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[fart town usa]

So my brother introduced me to the Japanese band, 'Yellow Magic Orchestra' and because of that my YouTube algorithm now has these random 1970s Japanese albums popping up. So damn glad too cause I'm stumbling on some gems. This one is my favorite so far.

1970s funk/disco/jazz/prog. Really cool. From what I've read, the album was written for a long running series of novels that revolved around a Detective. There's also some films too.


"Masquerade"


Whole Album


Gives me various NES era gaming vibes at times. The 'Masquerade' song in particular reminds me of Castlevania.

Anyone ever listened to this before or aware of this era of music in Japan? It's so sick.

 

[lachesis]

EDIT: That whole album is quite good. Thx for sharing. I think these types of music is often found as movie/drama OSTs - Some of the older Anime / Movie or even live action kaiju movies have these types of big band music, often incorporating Jazz, funk and disco + Japanese melody. But unlike what I remember, this album is quite slick and almost modern. Especially Track 1 - 8 are quite something. Later part seems more or less more typical Japanese music of era, especially vocals.


example of that era typical band ost)




It was little bit before my times, so I wasn't too aware of the music or movies etc... other than Kohsuke Kindaichi detective novel series were quite popular.

I know the manga series "Kindaichi Case Files", which the protagonist is the grandson of Kohsuke (whom pretty much ends up killing everyone around him by just being him... just like Conan from "Case closed").

I do have a few band/group that I like from that era into 80s - which are more of my liking. Not sure of any specific band made that funk only - many offered different style of music within one album.

Godeigo is one band that I like from 70s. (I was young kid back then, so many of them have to do with TV shows and anime - but nevertheless some of those songs were really great.)


This song is from 1978-1979 of the story of Saiyuki (Son Goku & his pals traveling to India, supporting a chosen monk to retrieve holy teachings of the Buddha)



Another one that's famous is none other than Galaxy Express 999 title song (for the movie).


Off-Course is a timeless classic, quite possibly the best vocal in J-pop IMO... but definitely not much of funk or disco. More of folk/pop.
They were active from mid 70s - early 90s I think. It broke my heart when they disbanded. Very famous band for making TV-drama music and CM songs as well.




Of course, how can I go without the Southern All Stars and great Kuwata Keisuke? (Also active from mid-70s, and I think they are still active off and on)



(This particular song was re-released by Ray Charles in 1990, I think)

 

[A.Romero]

Wow, thanks for sharing. Pretty interesting.

 

[Reality Czar]

This is awesome. Really fucking dope. Never heard this before! Trippy as hell. It reminds me a little of some of the Hausu soundtrack.



You might want to check out Sadistic Mika Band, they were very funky and proggy as well.



YMO is also super rad. Love all their stuff. Light in the Attic is reissuing all this killer stuff. Japanese music was tight.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

It's the 80s but it's the apex of this sound.

 

[Imotekh]

I wish I could remember how I took my own first step into the amazing world of Japanese fusion. I know that Casiopea was the first group I identified and listened to tons of their stuff. For me now it's all about Masayoshi Takanaka.

For me fusion in general stands out for the upbeat, happy tone as well as the incredible talent and technical skill of the musicians, its absolutely loaded with incredible guitar and keyboard solos. In a time when solos like this seem to have gone entirely out of fashion it is nice to look back and find what's missing from the world was recorded 30-40 years ago. The prolific nature of the artists means the adventure of discovery is never quite finished.

Would thoroughly reccomend the below albums