The first thing I did after taking delivery of Julian Cope’s much anticipated Japrocksampler was to check out his list of 50 favourite Japanese albums. For a music obsessive like me this proved to be a humbling experience as not only did I not have any of these records in my collection I hadn’t even heard of any of the artists!
My sole consolation is that Saint Julian applies an arbitrary cut of point of circa 1979 while my interest in Japanese music is more recent.
Anyone familiar with Cope’s writings (well represented on his Head Heritage site) will know that the Archdrude is an idiosyncratic narrator . He takes an unashamedly irreverent line which is openly subjective and very entertaining. For instance, he describes a band called Murahatchibu as important to the story of the Japanese underground “in spite of their music being monotonous crap”. There’s also a laugh out loud section on John & Yoko’s Unfinished Music No.1 which he compares to “shreiking avant-garde birdsong”.
Historically, Cope goes as far back as the 17th century to explain the process by which Japan’s isolationist position gradually changed. Inevitably, Cope is at his best when describing the bands and artists but it’s a welcome change to encounter music writing that contextualises the sounds to draw valid connections to historical and cultural events. The book therefore plugs a huge gap in the market and helps understand how current freakzone acts like Acid Mothers Temple, Boris and Haino, Keiji /Fushitsusha have come into being.
How these artists link more widely to the psych-folk-rock-noise of the New Weird America is the next stage of the story waiting to be written!
Via kindly bloggers I have so far located two sensational albums:
#1 : Flower Travellin’ Band – Sartori
#3 : Les Rallizes Denudés – Heavier Than A Death In The Family
2 down – 48 to go!!
