Key

Hey I'm just making an observation. But journals don't have to be about music only.

Zhanteimi

Yeah, but mine is.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

Key

Fair nuf.

Zhanteimi

I don’t speak Spanish, so I always have to follow this with a translation, which, of course, opens up a lot more of what’s going on here. You can enjoy this music for what it is, beautiful, melodic, acoustic intimacy (and often I do), but if you want to get all you can out of this, dive into the ugly political side of what he’s saying. Even when he sings of love, he’s singing of struggle and freedom. There is a lot of memory in his music.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

Zhanteimi

I guess this is music related, and it's not just a "what am I listening to now" post. Well, technically it is just that, since that's what I'm hearing. I could go into a whole culture and history lesson about the drums the Js bang on at the New Year, their religious significance, and all that, but you have Wikipedia.

One of my favorite times of year is the New Year in Japan because it's so unlike what I grew up with. Billions of people around the world do the huge countdown, and then there's cheering and spilled drinks and fireworks heralding a new year of the same old shit. Why don't we just celebrate like this every day at midnight? It's a new day! Same old shit! YAY! What's the difference between a day and a year? If anything, shouldn't we dread a new year more than a new day, since the realization that the same old shit is just going to continue is more acute?

Anyway, drums. So what's the New Year celebration like here? Apart from gaijin/slag central at the clubs, most of Japan has a very different kind of celebration. I always make sure I'm standing on my balcony at the stroke of midnight on New Year's so that I can bask in the utter silence. Silence. No fireworks. No spilled drinks. No thots. Silence...and then, the drums. Every neighborhood has a local temple, and every temple has the drums they beat to welcome the New Year. This is the Js' Christmas, their most important high holy day of the year, and it's a day to spend with the family, not out partying.

The drums kick up, and they roar into the night for hours, and since no one is sleeping anyway, they are a welcome sound. Somewhere, a few blocks away, priests or their acolytes are slamming away at their taiko drums, filling the quiet neighborhood with thunder.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

Zhanteimi

The satirical classical crossover elements of this album really sell it for me. There’s so much beauty and intensity in the classical music right alongside funny, hypnotic musings on self and others.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

Zhanteimi

If you like quirky, strange, yet interesting pop with a lot of unexpected twists and turns, this album is for you. As it most definitely is for me. I can’t even wrap my head around how much is going on here. I just love it more with each listen. No two tracks sound the same.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

Zhanteimi

Well, this is an unsung goodie! Sure, it’s Krautrock, but there’s a lot going on underneath the surface—or rather above the surface, for that is just what this album does. It opens with water and ends that way, too, as if the music rose from the deep before submerging again. There’s a mild electronic element throughout, especially in the repetitive, hypnotic longer tracks. Also the field recordings scattered here and there work well with the breathing and vocal experimentation going on.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

Key

I saw Sparks a few years ago and met both of them. Got to meet them after the show as well. They are super chill in person.

The Batlord

I listened to that for the first time last year and loved it. Need to listen to it some more.

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