Readymade Singles

Your Guide to Design and Pop Culture in Tokyo

Oct 30, 2003

Readymade International, Yasuharu Konishi’s record label, released a trio of singles/EPs on vinyl last week that I’ve been giving quite a few listens to (and thanks to Patrick for those rips, I do hope these will come out on CD in the near future). First up (and in order of the images that you see above the text) is a single by DJ 440 (pronounced “yo-shi-o,” as the jacket cover tells us, and supposedly an alter-ego of Konishi himself) called DJ 440′S INCREDIBLE MAMBO BAND that features lots and lots of bongos. I’ve actually been enjoying those bongo beats, more than I expected. Next is an EP by Halfby (someone I’ve never heard of) called AND THE COATI MUNDI EP. It’s rather good club-pop, definitely in the style of old Readymade releases. Last, and the release I was most looking forward to hearing, is a new EP by Karia Nomoto, ARIA, KARIA, MARIA EP. There are 5 tracks, but the first 2 are purely instrumental and serve as somekind of intro, but they’re quite good. Another track is actually a very different version of a song she did on the latest Hair album, SEE ROMA AND DIE. I absolutely love the track, and it sounds like something straight out of a 60s musical. When I hear it I imagine Karia traipsing alongside Catherine Deneuve in LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG. The last track on the EP is one I have the most trouble with, mostly because of the extremely lame lyrics. It also has a techno-ish beat that I don’t care for, although it does remind me of HAPPY END OF THE WORLD era Pizzicato Five.

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Jean Snow is a contributor to Arcade Mania, your guide to the arcade gaming scene in Japan (Amazon US/Amazon Japan). He also provided assistance on Tokyolife: Art and Design, a guide to Tokyo's cultural output of the past few years, covering the works of over 80 influential creatives.

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A longtime resident of Tokyo, he lives and breathes design, pop culture, and gaming, sustained by an unhealthy addiction to magazines and frequent visits to his favorites cafes. He has reported on these obsessions for various online/offline publications, including the following: Time, Inside (Australian Design Review), Gizmodo, Gridskipper, Kotaku, 1UP, Tokyo Q, Superfuture, OK Fred, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, I.D. (International Design), Metropolis, Azure, MoCo Loco, Kateigaho International Edition, Wired's Game|Life, PingMag, CNNGo, Phaidon, and The Japan Times.

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