Suthep Wongkamhaeng - Chan Rak Thoe

Here's an ace song by singer Suthep Wongkamhaeng, a predominant Luk krung singer and National Artist of Thailand. This whole album is brilliant and available over at Monrakplengthai.

Label: n/a

Year: pre-1980?

Genre: Luk krung

Prum Manh - Two Wives Are Twice The Trouble

Prum Manh is a Cambodian comedian whose act typically involves stand up in the form of conversations with another performer interspersed with musical humour. This recording is included on the Sublime Frequencies release Cambodian Cassette Archives. The following is from the album's liner notes:

"This collection was culled from over 150 ravaged cassettes found in Oakland, California at the Asian branch of the Public Library during the late 1990s and early 2000s... the Public Library's collection of tapes served the local Khmer community during the 1980s and early 1990s. They were found in various stages of disarray and decomposition in a drawer... a considerable amount of audio restoration was required."

Label: Sublime Frequencies (reissue)
Year: 198?, 2004 (reissue)
Genre: Khmer Pop, Rock N Roll

The Fore Thoughts - Shahbaz Qalander

First came across this tune on Sublime Frequencies' compilation Pakistan: Folk & Pop Instrumentals 1966-1976. That such series of compilations (Folk & Pop Instrumentals), of which there have been a few, are particularly interesting because they seamlessly draw together the popular (capital P) and more traditional sounds from the chosen country. This track, probably from the early-70s, comes on the back of Beatlemania and rock 'n' roll's globalising effect. Other tunes on the compilation give more explicit nods to British rock - one band is called The Mods. 'Shahbaz Qalander' was written by film composer Sohail Rana.

Label: Columbia Pakistan / Sublime Frequencies (reissue)
Year: 196?/7? / 2011
Genre: Folk, Rock 'n' Roll

MilkCan - Keep Your Head Up

Late last night I somehow found myself browsing through Playstation One soundtracks online. Things got a little weird and I became obsessed with this: a song from a game I've never played (nor even heard of). The game is UmJammer Lammy, a rhythm adventure in which you play along to music by a fictional band called MilkCan. This tune, 'Keep Your Head Up', is completely out-there. It starts off like a pop-punk showtune before spiralling into a psychedelic whirl that sounds like something Van Dyke Parks would have done had he sold-out. It then transitions into a ska tune, all the while our protagonist Lammy wails in a theatrical, out-of-tune kinda way. But it's all so good. Imagine Frank Zappa doing the music for a musical about Reel Big Fish with the witch from Wicked playing lead.

Label: Sony Records
Year: 1999
Genre: Pop-Punk, J-Pop, Psychedelia, Showtune

Z-Rock Hawaii - I Get A Little Taste Of You

Z-Rock Hawaii is a collaborative effort between Japan's legendary noise group Boredoms and the unstoppable, indescribable, Ween. The latter are in some ways a perfect representation of Dig That Treasure!'s spirit; off-kilter pop, simultaneously esoteric and accessible, serious and tongue-in-cheek. Ween have, however, built such a reputation that they are now by no means obscure. Z-Rock Hawaii are, though. For some reason this project, bringing together the US and Japan's two masters of the underground, did not reach the same heights as either Ween or Boredom's non-collaborative works. Shame. This song, 'I Get A Little Taste Of You', is a sweet ditty with an infectious melody and bonkers passages of Yamantaka Eye's non-verbal yaps.

Label: Nipp Guitar
Year: 1996
Genre: Experimental Rock, Novelty, Noise Rock

Lata Mangeshkar - Ab To Hai Tumse Har Khushi Apni

Here's a song from Bollywood playback singer Lata Mangeshkar. It's from the Indian flick Abhimaan, a 1973 drama about two singers who fall in love, become jealous of one another's success, separate, and them come back together. Or something. I haven't seen the movie but this song is certainly tempting me. I've spun this tune twice on my Resonance show, once in full and once as an extract during an interview with The Go! Team mastermind Ian Parton. Why? Because Ian, sampler extraordinaire, wove the beautiful last thirty seconds of Lata Mangeshkar's song into the tapestry that is The Go! Team's 'Yosemite Theme', one of my favourite songs by the band.

