Japanese Prog!

I don't know any folk-prog (koto, flutes) Micky so recommendations are welcome!

It's remarkable how pivotal UK (Mark II) was in Japan along ELP and King Crimson but also Dutch band Trace was very appreciated, Japanese progheads love bombastic keyboard driven prog  !

Hello fellow progheads, here is some additional infomation, it is based upon an article I wrote for a Dutch progrock magazine.

 

ARS NOVA-THE BOOK OF THE DEAD

On this CD Ars Nova had chosen for a concept CD about the Egyptian history. Keyboard player Keiko Kumagai is very omnipresent, she delivers a wonderful and varied sound out of her digital equipment featuring flute, fagot, violins, flageolets and snare instruments like the Japanese koto. But in general Ars Nova their sound keep strong echoes from ELP, UK and Trace: many bombastic organ waves and sensational synthesizer runs on “Ankh” and “The judgement of Osiris” and beautiful, very sparkling piano work on “Field of Irau” (one of the highlights on this CD). A strong and pleasant keyboard driven progrock cd!

 

ARS NOVA - Biogenesis Project

Ars Nova delivers a SF concept: it’s 2301 and the earth is overcrowded, without nature, the ozone-layer has disappeared and an artificial sun is shining, a kind of Greenpeace doom-scenario! The story is written by Numero Ueno, the #1 Japanese proghead and deals about a fanatical nature organisation, space ships, robots, several ideologies and the deep-rooted evil in mankind. On this CD Ars Nova is supported by an impressive range of progrock artists: members from PFM, Goblin and Il Balletto Di Bronzo, the rhytm-section from Gerard and, I proudly presents, the Dutch genius Arjen Lucassen (the brainchild behind Ayreon). The music is in the tradition of the Japanese bombastic keyboard approach: dazzling synthesizer flights, virtuosic keyboard (inter)play and heavy floods of Mellotron and Hammond organ. In between there’s frequently Arjen’s fiery, very distinctive guitarsound. A strong contribution is from violin player Lucio Fabbri (PFM), he sounds like Jean-Luc Ponty at his best but the vocals are also OK featuring female singer Mika and ex-Leviathan vocalist Alex Brunori. At some moments the vocals sound a bit too theatrical and the compositions a bit fragmentic, in my opinion this CD would have gained at least one more star if Arjen Lucassen would have lived in Japan because of his compositional and producing skills.

 

BI KYO RAN - Parallax

The King Crimson-invasion must have snatched the bodies from Bi Kyo Ran, especially guitarist Kunio Suma seemed to have had alien-commands only to play like Robert Fripp! The album "Parallax" is the most original and varied one, loaded with ominous climates. The line-up features the # 1 Japanese keyboard virtuoso Mr. Toshio Egawa (Novela, Gerard, Scheherazade), he contributes with some beautiful Mellotron playing. The focus is on the blistering guitarwork but you can also hear instruments like the cello, violin and trumpet. Despite the obvious echoes from King Crimson, this CD has some very captivating moments.

 

CINEMA - Into the State of Flux

Cinema is founded on the ashes of Fromage, a fine Japanese progrock band that acted in the shadow of Outer Limits, Gerard and Ars Nova. This album has strong classical overtones featuring beautiful violinplay, sparkling piano, orchestral keyboards and opera- like vocals. The music evokes Pageant (lush symphonic atmosphere and sensitive electric guitar) and Outer Limits (classical instruments). The main part of this album contains the long track "Color of soul" (almost 20 minutes) featuring all the above mentioned elements and a wonderful Japanese undertone with a koto-like sound. If you like classical music and symphonic rock this is one to discover!

 

DEJA-VU-Baroque in the Future

The Japanese keyboardplayer Motoi Sakuraba sounds like the Japanese twin-brother of Eddie Jobson but I also trace elements from the style of Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. On this album you hear instrumental keyboard-oriented symphonic rock with a tight rhythm- section and nice and alternating compositions. The vocals sound a bit powerless but this may not stop the 'vintage-keyboard-aficionados' from checking out this CD. In my opinion "Baroque in the future" is not a classic but it contains wonderful keyboardplay.

