Sunday, December 28, 2008

30 Minutes Over Tokyo - A Podcast




I actually made this quite a while ago, once again just as a means to experiment with the technology, but upon listening, found it way too embarrassing to post and considered re-recording the whole thing, but after procrastinating long enough I decided "ah..bollocks, just stick it up"...so here is my poor first attempt at a podacst.

If you can find your way through my numerous repetitions, umming and erring, near constant stammering and lipsmacking, lower class brogue and general messiness, you should find some interesting music. It's all Japanese music for this debut (perhaps only!) episode - don't worry, there's no Japanoise, it's all pretty indie-tastic with some 70's rock (apologies for my throwaway comment about Led Zeppelin!), electro-indie dance and the inevitable garage rock amongst other stuff.

Let us know what you think, all constructive criticism welcome!

30 Minutes Over Tokyo - Part A
30 Minutes Over Tokyo - Part B

15 comments:

Blimpy said...

Legend!!

1st ten minutes sounds bloody ace, will listen properly to the rest when I don't have to go play pirate ships!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic photo Japanther! Yours? That sky really that colour? Golly. FP

Luke-sensei said...

Cheers Blimpy! Hope you enjoy the rest.

@FP - unfortunately not mine (I don't have such talent), but if you get high enough (and there a lot of high enough buildings!) Fuji-san really does loom that large over the city and we are lucky enough to have a nice night view from our flat and often see the sky turn from orange to red to black in the twilight, it really is beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Nothing wrong with your tech-or DJ-skills, Japanther ... only a mis-firing Boxstr means I haven't managed to get past the first 10 mins of Pt2 yet.

In Pt1, I'd have said your rockers owe much more to early Sabbath than Zep, but v.interesting nonetheless.

Happy New Year to come.

Blimpy said...

1. Pogo Machine is a f£$%^g awesome song!

2. Why do I know the name Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her?!

3. Exact pinpoint of your accent please mr japanther?

4. Ah, Shonen Knife, come in, I've been expecting you.

5. I love the presentation and attention to detail in the podcast, coupled with the fact that I'd never get to hear all this music normally. Top work - another one again soon please!

6. Is it true that the guy out of Guitar Wolf died falling out of a flying hellicopter whilst playing a solo?

7. Loved the GW / mrs japanther story too.

Luke-sensei said...

@DsD - Thanks for listening and you could be right about the Black Sabbath comparison,. if you like 70 's rock (and I know you do!) the album is well worth tracking down. And a Happy New Year to you too sir.

@Blimpy - thanks for taking the time to listen and the positive feedback, it is very much appreciated.

re: Pogo Machine - I used to DJ a bit, just between bands at gigs and stuff around Tokyo. The biggest one I did was at a medium-sized "livehouse" in Shinjuku at an all-day punk event. I came armed with some cool obscure cuts, but soon realised that everyone had been drinking heavily for several hours already when I started playing and was completely hammered, so I discarded the New Wave and banged on "Pogo Machine"; everyone went mental and it was the only tine I can recall seeing moshing for the between-band DJ!! So, if you ever find yourself surrounded by beered-up Japanese punks, ypu know what to do...

Here's a Boxstr link if you want your own copy:

http://boxstr.com/files/4492931_bhoj1/Registrators%20-%20Pogo%20Machine.mp3

re: SSKHKH - I mentioned SSKHKH on RR a while back and found out they were named after an XTC song. But if you were an avid reader of the music weeklies in the late nineties (and I suspect you were!) you may recall Courtney Love raving about SSKHKH.

re: my accent - I was born in Brighton to a lower-middle/upper-working class family with lower-working class aspirations! Thus my accent is a southern England general chavvy lilt that may have been twisted slightly by years of living in Japan and being forced to speak clearly in order to be understood, it's definitely got posher since I came over here!

re: Billy Bass Wolf (RIP) - ha ha, I think that's the way he would have wanted to have gone, the reality was a very un-rock'n'roll heart attack. It was a big shock when he died though, GW didn't stop the rock though, they recruited a 21 year old replacement within a couple of months.

Thanks again for listening and giving me the confidence to do some more podcasts.

ejaydee said...

Loved part A Japanther, I probably would never have heard any of this without 30MOT. Did you use a mic to record your voice?

Luke-sensei said...

@ejaydee - thanks a lot!

My new Macbook has a built in mic, so I just used that. It was surprisingly easy to do, my computer inefficiency is legendary to the point of being part of the regular office jokes, but I just went onto Garageband, used the "help" button a lot and followed what it said step by step.....and Voila, my own Podcast!! I'm still in awe of all this technology to be honest!

Abahachi said...

Bother. Managed to listen to ten minutes' worth last night before cooking supper, and today, when I have a bit more time, boxstr is having one of its off days. Was looking forward to hearing Shonen Knife, as I remember them from my NME days. Maybe it'll be working again later.

ToffeeBoy said...

@ japanther - just off to spend the day with the in-laws. Looking forward to listening later...

steenbeck said...

I loved it, Japanther. I hadn't heard any of the music before, and I liked it all. All! And very funny and enlightening banter. I didn't hear a single um er or stammer.

Abahachi said...

Okay, I now remember why I had such difficulty in grasping why Cobain was so keen on Shonen Knife... All great fun, though not entirely my cup of tea; how about some Japanoise next time?

Luke-sensei said...

Thanks a lot to everyone who took the time to listen and for the kind words and feigned blindness to my shortcomings.

ToffeeBoy said...

@ Japanther - finally got around to listening to this and thoroughly enjoyed it. The music wasn't all to my taste but then if that's what I want to hear, I can always listen to my own iTunes!

And you're far too self-critical - I think your voice is perfect for this. Looking forward to the next instalment - well done, that man...

saneshane said...

finally caught up on my listening.. and that was some finale... it had to live up to to sticker and great story.

bring on the next version.. think the voice fits the subject matter some how.. cool stuff!