zikzak mix 7 : Ginga no nazo 銀河の謎 Japanese Prog & Psych From The 60's & 70's
Its becoming clear that zikzak is pretty much a place for me to post my mixes. I think Im ok with that and i hope you are too. I enjoy doing them and from the looks of things, you enjoy listening to them
This new one is based around the Japanese scene. As im sure many of you are aware, Julian cope did a really excellent book on the subject, “Japrocksampler”
I would recommend anyone with a serious interest read that book as it will give you a pretty comprehensive view into the culture and the music. In the same way Cope jump started the renewed interest in the German scene with Krautrocksampler, this does the same for the Japanese scene in the same era
Just as you would see in many countries around the world, Japan had exponents of many of the different styles of music at that time: Psych, Hard Rock, Blues Rock, Spacerock, Prog & frankly the just straight up weird. They may have done that better than most everyone
One of the things I have always found that the Japanese scene did quite well is that they tried to copy the bigger bands in America & Europe and then put their distinctive spin on the proceedings. The attention to detail has always been remarkable. That being said, the very best of the lot has a distinctive sound and flavor that sets it apart and makes it special. In some ways, i feel that some of the absolute best records of the 70’s came from Japan
If this post achieves anything, it will be to make you aware of one of my alltime favorite artists “Magical Power Mako”. One of the issues for non Japanese speakers is the backstory of a lot of these artists is fairly unknown. Makoto Kurito is his real name and he has been releasing very eclectic albums since the early 70’s. One of his albums I purchased in the early 90s and it was an album (somewhat like Trout Mask Replica)that I just didn’t understand. It came from such a different place. After a few listens (over maybe one or 2 years if I’m honest) I really came to enjoy it immensely and sometimes I think if I could be any musician out there, I would like to tread a similar path. He just has his own thing and that’s really all I can say
One notable omission is this mix is Les Rallizes Dénudés. I just have never been into them. That’s it. No special hatred or anything. I just don’t dig it. That being said, I find their story super compelling and interesting. Here is some info on the band and a bonus film about the Japanese Red Army Faction that some of the band was involved with in differing levels
Sekigun PFLP Sekai Senso Sengen (The Red Army PFLP Declaration Of World War)
In the below link of the favorite albums cited by Cope, i figure i have a lot of them included.
Julian Copes top 50 Japrock LP's
This mix, as always, is free to download so dig in. Apologies for it not being quite as long but i wanted to go with quality over quantity
TRACKLIST
