Japanese Progressive Rock presented by DamoX

知らなかった～ 既に、クニ河内と彼のともだちがリストアップされていたんですね。ちょっと目を離した間に。 （＞_＜）

Today let me talk about Acid Folk - and a Japanese pioneer Daisaku Yoshino.




In 1951 DAISAKU YOSHINO was born in Kyoto, Japan. He lived in Gunma in his youth with writing songs with full of his great feeling. His lyrics can notify us his dreams and experiences in these days. While a student of Yokohama National University, he released the debut album 'Yoshino Daisaku No Shonen Jidai (Young Days Of Daisaku Yoshino)' (1973). His second album 'Yoshino Daisaku Rampu Seizo-kojo (A Lamp Factory By Daisaku Yoshino)' self-released in the following year can gain much appreciation as one of Japanese Acid Folk pioneers.

Indeed he has constantly shifted its musical style - folk, rock, jazz, avantgarde, blues, etc. etc. - even currently, but always keep his cool and spiritualized lyrical world tightly.

And incidentally, he is a cram school instructor of Classical Chinese.



Yoshino Daisaku Rampu Seizo-kojo (1974)

Please don't feel this album is a simple folk-rock one ... this splendid work by Daisaku should be considered as the dawn of Japanese Acid Folk scene.

Daisaku Yoshino, one of pioneers of Japanese Acid Folk artists, actually has another face - an instructor of Classical Chinese. In my school days always heard that Classical Chinese is deeply subliminal language - oh, namely, cannot understand it only with surface phrases. This sense or sensitivity absolutely fits the lyrics by Daisaku. Most of his lyrics are about his childhood or youth, his hometown and the hill where he played, love story, loneliness, and so on. His lyrics have no tragedy but dry atmosphere on his delightful tunes. But we can feel his coolness, or, something cold-hearted in his inner mind itself. Very complex and ingenious, and we Japanese realize the listeners cannot understand his deep innerspace easily. Suppose he might throw to us, his despair or life & death as his original expression we can feel very simple and very dry. He reminds us he should play cool and simple folk rock with his spiritual heavenly words - that's the way he play absolutely Acid Folk and he's one of pioneers. Enjoyable but depressive, delightful but painful ... his world is always beyond expression.

Hi, look at the sleeve. Can you realize his acidness obviously?


What a Wonderful Back Sleeve!


Thank you for reading this blog.


Edited by DamoXt7942 - March 09 2010 at 06:54

Not mentioned about JAGATARA for a long time but there have been no change I love and enthusiastically recommend them.
Today let me introduce their major debut album "Sorekara" (1989) - a terrific jazz-afro-funk album.



JAGATARA were formed in 1979 as a Japanese funk and jazz-rock outfit by the frontman and the "soul" Akemi EDO. At very first JAGATARA was thought as an eccentrically theatrical band with some cake-and-sodomy performances on stage ... these dirty stages have been taken up and reported extensively by the Japanese mass media at that time. Currently considered Akemi's frank criticism of the dirty society, also through his psychological disturbance ... therefore JAGATARA could get amazingly renowned only as one of Japanese underground music pioneers. By good luck, in 1981 OTO joined with improving their musical style and ability, which could let JAGATARA come into bloom not only visually but musically & technically.
Their debut album "Namban-Torai" was approved by lots of fans and reviewer, and they had actively released albums or appeared on lots of stages, in spite of Akemi's dropping out for two years by his schizophrenia. At last in 1989 they could realize the major debut - with an album "Sorekara", highly appreciated in Japan. In the end of 1989 soon they released the most experimental album "Gokutsubushi", sadly that got to be the last album released before Akemi's death. On January 27 1990, Akemi died of an accidental drowning on taking a bath and JAGATARA were disbanded in the depths of despair.


Sorekara (1989) - JAGATARA

In this "Sorekara" work is no tragical feeling like the next album "Gokutsubushi" released shortly before Akemi's sudden death. All performers sound pleasant, enjoyable, and flexible.

Furaiboh (in English a vagabond like the wind) Akemi EDO sings his story, then and now, frankly ... on such delightful rhythm and sound. No hesitation to say his sensual, dirty world. Aggressively exploded from the first track Taboo Syndrome, Akemi's hoarse and distorted voices can be ... Masami SHINODA's saxophone and Yohichi MURATA's trombone solos give off a strongly jazzy-afro-funky fragrance onto Akemi's voices. Soft and graceful chorus by two female performers - YUKARIN (Yuka TSUKAGOSHI) and Sasuga MINAMI - shoot a rosy and sexy flavour onto as well. Akemi's voices are not so strict nor beautiful (of course!) but very enthusiastic and charismatic (once considered as a guru, amazingly). Indeed he held massive power over listeners' minds - regardless of other performances. (Therefore, his sudden death forced JAGATARA to break up soon ...) His free-formed lyrics and way of singing, performming could construct JAGATARA's world. Guess he might not consider what he should play, or how they should get renowned all over Japan - just only Akemi with Akemi's feeling via Akemi's past or experiences could make himself (and JAGATARA themselves) do so. Sometimes a bit lazy, sometimes a bit dirty, and sometimes a bit pleasant voices of him should be unified into a soundworld together named JAGATARA. For example, even a swing like Cash Card, with meaningless lyrics, can make us comfortable and simultaneously nervous - mysterious phenomena. And at last into the final song Middle Class Harlem, a sad ballad with funky crazy noises, we'll get absorbed completely.

"Sorekara" - in English The Next Is ... - would be a promising gem of JAGATARA. However ...




Thank you for reading this blog.

Keishiro, if you know any of those Psych/Space bands personally, you should tell them to send me some of their material to review for Progressor. I have reviewed quite a few Japanese bands recently (my TEE review should be published at the end of March), but I have large gaps in my knowledge of your favourite subgenre. 

Raff wrote: Keishiro, if you know any of those Psych/Space bands personally, you should tell them to send me some of their material to review for Progressor. I have reviewed quite a few Japanese bands recently (my TEE review should be published at the end of March), but I have large gaps in my knowledge of your favourite subgenre.

Wow, thanks Raff!

In ProgressoR, I'm sure your and Olav's theoretical reviews are much greater, than my enthusiastic (crazy? ) ones here. ...Of course, I'm so happy if my humble reviews can be approved by you all.

Here every collaborator let me know and digest more and more about psychedelic rock subgenre.

Do you know?Do you know?

The member who is called "francofrehley" exists in PA.

He is a guitar player of "TEE"

why is it that one day i heard what sounded like Chinese National Radio Music. It was raining and this music was intricate, complex. Yet at the same time going nowhere except for the "now". I have NEVER heard this type of music before.

otto pankrock wrote: Damo, thanks for your response. I guess I should search out some more of Boris. I got the impression that, stylistically, they're all over the place. Music from the far east is rather difficult to come by here in Canada. I only heard of Boris from a university radio programme called The Octopus Army. It features all things Japanese. Worth searching out. Anyway, thanks for your time.

Suggest we can get some information far from our home turf much more easily than used to be ... fantastic internet power.

Indeed, the cultural and language walls should interrupt us much ...

DamoXt7942 wrote: Kazuhiro wrote: Do you know?Do you know? The member who is called "francofrehley" exists in PA. He is a guitar player of "TEE" Oh, not a Japaneasy? A brother of Ace Frehley (Kiss)?