chords of cords

Vocal cords, that is. Some mantra-trained monks are said to be able to produce up to nine notes simultaneously with the human vocal cords alone. Most of the singers that I like can barely produce one. Here are a couple of great singer/songwriters.

Kojima Mayumi, 小島麻由美, is a singer/musician who’s been active since 95 but i just
recently discovered. Her music is really crazy cool stuff, hard to classify to be sure. Her voice is sometimes childish, othertimes dramatic. Swing, Pop, Groove, Jazz, everything is done - and done well. Always cool unique and nice to listen to, no matter the genre.

[she reminds me of Kino^]

The review that caught my interest. And checkout: kojimamayumi.

Here is her album My Name Is Blue. You’ll enjoy this. it has a unique, full sound of rock jazz fusion, sweet pop, and just esoteric goodness. [missing track from album upload: right here.]

if you like it, buy it and her other albums at cdjapan.

.

辻子紀子, or T(s)ujiko Noriko, is a singer whose style is usually sparse, almost to the point of spoken word / beatnik. The music underlying her vocals tends to be abstract electronic music. The mood is usually soothing, chillable, mournful, or just pleasant, but always evocative of diverse imagery. Other listeners tend to use the adjetives ‘avante-garde’ or ‘experimental’ (or, dare I use the hackneyed term, trip-hop!). She is also, like every other ‘alternative’ female vocalist, compared to Bjork (who I love, but enough already! find a different reference!). Despite being electronic music, her voice, the use of many ‘real’ instruments (albeit still sampled and effected) and the song composition lend a dominant organic sound to it. I can’t think of too many similar japanese artists, but Thom Yorke’s recent solo, The Eraser, is certainly very similar… Her career has been active since around 2000, and her latest album is scheduled for release in February... I have only her Blurred in my Mirror album at the moment. You should probably have it, too.


homepage (pretty cool looking) ... more info, pics

'Fly' Video: