Tomo Akikawabaya - 1985 7" (Castle, 1985)

Tracklisting

Side A

Diamond

Side B

A Dream of No Pillow

Some of you might have already heard the A-side to this fantastic single over at the Habit of Sex tumblr (which I hope all of you are following), but I thought I'd post it here at SD because #1 - it would be a little bit redundant to post it on HOS, and #2 - you wanna hear the B-side, right?
I had completely blown off (i.e. didn't add to my eBay watch-list) the works of Tomo Akikawabaya for a while, mostly due to the kinda cheesy covers (all featuring the same 80s-lady), but the huge prices they were fetching weren't helping to catch my interest either. Being not entirely proficient in determining the gender of some Japanese names, I had assumed it was some synthy dance-pop with female vocals, so you can imagine my surprise when I finally heard the song Mars on YouTube. I thought it must have been either a mistake, a guest vocalist, or a woman with a hell of a deep voice. When I eventually obtained 1985, I played it first at 45 and it confirmed my suspicions. But wait! The label says 33!
Now confident that what I was hearing was a crooning dude, I began to really enjoy this Akikawabaya stuff. The corny New-Romantic conviction in Tomo's voice as he delivers the fantasy-themed lyrics of Diamond strangely affected me, drawing me in to his no-doubt mirrored and fog-machined world. Becoming hooked on the song, I eventually moved past that sort of tongue-in-cheek nostalgia-loving and developed a full-on love of Akikawabaya's records. This stuff is moody, languid, brilliant minimal synth/New-Romantic music - possibly the pinnacle of it's certain sector in the genre.
A certain mystery develops when one really enjoys these records too. Who is this girl that appears on all the cover art? Her name shows up on the back cover as Rena Anju, credited as model. In fact, Anju is the title of another Tomo 12" from 1985, so did these two share a close relationship? It's possible, but for some reason I can't imagine this attractive woman going for the kind of guy who self-produces his own synthesizer records to complete obscurity. It's possible that she acted as sort of muse. Another curious tidbit is that the 12" immediately following Anju is the only cover that doesn't feature the titular model, but instead a woodcut. This 12" is titled Kojiki to Onna, translating to "Beggar and Woman," which one can certainly read into...
If you enjoy this one, keep an eye on Habit of Sex in the next few days, as I'll be posting Tomo's masterpiece: The Castle!

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P-Model - One Pattern LP (Alfa, 1986)

Tracklisting

Side A

Oh Mama!

Licorice Leaf

Astro Notes

Möbius Band

Drums

Side B

Zebra

Oyasumi Dog

Another Day

Harmonium

Sunpaleets

Here's P-Model's nearly-as-good follow-up to Karkador and their final album before going on a 6-year hiatus. Some really wonderful, spastic technopop production going on here, especially on tracks like Licorice Leaf and Oyasumi Dog. Those of you who are anime fans might recognize some of the melodies from Zebra, which is practically a blueprint for singer Hirasawa's later work for Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent series.

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P-Model - Karkador LP (Alfa, 1985)

Tracklisting

Side A

Karkador

On the Organ-Yama

Dance Subomp

Cyborg

1778-1985

Side B

Leak

Oar

Hourglass

Piper

Karcador

7th album from this long-running and much revered new-wave group. This one really grew on me after first being disappointed with how normal it seemed next to the zolo oddity of Perspective or the Devo-ish doink of their first two outings. Smart, sophisticated songwriting prevailed, and now I consider this to be one of the high-points in the P-Model discography. Cyborg and Piper are gems among gems...

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Pale Cocoon - 黄金時代 7" picture disc (Pafe, 1984)

Tracklisting

Side A

黄金時代

Side B

街燈

More gauzy, blurry melancholy from the great Pale Cocoon, this time on a pretty cool looking picture disc (sorry hi-fi fans). I think it's just as brilliant as the Secret Sounds 10" I posted earlier. 黄金時代 is a glittering, cosmic shoegazer with a weird sort of constant tinnitus effect to it as the song warps and swells. Side B's 街燈 ramps up the morose factor with a similarly warbling piano and synth piece. Definitely check this out of you enjoyed Secret Sounds or the Funeral Party 7" over at Habit of Sex.

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Rorie With A*T*H - Door Dream 7" EP (Altamira, 1982)

Tracklisting

Door Side

花子の爪

赤・夜を染める 

Dream Side

Momently 1

Just 2 Minute

クモの居ないクモの巣 

Brain-damaged free-rock clamor from this group with connections to Luna Park Ensemble, A-Musik, and Daisuck & Prostitute. Definitely recommended if you enjoyed the Phew and Amaryllis posts, or any of the aforementioned groups.

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The Return of Video Game Music LP (Alfa, 1985)

Tracklisting

Side A

Fanfare From Pole Position II

Grobda

Dig Dug II

Dragon Buster

Metro Cross (Part I)

Gaplus

The Tower of Druaga

Side B

Mood Organ #27

Meta Magic Game

Merry Goes Around (Dedicated to Mariko Kunimoto)

Standard Theme

Mechanism of Vision

Metro Cross (Part II)

This LP is the sequel to the "Video Game Music" album arranged by Haruomi Hosono of YMO. This time around, arrangement duties fall in the hands of Koji Ueno of Guernica fame, who does a pretty alright job. It can't be a simple, really, as most of these early arcade compositions were meant to be looped indefinitely until the player succeeds or loses, cueing another soundbite. Ueno (and Hosono before him) don't ignore that fact, and admirably present the music in all its incessant glory, with in-game sound effects, chance deaths, and subsequent victories disrupting any sort of logical song-structure. This sort of video game music is actually pretty bizarre taken out of context...
Side B get's a bit bogged down with some original (non-video game) compositions, but the wacky "Meta Magic Game" is a highlight.

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月光慰問客 - 月がでたので 7" EP (Pafe, 1986)

Tracklisting

Side A

月がでたので 

砂丘にて

Side B

迷子

青空

Charming europhilia from Gekko Imonkyaku, another Pafe Records group. Comparable to Kumiko Suyama and possibly Bernthøler, Antena, etc., as it has a bit of that Crepuscule vibe to it. I imagine the heavy dose of accordion here will cause opinions to vary, but I hope we can all agree that the closing track (青空, produced by labelmates Funeral Party) is pretty cool.

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Pale Cocoon - 青空の実験室 / Secret Sounds 10" EP (Pafe, 1982)

Tracklisting

Side A

青空の実験室

自動人形

Side B

少女の歌

水たまり (Brain To Vain)

I first heard about this band from a collector who named them as one of his top 3 favorite bands from Japan - the other two were Wha-Ha-Ha and Picky Picnic. Well, if Wha-Ha-Ha is a bunch of highly-trained adult lunatics, and Picky Picnic is a daycare gone wrong, then Pale Cocoon is the brooding middle sibling locked up in his room reading Edgar Allen Poe. All sorts of weird stuff going on here: warbly synths, rickety, metronomic percussion, field recordings, alternating between pastoral and cloistered without ever losing the consistency of a very private sonic universe. One of the great unknown bands of the 80's, if I do say so myself.

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