Supersempfft - I'm Gonna Make You Big My Friend

Scotch - Take Me Up

Baltimora - Jukebox Boy

Lots of new stuff coming soon! Moonriders! Chris Mosdell! Meanwhile, enjoy this Baltimora music video.

Matterhorn Project

Matterhorn Project were the Swiss duo of PJ and Stella Wassermann. They started making really weird kids/novelty electronic disco music in the 80s and seemed to still be active just a few years ago. Sadly, Stella passed in April of this year. Check the link at the bottom of the post to hear some of her solo material.

The Matterhorn jams all feature pitch-shifted vocals and animal SFX. "The Gnomes Of Zurich" is a favorite. Really reminds of Supersempfft. Albums and singles are around, or can be purchased via CDBaby. Prices for original vinyl aren't outrageous on Discogs or eBay.



From the official site:

"MUH!" (also known as the "moo song" in South Africa, Japan and other parts of the world and the French call it "meuh" or "meu") by Matterhorn Project is unique in pop history. There are cows singing and bells tingling, yodelling and alpine horns, all supported by an infectious eigthies disco-beat and a slightly spaced-out sense of humour. The track stormed the Swiss and international charts in 1985 and got known and loved for its sense of comedy and tongue-in-cheek citing of Swiss clichés.

And on the "Muh" video:

The funny MUH! video clip has been created in 1986 by a student of a German movie academy (unfortunately we can't remember his name).

This clip has been crafted manually, there was no computer animation at that time and every single picture (25 per second) had to be drawn by hand. That's why the video has some lengths but it's very charming and humorous and shows very well the atmosphere of the Swiss mountains although the clothes are more Bavarian than Swiss alpine.

Additionally the video author has added an erotic component to the video story that's not part of the original song. That's why they now say at YouTube that "This video may not be suitable for minors". But it's really not that baaaad - judge for yourself and have fun!



Somewhat detailed bio found on the same site:

http://www.matterhornproject.ch/D_html/mp_D_background.html



Discogs
Official site
German-language Wiki

Hear some nice new age music at Stella's official site.

Two from Tomoko Tane

Enjoy two from Tomoko Tane, "You're the One" and "Pumps Race Song." "You're the One" is such a jam, with lots of dynamic movement in the arrangement, a perfect dramatic Idol composition. Also: dig the animated, English-language fable that precedes the video for some reason, and Music Tomato Japan's Michael's reliable introduction. Michael lets us know what's up at the start of "Pumps" also.

Hayase Yukako

I don't know too much about Hayase Yukako. Archived here on Youtube is either two separate Laserdisc "albums" or a single double-laserdisc. Music is of varying style and quality, from Idol to fusion and some more esoteric material. Definitely continuity between clips, but no narrative to speak of. The album Love Your Life from 2008 is here. Working on finding the older stuff.

This is the second laserdisc album I've written about here, with Dip In the Pool's Dipping being the first. Do any listeners know if this was a common thing in the 80s and early 90s? An interesting format!

Unique vibe to "Sadist", jittery fusion funk mixed with paranoid, haunted house backing vocals. Great video effects in the clip.


"Suiyoubi Madeni Shinitaino" is another successful video, a mysterious presentation of lonely spaces both domestic and public.


Here's an ice-cold clip to close out disc one, "Trois Quarts". Hayase kills herself at the end! This track's Francophilia is in keeping with not only the album (the first track is titled "Last Year at Marienbad") but with Japanese Idol music of the time in general. The second disc (or album?) is much more cheerful (almost "island-fusion") and uptempo.


Fantastic synthesized voice and new age pop on "Anata No No Ga Shiru" from laserdisc number two, which seems to take place in a desert or maybe some tropical island.


Do readers want me to create an artificial album by ripping tracks from the Youtube videos? I'll try to get around to it eventually but if enough folks want me to I'll make it a priority.

Tomita Lab - ラシーボ･セシボン feat. Taeko Onuki and Yukihiro Takahashi

Telex - "En Route Vers de Nouvelles Aventures"

Haven't done an "intersection of new wave and comic books" post in a while. Here's a music video where Telex sings in front of Tintin panels.

Two more Asami Kado albums will be posted soon.

