This has been an excellent week for music releases in Japan, with 3 albums that are now in constant rotation on my iPod and iMac.
Fantastic Plastic Machine - TOO - A new album by Tanaka-san, which continues in the same style he’s been using since the release of BEAUTIFUL. I still prefer the FPM of old (the first two albums), but this is still fun music, and has a good beat for when you’re walking to work.
Sweet Robots Against the Machine - RE: TOWA TEI - This is a remix album of the TOWA TEI album, and offers some interesting alternates of the tracks. Still haven’t listened to it much, but I like a lot of what I’ve heard (even though I’m pretty sure I prefer all the original versions).
Sketch Show - TRONICA - A new EP by two ex-members of of the seminal group YMO (whose third member was Ryuchi Sakamoto). This is such a great little CD, and includes two tracks produced by Cornelius. If you haven’t sampled Sketch Show yet, do yourself a favor and check out their full-length AUDIO SPONGE album. A nice mix of smooth electronicism and breezy melodies.
Category: General
finding this release very hard to track down despite an album of the month review in the wire - any ideas where i can get it from?
The best place to find all these albums if you don’t live in Japan is through Patrick’s excellent Tokyo Record Hunting Service. If he doesn’t stock the albums you want, you can make requests and he’ll do his best to find them for you.