4w ago

Anon discovers Japanese jazz

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It’s that way in almost every country that isn’t America or America-light. Japan does it in over-the-top performative ways, but pretty much everywhere else, people care about random strangers, people invest time into their days and activities being nice just for the simple pleasure of human stuff and taking time to be a human and be pleasing with other people. Food, gifts, clothing, respect and value for travelers and gestures of good-will. If you’re from America, it feels “normal” here but something is clearly missing, and if you ever spend any length of time overseas you see exactly what it is and how badly wrong things are here, that it is missing.
I’m not trying to be prejudiced about it, just saying that every culture has its good stuff and its failings and not giving a shit about other people or life in general is definitely an American one.
- If you’re from America, it feels “normal” here but something is clearly missing, and if you ever spend any length of time overseas you see exactly what it is and how badly wrong things are here, that it is missing.
  What's missing is walkability and "third-spaces." Seriously.
  See also:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHlpmxLTxpw
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/29/extreme-car-dependency-unhappiness-americans
  https://medium.com/illumination/the-death-of-third-places-and-the-evolution-of-communities-5bbffc01c5e
  https://designdash.com/2024/01/29/the-problem-with-car-centric-cities-for-community-public-health-and-more/
  https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/11/2/the-negative-consequences-of-car-dependency
  https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/03/05/all-the-ways-that-cars-harm-our-communities-well-almost-all
  
  Europe took a long stroll in that direction too, but there are some major differences. First, most of their cities were established before cars. Second, they're making more of an active attempt (in some areas) to be walkable again.
  In short, in America 75 years is a long time. In Europe, 75 miles (120km) is a long way.
- I’m Canadian and we’re very America lite.
  I grew up in a small town and I miss being young and spending so much time getting to know my neighbours or random people at the diner.
  People feel less friendly the last few years, but when you get to know people they are nice. But that consideration for our fellow man is weak lately.
  
  This is why I moved out of a metropolis to a small mountain town. We have our share of assholes and dipshit tourists, but a lot of people genuinely care up here and it's much easier to be of that mindset when you're around people of a similar ilk.
  
  This is why I love weeb shit
- Not sure what it has to do with America, but the European countries (or people's relationship) I've lived in are extremely far from being that nice.
  
  I’m in Germany, which feels pretty unfriendly to me (and I’m from Connecticut), but there’s still a back current of something. I don’t know if it’s best described as a sense of community, solidarity, or shared humanity, but I work at a bakery (culturally comparable to a diner, imo, and I worked in the US at a few diners) and the clientele as a rule sees me as a person in a way that they didn’t always in the US.
  It’s also the first place I’ve worked in a city that didn’t have an oppositional relationship with the local homeless population, because my boss treats them like people, and doesn’t allow anyone to do any differently.
  
  I ws defining most of Europe as "America light" here. People in Central America, the Middle East, and Africa all have a particular human way of interacting with each other that is absent in America and sort of muted in a lot of Western Europe. Then at a certain point my perspective flipped and I realized their way was normal, and it's us that have something unusual about us.
  The world is a big place with a lot of variation, and I'm not trying to romanticize any particular place. Just saying that a lot of looking out for each other and being kind has been forgotten about in a lot of America.
  
  Absolutely. Cold culture vs warm culture. It's not just an American thing, but the "only america is this bad!" thought process on here is rampant. It's getting exhausting.
  
  Yeah, I have a European acquaintance who I've heard talk at length about how America is warm and friendly relative to Europe, and it's a notion I've heard backed up by online accounts as well.
- I sell on ebay and while I don't go that far out of my way I do put a little thank you stamp on the packing slip, make sure everything is packed correctly and I go out of my way to make sure that the item is shipped either same day or next day if they order later in the day. People are always grateful that they get their items so fast. I often sell spare parts for things off of already broken items, but even things like cassette tapes I imagine that they want it for the weekend or it's for a gift for someone.

