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Le Discopathe Disquaire Bar Montpellier
28 rue du Faubourg du Courreau
34000 Montellier
France
0648811713
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © CG
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Artists
Labels
Catno
026
Formats
1x Vinyl LP Album Reissue
Country
Release date
May 20, 2022
Genres
Styles
Kazuki Tomokawa Le DIscopathe Montpellier
At the tender age of twenty-five, while he was working part-time at an Italian restaurant in Tokyo's Kamata district, Kazuki Tomokawa released his debut record, fittingly titled Finally, His First Album. While he had already penned hundreds of songs, including his first single "Try Saying You're Alive!," written on a long train ride past fields and rice paddies, it was this recording that introduced Japan to one of its most unique musicians of the postwar era. Each track, as record label exec Kiichi Takahara writes in the LP's liner notes (here translated for the first time), is not a song but a "flesh-and-blood human being," birthed by the singer-songwriter and the raw, guttural cries that would become a hallmark of his incomparable sound. 1970s Japan was a time and place marked by a profound desire for authenticity amidst the onset of television and media saturation. Tomokawa arrived on the scene as a musician with "the personality of a hydrogen bomb," to borrow a phrase from his frequent collaborator Toshi Ishizuka. In an unwieldy interview included here, members of the notorious leftist band Zun? Keisatsu (Brain Police) put it bluntly: here was a man surrounded by the "disingenuous," the "wishy-washy," and the "superficial," who was delivering "real life, unvarnished." These songs are lullabies for the lost, staring not into the void but-as the fourth track declares-from inside it. Finally, His First Album is the first of three Tomokawa records to be reissued by Blank Forms Editions in conjunction with the US release of Tomokawa's memoir, Try Saying You're Alive!, the first-ever English translation of his writing. This debut captures the self-assured trademarks that Tomokawa would hone over the course of decades. Multiple tracks are performed in his native Akita dialect, a distinct and highly regional vernacular of northern Japan seldom heard outside the prefecture-and even more rarely heard in music. Tomokawa's lyrics locate profound interiority in the rituals of everyday life, and are sung against sparse folk arrangements of tender, lilting chords-a prelude to the rock and electronic stylings to come in later years. A self-proclaimed "living corpse," Tomokawa wallows, whispers, shouts, and cries, yet still, through his existential doubt, asks to be heard.
*Taxes included, shipping price excluded
Tracked and send in specified vinyle packaging with plastic sleeve protection and stickers. Rip Samples from vinyl, pics and Discount on www.lediscopathe.com. Please feel free to ask informations about our products and sell conditions. We ship vinyles world wide from our shop based in Montpellier (France). Come to visit us. Le Discopathe propose news and 2nd hands vinyls, collectors, rare and classic records from past 70 years
A1
青春
4:08
A2
魂
4:22
A3
優美子の春
3:15
A4
虚空歌
3:18
A5
墓
4:06
A6
南無妙法蓮華経
3:41
B1
電話
0:36
B2
乱調秋田音頭
2:34
B3
地球学校
1:34
B4
23才の抵抗
3:03
B5
石森さん
2:46
B6
新盆
1:24
B7
泥棒猫夜走る
5:14
B8
明るい夜
5:26
Le Discopathe Disquaire Bar Montpellier
28 rue du Faubourg du Courreau
34000 Montellier
France
0648811713
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © CG