 

FAR EAST FAMILY BAND

This is a legendary Japanese band, the first line-up included the known synthesizer player KITARO. The first album “The cave down to earth” from ’75 is mostly recommended, it has a spacey and slight psychdelic sound (like early PINK FLOYD) and contains ethnic elements which gives the music an original twist. Another fine album is “Nipponjin (’75) with a keyboard version of Far Out’s “Nihonjin” (Far Out was the precursor of FEFB). It’s in the vein of the debut-album, the climates ranges from bombastic to more mellow..

 

MAHOUJIN - Babylonia Suite

This is one of the lesser known Japanese progrock bands. The instrumental keyboard- oriented progrock (synthesizers, piano, organ and delicate Mellotron flights) is a bit similar to bands like Triumvirat (Germany) and Northstar (USA): the sound is tasteful and features not much solowork but remarkable is the very dynamic rhythm-section, especially the bassplayer blew me away.

 

MARGE LITCH-FANTASIEN

I needed a few session to get into Marge Litch their very varied progrock: classical and symphonic rock (orchestral keyboards), hardrock (heavy guitar riffs) and even opera (the vocals). This unique sound is delivered by good musicians, even the female vocalist (usually Japanese singers do have a bit squeeky voice!) and the compositions (most between 7 and 12 minutes) contains many surprising ideas and a clear sound. The keyboardplay is excellent, in the vein of Toshio Egawa (Novela, Gerard, Scheherazade). The guitarplayer showcases hit talents on the acoustic guitar in “Desire for wealth” (with echoes from John McLaughlin) and on the electric guitar in the captivating track “The sacred war” (a very moving solo). The highlight on this CD is the complex composition “Cruel alternative” featuring splendid keyboards (from majestic Mellotron to sparkling piano) and some great breaks. To be discovered!

 

MUGEN

This Japanese progrock band was founded in ’78 by Katsuhiko Hayashi (keyboards) and Takashi Nakamura (vocals and keyboards). Not until ’84 Mugen released their first album “Sinfonia della luna”, a very mellow CD with classical guitar, beautiful waves of Mellotron and sensitive electric guitar solos. A few accellarations and bombastic movements keep a certain tension in the music. The keyboardplay is very TONY BANKS inspired. The second album “Leda et la cygne” (’86) sound most alternating but the third “The princess of kingdome gone” (’88) is a bit disappointing, it lacks any tension. Obviously the band ran out of ideas and soon Mugen disbanded. On all albums the high-pitched vocals are remarkable, a kind of classical trained JON ANDERSON. The second album is considered as their best, thanks to contributions by Takashi Kawaguchi on violin (from OUTER LIMITS), Kazuhiro Miyatake on flute and Ikkou Nakujima on acoustic guitar (both from PAGEANT). The album has very strong classical overtones but showcases more explosive moments, due to the contribution of Takashi Kawaguchi (Outer Limits) on violin, Kazuhiro Miyatake on flute and acoustic guitar and Ikkou Nakujima (both from Pageant) on guitar). They lift this CD to a very pleasant level: elaborate compositions featuring classical guitar/violin, flute/Mellotron, electric guitar/church organ and classical orchestrations liek The Enid. The highlight on this CD is the long track "Edmond's Old Mirror" delivering bombastic keyboards in a dramatic atmosphere like Le Orme's finale on "Fellona E Sorona": awesome Mellotron flights, moving violin and some distorted electric guitar. The up-tempo song "Carmilla" (with synthesizer-runs like Rick Wakeman) shows the variety of this band.

 

PALE ACUTE MOON - Newtopia

— The only album Pale Acute Moon ever released contains tasteful arrangements but the influences from the British symphonic rock dinosaurs like Genesis, King Crimson, Yes and Pink Floyd are a bit too obvious! Some great keyboard soli on this CD are directly derived from several Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson runs. This may be a challenge for progheads to do a game who can recognize the original work! I always wonder: is this blind worship or creative poverty?