パール兄弟 Pearl Brothers

Here are some very creative music vidoes from goofy pop unit Pearl Brothers. While membership has shifted in the groups 20+ year history, major players seem to be Kenzo Saeki, Yashiro Tsunehiko, Kubota Haruo, Bakabon Suzuki and Matsunaga Toshiya. Not sure if PB are still together, their website hasn't been updated since 2006. Check it out here (Netscape 3.0 or higher recommended). Be sure to check out the Pearl Brothers Treasure House. For less information, visit the Wiki. Hopefully I'll get my hands on some Pearl Brothers album rips soon.








(Good to hear from Michael again)

Apogee & Perigee Chojiku Korodasutan Ryokoki

UPDATE: It seems that the OP link is dead. I've re-uploaded the album HERE.



Is there other life in space?
Do neighbor planets have
Indigenous creatures?
Can humans live permanently in
colonies in space?
Do Extraterrestrials visit Earth?
Can humans travel to the Stars?

I had been planning to post the 1984 "soundtrack" album Apogee & Perigee; Chojiku Korodasutan Ryokoki, for quite some time. No need now, as I've just noticed that Ongaku Poland has recently upped it (Although I was already a follower of OP, I found the link initially via The Common Chant).

Discogs sez: "Apogee & Perigee are robots, this is a concept album or soundtrack to a musical that was never produced that tells their story. The album credits Apogee & Perigee as performers, but the lyric sheet includes some writing credits, and in addition the 2006 CD re-issue provides more information."

Testpattern seem to be the major creative force, but Discogs lists several YEN all-stars as contributors: Miharu Koshi, Koji Ueno, Miyuki Hashimoto, Hosono, and the one and only Jun Togawa, who can be heard singing in a duet with Yūji Miyake on the bittersweet "月世界旅行 (Gessekai Ryokō)" above.



All the available information is collected here, at Fanboy.com. I'd like to learn more about the two robots and the actual project, and what plans Yen and Testpattern had for its future. My Japanese trading buddies seem to not remember the album having much of an impact during its initial release. This is a real shame, as the music throughout is fantastic, an accessible yet complex emotional blend of optimism and melancholy, Greek tragedy played out as space-faring AI romance. The project is heavy with the kind of empathic projection that is often directed at non-living but "life-like" machines. A francise could have easily been created. See also the Sakamoto-scored film Where the Toys Come From for another example.



This really is an excellent, underheard album. That there seems to be an international swell of blogs posting this material is really exciting to me, and a good incentive to me to upload more and post more.

01. Testpattern, Masao Hiruma - Prologue (Hope)
02. Jun Togawa, Haruomi Hosono, Takashi Matsumoto - Gessekai Ryokou
03. Koji Ueno - Professor Persec
04. Miharu Koshi - Animaloid MV II: Tragic Comedie
05. Miharu Koshi - Sakasakenjin Egas
06. Jun Togawa - Theme Of Apogee
07. Miyuki Hashimoto - Queen Glacier
08. Jun Togawa - Theme Of Perigee
09. Jun Togawa, Haruomi Hosono, Takashi Matsumoto - Shinkuu Kiss
10. Testpattern - Hope

PLEASE ENJOY

Two videos from Italian duo Righeira (1983-84)

Righeira was formed in 1983 by Stefano Rota and Stefano Righi. These two singles were huge hits in Italy and found modest success elsewhere in Europe. Righeira had at least two other minor domestic hits, and four full-length albums and numerous singles. This information comes from Discogs, which also says about the duo, "The two members still explain that they are brother[sic] by their first name. They became Michael Righeira & Johnson Righeira"



Note the Mondrian painting coming to life at the beginning, which morphs into a cube and shows the skinny-tie wearing duo images from World War II and the Hindenburg crash. The entire thing seems to take place in a towering modernist apartment complex. Video actually credits the animator at the end, Gianandrea Garola. Limited film + TV resume here.

Both songs are sung in Spanish, and I've included the original lyrics as well as a Google-assisted translation below. If anybody can provide improved English translation let me know. "Vamos a la Playa" is about nuclear blasts destroying civilization, with the mantra "Let's go to the beach" (or is it "Do You Want to Go to the Beach?") repeated as either an oblivious prayer or ironic joke. Then again, the wrist-radios confuse the group's involvement with whatever nuclear scenerio is being described. The gaudy technicolor lighting in the video could be the glare of a mushroom cloud.

"No Tengo Dinero" is a much more obvious illustration of post-war Italian class struggle, presenting a newly monied class "kissed by an idea," with its narrator "living in the highest place in [his] city". But then is this the same figure declaring "I have no money" over and over? A view both from and in opposition to the top, apparently.

