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Guest mix by DBGO (Soundcloud / YouTube / Playmoss)
Editor’s note: I’m thrilled to share a follow-up mix from Barcelona-based DBGO, whose YouTube channel is a treasure trove of rarities, and who makes an equally transportive series of mixes, many of which focus on a time-and-location specific musical subgenres and can send you down months-long rabbit holes. You can listen to Part One here. This is another selection of French folk avant-garde between 1976 and 1989. Hope you enjoy it.Tracklist:
1. Dominique Guiot – Wind Surf Ballad (1978)
2. Serge Bulot – Euryale (1981)
3. Teddy Lasry – Seven Steps (1983)
4. Serge Korjanevski – Petales de Voix Instrumentale (1988)
5. Frédérick Rousseau – The Opening (1988)
6. Fred Manda – Incantation (1988)
7. Serge Korjanevski – Saisons Du Coeur Instrumentale 2ème Partie (1988)
8. André Ceccarelli et Bernard Arcadio – Forest (1986)
9. Jean-Pierre Boistel et Tony Kenneybrew – A Capucine (1989)
10. Bruno De La Salle – Melodie Orientale (1978)
11. Hector Zazou – By The Sea (1985)
12. Tamia & Pierre Favre – Maroua (1988)
13. Théâtre du Chêne Noir d’Avignon – La 7 (1976)
14. Madhya – Meditations (1987)
15. Lightwave – Modular experiment 4 (1987)
16. Luc Marianni – Synthetic Suite N°3 Pour Synthétiseur (1986)
Here’s my most recent episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio. It sort of feels like a continuation of last month’s mix–slinky, flirty, loungey, and never picking up too much speed. I recently revisited Dusty Springfield’s version of “Spooky” in headphones, and while I’ve been a longtime fan of hers, I was particularly floored by her vocal quality and intonation, so that was the jumping-off point here. I hope you like it! You can download an mp3 version here.
Tracklist: 1. World Standard – Pasio 2. Frank Harris & Maria Marquez – Campesina 3. Miharu Koshi – Tohboh-Sha 4. Yves Tumor – The Feeling When You Walk Away 5. Dusty Springfield – Spooky 6. Márta Sebestyén & Levente Szörényi – András 7. Karin Krog – Just Holding On 8. Quarteto Em Cy – Caminho De Pedra 9. Lena d’Água – Tão 10. Fred Manda – Cartoon In Kartoum 11. Patrice Rushen – Let Your Heart Be Free 12. Solange (no, not that Solange) – Quero Um Baby Seu 13. Gal Costa – Baby 14. Nora Guthrie – Home Before Dark 15. Hiroyuki Namba – Hiru No Yume
I’m very, very excited to share a two hour mix I made of Haruomi Hosono‘s work, which was a contribution to NTS Radio’s Hosono Day last weekend (here’s to hoping it becomes an annual tradition). As you might imagine, this was simultaneously a joy and a total nightmare to make, as Hosono has contributed to over 900 releases and has refused to be hampered by genre–so rather than trying to pick one vicinity and stay there, I instead tried to find a through-line between my Hosono favorites all over the map. Happily, this selection also gives proper airtime to his fascination with Indian instrumentation–Bollywood, Indian classical, folk, and everywhere in between. At the risk of sounding sentimental, I found myself moved to tears more than once while working on this, as it’s astounding to be confronted by the weight of his genius and innovation while sifting through his archives.
And–there’s more! The lineup of contributors to Hosono Day include some of my favorite artists, labels, and curators, so it was a real thrill to be included among them and to hear so many different expressions of Hosono–I would encourage you to listen to all of it. Happy listening, and a belated happy Hosono Day! You can download an mp3 version of it here.
