This devastatingly great Japanese avant garde electronic prog mega-rarity sits near the absolute summit of Japanese underground music of the last forty years. Many years back, rare record dealer Greg Pawelko described the sound of this record as being "like a combination of Franco Battiato, Mike Oldfield, Igor Wakhevitch, Urban Sax, Stomu Yamashta and Keith Tippett", a description which comes remarkably close to capturing the elusive flavor of this masterpiece, while failing to note just how close in tone the deployment of electronics here are to Harumi Hosono's work on the seminal Hosono & Yokoo-Cochin Moon album (merely the greatest electronic album ever recorded). This whole album is ensconced in a glistening higher-key acid glaze and pregnant with that air of the mystical sublime that imbues only the most rarified psych/prog/spacerock recordings. A holy grail.
Get it Here
NOTE: SINCE THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL CALLS FOR A POST OF HOSONO & YOKOO'S COCHIN MOON LP CITED ABOVE AND SINCE NO SENTIENT BEING SHOULD SPEND ANOTHER DAY WITHOUT THIS MIRACULOUS ALBUM (MAYBE MY FAVORITE OF ALL TIME), I SHALL REDIRECT YOU ALL TO THE SYNOPSIS ELEKTRONICA BLOG'S POST OF IT.
Get Cochin Moon Here
Iam greatly saddened to see yet another blog's demise.'Lost-In-Tyme' has seemed to shut down indefinitely. I trully wish I had known about music blogs a year or two ago when most started up. I have missed out on alot of them that had already went kaput before I saw them. Mutant sounds I hope never goes belly up in that fashion. Lost-In-Tyme was yet another provider of my minimal-synth-electro-new wave daily requirements. We will miss you. If music blogs are going to be shut down, then all music should be re-released and made available, and be affordable to those who wish to here it.Otherwise, it all will just rot into the hole of obscurity, much like we ourselves may someday. Good-bye lost-In-tyme, or till the next time our paths cross.
ReplyDeletetotal mindfuck. thankz
ReplyDelete...and another great addition!!!
ReplyDeleteAfter all this time, Mutant Sounds remains my all-time fave blog! Congrats again.
Now we're talking Japanese space prog anyway, do you happen to have anything by Circle? Their debut, 'Ima Wa Taki No Subete', seems unfindable. 'Like a message from the stars' would be great as well...
Greetings
K.
GREAT WORK!!!!
ReplyDeletethe massmirror link doesn't work for me. anyone else having this problem. By the way, i'd like to say this is by far the best music blog i've come across - and as a musician it has help push my mind to the limits of what i bring to band and projects. Who needs new music when there's all this great old overlooked stuff that has already shaped the all new stuff anyway.
ReplyDeletenow about that link?
bunnysuit, use this link.
ReplyDeleteeh, seems like I made a mistake... the Japanese band I mentioned above was, of course, Chronicle, not Circle. ;)
ReplyDeleteWonderful indeed. Do you have the other LP you mentioned - 'Hosono & Yokoo-Cochin Moon'? With that recommendation you have to post it! (please)
ReplyDeleteI second the "Hosono & Yokoo-Cochin Moon" request. Many thanks for all you do, Eric, as always.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid spending endless hours debating illegal downloading we decided to write this.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all everyone must accept as fact that illegal downloading, bloggers that upload entire albums for people to download for free and torrents doing what they refer to as "sharing music" is really a disaster for the artists financially.
There is a direct link between the increased illegal "free" downloading and the decreasing amount of music being sold. That is a fact. No matter what arguments downloader's like to use to justify what they are doing, the facts are there.
Here are some typical arguments from those who think it is a good thing to offer other's music for free (not many have thought about the fact that it is other's music - they created it). Under these you will find our response.
1) We are only doing the bands a favour, making them more known.
Well, in a way, yes. They are more known to people who don't pay for
the pleasure of listening. They are not getting better known to the people who buy the music. These are usually not visiting these places - blogs, torrents etc -
where the stolen music is found. They have other ways to find out about new music they want to buy and listen to.
2) It is only the evil record companies who lose money.
