Akim & Teddy Vann – santa claus is a Black man (1973)
The Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy’s Christmas (1967)
Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (1961) Really, the only xmas album you need ever is Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Album. Just play it on infinite loop all December.
Bing & Bowie – The Little Drummer Boy (1977)
Tommy Heavenly6 – I love Xmas (2006)
Love Psychedelico – Happy Xmas, War Is Over (2011) (John Lennon cover)
Elton John – Ho Ho Ho (Who’d Be A Turkey At Christmas?) (1973)
Rocks burgeoning New Wave in the late 70s was a hodgpodge of quirky art rock, humorous post punk and novelty pop rock bands, but on December 20, 1979, exactly 40 years ago today, a mostly forgettable late-to-the-party uk glamrock band faux-exotically named Japan took a new turn and unexpectedly released a groundbreaking album which invented a new genre. Blending Roxy Music, Bowie/Eno and Giorgio Moroder, they dropped a bombshell of style and sophistication and daresay, serious art onto the british future-pop scene, inadvertently launching the new romantic craze (which they never claimed to be a part of). New Wave finally got real.
Shirley Bassey – Moonraker. Yes, the movie was cornball and embarrassing but the song, by 60s megastar and Goldfinger chanteuse Shirley Bassey grows on you and holds its own as a great Bond theme
Nancy Sinatra – You Only Live Twice. I consider this way better than her iconic hit “Boots” and a million times better than any of her dad’s terrible pop covers.
Arguably superior than Matt Monro’s terrific, though a bit too romantic “From Russia With Love“, Tom Jones‘ – Thunderball is pure Bond – totally sexist, sultry and full of 60s macho swagger. Cannot ever be topped by any singer without a wide lapel tux, butterfly bowtie and mutton chop sideburns
KD Lang – Tomorrow Never Dies aka Surrender. Holy shit, is this the best Bond theme ever? (Answer: YES) Why was it commissioned then unceremoniously passed over for the mediocre Sheryl Crow song of the same name and relegated to 2nd end title, when most everyone has already left the theater? Its movie politics and my personal guess is producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli was an old school sexist bastard who didnt want a gay woman doing the theme.
The Honeydrippers – Impeach The President (1973) the drum beat on this single was “sampled” (aka ripped off, typically without credit nor compensation) over 70 times by artists such as Prince, LL Cool J, NWA and Stevie Wonder.
88 kasyo junrei – butsumetsu torishunā mysterious prog/psych/metal trio with a massive cult following.
Red Bacteria Vacuum – Roller Coaster punk with hardcore influences – 3 woman power trio from Osaka, did a few US tours (I got to see them in NYC) and then retired to raise their families. Hopefully they’ll be back.
Anadorei – We’ll Break Male’s Fantasy Fuck Your Myth Of Musculinity Full Of Anger EP The bands name translates as “Ass Slave” and from what Ive seen they are all dominatrixes who do a seriously noisey noise rock act. Here, this review says it all
BiSkaidan (BiS + Hijokaidan) – Suki Suki Daisuki Famed japanese noise outfit Hijokaidan collaborates with genre-breaking idol unit BiS (Brand New Idol Shit) to do a cover of Jun Togawa’s 1980s hit (as seen in the previous post)
0.8syooogeki – Arishima Machine Gun translated as “0.8 Seconds and a Crash” the band released 5 albums between 2009 and 2017
Midori – Doping☆Noise Noise Kiss prog/jazz/noise/punk quartet Midori are a genre all to themselves. Manic and yet cohesive. They released 3 albums before lead Mariko Goto went solo as seems to happen to many japanese bands.
Jun Togawa – Suki Suki Daisuki 1980s avant garde new waver Jun Togawa is kinda sorta like the japanese Kate Bush, but so much weirder. Between her solo works and collaborations and her bands Yapoos and Guernica, she paints a very broad canvas of diverse musical colors and poetically profound and disturbing lyrics. The song represented here is a manically happy love song about a Yandere girl, the kind of psychopath who’s love for you may end in murder. (youll want to turn captions on for the english lyrics!)
Fra-Foa – aojiroi tsuki (pale blue moon) On the periphery of the japanese late 90s indie rock boom, Fra-Foa were amongst the heaviest and most dynamic grunge-inspired bands. With a massive sound and near psychotic vocals from frontwoman Chisako Mikami, they were a powerhouse small club band but never achieved great fame but released two superb albums before Chisako went solo. The video here is her singing about her deceased brother and the intense emotion is breathtaking.
in-your-face indie rock, technically labelled as shoegaze group but much more down to earth in my opinion. The bands name translates as “Mushroom Kingdom”.
move the video around using your phone for 360 degree view
Lovely Summer-chan – Part-Time Robot (in 360 degree video!) The pseudonym and solo project of of Aika Imaizumi, ex-vocalist for shoegaze band For Tracy Hyde, She self produces as a one-woman band.
She In The Haze – Doubt considered rising stars in the late 2010s, this band who also shoot their own videos and do their own production, did a european tour to some acclaim but then mostly disappeared
Esrevnoc – Bijin riding the japanese indie rock boom, this major label girl-rock power trio encapsulated the fun 1990s sound
Sheena Ringo – tsumiki-asobi (playing with blocks) Japan’s avant-pop, psychedelic-jazz uber-diva Sheena Ringo started out in the 90s as a grunge rock firebrand during Japan’s indie rock boom era. For more superb 90s alt-rock check her first 2 albums Muzai Moritorium and Shouso Strip. For an update on her latest music see my blog post here.
Perfume – Edge (triangle mix) Live 2020 Its believed that Perfume are not actually just 3 girls from Hiroshima but in fact 3 girls time traveling from the future to show us how pop music will be done 100 years from now. Not just Japan’s biggest technopop idol band for the past 20 years but a collaboration between Shibuya-kei era band Capsule‘s songwriter and producer Yatsutaka Nakata, the group themselves, their high tech choregrapher Mikiko and a vast army of lighting, video, animation and stage mechanical technicians. The end result is a string of lush and catchy albums and live shows that would surpass even Pink Floyd’s fever dreams.
Expand to full-screen for best effect!
NiNa – Happy Tomorrow Late 1990s supergroup consisting of Kate Pierson (B52s), Yuki(Judy & Mary), Mick Karn (Japan) and the founding members of Plastics. They made just one album together and its essential listening. Infectious soaring pop!
bothneco – choco-mint flavor Vocaloid dreampop at its absolute dreamiest from a mysterious anonymous composer known only as bothneco. No information anywhere about who they are, but a playlist of wonderful songs are up on youtube.
