wanted to know how the story ended. So in between all the stuff I’ve been doing for Eponymous 4, I decided to chip away at it. I got the first draft done over the weekend. Now comes the arduous task of editing and rewriting.
I wrote the novel mostly without any music playing, but in that last stretch, I put on a whole bunch of Eastern European and Central Asian composers on the media player, primarily string quartets.
My Last.fm history should show multiple plays of Alfred Schnittke, Henryk Górecki, Béla Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich, Osvaldo Golijov and a few instances of Sofia Gubaidulina. (A smattering of Arvo Pärt and Witold Lutoslawski is in there too.) I don’t think I reached a point where I had to bust out any Giya Kancheli.
When I discovered my own subscription plan would be shaved from 65 to 37 tracks a month, my initial reaction was, "Where’s the cancel button?" Of all the major labels with which eMusic could team up, Sony is relatively milquetoast. I would have been far more impressed if they snagged Warner Music Group, or even EMI. But when I think of indie music — even major label-subsidized indie music — Sony is not within the solution set.
But I use eMusic mostly for classical music. And the merger of Sony and BMG back in 2004 meant the consolidation of two of the deepest classical music catalogs. The Sony partnership will reportedly add about 200,000 tracks to the eMusic catalog. It can’t all be Kenny Chesney and Alicia Keys.
So for the time being, I’ll be sticking around eMusic to see how the classical offerings turn out. If I’m not impressed, I’m out of there. Hopefully, Lala will still be around.
Bounce.com reports Japanese actress Tomosaka Rie will release a new album, Toridori, on June 24. Also arriving the same day is a reissue of her best album, rie tomosaka best + 3.
In addition to contributions by Shiina Ringo and members of Tokyo Jihen, the eight-track Toridori includes collaborations by Kimura Kaela and Clammbon’s Harada Ikuko and Mito. The best album is the same as her 1999 release, with the addition of the "Shoujo Robot" single written by Shiina and released in 2000.
Tomosaka Rie, Toridori
Curtain Fall (Music, lyrics and arrangement by Mito)
Tokai no Manner (Music and lyrics by Shiina Ringo; arrangement by Tokyo Jihen)
Mezame (Music, lyrics and arrangement by Ukigumo [Tokyo Jihen])
TARINSU (Music, lyrics and arrangement by Izawa Ichiyou [Tokyo Jihen])
Zutto (Music by ZOOCO, lyrics by K-Muto and ZOOCO, arrangement by K-Muto)
GOOD DAY GOOD BYE (Lyrics by Harada Ikuko, music and arrangement by Oohata Yuuichi)
Kodomo no Jyoukei (Lyrics by Shiina Ringo and Izawa Ichiyou, music and arrangement by Shiina Ringo)
Mother Goose (Lyrics by Kaela Kimura, music and arrangement by Mito)
A while back I mentioned Hatakeyama Miyuki is releasing a solo career retrospective. Well, the track list of the album, titled CHRONICLE 2001-2009, is now available.
Although released on Hatakeyama’s current label, Rhythm Zone, the album contains tracks from her EMI Japan years, as well as various theme songs she’s recorded for a number of films. The collection has 18 tracks total.
A few news items were posted to Bounce.com, and rather than report on them individually, I’m wrapping them up in a single round-up:
UA is set to release a new album, titled ATTA, on July 22. This time around, she works with the likes of YOSHIMO from the Boredoms, Hosono Haruomi and Asamoto Hirofumi.
Also arriving July 22 is a new single by Onitsuka Chihiro, titled "Kaerimichi wo Nakushite". Bounce describes it as a "straight, majestic ballad". Her latest single, "X/Last Melody", is released today.
ART-SCHOOL is currently in the studio putting the final touches on its next album to be released on Aug. 5. The album features new member Suzuki Hiroyuki, who replaces drummer Sakurai Yuuichi.
Today (May 20) is a pretty big release day. In addition to the aforementioned Onitsuka, new releases by Sasagawa Miwa, detroit7, Fuji Fabric and FLiP hit the stores. Alas, I pre-ordered none of these, thinking I may pick them up later in the year, when I head to Japan for vacation.
I really, really want to hear the new Sasagawa and FLiP albums. FLiP’s Haha kara Umareta Hinekure no Uta has become one of my favorite late discoveries, and I’m glad I caught the band at the Japan Preview party at SXSW this past March. I hope Fuji Fabric’s previous album, TEENAGER, is still around — I never picked it up, even though I like it alot.
I was 8 years old when Stephanie Mills scored a hit with "Never Knew Love Like This", and my motivation for wanting a 7-inch single of this song was pretty basic — I liked it.
Nearly 30 years later, I still enjoy listening to it. Most R&B today is done with an arsenal of synthesizers and samplers, so the sound of a live band backing Mills feels pretty refreshing by comparison.
I’m finding myself slowly getting fascinated by the R&B of that era. Lakeside’s "Fantastic Voyage" and the S.O.S. Band’s "Take Your Time (Do It Right)" — they were done by live musicians. Who does what they did nowadays?
Still got nothing. Still listening. Still letting the backlog grow. So how about some pictures?
One of the birthday gifts I gave to myself was a score to George Crumb’s Black Angels. I’ve only ever seen an excerpt of this score shrunk down to fit the size of a college textbook (the Norton Anthology of Music, to be exact.) I’ve never seen the actual score.