Both of these songs are lyrically complex (or muddled, perhaps), hiding specific socio-political ideas in brief narrative verses, which are in turn hidden within endlessly repeated, seemingly vacuous choruses. Especially in the case of "Vamos a la Playa", these choruses actually come to reinforce the central idea of the song. Like the lavish apartment in the "No Tengo Dinero" video, political and ethical notions are masked by not only the passive observation of Righeira (whom didn't write the lyrics--Carmelo and Michelangelo La Bionda did) but the ostentatious surroundings of both high-end video animation and montage, and the meticulous studio wizardry of Italian (post-disco) pop production.



Despite the attractive solarizing effects in this one, I prefer this simpler take:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCVQpcY1au4

Vamos a la Playa

(CHORUS:)
Vamos a la playa oh o-o-o-oh
Vamos a la playa oh o-o-o-oh
Vamos a la playa oh o-o-o-oh
Vamos a la playa oh oh
Vamos a la playa

La bomba estallo
Las radiaciones tuestan
Y matizan de azul

Vamos a la playa

Todos con sombrero
El viento radiactivo
Despeina los cabellos

Vamos a la playa oh oh oh oh oh
Vamos a la playa oh oh oh oh oh
Vamos a la playa oh oh oh oh oh
Vamos a la playa oh oh

Vamos a la playa
Al fin el mar es limpio
No mas peces hediondos
Sino agua florecente

Vamos a la playa oh o-o-o-oh

(REPEAT TO FADE)

English Translation

(CHORUS:)
Go to the beach o-o-oh o-oh
Go to the beach o-o-oh o-oh
Go to the beach o-o-oh o-oh
Go to the beach oh oh

Go to the beach
The bomb exploded
Roasted radiation
And a shade of blue

Go to the beach
All with sombreros
The wind radioactive
Tousled hair

Go to the beach oh oh oh oh oh
Go to the beach oh oh oh oh oh
Go to the beach oh oh oh oh oh
Go to the beach oh oh

Go to the beach
At last the sea is clean
No more smelly fish
But water blooming

Go to the beach o-o-oh o-oh
(REPEAT TO FADE)

No Tengo Dinero

No tengo dinero oh
No tengo dinero no, no, no, no
No tengo dinero oh
No tengo dinero no, no, no, no

Los modernos lujos viven aqua­
En el lugar mas alto de mi ciudad
Se nutren de imagenes y de relais
Yo quisiera estar aha mas

No tengo dinero oh...

Los nuevos italianos crean aqua­
Impavidos y fieros de la velocidad
Neo psichico es el sintatico edan
Yo quisiera estar aha mas

No tengo dinero oh...

Neo psichico
Besado de una dea tu eres
Patria de estos te crean (2)

No tengo dinero oh... (2)

English Translation (I'm sure there are many mistakes here).

I have no money oh
I have no money, no, no, no, no
I have no money oh
I have no money, no, no, no, no

Modern luxury living here-
In the highest place in my city
They feed and relay pictures
I would be more aha

I have no money oh ...

The new Italian create here-
Fearless and ferocious speed
New Eden is the synthetic psichico [??]
I would be there more

I have no money oh ...

New psichico
Kissed by an idea you are
Homeland those you create (2)

I have no money oh ... (2)



Wikipedia
Download Righeira's first album.

Rebecca - Vanity Angel (1989?)

RC Succession - I Like You (Video Only)

Music Tomato Japan

"Chart Topping Videos Being Air-played on the Superficial Adventure"



While writing about Dip In the Pool several weeks ago, I promised a focused article about late 80s/early 90s Japanese video-countdown show Music Tomato Japan. There seems to be little information about the show online, in English or Japanese. There are a few pages like this one, which collect videos recorded from the show, and dozens and dozens of videos on Youtube. Aside from this primary source material, I cannot find any historical information about the show.

In the promo bumper at the top of this post, the enigmatic host/narrator identifies himself as Michael Tamayuko (sp?), and references "Music Communication" as perhaps the parent or benefactor of "MTJ" and clarifies the "domestic music" focus of the show, which is the key feature that makes the program interesting to me, as it currently serves as a deep source for an era of music in Japan which is still woefully undocumented beyond the YMO and Idol galaxies.