Oh I love this one. It introduced me to Casiopea and they're a PHENOMENAL band. Which sent me into a hole of finding more stuff like that, and now I love J-Jazz.
- Recommendations? Not even limited to J-jazz — I used to do a lot more active music searching and I'm trying to get back into that, part of which involves asking random people who like different music than I do for recs
  
  I'm not a huge Japanese jazz aficionado, but this is some stuff I've found over the years and enjoyed:
  Himiko Kikuchi - Flying Beagle
  Masayoshi Takanaka - All Of Me
  Jiro Inagaki - ファンキー・スタッフ (Funky Stuff)
  If you like jazzy stuff in general, maybe you'd like:
  Lund Quartet - Lund Quartet
  Portico Quartet - Memory Streams
  Colin Stetson - All This I Do For Glory
  BADBADNOTGOOD - IV
  Snarky Puppy - Lingus
  
  https://everynoise.com/engenremap-japanesejazzfusion.html
  Everynoise is the website for exploring genres. Warning: Time will fly.
  
  If you want something a bit different, Gypsy Jazz is really fun. Kinda a jazzy swing sound with a touch of bluegrass/americana mixed in.
  My dad's super big into it but the band I always remember is Harmonious Wail
  
  Give Takanaka a try.
  
  Not the person you responded to, but I got super into Haruomi Hosono last year. Sort of 70's Japanese electronic jazz. Hosono House and Paraiso are great albums. He also contributed to Pacific, and it's a great jumping off point for all the other artists on that record.
  Cornelius is another really fun Japanese electro band, found them on an old episode of Yo Gabba Gabba.
  Quite unrelated, but if you're into hip hop Mr Giscard was a fun find for me. It's in French, which I don't speak, so can't speak to the lyrical content, but it's a fun listen. Similarly, Lous and the Yakuza, this time in German.
  Happy listening!
  
  Satellite Lovers was a nice band. Their music sounds so carefree.
  
  Ryo Fukui
  The Album "Scenery" is a ride. I don't know much about the genre/scene tbh, but this album cuts through whatever I'm experiencing at the time. It really feels like unfettered expression, and it sounds really pretty.
  Also, the dude was insane on the keys. How the hell someone's hands can do half of that stuff is beyond me.
  
  I'm not very knowledgeable on J-Jazz, but BBE records has a bunch of compilations and re-releases. I really enjoyed this comp by DJ Muro.
  https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/album/diggers-dozen-dj-muro

I haven’t bought a record in a while but I used to buy a ton and buying used from Japan was always my favorite. It wasn’t like this if you bought from corporate stores obviously but almost every time I bought from just some dude on yahoo auctions or discogs or ebay or whatever I would have a similar experience. Handwritten note, candy, good luck charm from a shrine, etc. almost made up for the astronomical shipping
One time my friend ordered a book from Russia and got similar treatment except they got tea. We made it and it was the most horrible tea we had ever tried in our lives. It came with a sweet letter though so the sentiment was nice
- Not enjoying rhododendron tea is heresy, not to be tolerated under any curcumstances.

Now I'm curious which tea they got
- I'm curious if they left a positive review

That album fucking rules. Can also confirm the Japanese vinyl store experience, they love to add personal touches.
- Japan does jazz really nice. Look up Soil and Pimp for a more spicy metal jazz experience.
- Fun fact: Casiopea released an album last year. It isn't nearly as good, but still cool.

Huh this makes sense now

Oh man thank you for reminding me of casiopea. Haven't listened to them since like early high-school I think. Back into weekly rotation now!

I think I ordered a Ratatat vinyl from the same seller, or Japanese discogs sellers are just the best. They sent me a free 1970s Japanese city pop vinyl and a bunch of stickers for fun.

Huh, that’s actually pretty cool music.
- A lot of the people doing video game music in the 80s were Casiopea fans, so there is a big overlap between their stuff and game music.
  Their track "Countdown" being a very cleae example.
  
  Yeah, so I noticed :D A YouTube video I saw also mentioned T-Square as another one that’s likely to’ve influenced video game music.
  Listening to some of Casiopea’s tracks definitely evokes that feeling of ‘I might’ve heard that in Ridge Racer or Gran Turismo’ without being able to pin down a specific track.
  I’m not seeing a track called Countdown on YT music though, what album is that on?

I watched a great Japanese animated film last year about a jazz musician: Blue Giant. Can definitely recommend.

That is a good album. Those cats jam, and jam well.

Listening to Dolphin while playing Wave Racer 64

Yes this Greentext introduced me to Casiopea and jazz fusion, Mint Jams is still my favorite album of theirs. Other notable works of the genre include Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way, Masayoshi Takanaka’s On Guitar, and ISSEI NORO INSPIRITS’ BEAUTY.

