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.

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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:

drugs disguised as toys

...That is to say, video games. Those addictive, corrosive, deadly discs (formerly carts). I love them, like smokers love their fix. That being the case, it isnt surprising how much i like music that sounds like video games — techno/electronic.

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ok, i cant imagine a video game where this music would really fit (unless the gameplay were to float across the sky as a cloud), but it is electronic nonetheless, and truly wonderful. The artist is a duo named Yasume. This album is called We’re From Where The Birds Sing A Pretty Song.I believe they’re British, and one member is known as logreybeam, while the other is called Xela. logreybeam’s solo album,Its All Just Another Aspect Of Mannerism, was released in 2004, while Xela’s The Dead Sea is a recent 2006 release.This was their one-time (?) collaboration in beautiful ambient soundscapes. The Orb’s ‘little fluffy clouds‘ has nothing on this.
I doubt Yasume had any proper music videos, but some rad youtuber named SilentOkami with rad taste in both gaming and music merged some silent hill video with a yasume song. Thanks, silentOkami!

Review. Give it a listen, look for the Xela/logreybeam albums, and collect them if you find yourself loving it.

geology and tumbling motion

(rock n roll) You already know what this genre's all about! It's a broad one, so I’ll be focussing in on just what has an atmospheric, smooth, smoked-out sound — nothing too intense or emotional (no Emo!), just enough to get you up and moving, without taking off your sunglasses.

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A band perfectly befitting the above description is Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Don’t worry about the name - they don’t sell drugs to your kids or beat up rival bands with tire irons (that i know of, anyway). They’re just a cool, cool, cool cool band that is too cool, much much too cool. Very languorous vocals, like a down-pitched-shifted Noel Gallagher, meld into the hypnotic, trance-like repetitive rock. It verges on classic punk at times, it falls into the stoner rock category at times, and, more recently, they've taken an all-but-total blues-rock sound, but at most times BRMC are an original experience that I cannot recommend highly enough. Enjoy Take Them On, On Your Own. (This one you can find easily, at amazon.com or hmv or wherever...)

Check out the MV for 'Love Burns' at Stage6. Or, the extremely catchy, you-will-love-this-instantly song Stop.And don't complain if you have to dl the divx web player, its extremely small and installs instantly. PS: I'm currently figuring out how to embed divx videos, like the flash ones in other posts. ^^

a very cool band is called The Dandy Warhols. like me, you may remember their hit from the 90s, ‘Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth.’ Yeah, that song was cool, but if you were to go by radio-hits alone, that would make tDWs a one-hit wonder. You'd also believe they were a generally happy, upbeat band. Not true. They continue to kick ass in ultra-subdued style with their melt-rock sound which is universally perceptible as ‘totally cool, dude.’ Odditorium or The Warlords of Mars. Now, get a band shirt and see them live!!!

Preview their song 'Godless' at Veoh (which has youtube quality, but presents it larger and offers a download button, so its an improvement).