This clip features the only original content aside from the narration I can find, a sort-of interview segment with the legendary RC Succession, featuring the band mugging and noisemaking, before introducing the "paradise track with satisfaction guaranteed" Michael T promises. "I Like You" Is a pretty phenomenal track, and the animated bits are fantastic. RC Succession are a unique group for MTJ, having a catalog and longevity rare in Japanese pop music. This video represents the very end of the band's run, as they split in 1991. Founding member Kiyoshiro Imawano deserves his own post, as a singular and endearing figure in the Japanese popular music scene, who sadly passed away just last year after a long battle with cancer.



Michael T's strange, perfectly enunciated yet stilted English is what really makes the presentation vital, with lines like "Chart-topping video selections, being air-played, on the superficial adventure", which he says at the intro to this Kawamura Kaori video. Kawamura also died in '09 from cancer, as it turns out.

While there are many many MTJ videos on Youtube, only a small number of the songs are very interesting. Predictably, most of the videos are from interchangeable Idol singers plugging into the specific tropes of broad genres (hair metal, acoustic rock, bubblegum etc.), although some of the weaker songs still have fine videos. The following clips are the best I've seen, as songs and as music videos.

Up first is this SOV clip from ZIG ZAG, 限界恋心 or Love Limits. My friend Carrie sent me this video a few months ago, and it's still my favorite. ZIG ZAG's other material doesn't live up to this bittersweet New Wave jam. The song, the sublime quality of the video--as in video tape--and Mike's enthusiastic narration at the start really hyped me to find out more about MTJ. There's a heart-warming emphasis on public service in Michael's plaintive, apologetic declaration of "If you haven't found any of your type, let us know right away!" The video itself, with its primitive digital effects, blown-out color palette, creepy-yet-playful voyeurism narrative and ambiguous conclusion, deserves its own focused post.



Here's another one with great video effects from Jadoes, a Tatsuro Yamashita-esque funky jam called "Friday Night". "Here are the Jadoes... Friday Night!"



"Sayonara, So Long" from D-Project is an austere, "high rise living" neon jam in the vein of mainstream American New Wave. Written for the 1992 CLAMP anime Tokyo Babylon, "Sayonara, So Long" is the type of song and video I wish available MTJ materials featured more of.



Finally, here's a really strange video from Nakagawa Katsuhiko, popular actor and musician (and father of contemporary Idol Shoko Nakagawa) whose name remains stamped in the middle of the screen for the duration, obscurring the abstract imagery of the video, which is mostly center-frame behind the NK brand.

"I have to leave now with today's final, hope you found the music you like, and always be aware of the latest from Music Tomato Japan. Closing out with Nakagawa Katsuhiko, 'Please Understand.'"

Dorothée

Came across this video of French personality Dorothée (real name: Frédérique Hoschedé), singing "Les Petits Ewoks" over footage from the 1984 Star Wars francise spin-off The Ewok Adventure (now called "Caravan of Courage").


Dorothée began her career in the 70s as a TV and film star, appearing in films by Truffaut, Resnais and Robert Enrico. She eventually moved away from film, concentrating on television and an successful singing career, hosting variety shows for children, including Club Dorothée, which ran for nearly a decade (roughly 87-97). While there are French fan sites for the show and for Dorothée herself, and clips on Youtube, there is little information availible in English. I assume that the video excerpts on Youtube are sourced from Club Dorothée, clips which seem obsessed with cartoon and comic media. Here is a music video from 1985 (before Club Dorothée, I think). It is illustrated, but I can't attribute an artist. There are several European pop videos from the 80s and early 90s where a similar format is employed, inserting video of the singer into comic panels. The story in Vive les vacances/"Gimme a Break" seems to concern some sort of traffic jam/ bad vacation-type situation:


Here's a song where Dorothée sings with The Smurfs (a Belgian creation turned American cartoon then translated into French?). One day I should write about a Czech (I need to make sure that's right, don't quote me) CD my friend bought at the flea market with Smurf parodies of The Fugees' cover of "Killing Me Softly" and other 90s hits). Anyway--this video employs a mix of comic panels and animation.


It looks like Dorothée actually recorded several Smurf/Schtroumpf-related songs, released as 7" records. Searches around the 'net and video sites will lead to more Dorothée content. She's still a presense in France, with a more conventional singing career. Many clips from Club Dorothée on Youtube link to French versions of many American Saturday morning cartoon shows, though it's hard to prove that she sang any of them, most feature several singers.

I haven't been particularly successful in finding many Dorothée songs/albums, despite her vast discography. I imagine that her fame in France keeps the Euro-pop mp3 blogs from posting her material, as many of the download links I've found are dead. Will update if I discover more.

Here's the music video for "Docteur".