Label: ?
Year: 1973
Genre: Bollywood

Isao Tomita - Arabesque No.1

I haven't done a regular song write-up for a while which is a shame because that is what this blog was started for. I collect so many songs (a lot of which end up on the radio) so I had better get on with posting them here! I was surrounded by 'classical music' as a child but abandoned it somewhat as I grew older and  caught up in my own interests. However, I was - and still am - totally aware of how much 'classical music' has informed my musical tastes: so much of the music I love uses orchestral instruments or complex arrangements. Obviously 'classical music' is a Western tradition, but even when approaching music from Africa or Asia or the Pacific Islands or wherever else I am still guided by these tastes. Somewhere down the line I have also developed a huge taste for the 'folk' musics of a time and place. I am fascinated by the social, economic, political, cultural contexts in which music is made and the idea that a certain music - as much as it may share with the music of another time or place - is entirely its own thing; the product of certain circumstances. A long diversion, but this all brings me to this post's featured piece of music: Isao Tomita's interpretation of Debussy's 'Arabesque No.1'. Tomita was a Japanese pioneer of electronic music, experimenting with synthesisers (namely the Moog) as early as the late 1960s. His recordings capture the nuance and tone of Debussy's work, but also incorporates a sense of playfulness. Some of the sounds here are so fun - chirpy synthetic brushstrokes mimicking whistling, bell chimes, icicles and water. With its electronic innovation and the Japanese obsession with synthesisers, I can only really conclude that this could only have been made in the time that it was.

Label: RCA
Year: 1974
Genre: Classical, Electronica, Experimental

Ho Mei Fan - China Night

This is a song whose story I've been trying to piece together for a while. I've found a fair amount of information about it, but whether this information is true or not is another issue. As far as I can tell, Ho Mei Fan is the vocalist and the 'Columbia Orchestra' provide the music (maybe obvious from the large COLUMBIA on the record's label). The song was seemingly written by a group of Japanese songwriters, although Ho Mei Fan is - at least I'd assume - a Chinese name. I read somewhere that it was recorded during Japanese occupation of China, although that would imply a date somewhere south of 1945. This contradicts another bit of information that I've seen that suggests it was released in 1957. Obviously the song could have been released a long time after it was recorded, although I don't see why it would have been and I'm not sure if it sounds like that old a recording. Chances are it is a Japanese piece in the style of a Chinese popular song. Regardless, it is fantastic and 'otherworldly' - not in a backwards Orientalist sense, but in as far as it is so ambiguous in its history and distant in its sound.

Label: Columbia
Year: ?
Genre: Easy-Listening

Mohamed Al Ali - Mili Alay

Syrian music became incredibly trendy in the west a few years ago when people realised it was danceable. Obviously there is a lot more to the music than that, but it is this kind of ingredient that typically makes a previously unheard-of type of music catch on overseas. With Omar Souleyman the loveable figurehead of this development, the music - generally localised to weddings and parties - became universal. Souleyman went from an unknown part-time performer, to niche label Sublime Frequencies alumnus, to working with UK dance's finest, Four Tet. Naturally, a fascination with the music of the the Middle East (and more specifically the Levant) grew and compilations, such as the one featured here, were released. This song is by Mohamed Al Ali, who is practically untraceable online. What we do have of his, though, is this fine example of dabke music. Hypnotic percussion, vocals and mijwiz merge to form a seriously cool, intoxicating tune.

Label: Sham Palace (reissue)
Year: 2012 (reissue)
Genre: Dabke, Dance, Folk

Asei Kobayashi & Micky Yoshino - Eat

Last summer I spent some time in Berlin where I stayed a while in the flat of a Canadian girl, Rhianne, who had moved to the city to study. We met at a Jerry Paper show in a former brothel, and bonded over Haruomi Hosono and Francoise Hardy. One night we got a takeaway and she projected the Japanese surrealist horror flick Hausu against a wall in her apartment. I was blown away by the film's style, a dark sugar-rush that was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. As well as a ridiculous plot, amateur acting and a stunning aesthetic, the film boasts a killer soundtrack. The film's recurring musical theme is a beautiful piano motif although the stand out soundtrack contribution has really got to be 'Eat' - what I can only call 'the best song Zappa never wrote'. It's a crazy groove with a scaling bass, pots-down-the-stairs drums, and wacky/sexy keys. If the film's reputation hasn't turned you onto it yet, this tune will.