 

SOCIAL TENSION - It Reminds Me OF MacBethia

“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, ladies and gentlemen, .. Social Tension!”. Altough SOCIAL TENSION sounds like an ‘ELP fan’s wet dream’, they do not deserve to be described as just an ELP clone. Keyboard player Nobuo ‘Kodomo’ Endoh is a virtuosic but he has a more varied an refined sound than Keith EMERSON, using synthesizers, organ, piano, harpsichord, strings, classical orchestrations and ... Mellotron (Keith EMERSON refuses to play this instrument, it would cause unemployment for classical musicians he used to say). This CD is a compilation from the two albums “MacBethia” and “It reminds Me Of Those Days”, fortunately the record company has deleted the lacklustre tracks from the second CD for this compilation. The result is a very impressive tribute to the wonderful “Pictures../Trilogy” years: seven spectacular and dynamic keyboard-driven symphonic rock compositions with bombastic keyboard play and a powerful, very propulsive rhythm-section. Highlights are the two ‘epic’ title tracks with lots of breaks, changing of atmospheres and amazing keyboards solos. Breathtaking!

 

VIENNA - Progress - Last Live

When Yukihiro Fujimura left Gerard, he founded his own band and named it Vienna. After two studio-album Vienna released this live-album. The music features strong and fiery guitarplay (a lot of blistering soli), dazzling keyboards and many spectacular breaks. The band even plays a classical piece ("The planets" from Holst) but in general Vienna makes harder-edged progrock that lacks emotion and originality in the compositions altough the technical level is high. I prefer Gerard but if you like progrock with exciting heavy metal guitar, Vienna could be worth listening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hemulen wrote:     my favorites are: Ruins Koenjihyakkei Happy family Korekyojin bondage fruit Bi Kyo Ran

It's pretty much the same for me, plus I like some of the Acid Mothers Temple incarnations and offshoots. Acid Mothers Temple SWR is the psychedelic power trio against which all others must be judged, Zoffy are a great laugh and Kawabato Makoto's solo albums are well worth checking out.

Minamo ( almost totally improvised " ambient " or avant garde music. They use guitars and Computers and create very intresting music

Hello Avestin.

It's a bit weird but many Japanese bands have French inspired names. I asked the band Gerard about this when they performed in The Netherlands during their small European tour, they said Gerard is derived from a clothing shop in Tokyo  !

Most Japanese bands sing in their native language because their English is very poor  , I will check out which bands sing in English.

Hello fellow progheads.

Great response, great contributions but Honganji is bad for my self-esteem  ...... !

By the way, during this months it's time to get the annual tax paid back in The Netherlands so maybe this will help with your wishlist/orders ...  ...

I heard a couple of tracks from Fabulis Mirabilius Bombycosi Scriptis by Kenso on Delicious Agony Prog radio last month. Thought it was great!

I thought I'd get the album, but it seems that it's pretty tough to get hold of at a reasonable price.

Honganji - Thanks for all the information. I will definitely listen to some of the stuff you mentioned!

As someone has already said, this recent run of threads concerning music from different countries has been fantastic. Lots of great recommendations to check out. This is what I was hoping for when I signed up to PA!! The downside is that its costing me a bloody fortune in CDs!!

I came back from job

Japanese Prog Part 2

*Kenso - Symphonic jazz rock. Famous in USA. ALBUM: Biroudosho Kitan

*Prism - Jazz rock or fusion. Once ex-Yoninbayashi Morizono temporarily played in this group. ALBUM: III

*Pageant - I prefer 2nd album. 2nd is straight symphonic rock in comparison with 1st. ALBUM: Yume no Hoshu.

*Ie Rai Shan - ex-Pageant Nakajima's band in 1990s. Symphonic rock. ALBUM: Ie Rai Shan.

*Sense Of Wonder - One of the big name of Japanese symphonic rock bands. SOW started in early 1980s and still active. Great band !

