''Karkador'' is the sixth album by the Japanese

electronic rock Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...

band

P-Model P-Model (also typeset as P-MODEL and P. Model) was a Japanese electronic rock band started in 1979 by members of the defunct progressive rock band Mandrake. The band has experienced many lineup revisions over the years but frontman Susumu Hira ...

, and the first where frontman

Susumu Hirasawa is a Japanese musician and composer. In the fifth year of elementary school, Hirasawa took up the electric guitar, inspired by the surf and instrumental rock bands he heard on the radio and on TV, later joining his junior high school's band. ...

was the sole remaining founding member.

Background and composition

''Karkador'' was mainly inspired by the dreams of

's vocalist

. He had been seeing a Jungian counselor, as he was in a troubled mental state at the time. The counselor suggested that he record his dreams in a notebook to aid his recovery. He developed a narrative and lyrics for the album based on those notes. Sadatoshi Tainaka, the band's original drummer, decided to leave after the previous tour's conclusion. He was replaced by Yasuhiro Araki, a huge fan of P-Model who had formerly played in a punk rock band. The band got signed to

Alfa Records , originally a publisher known as Alfa Music Ltd. and later succeeded by record company Alfa Music Inc., was established in 1969 by composer and record producer Kunihiko Murai. It was formed into an independent record label known as Alfa Record ...

's sub-label for underground acts Edge, which allowed them to use Alfa's studios and mixing equipment, which was far better than what they had access to during their independent period.

Recording and production

In addition to Hirasawa's journal, P-Model used songwriting contributions from their keyboardist Shunichi Miura and bassist Tadahiko Yokogawa. Hirasawa and Yokogawa had equal creative control over the band, though Yokogawa has said that his influence on the album was somewhat nuanced. Although the album has a new wave style much like 1984's ''

Scuba Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, either of two in ...

'', it also includes a wider array of sounds; mixing live drumming with programmed

drumming Drumming may refer to: * the act of playing the drums or other percussion instruments * Drummer, a musician who plays a drum, drum kit, or drums * ''Drumming'' (Reich), a musical composition written by Steve Reich in 1971 for percussion ensemble ...

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

-styled rhythms, and classical instruments. The band tried to keep the album raw, with Yokogawa hoping add some raw explosive power to the material, resulting in a brighter, more upbeat sound than recent efforts. Hirasawa had many ideas in regards to the sound of the album, but faced issues with engineering. He wanted ''Karkador'' to sound "underground", feeling that in-house engineer at Gok Studio Yoshiaki Kondo was best for the job. Kondo worked on some recordings, making the drums purposefully messy, but his work was altered by an Alfa in house mixing engineer—who only worked on the album due to company policy—without Hirasawa's consent. Miura had doubts as to the direction that P-Model was taking and left the band alongside Yokogawa, who felt that touring in support of the album was too rigorous. Due to their departure, half of the album was never performed live after from 1986 onwards.

Track listing

Personnel

; P-Model -

Arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s *

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Shunichi Miura -

Keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

* - Bass, Lead vocals on "Oar", Backing vocals,

Electric violin An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...

Ocarina The ocarina is a wind musical instrument; it is a type of vessel flute. Variations exist, but a typical ocarina is an enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouthpiece that projects from the body. It is traditionally made from c ...

s (bass, tenor and soprano), MSX, Keyboards, Sampler * Yasuhiro Araki -

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Electronic drum Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sounds ...

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

; Staff * Akiro "Kamio" Arishima (AC Unit) -

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Toshikazu Awano (Alfa Records) - A&R Coordination * Mitsuru Hirose (Model House) -

Artist Management A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of entertainer, artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee t ...

* Mitsuo Koike (Alfa Records) - Mixing,

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Yoshiaki Kondo (Gok Sound) and Akitsugu Doi (Alfa Records) - Additional Engineering * Hideaki Nojima (Alfa Records) and Kazuaki Nagai (Somewhere) - Assistant Engineering * Hiroaki Sugawara (Gok Sound) - Digital Equipment Operation * Teppei Kasai ( CBS-Sony) -

Mastering engineer A mastering engineer is a person skilled in the practice of taking audio (typically musical content) that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in distr ...

* Yuichi Hirasawa - Art Direction & * Kayo Muto - Art Drawing * Hideki Namai - Photography * Hideki Higashi (Touch-Up) - Hair & Makeup * Akemi Tsujitani (AC Unit) - Costuming * Ginza Matsuzakaya, Ginza Miyuki-Dori Jun, Hiromichi Nakano, Viva You - Clothes * Toshinao Tsukui (Alfa Records) - Cover Coordination * Special Thanks to: (

Tōkai Gakki , often referred to as Tokai Guitars, is a Japanese musical instrument manufacturer situated in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka prefecture. Tokai is one of Japan's leading companies in the business. The company was founded in 1947 by Tadayouki Adachi an ...

) (for Hirasawa), Take Off Studio (for rehearsal), Akemi Arai ( Toei), Yoshito Imai (Media Bum), , Taro Yamamoto, Yuji Matsuda, Hisaaki Kato, Takashi Kokubo, Osamu Ishii, Miyuki & Miwa Kumagaya, Kuni, Shuji Furu, Akira, Ryuta Staff Room HB, Ted Osawa, Akira Sakurai

Release history

*"Leak" is included on the ''TWINS SOUND SAMPLER Vol.4～TECHNO POP COLLECTION'' various artists compilation.

References

External links

''Karkador''
at Susumu Hirasawa's website *
Karkador
at Sony Music's official site * , directed by Peter Callas {{Authority control 1985 albums P-Model albums Alfa Records albums Japanese-language albums