Waxing Nostalgic

I've dipped into the archives and republished some of the very first posts on here recently - and they are an interesting curio of the time, very much still finding their feet in the blog world, and are very much 'blogs' for that matter: former site operator Jordan dropping random thoughts and such in typically teenage fashion. No judgement from me on that front, you can go back and read my posts from when I was 16 and see just how insecure I was back then! But the whole thing got me thinking once more about tunes that hark back to that era - as you may all well know, this blog was founded on French House (which is also how I found it), so lets see what I can dig up that would have gone down a treat back then.

Gerard Fromanger - Violet d’Egypte (1972)

Keeping it modern first with a bit of Macross 82-99. A lot of Macross' work would have been a natural fit for the house lovers of the blog's early days - operating in that 'Future Funk' sphere, his blend of J-Pop and House would have gone down really well I would think. Look no further than tracks like Let It Be Real to evoke that same kind of feeling of yore. It's not quite the most 'French House' example from Sailorwave III now I think about it - that honour goes to That Music that I have posted before - but the whole tape is full of toe-tapping jams that recall that era of blog house. Same could be said for most of the content of the Sailorwave tapes really, but especially III: bite sized slices of retro love letters, with only 1 track that's over 2:50 it's a very easy release to fall in with.



Heading back to soundtrack territory with this next one, Paradise Killer (which has a pretty stellar OST already) got an extra B-sides companion album released back in March that completely went under my Radar. You might expect with a title like Paradise Killer for us to be once again swimming the seas of Synthwave but in actuality there is pretty much none on the OST - plenty of Vaporwave and HOME style synth jams though. If the artwork didn't tip you off already, Paradise Killer also drinks from the same pool of influence as Macross does - the anime influence is much more clear here with big jazzy vocal numbers like its an OVA from the 80s/90s, which as a lover of Gunsmith Cats, Bubblegum Crisis and the eponymous Macross isn't a bad thing at all. In the spirit of the post I've picked Unlimited∞Luv, a self-professed summer jam that wears its house influence on its sleeve if the piano stabs and the 90's wobbly bass didn't tip you off already. I'll end with a quote from the bandcamp page: "We wish we could have an endless summer, dancing all night and for once in our lives, be glad to be alive before the claws of the weight of knowledge and responsibility pierce our flesh once more."

Speaking of heading back, here's another from Umurangi Generation. It's from ThorHighHeels who has come up when I've made this type of post in the past for the album Positive Yellow which is the soundtrack to a PS1 game that never existed. That undercurrent is always there in THH's work, though not always as pronounced as on Positive Yellow. The OSTs for Umurangi Generation and its OST are a little like Sailowave in that its a rapid fire collection of an almost absurd number of tracks, 100+ if I recall right. THH's work has a little bit of an ironic edge to it, as shown here on ESSENTIAL CLUB SOUNDS vol-2 from the title alone - compounded with the Text-to-speech vocal. I can imagine it turning some folk away, but it's worth sticking with as THH has a really good ear for this kind of thing - sit with this one and you're rewarded with a downright euphoric 'drop' come the 15 second mark. Perhaps not totally in line with the classic house theme I was setting up, but this one feels like an interlude from a house record to me, the bassline in particular feels like it was ripped from the late 90's.



And that'll be all for now, as mentioned up top I'm diggin' the archives for the first time in a while so I might end up doing what I've done in the past where I publish them again as 'new' posts as well, or I might just go a little radio silent for a bit longer than usual because some of them are a real pain to fix, especially when the tracks featured no longer exist on the web. But enough of that, hope you've found something to enjoy here, I did stray a little into soundtrack city again but definitely look up Umurangi Generation and Paradise Killer if you're interested, beyond just the soundtracks they are also both very interesting games with slick visuals! And of course, as always, stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF 

The Final(?) Friday - Part One

Hasui Kawase - Starlit Night, Miyajima (1928)

Hey there, it's been a while - apologies ofr the slight delay, the first half of this week got a little chaotic. But I am here now, and I bring the results of what may be the last ever Bandcamp Friday - it's hard to tell, the statement from the start of this year only lists them happening until May, but I suppose time will reveal all. I've had an exceptional run with them since they started running them though, and it's been a nice nudge to pick up some music once a month or so. We'll save that talk for later though, there is a lot of stuff to go through this time so I am going to split it into a couple (or more) parts. So, let's get stuck right in.

