Needle Time

  Yukihiro Takahashi ‎- Saravah! [WWSLP 26 FRA 2019 24-Bit 88.2kHz FLAC] We lost Yukihiro Takahashi last night. In a short break in regular posts, this is a re-post of one of my rips from a few years back, there will be another tribute later today on Digitalia. Originally recorded with  Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono and released on the Seven Seas label in 1978, it took 41 years for Yukihiro Takahashi's debut solo album to be released on Europe. Takahashi's vision for Japanese city-pop was to put on a dinner jacket and blend French sophistication & exotica with breezy & slick Italian pop and bossanova. You could forgiven to think that the Japanese drummer was lost in a world between Charles Aznavour, Al Martino and Dean Martin, however this was just a few months before the first Yellow Magic Orchestra album and Takahashi needed to dust off the sixties & seventies beforeYMO were to change the sound of music over the coming decade. A1 Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto ...

  Sketch Show - Audio Sponge [CTJR-96031/2 JPN 2021 24-Bit FLAC] It became an expensive vinyl summer when Japanese label, Cutting Edge Records decided to release the Sketch Show albums on lusciously packaged vinyl for the very first time ever. These two masters of electronica (you should know their faces by now ...I would hope) began their careers in psychedelic rock, city pop and eventually evolutionarily electronics as two-thirds of Yellow Magic Orchestra. You shouldn't be surprised to know that the other third contributes on various tracks with keyboards and gets a writing credit. So does that make this a YMO album ....almost, I guess? I posted the more organic, second album Loophole back in October, here is their first Audio Sponge in full-resolutionary quality to blow your minds. The duo's use of crackle & pops as percussion is evident throughout and does more than enough to help your ripper while away a few more hours making comparison references to his original 200...

  Sketch Show - Loophole [CJT-96034~5 JPN 2021 24-Bit FLAC] For quite some time, between the late eighties and the recent 2010's, very little vinyl came out of Japan. Our nipponic brethren were focused more on digital products such as the compact disc and the format's higher resolution upgrades. These days, roles are beginning to reverse and labels have begun to dig through their vaults seeking out suitable work for analogue re-release. I can be quoted as suggesting that most modern electronica is more suited to digital formats, however these tend to suffer audio distortion as twitchy fingered engineers still cannot resist the urges to compress and over-limit.  Tokyo label Cutting Edge Records, who once focused on licensing Western artists, have pulled out a gem here (well actually make that three gems) and have released analogue vinyl platters of three albums by Sketch Show. The duo will be better known as two-thirds of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Haroumi Hosono and Yukihir...

  Yukihiro Takahashi - Neuromantic [ALF 85393 UK 1982 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released in Japan during 1981, Yukihiro Takahashi's third 'solo' album was aided & abetted not only by his fellow YMO chums, Haruomi Hosono & Ryuichi Sakamoto, but also by Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay who added their parts in the UK before the final mix. Unlike his suave debut album , Neuromantic was very much a synthpop record, fitting neatly around the YMO sound, with the occasional dab of Roxy. This is my rip of the UK pressing, licensed to CBS Records back in the day from Alfa Records.  A1 Glass A2 Grand Espoir A3 Connection A4 New (Red) Roses B1 Extra-Ordinary B2 Drip Dry Eyes B3 Curtains B4 Charge B5 Something In The Air

  Yukihiro Takahashi ‎- Saravah! [WWSLP 26 FRA 2019 24-Bit FLAC] Originally recorded with  Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono and released on the Seven Seas label in 1978, it took 41 years for Yukihiro Takahashi's debut solo album to be released on Europe. Takahashi's vision for Japanese city-pop was to put on a dinner jacket and blend French sophistication & exotica with breezy & slick Italian pop and bossanova. You could forgiven to think that the Japanese drummer was lost in a world between Charles Aznavour, Al Martino and Dean Martin, however this was just a few months before the first Yellow Magic Orchestra album and Takahashi needed to dust off the sixties & seventies beforeYMO were to change the sound of music over the coming decade. A1 Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) A2 Saravah! A3 C'est Si Bon A4 La Rosa A5 Mood Indigo B1 Elastic Dummy B2 Sunset B3 Black Street Midnight Queen B4 Present