Aunt Sally, "かがみ"

Clearing the mind with Aunt Sally (アーント・サリー), a Japanese art-punk band from the late 70s that's somewhat dismissively regarded as being the springboard upon which Phew (フュー) launched her solo career. Phew spent the following decade swimming the murky waters of avant-garde noise and expressionist sound design, first through 1981's acrid, tart eponymous album that she recorded with Conny Plank and Holger Czukay at Plank's studio, then via 1987's comparatively gentle, poppy, and strangely theatrical LP, View. (The art direction of the latter is awesome, and I'd love to know more about the designer behind it, a mysterious Japanese who went simply by Kev.)

But before there was Phew, there was Aunt Sally, and it's their one and only full-length, a self-titled eleven-tracker from '79, that I'm communing with right now. This is their cover of  Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser's "Heart and Soul." It's abrupt and rude and hokey—and I love it. The whole dang thing is a treat, though, so don't let this be your only engagement with the group.

Before the first Phew effort, the lady lent her vocals to a Hikashu (ヒカシュー) album—their first—that I strongly recommend listening to. If you dunked the Plastics into a YMO bath, you'd probably get Hikashu. Listen to and watch the video for their cover of Kraftwerk's "Model" for evidence.