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The Fantastic Plastic Machine (album)
''The Fantastic Plastic Machine'' is the debut studio album by Japanese musician Fantastic Plastic Machine. It was released on October 10, 1997, by Readymade Records. The album was subsequently released in Germany on April 24, 1998, by Bungalow Records and in the United States on September 15, 1998, by Emperor Norton Records. The album drew influence and inspiration from music styles—including baroque pop, bossa nova, beat, and europop, as well as dance music roots. The album cover art was illustrated by French-Armenian cartoonist and illustrator Edmond Kiraz. Critical reception Steve Huey of AllMusic described ''The Fantastic Plastic Machine'' as "a delightful, infectious album that's not only hooky as all get-out, but also rewards repeated listening", deeming it "one of the best albums to come out of the Japanese club-pop movement". In 2007, ''Rolling Stone Japan'' placed ''The Fantastic Plastic Machine'' at number 67 on its list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Album ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantastic Plastic Machine (musician)
Fantastic Plastic Machine is the stage name of , a Japanese musician and DJ born in Kyoto, Japan. Tanaka was considered to be part of the Shibuya-kei movement. History In the late 1980s, Tanaka played as the bassist in a rock band called Margarine Strikes Back. Then in the early 1990s, Tanaka became a regular club DJ in the Kansai area, working as part of a DJ team known as Sound Impossible. While playing with Sound Impossible, his friend Towa Tei convinced Tanaka to return to recording music, and in 1997 Tanaka created his solo project Fantastic Plastic Machine under the Readymade Records (a Columbia Music Entertainment sub-label) label in Japan. His 1997 self-titled debut album was described by Stevie Huey as a "bright, bubbly pop confection that reconfigures classic pop and cocktail lounge idioms for the '90s dancefloor." His following album ''Luxury'' (1998) " xploresmore down-tempo territory and oncentratesmore on creating texture with his mixes". These albums would go o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guide' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoshinori Sunahara
is a Japanese record producer and DJ from Sapporo, Hokkaido. He is a former member of Denki Groove. He was also a member of Metafive. Discography Studio albums * ''Crossover'' (1995) * '' Take Off and Landing'' (1998) * '' The Sound of '70s'' (1998) * '' Lovebeat'' (2001) * ''Liminal'' (2011) Compilation albums * '' Works '95–'05'' (2007) Soundtrack albums * '' No Boys, No Cry'' (2009) EPs * ''708090'' (1998) Singles * "Journey Beyond the Stars" (1998) * "Lovebeat" (2002) * "Subliminal" (2010) * "Kamisama no Iu Tōri" (2010) Productions * Aco - "Yorokobi ni Saku Hana", "Kyō Made no Yūutsu", and "Taiyō" from '' Absolute Ego'' (1999) * Aco - "4 Gatsu no Hero" from ''Material'' (2001) * Supercar - "Yumegiwa Last Boy" from ''Highvision'' (2002) Remixes * Cornelius - "Moon Walk" from ''96/69'' (1996) * Great 3 - "Gake ~ G-Surf (Yoshinori Sunahara Mix)" from "Glass Roots" (1996) * Imajuku - "Horizon (Y.Sunahara Rmx)" from ''Cat's Cradle'' (1999) * Towa Tei - "Higher (Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yasuaki Shimizu
(born 9 August 1954) is a Japanese composer, saxophonist and producer. He is known for his interpretations of the music of J.S. Bach, in particular the " Cello Suites 1-6" re-arranged for and performed on tenor saxophone. Since 1981 he has composed, produced or arranged for artists as diverse as jazz vocalist Helen Merrill, composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, and DJ Towa Tei. During this time he has lived in London, Paris and Tokyo. Life and career Early career Shimizu’s career as a saxophone player took off in the 1970s. He released his first solo album, ''Get You'', in 1978 and from 1980 won a following with his experimental rock band Mariah, with whom he released five albums. Mariah’s final recording ''Utakata no Hibi'' (1983) weaved traditional Japanese festival rhythms with rock tempos and sounds. Over the same period Shimizu recorded solo albums including ''IQ 179'' (1981) and ''Kakashi'' (1982), which built on the alternative-music foundations set down by Mariah. From these ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arling & Cameron
Arling & Cameron (sometimes 'A&C') are a Dutch electronic music duo, composed of Gerry Arling and Richard Cameron. Their early music draws from French pop, spy movie themes, lounge, '70s light rock, Japanese Shibuya-kei and other music genres that are often associated with kitsch. Their beat-driven pop collages recalled Pizzicato Five or Cornelius, with whom they also collaborated. With Pizzicato Five they co-wrote the song "Arigato, we love you" on the P5 album 'Happy end of the world'. Later albums incorporated more modern pop and electro influences as well as rap and dance. History Their musical partnership began in 1994, inspired by the Shibuya-kei kitsch-pop deconstructionists that had emerged in Japan several years earlier. They held "Easy Tune" parties around Amsterdam that year; from those performances they culled singles which they released under a variety of pseudonyms (16 in all, including "Popcorn" and "Aloha Sisters") on Cameron's Drive-In/Easy Tune label. Collabor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Jackson (musician)
David Ian "Joe" Jackson (born 11 August 1954) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Having spent years studying music and playing clubs, he scored a hit with his first release, "Is She Really Going Out with Him?", in 1979. It was followed by a number of new wave singles, before he moved to more jazz-inflected pop music and had a top 10 hit in 1982 with " Steppin' Out". Jackson is associated with the 1980s Second British Invasion of the US. He has also composed classical music. He has recorded 20 studio albums and received five Grammy Award nominations. Biography Early years Born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, David Jackson spent his first year in nearby Swadlincote, Derbyshire. He grew up in the Paulsgrove area of Portsmouth, where he attended the Portsmouth Technical High School. Jackson's parents moved to nearby Gosport when he was a teenager. He learned to play the violin but soon switched to piano, and prevailed on his father to install one in the ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steppin' Out (Joe Jackson Song)