Tracklist: 1. Haruomi Hosono – Hum Ghar Sajan 2. Haruomi Hosono – The Animal’s Opinion 3. Yellow Magic Orchestra – Seoul Music 4. Haruomi Hosono – Luminescent/Hotaru (edit) 5. Susan – Ah! Soka 6. F.O.E. – Total Eclipse 7. Haruomi Hosono – Laugh-Gas (edit) 8. Love, Peace & Trance – Hush – A Mandala Ni Påli 9. Haruomi Hosono – 若紫 10. Haruomi Hosono – Muji Original Background Music 11. Haruomi Hosono – Air-Condition 12. Haruomi Hosono – Sunnyside Of The Water 13. Interior – Luft 14. Inoyama Land – Wässer 15. World Standard – Pasio (edit) 16. Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki & Tatsuro Yamashita – スラック·キー·ルンバ (Slack Key Rhumba) 17. Akiko Yano – Tong Poo 18. Tatsuro Yamashita – Rainy Walk 19. Yukihiro Takahashi – Sea Change 20. Mickey Curtis – Tengoku No Yoru 21. Chiemi Manabe – ねらわれた少女 22. Dark Ducks – Dandy Dandy 23. H.I.S. – Nihon No Hito (Japanese People) 24. Hiroshi Sato – Jo-Do 25. Harry Hosono & The Yellow Magic Band – Worry Beads 26. Pizzicato V – The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) 27. Haruomi Hosono – Sports Men 28. Sandii – Zoot Kook 29. Hiroko Yakushimaru – 透明なチューリップ (Transparent Tulip)
A classic. While Hosono needs no introduction around here, I’m realizing that Tatsuro Yamashita has perhaps not been given enough air time. For the unfamiliar, Yamashita is iconic in his own right, not just because of his classic Japanese Christmas favorite “Christmas Eve” or his enormous output but also because of his signature early-80’s take on a wall-of-sound expansiveness crossed with a deep love for the Beach Boys, relentlessly clever songwriting, and of course, mirror-polished synth programming. Shigeru Suzuki is perhaps best known for his work with Happy End and Tin Pan Alley, and is also a wildly prolific session musician, who’s contributed to over 588 recordings as of 2006.
Which brings us to Pacific, for which each track was composed by one of the above three. It also includes plenty of of contributions from–you guessed it–Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. Though YMO’s self-titled debut was also released in 1978, from what I understand Pacific came first, and feels very akin to much of the exotica and fusion that Hosono had already been fixated on across several projects. Still, Pacific is clearly the product of a handful of masterminds having fun together: its unabashed tropical nostalgia acts as a jumping off point for flitting between genres (lounge, funk, disco, rhumba, smooth jazz, Latin fusion, synth pop), all delivered in full-color with jaunty, winking songwriting.
Even with vaporwave and its kitsch-scraping genre contemporaries behind us, Pacific holds up as well as ever. It’s only in closer “Cosmic Surfin'” that we get a taste of the more hard-edged, crunchy electro that became YMO’s signature sound, and fittingly, a different version of the song went on to appear on YMO’s debut the same year. I highly recommend listening to this as much as possible before fall rolls around.
Guest post by Milena Nugget (Optimal Ripeness)
This album gives me the chills. With the expansive synth sound typified by other Australian synth-pop groups like Icehouse, and brutally catchy, Madonna-esque sugary dance beats, this is a record full of earworms. At the centre is Tina Cross’s exceptional voice, which can range from the cool and gliding (“Over to You,” “Think of Me”) to the effortlessly bouncy (“Body Talk,” “Meant to Be”), and suggests Kate Bush and Cyndi Lauper inspiration. In several ways Koo Dé Tah stood in contrast with their contemporaries. Australian pop music in the 80s was heavily Anglo-Saxon male-dominated—whether by virtue of the pub rock circuit, insular cultural attitudes, or otherwise. Koo Dé Tah was comprised of two accomplished musicians with differing backgrounds (New Zealander Tina Cross with Māori heritage, and former Russian popstar Leon Berger). That they had a radio hit with “Too Young For Promises” and were still unafraid to take risks and experiment makes this record all the more remarkable.
