Weekly: Tokyo Prep

Since I go to Tokyo next week, I figure now is a good time to prepare myself musically. I'm excited to see some cool club events ... some Shibuya-kei scene guys, and maybe a chance to catch another Konishi Yasuharu set. Still don't know yet ... we'll see. There shall be reports!
But in the meantime, here's some stuff that I've been listening to recently ... trying to get myself in the appropriate mood for time in Tokyo ... it's -- sort of unfortunately -- much different from this little country town, Kanonji, I live in now ...
A lot of these new Shibuya-kei musicians sound to me like modern b-boys or something. Like the Go! Team (or, on the Japanese side of things, Yukari Fresh and the whole Escalator Records crew) making modern b-boys cuts ... Grand Wizard Theodore, Grand Master Flash ... you get the idea. That's sort of what Sindbad is like (they even have a song called "B-Boy Stance"). Listen to Dumb Found feat. Your Song Is Good.
Fantastic Plastic Machine, a Shibuya-kei mainstay, has finally released a new record called Imaginations, and it's flaming. Whenever I listen to this dude's stuff, I imagine an 80s gay dance club filled with a bunch of dudes, high on crack or something, dancing to like, the Village People. While FPM isn't quite that gay sounding, he does have this very fruity sort of style to his sound. But Imaginations is a change for him ... more up-to-date with these newer Shibuya-kei kids in parts, and more experimental in others ("French Kiss" is a nine-minute jazz fusion sort of thing). Here's one of the "newer" sounding songs, Papawura.
Do you all remember Buffalo Daughter, that Japanese trio that toured with the Beastie Boys, was known for their out-there electronic-psychedelica sound, and has always been sort of ... cerebral, right? Well, they've got a new record too (out yesterday!): Euphorica. I like what I've heard of this record so far. It's quite a bit different than their previous stuff. At points, it's cuter ... Euphorica features the female's vocals quite a bit, and the production is a bit lighter. The whole record has a bit of a funkier feel. And I am convinced that these guys have been listening to a lot of Plastics recently, because they sound straight-up like the Plastics at points. Very cool mix of stuff here ... still Buffalo Daughter, but they're exploring their unique style in a more outward fashion. Not so inward and creepy anymore ... listen to samples of Mutating and Peace.