Label: Columbia Records
Year: 1977
Genre: Funk, Jazz, Electronica

David Darling & The Wulu Bunun - Lugu Lugu Kan-Ibi

On this blog I often cover music that is indebted to intercultural exchanges; products of traded ideas, or the obsession of one culture with another. I've written previously on the Francophilic tradition of Japanese pop, the admiration of Ethiopian pop by Western indie rock acts, and the exotic fantasies of island life. But this is quite different. On the record Mudanin Kata, American composer and cellist David Darling matched the a capella songs of the Taiwanese aborigine tribe the Wulu Bunun with his own New Age accompaniments. Unlike, for example, the exotica of North America and Europe that reinterprets or - more often - completely constructs fantasies of the Pacific islands in a playful imaginative way, Darling's project involved actually taking recordings of the tribe's ancient song and altering them. It was a project with the potential to be tacky or even disrespectful. Yet, the sensitivity with which Darling handles the aborigine songs is remarkable, and his arrangements are subtle and tasteful: they are there to amplify the effect of the melodies, not overpower them. There's a duo of tracks on the record that work as a suite. Whether that was the intention or not, they complement each other perfectly and are tied together by field recordings of what is presumably the Taiwanese rainforest. 'Ku-Isa Tama Laug' is followed by 'Lugu Lugu Kan-Ibi', these two tracks characterised by beautiful cyclical melodies. I feel like this project is a real testament to human compassion, sensitivity and appreciation.

Label: Riverboat Records
Year: 2004
Genre: Traditional, New Age, Folk

Super Eccentric Theater - Oh Les Beaux Japonais!

My recent listening habits have been incredibly Japan-centric and on regular rotation have been the works of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Haruomi Hosono, Susan, Shigeo Sekito, Inoyama Land and many more. In all this fascinated exploration has been one song that I've played more than any other; a song that I've really fallen in love with. Super Eccentric Theater's 'Oh Les Beaux Japonais!'. Carrying a tight new-wave groove, murmured girl-boy vocals and a ludicrously catchy hook, the track is a perfect example of the off-kilter pop that came out of Japan in the late 1970s and early '80s. What is most intriguing about this song however is its Francophile theme - something that colours its lyrics and title. This alone may not seem particularly fascinating, but when considered that this is just one example of many Francophile Japanese pop songs, everything becomes more peculiar. A trend develops. There is a definite and fairly prominent obsession with French culture in the Japanese pop music of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Songs by Tamao Koike were often either sung in French or had French titles, while minimal electronica group Variètè expressed their passion in their band name. More broadly, Yellow Magic Orchestra based tracks on the works of Jean-Luc Godard, while the entire Shibuya-kei scene takes influence from - besides South American bossa-nova and North American lounge music - French yé-yé. But what does this obsession imply? And where does it come from? One could look as far back as the Chinoiserie of early modern Europe for explanation. This European passion for all things Chinese was born from a Romanticised vision of the East and later consummated by the establishment of trade links. It was France that the Siamese sought alliance with in the 1680s and the term Chinoiserie itself is, of course, French. Fast forward a few hundred years and perhaps France has developed a broader appreciation of the 'Far East', while intercultural exchanges have in turn benefited Asian cultures. Japanese artists and trendsetters may have done in the 1960s what many Europeans did centuries before that and created a Romanticised idea of their counterpart. France in the mid-20th century was, of course, a colourful all-singing all-dancing parade, and to many dreamers decidedly more cosmopolitan, challenging and risqué than its neighbours. Who would not want to channel such influences in their music? The often-kitsch result of French pop's influence is after all prevalent in many Western pop musics. But maybe there is a deeper psychological connection between the countries. Besides, this is a world in which a disorder called 'Pari Shōkōgun' (or Paris Syndrome) exists, a syndrome to which Japanese people are considered more susceptible. I guess that ultimately my attempted explanations for this phenomenon don't fully cover it and I'm merely tabling ideas. Frankly I am unable - and to some extent unwilling - to conclude on it. But maybe that's a good thing, for this fascinating trend is something that is made all the more exciting to me by its mystery.