Some Garoad first off - you might have seen me talk at length about my love of their soundtracks for VA-11 Hall-a, the two were a match made in heaven and complimented each other nigh perfectly. From My Star To Yours is cut from the same cloth, if you were at all a fan of those OSTs you will immediately find common ground here. I have a lot of love for the sound here, it's retro 80's infused electronic without getting too deep into Synthwave territory, Garoad's inspirations lie elsewhere if the artwork didn't tip you off already - From My Star To Yours is very cinematic in its execution, like it's an insert song from an 80's Space Opera OVA (hence the artwork!), lavished with synth noodling and power chords and the mandatory of-the-era guitar riffs, and even an extended outro reprising the main motif on piano - all that's missing is the vocal accompaniment to complete that vibe. It's been a long time since Garoad released anything, I'm more than happy to hear more from them and am hoping there is more in the pipeline, as someone who is a big fan of the soundtrack of Bubblegum Crisis, I welcome any and all artists bringing back this style.



We're sticking in that same vein for the time being though, both the retro and Japanese influences. Enter Macross 82-99, who is still going strong all these years later. 82-99 first caught my ear with their unique blend of the kind of House that brought me here to this site in the first place, with a hearty helping of anime fandom for good measure (if the name Macross and the title of this release didn't make that obvious enough already). On the early mixtape releases this was twinned with vaporwave so it was a perfect macth for me circa 2012 when I was getting deep into that kind of thing.

I can understand it feeling gimmicky to some, (hell, I even thought as much when I was first exploring their work, chalk it up to my expeirnece with a ton of one-off vaporwave acts) but Macross is still going strong to this day, with Sailorwave III releasing just a couple months ago. Despite the name this isn't a Sailor Moon bootleg remix album, but the latest in a string of sequels to the albums that made Macross so popular in the first place. I've chosen That Music thing time around, purely because it transported me back to that time in my life when I first met Macross - cast your mind back to the Summers of the early 2010s, and think of the French Touch stuff that we used to post around that time - that's That Music, a little nostalgic sprinkle of sunshine. I don't dip my feet into the world of Future Funk often anymore, but I can always count on 82-99 for tracks like this.



Speaking of nostalgia, some Au Revior Simone next (and also another case of me misplacing something so picking it up again). The Bird Of Music is another record steeped in memories for me, again from around that same era. Not to get too sentimental or anything - I was heading off to University and my go-to convo starter for those first few awkward weeks was to get talking music. There was a bit of crossover with some (after all I think students are legally required to listen to Aphex Twin and Boards Of Canada when entering University!), and acts like Au Revior Simone were there to bridge the gap where there wasn't, so both this album and Still Night, Still Light were instrumental in that.

I tended to lean a little more towards this one for suggestions at the time as it's a little more folky in parts which I thought made it more accessible for some - Fallen Snow was one that I remember suggesting a lot, I think it balances that folk style with the electronics quite well. I liked Still Night more at the time, but coming back to this one after all this time I've gained new appreciation for it, somehow I always end up remembering the slower tracks more and completely forgetting that the album also has tracks like Dark Halls on it as well which has been a welcome return to my library. Its been a while since I've had some good energetic electropop, even if it's not techically 'new'.



As mentioned in the opener, this is only a portion of my pickups for this month, so stay tuned for part 2 and maybe more after that too. This one managed to be fairly sonically consistent, the next one(s) might get a little bit more eclectic but should prove very interesting as well, one I might even spin off into my first new 'review' in who knows how long. Things have quieted down again so shouldn't be too long until the next one, until then, as alawys - stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

It Hot

John Miller - Lelant Beach, New Moon
Shorter one this time, just because I've been busy and the passage of time kinda snuck up on me - looking to get this one finished before the heat of the day becomes a bit much again to boot. Kicking off with perhaps the poppiest tune from HEALTH's DEATH MAGIC in LA LOOKS, part of me wants to say it stands out from the rest of the album as a result but in hindsight it fits right in with the rest of the electro-infused stuff they were experimenting with around this time - but at the same time I can see why it ended up in some indie pop playlists around the time with that chorus. Certainly much easier to digest than some of their earlier work, which while I do like, I must admit I'm a big fan of the direction they took with this album.



