[Jordan]

Half the artists you people name I've never heard of.

Does anybody know of any quality Japanese groups? I would like to hear some.

ALso, toss me some good songs by Bjork.

[Reader]

Forget songs by Bjork.. you need ALBUMS! There's only 4 or 5 that any Bjork fan NEEDS. So, go to any of the used cd stores on Granville and look for some of her stuff there. There's almost always something.

As for Japanese groups, i wish i could get to know a few more, but some i recommend now are: Cornelius, Puffy (if you dig pop), B'z (kinda like Bon Jovi, except Japanese... which somehow makes it cool), Ryuichi Sakamoto (neo-classical, world-fusionist, electro-pop pioneer and some more)... someone else will fill in the vast blanks therein.

anyway, down to business:
CD
Love - Forever Changes (good... kinda over-hyped?)
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontakte
Earth Wind and Fire - Gratitude

Lastly,
jariten: i'm interested in seeing your responses to this topic.

[jariten]

ok i did that.

as for Japanese bands Jordan, what kind of stuff are you listening to now?

heres a list of all the japanese bands/artists who got me through the last 3 years here-

Kaji Hideki -honestly, i dont say this lightly, hes a genius. hes made some of the most intelligent, well crafted, brilliantly structured pop songs ive ever heard in my life.

Cymbals- if you listen to KH and like him, heres your next stop. theyve split up now, unfortunatly. but their album 'Mr Noone special' is essential.

Great 3- produced by John Mcintire of Torroise/thrill jockey. very sea and cake esque, absolutly heart breakingly beautiful songs with violins, harmonics, bass, intelligence etc.

polysics- insane, devo inspired electro pop songs. furious, but also brilliantly throwaway. buy National P and try tom stop humming 'lookin lookin ga' or 'cars' (my favourite)

guitar wolf- probaly still the best that japanese garage has to offer. the album 'jet generation' still floors me today its gotta be the most essential PUNK (and i mean that) album of the 90's. criminally ignored.

Kururi- didnt like their last album ('antenna') much, because they laspsed into a much more traditional rock sound. listen to the world is mine though. my terrible descriptions cant do the consistant brilliance of that album justice. i keep using words like intelligent and brilliantly crafted but honeslty the range of stuff on that album is amazing, even better that it can still remain so tight. Also, the band name is sometimes spelt Quruli (wrongly, i think) in english.

Also check out anything on the labels i love- the now defunct trattoria records (was run by Keigo Oyamada aka Cornelius. now possibly renamed as felicity. a lot of the old trattoria guys, including Kaji Hideki and Cornelius, are releasing there now. theyre also releasing stuff by the slits and swell maps)

records, tokyo pizzicato 5, early Fantastic Plastic Machine (when he was good)

readymade mansfield, other ace 'club pop' (the name sounds rubbish, but its a good genre. if you like P5 you'll love it)

escalator yukari fresh, neil and izaira (one half of which also briefly formed a band with Kaji Hideki called dots and borders. they released one hard to find single, but it wasnt too hard for me)

is that enough for starters?

[Jordan]

Thanks a bunch Jariten. The only artist I could find that was half decent was this Pop singer...Forgot the name.

I'm going to check those bands out right now.

[jariten]

also, im not sure if i made this clear in my post but escalator, records tokyo, trattoria and felicity are just record labels, not bands or anything.

can you find those bands on the internet?? or will you use Limewire or something like it?

[mrtimp]

Pantera-Live 101 Proof
Slayer-Seasons in the Abyss

[jariten]

ted leo and the pharmacists- hearts of oak (ted is chris leos brother from The Van Pelt and the Lapse)

mission of burma- on off on album of the year!!

[somecanadianguy]

Slayer-Reign In Blood

[Heccubus]

Boards Of Canada - "Music Has The Right To Children"

[jariten]

i loved that album, but i wasnt so impressed with their last one (so much that i cant even remember the title of it)

[Heccubus]

Allmusic.com had it listed as their best, and it also happened to be the cheapest. The music gods were with me that time around, I think.

[Reader]

CD's

of Montreal - Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies
of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic
Mission of Burma - ONoffON
Wilco - yankee hotel foxtrot
Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
Motorhed - Ace of Spade

EDIT: two days ago i got:
Blue Magoos - Psychadelic Lolliopo/Electric Comic Book
Velvet Underground & Nico
Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty

PLUS: Tenacious D complete Master works (only $20... worth it for the first disc, i'd say. Some of the other stuff isn't very funny by my standards (ie. too many cum jokes))
AND
Neil Young+Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps

This post has been edited by Reader: 26 August 2004 - 08:10 PM

[Despondent]

the Finn Brothers - Everyone is Here

arrived yesterday. Terrific stuff but I guess you'd expect to hear that from me.

[jariten]

only today i got

iron and wine our endless numbered days

[Heccubus]

Turbonegro - "Scandinavian Leather"
Dead Can Dance - "Into The Labyrinth"