Label: Yen Records
Year: 1984
Genre: New-Wave, Shibuya-kei, Synth-Pop, Experimental

Haruomi Hosono - Sportsmen

Other than posting the weekly Resonance FM radio show, I've been inactive on the blog of late. I've been itching to write posts and what better way to return than with a track by pop legend Haruomi Hosono? A member of the ludicrously influential Yellow Magic Orchestra, this is a man whose involvement in Japanese pop music is so mind-bogglingly prominent that it's hard to keep track with who he has (and hasn't) collaborated with. Whether it's been as a member of Happy End, producing and writing for Jun Togawa, collaborating with Tamao Koike or releasing an exotica-funk record with Shigeru Suzuki and Tatsuro Yamashita, Hosono has virtually been omnipresent. And it isn't just collaboratively that he thrives. This track, 'Sportsmen', is a sensational pop song; an archetype in the context of Japan's pop scene, it's infectious, off-kilter sophisticated fun. This is an earworm whose hook will be looping your brain for days.

Label: Yen Records
Year: 1982
Genre: New Wave, J-Pop, Experimental, Synth Pop

Profile: Boys Age

Running this blog, I spend a lot of time looking back. I travel to the 50s and beyond in search of obscurities, collectables and odds 'n' sods. A lot of the music I find has a certain quality to it: an idiosyncrasy characterised by signs of wear and tear and a feeling of genuine substance having been lost in a sea of blink-and-you'll-miss-it zeitgeist hype. But sometimes this music exists in the present, under my nose. There are bands who are currently active that embody said qualities, that inhabit their own sound and style. Boys Age are such a band. I first heard Boys Age when home recording legend and Dig That Treasure! favourite R. Stevie Moore posted about them on his Facebook page. Moore has a habit of playing Godfather to exciting lo-fi protégés, having previously championed Ariel Pink and Keel Her. He's rarely wrong, and Japan's Boys Age are no exception. Although influenced strongly by Yo La Tengo (with Boys Age dubbing themselves the "Sons" of the band), they manage to come off as original in a way that actually justifies use of such an overused word. Maybe it's in Kuzznary Mutow's croaked vocals, or in the band's aesthetic restlessness. Six minute long Fake Gold Pt. 1 includes church bells and screeching guitars, God Will Test You Through The PC Screen recalls wayward 90s rock like Ween and Beck, and Just As Satan Says is a highly textural soundscape with vocals that may as well be those of Ira Kaplan. The song featured in this post, I Wish For God's Sake, is infectious in a way that is both familiar and imaginative. The band are highly prolific, with a Bandcamp page filled to the brim with releases of different shapes and sizes. Spare some time, Boys Age are worth it!

Label: Bleeding Gold, Burger Records, Rye On The All Golden
Genre: Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Experimental, Bedroom Pop

Jun Togawa - Suki Suki Daisuki

Over the course of a year's work on Dig That Treasure, I've been continuously blown away by the quality of the pop music that faded into obscurity in Japan in the '70s and '80s. Pop acts that were a little too edgy, unconventional or experimental for the mainstream slipped into a more niche market. Unsurprisingly, these Japanese artists - forward-thinking but well-informed by the past - are often connected to one another. There is a 'scene', I guess. At the fore were Yellow Magic Orchestra. Massive in Asia and popular worldwide, YMO aren't exactly 'obscure'. Where things get interesting, however, is in the side projects of one particular member: Haruomi Hosono. As well as being a core member of YMO, Hosono played a hand in folk-rock group Happy End and was one third of the supergroup 'Hosono, Suzuki, Yamashita' that put out the mindblowing 1978 record Coral Reef. Hosono - and his YMO bandmates - were also supposedly responsible for writing Tamao Koike's gorgeous dream-pop classic 'Automne Dans Un Miroir'. No surprise then that Hosono is affiliated with Jun Togawa. Although he wasn't involved in this particular song, he did write and produce other songs in Togawa's repertoire. When a friend first played me Jun Togawa's 'Suki Suki Daisuki' earlier this summer, I was a little baffled. But after a couple more plays, that feeling was replaced - this song is joyous. It's witty, it's energetic, it's a little scary and, most importantly, it's catchy as hell. Sure, with a title like 'Suki Suki Daisuki' ('I Love You So Much'), it's kind of a love song. But when the chorus builds into a grating cry of "say you love me or I'll kill you", you realise something's up. That doesn't stop it from being a goddamn great pop song though.