"Steppin' Out" is a song by English musician Joe Jackson, originally included on his 1982 album '' Night and Day''. The song, inspired by Jackson's time in New York City, was his highest-charting single in America, where it peaked at number 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It reached the same position in Jackson's native UK. Background The song is about the anticipation and excitement of a drive out around the town. Released as a single in early August 1982, it became Jackson's biggest hit in the United States, peaking at No. 5 in '' Cashbox'' magazine and No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It also reached No. 4 on ''Billboard''s Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and No. 7 on ''Billboard''s Album Rock Tracks. The infectious tune was Jackson's second biggest hit on the UK Singles Chart, where it reached No. 6. Only "It's Different for Girls", which reached No. 5 in the UK in 1980, did better. During his 2019 tour for the album ''Fool'', Jackson stated he played all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electropop
Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a revival of popularity and influence in the late 2000s. History Early 1980s During the early 1980s, British artists such as Gary Numan, the Human League, Soft Cell, John Foxx and Visage helped pioneer a new synth-pop style that drew more heavily from electronic music and emphasized primary usage of synthesizers. 21st century Britney Spears' influential fifth studio album '' Blackout'' (2007) incorporated elements of the genre, catapulting electropop to mainstream significance. The media in 2009 ran articles proclaiming a new era of different electropop stars, and indeed the times saw a rise in popularity of several electropop artists. In the Sound of 2009 poll of 130 music experts conducted for the BBC, ten of the top fifteen artist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chiptune
Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles. The term is commonly used to refer to tracker format music which intentionally sounds similar to older PSG-created music (this is the original meaning of the term), as well as music that combines PSG sounds with modern musical styles. It has been described as "an interpretation of many genres" since any existing song can be arranged in a chiptune style defined more by choice of instrument and timbre than specific style elements. Technology A waveform generator is a fundamental module in a sound synthesis system. A waveform generator usually produces a basic geometrical waveform with a fixed or variable timbre and variable pitch. Common waveform generator configurations usually included two or three simple waveforms and often a single pseudo- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flipper's Guitar
Flipper's Guitar (フリッパーズ・ギター) were a Tokyo-based rock band led by (and later a duo of) Keigo Oyamada and Kenji Ozawa. The band were influenced by the chirpy sound of British 80s pop and post-punk groups like Haircut 100, Exhibit B, Orange Juice, The Style Council and Aztec Camera, as well as the fashionably eclectic sounds of early 90s Britain, from alternative dance to acid jazz. The group were an important part of the Tokyo Shibuya-kei scene in the late 1980s to early 1990s, and Oyamada went on to produce work for Pizzicato Five and his close friend Kahimi Karie. The band wears their influence on their sleeves, their song titles often citing their British artists' influence — ''Goodbye Our Pastels Badges'', ''Haircut One Hundred'', ''The Colourfield.'' Following the demise of the band in 1991, the two members pursued solo careers. Ozawa released the album ''The Dogs Bark But The Caravan Moves On'' under his own name, and Oyamada began recording unde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indie Pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, Independent record label, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of ''indie pop'' has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop. Development and characteristics Origins and etymology Both ''indie'' and ''indie pop'' had originally referred to the same thing during the late 1970s. Inspired more by punk rock's DIY ethos than its style, guitar bands were formed on the then-novel premise that one could record and release their own music instead of having to procure a record contra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo Weekender
''Tokyo Weekender'' magazine is the oldest English publication in Japan. Founded in 1970 by Corky Alexander and Susan Scully, ''Tokyo Weekender'' was first published bi-monthly. Now ''Tokyo Weekender'' is published monthly and is distributed in embassies, luxury hotels, shops, stations and airports. Early years ''Tokyo Weekender'' was co-founded by Korean War veteran Millard "Corky" Alexander and Susan Scully, previously co-workers at ''Pacific Stars and Stripes''. It was the first free regular English publication in Japan. As well as being free at various locations, it used to come inside the Friday edition of the English ''Daily Yomiuri'', a real distribution coup. After Corky died, the publication was taken over by his daughter and son-in-law before being relaunched by Caroline Pover. In 2008 ''Tokyo Weekender'' was purchased by Bulbouscell Media Group. In 2015, Bulbouscell Media Group was bought by the PR Agency Sunny Side Up Inc., and later merged with ENGAWA K.K., an SSU g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
