Landolt-C Blog

Dead End was a charismatic rock band in the 1980s Japanese heavy metal scene, and they later had a great influence on Japanese visual-kei rock bands too, such as Luna Sea, Kuroyume and L'Arc-en-Ciel. The debut album "Dead Line" was released on the independent label Night Gallery, and racked up exceptional sales of over ten thousand copies in that time. The sound is based on beauty of hard rock form, but also features hardcore-punkish speed, melodic elements and dark atmosphere. The remastered CD with two bonus tracks (from phonosheet/EP) was released in 2009, and the first limited edition features a DVD (live at Osaka Mainichi Hall on January 11, 1987).

A San Francisco-based rock band, Blue Cheer's debut album (#11 on the US album charts). Psychedelic blues-rock with loud and distorted guitar. Well known for The heavy and psych arrangement of "Summertime Blues" (#14 on the US charts. A cover of Eddie Cochran's rock and roll masterpiece) is well-known. "Rock Me Baby" is a cover of B.B. King's blues song. Some people consider this the first heavy metal album.

A song cycle (20 songs), "Die schöne Müllerin/The Fair Maid of the Mill" is one of the three song cycles composed by Franz Schubert, along with "Winterreise/Winter Journey" and "Schwanengesang/Swan Song". A masterpice of romantic Lied. Based on poems by German lyric poet, Wilhelm Müller. A story about a young miller, who falls out of love with a beautiful watermill-girl and commits suicide. Originally suitable for tenor, but often sung by baritone or bass, transposed to a lower range. A German baritone (who studied with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf), Matthias Goerne's beautiful deep voice. The piano accompaniment by Eric Schneider. Released on DECCA.

The first solo album released when he was a member of Happy End. Other Happy End members, Haruomi Hosono (bass), Takashi Matsumoto (drums) and Shigeru Suzuki (guitar) participated in the recordings full part, but more pop-oriented sound than Happy End. The songs have a variety of styles, such as rock 'n' roll, folk/country rock, the Beach Boys-style and others. Lots of good songs, such as "Sore wa Boku janaiyo (It wasn't Me)", "Omoi (Feelings)" and "Yubikiri (Pinky Promise)". "Ikasuze! Kono Koi (This Groovy Love)" is based on Elvis Presley's "I Got Stung". "Uraraka" is based on the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" (produced by Phil Spector). The CD with 10 bonus tracks, including the third single "Soratobu Kujira (A Flying Whale)" (Beatlesque), was reiisued in 1995.

One of the masterpieces by Herbie Hancock with his jazz-funk/fusion band, the Headhunters, in his 1970s electric/funk period. Recorded live in Tokyo (Shibuya Koukaido and Nakano Sun Plaza) in 1975, and initially released only in Japan. The first track is an acoustic solo of "Maiden Voyage", but other tracks are sharp funk performances, including his famous pieces such as "Watermelon Man" and "Chameleon", with tight rhythm section (Paul Jackson on bass, Mike Clark on drums and others). A must-have for funk listeners.

A Danish pop band (1982-1997), Gangway's third album (the major-label debut). Sometimes called "Sitting in the Park (Again!)", because the title is the same as the second album. Consists of the re-recordings of the songs from their past two albums (two tracks from the first album, and six from the second), and two new songs. Electro/acoustic pop with synths and strings, based on Beatle-esque guitar pop. Includes singles, "Out on the Rebound from Love", "My Girl and Me" and "Here's My House". Produced by David Motion (Strawberry Switchblade and others). The digitally remastered CD was reissued in Japan in 2001. Recommended to those who like the Lotus Eaters and China Crisis.

A music group/producer duo consisting of emcee Verbal (a Korean born in Japan) and DJ Taku, m-flo's 10th anniversary best cmpilation album (2 CDs and a DVD). Debuted as a trio including a female vocalist Lisa (Japanese-Colombian) on a major label Rhythm Zone in 1999. After Lisa left the group in 2002, they produced lots of songs featuring guest vocalists who were different each time. Easy-listening/lounge style J-pop with a combination of hip-hop, soul, jazz, bossa nova, house, 2-step and drum'n'bass. The lyrics are Japanese and English. The disc 1 includes the songs with Lisa, such as "been so long", "How You Like Me Now?" (#9 on the Japanese pop charts), "come again" (#4), "Orbit-3" (#9) and others. The disc 2 includes the songs with guest vocals, such as "Reeewind!" (Crystal Kay, #9), "Miss You" (Melody. & Ryohei Yamamoto, #8), "The Love Bug" (BoA, #8), "Starstruck - The Return of the Luvbytes" (Ai, Emi Hinouchi & Rum (Heartsdales)), "Cosmic Night Run" (Maki Nomiya & Crazy Ken Band), "Love Song" (Bonnie Pink, #9) and others.

An impressive performance by a jazz trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie's third big band (formed in 1956) at the peak (Verve). Happy and enthusiastic performance featuring Benny Golson on tenor sax, Wynton Kelly on piano, Al Grey on trombone, Billy Mitchell on tenor sax, Lee Morgan on trumpet, and others. "Manteca" is a masterpiece of Afro-Cuban jazz, composed by Dizzy Gillespie. "A Night in Tunisia", a great piece with an exotic atmosphere, is his most famous composition known as a jazz standard. Live recording at Newport Jazz Festival, on July 6, 1957.

Brian Eno's second solo album released before "Another Green World" (1975). Eccentric and dreamy, song-oriented pop album featuring pop song structures, band sounds, synths, electronic souons and Eno's vocals. Accessible for catchy melodies. "Third Uncle" is a famous song covered by Bauhaus. The musicians are Phil Manzanera (guitar) from Roxy Music, ex-Soft Machine member Robert Wyatt (percussion, backing vocals) and others.

Merzbow is a solo project started in 1979 by Masami Akita, a noise musician born in Tokyo in 1956. Merzbow had released enormous numbers of albums since the 1980s, and his works have been highly regarded in Europe and America too. The album "1930" (released on John Zorn's label Tzadik in 1998) is one of his masterpieces. Avant-Garde noise music by using "noise electronix", analog synths (EMS, Moog), tapes and others. A flood of harsh noises without clear melodies and rhythms, but it sounds like pretty "musical", for it has some kinds of compositions and developments.