I ran into a live performance they did in 1985 the other day while i was doing yard work. It was really good, they're all phenomenal musicians. The crowd response was nutty, it was cool to see/hear that many people loving the hell out of the music and the band.
https://youtu.be/ilOZZp8zWKE

They remind me of Gran Turismo

Good ad; didn't get me into Japanese stuff because I'm already into anime and manga and underage looking girls and excessively gross porn and whatnot (could do without the pixelated junk, though), but it got me to listen to some Mint Jams.
Not exactly my thing (too much like elevator muzak for my taste, read Japanese jazz, expected something more like the Seatbelts 🤷‍♂️), but not bad, very eighties, could put it in the background while doing something else.
- and underage looking girls and excessively gross porn
  hol' up
- If you’re looking for something more pop-like, with heavy jazz influences, consider checking out Zutomayo. It’s a rotating cast of masked musicians, (the vocalist is the only permanent member), with some heavy big band and jazz underscoring it. The instrumentation is actually phenomenal, especially for a group that has the pop so front and center. For instance, the bass line from this (especially the solo around the 1:30 mark) could put many bass players to shame the first time they try it.
  
  Huh; the one you linked is way too Japanese for my taste (it's the voice, way too high, like nails on a chalkboard), but I checked a couple videos at random from their YouTube channel and got the Dandadan ending and an extended version of Chainsaw Man's second ending (both with different visuals), which sound great (for anime endings) but aren't something I'd listen to on their own. Definitely not jazz or anywhere close, though. Thanks anyway.
- Little too much energy for elevator music IMO, when I think elevator music I think something like Aisha Duo

you are all not going to like my take on JP music
Western music has a history of taking pride in lack of music education, obviously with rock gods trying to convince their audience that "they don't know what chords are" and such.
Obviously when compared to a society that prides itself on education and "trying" at hobbies (otaku), then you get to see some insane 6D jazz chords and solos from outer space
Biggest lie Western musicians have sold to their audience is the music theory will "take away" something from their music/originality
- Your take on Japanese music is fine. Your take on "western" (whatever that means) music is hot garbage, however.
- So you're just gonna sit there and ignore the vast history and tradition of Jazz, classical, and music education in the west, huh? Neat.
- Oh, brother. Only thing I don't like about your take is that you obviously have no clue of the history of western music in general and still decided to voice an opinion about it.
- I always saw it as musicians without formal education just want people to know that also works. And it's OK to be proud of that. I don't follow all the musicians and know their thoughts, but I can't recall any vh1 behind the musics where an artist claimed music theory takes away from music. Recall a couple saying both is often the best. Neil Pert, iirc was a real interesting story with regards to that.
- What part of this do you think people will not like? It sounds like you are praising Japanese musicians and criticizing Western ones. Your criticism of Western music seems pretty off though, the only musicians that match your description are punk bands.
  
  there are many world class western musicians so people reading my criticism will probably think im targeting western music as whole.
  it's just this weird subculture in western music that I don't like and it shows through their live performances the most. fou only hear "wow it sounds just like the album" when western groups are playing
- I mean, when your major genres are built on a foundation of music made by folks who often didn't have access to formal musical education, I kinda get it.
  As an Elecki enjoyer I do see your point, though.
  Edit: Will say I think you're being overbroad, but I'm pretty sure you have rock in mind, where there is a tradition of downplaying formal musical knowledge, which kinda makes sense considering where it comes from in the U.S.
- don't lump all of the West in with America. I play four instruments well and pretty much any instrument badly because I got lessons in school and could do both music performance and production in my last two years at school, I performed jazz, church and pop music regularly throughout my childhood and it didn't feel unusual or privileged. We sang and played instruments every single day in primary school.
  Also my English and History teachers would sometimes play us music that related to what we were studying in secondary school.
- Maybe this is true in acoustic music but not at all in electronic music

According to this person: music = "weeb shit".
- Music from a famous Japanese band, sold by a Japanese person, delivered with a bunch of stereotypical Japanese things. Seems a bit disingenuous to generalize that to just "music"
- D O
  Y O U
  K N O W
  H O W
  T O
  R E A D ?
- According to this person: bricks = pangolin or some shit I can't read

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