> What does anyone think about these releases? I'm thinking of
ordering them
>
> Building on Strong FOundation
> Life of Cityboys 1992-1995
>
> Is CItyboys Volume 3 in the same vein (i.e. Konishi's work?)
because I see it
> listed under Various Artist at OtherMusic.com.
well. hi!
i received this from ryan via the list a while back, and left it in
my inbox because i thought i might answer it if no one else bothered.
and then... i left it sitting there for what seemed like ages,
thinking i'd answer it soon enough. anyway, i think i'll go ahead
and try to make myself useful as a member of the popjourno list, for
a change.
since the cd's are listed as OST's, i was under the impression for a
while that there was a movie called cityboys, and that these were its
soundtracks. but the cityboys are actually a troupe of japanese
comedians, and these are THEIR soundtracks. i have the pleasure of
owning two of the three volumes in the series, and i've gotten quite
a lot of enjoyment out of them over the past year or so.
A Life Of Cityboys is primarily the work of yasuharu konishi of the
pizzicato five leading the readymade orchestra, with some tracks by
tomoyuki tanaka (fantastic plastic machine). it's almost all
instrumental, with konishi and tanaka playing their own compositions
and covering each other. it's really pretty much on par with their
more well-known releases. konishi's arrangements are lush and
pleasing. tanaka contributes songs like, "escape from aquarium," an
instrumental recording of a song that appeared with vocals by calin
on bungalow records' Sushi 3003 compilation... and which samples a
quirky vocal bit that goes ma-na-ma-na from italian session's "l'
arcangero" (which appears on Not Found). tanaka also performs a
song which combines parts by konishi with serge gainsbourg's "je t'
aime, moi non plus," a cover of a very delicate music box-like erik
satie composition, and a rather strange yet fun song about an
airplane being hijacked. shigeru saiki of the cityboys does a fair
job of crooning two songs, including "lover's rubber brain" which is
quite reminiscent of comme d'habitude / my way, as well.
Not Found, on the other hand, is a compilation of contemporary pop
artists and italian `60s film music of the kind that appears in the
easy tempo series (and its assorted imitators). the italian tracks
are upbeat and high-spirited; there are short and sweet incidental
pieces by towa tei, fantastic plastic machine and louis philippe;
and the definitely-worth-your-attention british group the gentle
people contribute a groovy instrumental number called "travel bug"
(which was also given a fine karaoke treatment by matthew le grand
magistery on the indie pop list cd). shigeru seiki performs "lover'
s rubber brain" in concert, once again singing it very nicely; while
one of his cityboys comrades, perhaps emboldened by a few drinks,
absolutely butchers a song of his own (or else he really is just a
bad singer). and then there are my two favorite songs on the cd--
the rah band's recent (1997) version of their old song "clouds
across the moon," in which a poor sad wife makes a christmas-time
telephone call to her husband on mars, set to a jazzy sade-esque r&b
tune, till the operator coldly informs her of bad weather and
possible disconnection... and konishi's breathtaking drum 'n' bass
remix of the title track ("not found" by italian session), which all
the while retains its jazzy, orchestral sound and displays a warm,
deep upright bass sound and atmospheric, echoing woo-oo-oo vocals.
as for the second volume, Building On A Strong Foundation... i just
haven't heard it. but it's konishi... how bad could it possibly be?
if anyone on the list does purchase it, i definitely wouldn't mind
acquiring a cd-r of it in some sort of swap (*wink*).
here are some links that might come in handy, especially since some
of them feature online audio clips from the cd's:
A Life Of Cityboys--
http://www2.eccosys.co.jp/~kawakazu/menu/review/menu127.html
http://www.home.aone.net.au/pv/p5ss/konishi/city.html
Building On A Strong Foundation--
http://www2.eccosys.co.jp/~kawakazu/menu/review/menu128.html
http://www.home.aone.net.au/pv/p5ss/konishi/building.html
Not Found--
http://www2.eccosys.co.jp/~kawakazu/menu/review/menu137.html
http://www.home.aone.net.au/pv/p5ss/konishi/found.html
The Cityboys comedy troupe--
http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~gadget/
http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/i/yuupin/cityboys.htm
http://www2.ocn.ne.jp/~yumutti/cityboys/
what do i think about them, though? i think they're rad! you need
them, pronto! don't worry about how expensive they are, because
they are flippin' grate.
best wishes and happy listening (*goes back to lurking for a while*),
t.c.
p.s. re: march's moshi moshi compilation. for the person who is
already familiar with most of the bands, it's kind of useless
because so many of the songs have been previously released... BUT
for anyone who hasn't heard many of them before, it is definitely a
very nice, representative (and affordable) introduction to the
current state of indie pop, which is quite different in tone from
the heyday of american twee and the whole k records / pacific
northwest scene that seem to be dying breeds... and i would
recommend moshi moshi very highly.
http://pokoalpenheim.tripod.com/
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