Guest mix by DBGO (Soundcloud / YouTube / Playmoss)
Editor’s note: I’m thrilled to share this gorgeous mix from Barcelona-based DBGO, whose YouTube channel is a treasure trove of rarities, and who makes an equally transportive series of mixes, many of which focus on a time-and-location specific musical subgenres and can send you down months-long rabbit holes. This is a selection of French folk avant-garde with a little spice from 1980 to 1991.Tracklist:
1. Bernard Xolotl – Venusian Aurora, 1981
2. Noco Music – Eclipse, 1989
3. Compagnie chez Bousca – Song For Nyama: Pluie, Départ Arreté – Song For Nyama, 1991
4. La Fondation – Dérive, 1983
5. Costin Miereanu – Piano – Miroir, 1984
6. Philippe Cauvin – Chanson Facile D’Amour, 1984
7. Brigitte Jardin & Claude Marbehant – Poids-Plume, 1980
8. Ginni Gallan – L’Amour Ça Rend Fou, 1982
9. Steve Waring – Cailloux Bambou, 1989
10. Cyrille Verdeaux & Bernard Xolotl – Star Gulls, 1981
11. Didier Bonin – Ecumes, 1982
12. Philippe Cauvin – Lolita, 1981
13. Jean-Pierre Boistel / Tony Kenneybrew – Vas Y Peter, 1989
14. Jacques Roman – Melodie Boreale, 1986
15. Daniel Goyone – Danse Des Lamantins, 1986
16. Henry Torgue / Serge Houppin – New Barocco, 1990
Here’s my newest episode of Getting Warmer for NTS Radio. Funk, synth pop, and lots of vocal harmonies. If you like it, you can download an mp3 version here. Enjoy!
Tracklist: 1. Deniece Williams – Free 2. Shinichi Tanabe – Hell’s Gate Island Theme 3. Marju Kuut & Uku Kuut – I Don’t Have To Cry Anymore 4. Koo Dé Tah – Over To You 5. Dee C. Lee – Hey What’d Ya Say? 6. Jennifer Vyban – Miracles 7. Mami Koyama – Love Song 8. Love, Peace & Trance – Hasu Kriya (Single Version) 9. Brenda Ray – Another Dream 10. Velly Joonas – Käes On Aeg 11. Astrud Gilberto – Dindi 12. Syoko – Sunset 13. Minako Yoshida – Gogo No Koibito
Today we bring you Dance Volunteer, the second and final full-length from Japanese new-wavers Portable Rock. It’s from 1987, but this isn’t the sleek “city pop” sound which contemporary acts like Kero Kero Bonito or Especia aspire to recreate today. Nor is it the coquettish shibuya-kei style which members of Portable Rock went on to pioneer after reuniting to form the much beloved Pizzicato Five. No, this is the big, bold 80s synth pop that time forgot. It seems a lack of commercial success led to the breakup of Portable Rock, and I’m surprised. The songs on Dance Volunteer are full of big, memorable hooks and the kind of spacious synth production that has aged particularly well for modern audiences. Maybe the slick production is the culprit for the abandoning of the project, as it was presumably expensive, and money means more pressure to chart. Yet Dance Volunteer has oddities all over it. Audio quirks stand out everywhere, like little square pegs in the round synth holes that are trying to steer the album into more marketable territory.
Listen to the way “憂ウツの (Hold Me)” breaks periodically to turn into the future, channeling the intro of a 90s house track for trance-like seconds of airtime. Hear how the title track (“ダンス・ボランティア”) is carried by a kind of strange wolf whistle, with an almighty injection of guitar in its chorus that sounds as heady as your first kiss. It’s heart racing stuff. I’m also in love with the vocal lick that “スムース・トーク” (“Sumusu Toku,” a Japanese phoneticization of “smooth talk”) coasts on for its entirety, sounding like a Disney soundtrack to a sunny convertible ride. And the lunar grooves of the ninth track, “キュートな事情” (“Kyuto No Jijou”) make a strong case for it being the first trip-hop track ever made. Listen to this, then cast an ear on any Massive Attack collaboration with Horace Andy, and you’ll see what I mean.
Listen to my newest mix for NTS Radio below. Moody slow-burners, futuristic textures, and a few anachronisms. If you like it, you can download an mp3 version here. Enjoy!