*Datetenryu - Datetenryu is one of the oldest band which continues until today. I like around 1973-era Datetenryu. I'm attracted with wild performance. ALBUM: 1971

*Vermilion Sands - Sally Oldfield + Renaissance ?? Beautiful voice singer Royama was already dead. ALBUM: Water Blue

*Picaresque Of Bremen - Early Bremen was Jethro Tull type. However late they became progressive pop rock. Probably almost of Prog Archive members haven't heard this band. ALBUM: Chronoclasm

*Heretic - Electronics music virtuoso. However I don't hear this name recently. ALBUM: Escape Sequence

*Mugen - Classical symphonic rock. 1st and 2nd are great masterpiece in Japanese progressive scene. ALBUM: Sinfonia Della Luna

*Providence - Progressive rock band in Sapporo. There are 2 studio albums. I prefer 2nd album. ALBUM: Choko muro no Ichiya

*Optical*8 - Helmet + King Crimson ? Hoppy Kamiyama, Minato Masafumi, Otomo Yoshihide and reck played in this group. ALBUM: Bug

*Pochakaite Malko - Horizont + Henry Cow ? Avant garde rock. Both 1st and 2nd are excellent. ALBUM: Laya

*Katra Turana - Acoustic avant garde pop rock. No other group is close to them. 12 inch single: The End

*Asturias - Clear sound like Mike Oldfield. Also recent Acoustic Asturias is very good. ALBUM: Cryptogam Illusion

*Keep - Jazz rock. ALBUM: Rock'n Rocked Rock

*Taj Mahal Travellers - Experimental music. They were popular in Japan around 1973 - 74.

*Inoue Keizo - He is known as a jazz saxphone player. But his albums are also progressive rock ones. 1st and 3rd are excellent. ALBUM: Boys, Be Ambitious !

*Teru's Symphonia - ex-Novela Hirayama's symphonic rock band. However this group may stop today. ALBUM: Egg The Universe

*J.A.Caesar - Composer of play party Tenjosajiki. I suggest Tenjosajiki's album. ALBUM: Shintokumaru

*Killing Time - One of the best 80s band. Of course, they are still active. Experimental jazz rock ?! ALBUM: Skip

*Rosalia - All the five members are girls. Symphonic rock. Except Miura, they may not play the music now. ALBUM: Zillion Tears

*Bondage Fruit - They have released 6 albums (exclude compilation). Big name of 1990s and 2000s. ALBUM: Bondage Fruit IV

*Koenjihyakkei - Magma type. ALBUM: Koenjihyakkei

*Sakamoto Ryuichi - He is known as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra. There are many solo albums. In case of progressive rock, B-2 Unit is important album.

*Maria Kannon - VDGG type (temporarily). Kowata's vocal is aggressive ! ALBUM: Inujini

*Cinorama - Probably obscure band for common Prog Archive members. Tom Newman/Faerie Symphonie type band. ALBUM:Niwa niwa

*Fromage - Symphonic rock like Itoiz, Tai Phong. Fromage is inherited to Cinema. ALBUM: Ondine

*Stomu Yamash'ta - Pianist. He was famous outside of Japan in 1970s. ALBUM: Go Too

UMMMM, it is impossible to write all the bands/artists I know. Too many........

Hi erik neuteboom: Japanese albums are notorious for its expensiveness. I wish many foreign labels would release Japanese albums. There are many masterpieces which haven't been reissued outside of Japan. So many fans must buy expensive Japanese issue.   It obstructs to inform Japanese progressive rock for world wide.

Edited by honganji

I do like some by Ruins (some of it is very hardcore noise, some more in the Zeuhl genre. Check out "Prog rock medley" from "Refusal fossil", where they mix parts of songs by PFM, Magma, Univers Zero, KC, Goblin, Pink Floyd etc. Funny indeed!).

Koenjihyakkei seems very interesting, but IMO maybe too close to Magma, judging from the two songs I've heard.

Acid Mothers Temple (psychedelia) is also very interesting, also the related Zoffy (psychedelic folk, vinyl version of "Zo Zo Zo Zo Zoffy!!!" released on the Norwegian label Synesthetic Recordings. Including cover versions of Space Oddity, Immigrant song, Light my fire and Fireball. Weird...). A lot of live recordings by AMT free to download at www.archive.org.

And I have the self-titled album by Ghost (1990); musically somewhere in between psychedelia, prog and folk. Mellow and beautiful, with some noisy parts and some parts assumed to be Japanese ritualistic stuff. Some references to Amon Düül II (Phallus Dei, in particular), IMO.

    my favorites are:

1. Ruins
2. Koenjihyakkei
3. Happy family
4. Korekyojin
5. bondage fruit
6. Bi Kyo Ran