Label: Alfa Records
Year: 1985
Genre: Synth-Pop, J-Pop, New Wave

Rajesh Roshan - Superman, Superman

A few weeks back I posted a song from a Hindi film soundtrack, the Title Theme to Bombay Talkie, composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Driven by placid vocal "hums", the song's melody was a curiously modest affair. This song, from 1988 film Dariya Dil, is a whole lot different. Seemingly, their situation in Hindi film soundtracks is where the comparisons end. Rajesh Roshan's 'Superman, Superman' is a bass-driven disco track; a massively catchy girl-boy duet whose infectiousness lies within the almost comical cries of "Superman, Superman!" That's not to say it's a novelty; the combination of traditional Indian instruments, Hollywood orchestration and disco synthesisers works in a surprisingly sophisticated manner. It may seem a strange comparison, but it has the same rickety low-fidelity quality of William Onyeabor's 70s Afro-Funk.

Label: ?
Year: 1988
Genre: Disco, Pop, Bollywood

Hosono Haruomi, Suzuki Shigeru, Tatsuro Yamashita - Nostalgia Of Island

This song, 'Nostalgia of Island', is from the 1990 collaborative effort Pacific, released by what is essentially a supergroup made up of Haruomi Hosono from Happy End and YMO, his former Happy End bandmate Shigeru Suzuki, and the chart-topping popstar Tatsuro Yamashita. Naturally, the result is a coming together of those musicians backgrounds: namely psychedelia, electronica and funk. Yet, the group also show their versatility and breadth of musical interest by exploring exotica, bossa-nova, jazz and lounge musics. The record is aptly named, for probably the biggest influence on its aesthetic is Polynesian and Hawaiian music. This track is a perfect example of what the record is all about; it is playful, exotic, aquatic but, most importantly, sophisticated. Also, watch out for quick interpolation of The Beach Boys's 'Girls On The Beach' towards the end.

Label: Sony 
Year: 1990
Genre: Fusion, Exotica, Electronica, Funk

Nagisa Ni Te - Premonition

Despite putting out multiple records on zeitgeist label Jagjaguwar, Nagisa Ni Te (渚にて) have remained criminally overlooked over the course of their career. Affiliated with Maher Shalal Hash Baz, the Japanese couple make breezy indie pop that sounds like the junction between their aforementioned contemporaries, as well as 90s alt-rock and 60s psych-folk. I guess that essentially means they sound like The Pastels or, more specifically, the incredible Pastels/Tenniscoats collaboration record from a few years ago. Which would make sense, as Nagisa Ni Te have also released music on Stephen Pastel's continent-crossing Geographic label.

Label: Jagjaguwar 
Year: 2008
Genre: Indie Pop, Psychedelia, Folk Pop

Kazumasa Hashimoto - Noaro

Kazumasa Hashimoto is a classically trained Japanese musician who makes electroacoustic pieces that come across equally masterful and naïve. This song, Noaro, manipulates and processes acoustic instruments (namely guitar) to form a blissfully textured and entrancingly rhythmic cut of electronica. Its repetitive nature really draws me in, making me feel as though I'm becoming a part of its beautiful and hypnotic world.

Label: Plop
Year: 2003
Genre: Electronica, Electroacoustic, Experimental

Samsimar - Indang Pariaman

Folk and Pop Sounds of Sumatra Vol.1 was the first release by obscurities label Sublime Frequencies. The songs on it are taken from old cassettes found on the equatorial island of Sumatra, showcasing seriously eccentric and idiosyncratic music. This song 'Indang Pariaman' is my favourite of the lot, a mesmerising melody atop repetitive rhythms.

Label: Sublime Frequencies
Year: ?
Genre: Indonesian Folk, Psychedelia