Japanese Underground Music CD:

 

The tracks on the CD correspond with this listing.  Please read the links on this page to get more info about the artists.

 

 

Track 1:  Haisai Ojisan / Hey Old Man!

Music and Lyrics by Shoukichi Kina

Arranged by Shoukichi Kina

 

 

Hey, man! Hey, man !

If there’s a drop of sake left in last night’s little bottle

Won’t you give me some?

Hey, boy! Hey, boy!

You think I’m satisfied with a little bottle?

Don’t say there’s none left!

Ok, man! If the little bottle’s not enough, give me a big one

 

Hi, man! Hi, man!

I wanna marry, I’m not a kid anymore

Can I marry your daughter?

Hey, boy! Hey boy!

Marry? No kidding!

You’re still too young to talk about such things

Ok, man! I’ll wait till my hair turns white

 

Hi, man! Hi, man!

What a big bald spot you have!

Hey, boy! Hey, boy!

Bald men are excellent

My forefathers were really excellent

Ok, man! I’m gonna have cosmetic surgery to add bald spots

 

Hi, man! Hi, man!

Your beard is funny, like the whiskers of an attic mouse

Hey, boy! Hey, boy !

Laugh at my beard, but women love bearded men

Ok, man! I don’t wanna be outdone by you,

Starting tomorrow, I’ll grow a beard that looks like the whiskers of a mouse

 

Hi, man! hi, man!

Last night’s hooker was really pretty, you should go there, too

Hey, boy! Hey, boy !

In Chiji, Nakajima and Watanji,* I’m a big shot

Okay, man! Going around here and there, I’m wasting my money

You’re wasting your money

 

*Red light districts in Okinawa

 

Here are two pages with a good bit of information about Kina:

 

Japan Times

 

 

Biography at GeoCities

 

 

Performance

 

Track 2: Boredoms – “Bocabola”

 

The Boredoms are one of the great uniting (yet destructive) influences on the Japanese underground music scene.  This song is from their album Pop Tatari and, like most Boredoms songs, is hard to translate.  Eye-san does say “Coke is it,” at the beginning, but from there it devolves into gibberish or word-play.  Here are some interviews with the Boredoms that may or may not shed some light on their music.

 

Browbeat

 

 

Myspace

 

Video from US Tour

 

Track 3: Moga the 5 Yen – “4563”

 

MySpace

 

YouTube

 

Track 4: Ultrafuckers – “Prince of the Land of Rising Noise”

 

This was the first band I saw live in Japan at Bears in Osaka (a small club run by seiichi Yamamoto of the Boredoms).  It was “Scum Night” and I was forever changed (I think). 

HomePage: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=20283561

 

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsBG0Yl_AUM

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6xkobac4UM

 

Track 5: Won Wons – “Won Won Killer”

 

The Won Wons were a band that lasted only a few minutes.  Won Won is the sound a dog makes in Japanese (like woof-woof), and the band itself consisted of drums, base, and guitars.  Most people thought they were a joke as the guitarist and bassist didn’t really know how to play their instruments, but when they traveled to Tokyo they were treated like rock royalty.

 

Track 6: Go Devils – “Yes I Do”

 

The Go-Devils are still going strong, playing the same material and I kind of can’t believe they aren’t one of the most popular bands on the planet.  Here’s their homepage:

 

http://www.go-devils.com/

 

Video

 

Track 7: The Grape Juice – “Grape Juice”

 

This song is probably the only song by The Grape Juice, really just one guy in his house.  Last time he was heard from, he couldn’t play guitar because his cousin took his instrument.

 

Track 8: OOIOO – “5oio2”

 

OOIOO is the solo band of Yoshimi, the drummer from the Boredoms.  Here is a short interview with her about both bands.

 

http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/yoshimi.shtml

 

Track 9: Merzbow – “Track 5”

 

Merzbow is called “The King of Noise.” Here’s a very interesting interview with him:

 

http://www.furious.com/perfect/merzbow.html

 

Video in Korea and Kobe

 

Track 10: Nagisa Ni Te – “Same as a Flower”

 

“Same as a Flower”

 

Same as a flower

The height of the sky

Same as a flower

The height of the sky

The same /  height

The same / height of the sky

It’s just the same

Same as a flower

Height of the sky

Same as a flower

Height of the sky

The same / Height

The same / Height

It’s just the same

Green, Purple,

The flourishing sun

In a boat

We can go

To this place

Let’s go

Let’s go

The same as the sky

The height of a flower

The same as the sky

The height of the flower

The same height

The same height

Of the flower

I want to see

Yellow, Purple

The flourishing sun

The boat

Is quiet

The same as a flower

The same

 

 

Nagisa Ni Te means “On the Beach” in Japanese, and probably comes from the Neil Young album title.  Their sound is described as psychedelic folk – most of their songs are quite a bit longer than this one.  Anywho, here is their press page from their label.

 

http://www.jagjaguwar.com/press/nagisanite/nagisanitepress.php

 

And a video

 

Track 11: Ari Bri – “Bakans”

 

Ari-Bri is a girl group in the same vein as the Raincoats – off-key and basically strange pop music. 

 

Track 12: Music Start Against Young Assault – “600m”

 

Music Start is a great three piece band about whom almost nothing is written and who rarely even plays a live show or releases an album.  Since the drummer died late last year in a tragic accident, they might not be heard from again.

 

Track 13: DJ Krush – “Shin-Sekai ft. Ringo”

 

A remix from the pioneer of hip-hop and turntablism in Japan.

 

Home Page: http://www.mmjp.or.jp/sus/djkrE1.htm

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVjgRlto8PI

A Fairly Comprehensive Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Krush

Interview

 

Track  14: Acid Mothers Temple ‘ “The Tales of Solar Sail”

 

Acid Mothers Temple is a great psychedelic band from Nara.  The early days of the band had them living together in a commune and releasing tons of CD’s under many different monikers, but they are all led by Makoto Kawabata and his electric guitar.

 

Here are some informational links:

 

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_Mothers_Temple

 

Home Page: http://www.acidmothers.com/

 

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/acidmotherstemple

 

Track 15: Indian No Echo Sign Bine No– “Honey and Snorkel”

 

Indian No Echo… started in 1999 and is a three (sometimes four) piece band with drums, violin, and bass.  They’ve only released their demo (which this track is from) and one live album.

 

Track 16: Boredoms – “Jungle Taitei”

 

Here is a track from a later Boredoms EP.  It reflects a much different style from their early work, don’t you think?   The tune is actually the theme song from Jungle Taitei, an animated children’s show by the creator of Astroboy.

 

Here is a review of this album:

 

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/41256-super-roots-678

 

And here is a video of their recent performance in NYC - on 07/07/07 they assembled 77 drummers in a spiralling circle

 

 

Track 17 Ydestroyde – “2nd Big Bang” 

 

Ydestroyde is a band that sounds a lot like early Boredoms, except with a lot more coherency.  Here is their translated website and also their myspace.com page

 

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://8612.teacup.com/ydestroyde/bbs&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dydestroyde%26hl%3Den%26hs%3DV76%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official

 

http://www.myspace.com/ydestroyde

 

YouTube video of 2nd Big Bang