Another cut from the Tangent 2002: Disco Nouveau compilation again this time. There's a ton of good stuff here that could almost make a post or two of it's own - like the name suggests, the comp features a bunch of big names from around the time offering their takes on the disco style revival of the era. I went in expecting tons of electroclash (and to be fair between the ADULT. track and a couple others I wasn't disappointed) but there's a lot of variety on here - enter DMX Krew's contribution. If you've been around and heard the past couple DMX Krew tracks I've posted you know what to expect: full on tongue in cheek embracing of pretty much every retro electronic stereotype you can think of. Make Me comes from the same area as You Can't Hide Your Love (which if you hadn't guessed from the cover art is very self-aware), and you'll find more of the same formula here - I can understand it being too corny for some folks but I find it quite charming. And there's certainly no argument that it is an ideal fit for a compilation of modern disco-inspired tracks.



Revisiting the Sounds From The Far East compilation once again, featuring a choice selection of tracks from the Far East Recording boys Soichi Terada and Shinichiro Yokota. Yokota's contributions to the Far East Recording compilations don't get as much attention as Terada's (or worse, incorrectly credited to Terada), but they too are solid bits of early 90's Deep House - Do It Again is the biggest example of this as a bunch of places have the credit wrong, but I can kind of understand that as this one does sound an awful lot like the kind of stuff Terada made on those releases. Tunes like this just feel great, every time I think I've gotten a little stale on House as a whole, a track like this will come along and remind me why I love it so. Also, this is a reminder to me to check out his newer stuff, both he and Terada are still releasing things fairly regularly!



Speaking of things I think I've outgrown - a little bit of Future Funk to finish off. It's a genre that suffered from a massive explosion of content, and like so many other genres that happens to that lead to an absolute boatload of releases that I couldn't keep up with. I've dipped back in every so often to just check in on the scene, but nothing's ever grabbed me the way Macross 82-99's early stuff did. I'm more than willing to admit that a massive part of that is the vague 'French Touch' sound tracks like this one have going for them which makes me all nostalgic for my early blogging days. A contender for one of the best opening tracks of all time, Now And Forever makes for a perfect introduction as it dances its way through J-Pop influences and even gets full on vaporwave in parts - I highly recommend checking it out, especially seeing as you can scoop the full thing for one dollar.



And that'll do for this time. Not quite as short as I had in mind because I ended up putting an extra track in, but even then its still curtailed given how long some recent ones ended up! With that in mind I'll wrap it up here, be back soon with more but until then - as always: Stay safe and enjoy the music.

-CVF

There & Back Again

Going to share some more recent things I happened across in the run up to and in 2017, Starting with Macross 82-99. I'd heard and seen bits and bats of the stuff via twitter but never really sought it out until hearing it used as interlude music on some streams I frequent. And there I was puzzled to find people calling it Vaporwave, when it's quite clearly a different vibe altogether (and never mind much faster bpms), it's billed as future funk but I can't be too fussed with genre names these days. But I digress, onto the details.



The main reason I've been wanting to share this with y'all is that those of you in for the long haul will remember when we were riding that beautiful wave of french touch, bloghouse or the multitude of other names slapped on it, as well as having a major appreciation for the likes of Roulé and co. Where does this come into Macross 82-99 you ask? Well I think that it might fill that void in our music collection when bloghouse fell from faour. Fun Tonight for example, is giving me the kinda feelins that I had when I listed to The Peach EP back when.



There's even some more slightly downtempo early 00's feelgood house influences in the mix too, as heard on Have Hope. I'm incredibly happy to see this kind of sound come back, as it was the original tunes back when that were formative in my falling in love with electronic music as a whole, as well as having the bonus of being a nice introduction anyone looking to make their first steps into the world of electronic. I do kinda wish they were longer but given the rate that the tunes go upon soundcloud you'll have enough to get you by if you keep tabs on it.



While I do have some gripes with the name 'future funk', there is at least a measurable funk influence in there too. Maybe not as pronounced as say Chromeo or the like, but certainly there. The tune I heard being used as an interlude 82.99 AM does a good job of showing off a good cross section of Macross' sound, and is definitely an exercise in sample spotting if you're so inclined. While not my favourite of the examples I've posted, I have to give it props for turning me onto it and I will be ccetianly keeping an eye out in future.

-Claude Van Foxbat