Hmmm. Let's think some about that statement. Let's see. Most record companies pay the artists an agreed royalty per sold CD, so if the music is given away for free then it must be that the artists will get paid less. So therefore it is also the artists who lose money from this.
And let us think some more. If the record companies don't get any money from CD sales they can not afford much promotion, so, hmmm let's see...oh, then the bands will not get exposure to their potential audience, they won't know about the artists work. This must lead to the fact that if people buy the CD's they are helping the artists to get better known.
This maybe leads to: So, if the record companies work to make the artists better known and pay them for their work...can it then be that they are actually helping the artists? Could it actually be that the artists like to work with the record companies? Could it even be that most of the people running these evil record companies are doing it because they love the music and want to do something good for the artists by making to possible for them to have their music released
without needing to take care about all the administration work? Can it also be that the artists are happy about the fact that the record companies invest money - and thereby are taking financial risks - in their music? Well, it seems that the record companies working this way are not so evil after all, but we do recognize that there has been abuse in the past by the large and established labels, this isn't true typically with the smaller labels, however this is still no justification, it is for the courts to decide.
3) The record companies are stealing my money when they charge me $18
for a CD. It only cost them $1 to produce a CD.
Is that so? Is that the actual cost for a music album? Let's have a look at the costs.
The CD does cost about $1-$2 to press.
But there is some thing's that must be done before one can press the CD.
Something called "Glass master" costs about $800.
The mastering session normally costs between $1000 and $2000.
Creating the artwork for the booklet and CD can easily cost $2,000 to $5,000
Mixing costs from $5,000 to $10,000
What about the recordings?
To rent a high quality studio with a professional sound engineer is what all artists dream of.This gives them the opportunity to focus on the performance.
Here the costs can be between $5000 up to $100000...or more.
So, therefore many bands buy their own equipment and do it by themselves.
Sometimes with a very good result but most often the end result would
have been even more enjoyable if they could afford to rent a studio and
pay a professional studio technician.
And there are more costs involved. In most countries one must pay for
publishing rights.
And...to pay the bands of course also must be considered as a cost.
Promotion copies being sent out are another cost. Advertising is another cost.
So, what are we looking at here.
Well, for the first pressing it is more like $6 per CD.
And then they are sold to distributors at $7 or $8 + shipping costs.
The distributors then sell them at about $11 - $12 + shipping costs.
So, when retailers sell these at $16 - $18 they do not earn very much per CD.
The band gets some little and the record company earn almost nothing
on the first pressing.
For the second, third etc pressing there is some money coming in, but
many releases do not sell enough to do these pressings. Considering
that the staff at the record companies need to get paid to make a
living these titles are losses, so the ones who do sell a bit more
must make enough to make ends meet.
Where is the greediness? Where are those evil people who run the business?
Can it be that it's the illegal downloaders who have invented these characters to justify their immoral and illegal actions when they are taking the music, getting pleasure from it without giving anything in return for it? Because this is what they do! They enjoy the work of the artists, who are helped by their record company, without giving anything in return! Is that being a fan? Is that a good way to show appreciation?
Oh, and a CD costs less now in real dollars than they did 20 years ago, if you adjust for inflation, they cost a lot less.
4) How shall I know what to buy if I can not download and listen to it first?
Well, this makes some sense. There are a few out there who use free downloads for this purpose and that is of course perfectly ok, but also a slippery slope. However these people make up about 1% of the people downloading, so we are forced to say:
"Sorry, there are too many people out there stealing the artists
work so we can not allow it".
On the other hand, there are plenty of opportunities to find some of the songs from the albums available as legal free downloads on the artists and record companies websites. Labels and artists are trying to let you try before you buy in as reasonable manner as possible, but to give away entire albums does not work, people just are not likely to pay for something that they've already gotten for free.
Former IQ keyboardist Martin Orford says: "Just imagine going into a supermarket and eating whatever food you like as you go round. If challenged
you can just say that you're trying before you buy and if any of the products
appeal to you then you might consider spending money on them one day.
Of course the supermarket would quite rightly take you to court."
The same must apply to music.
5) I live in a poor country and can not afford buying CD's
The world is far from perfect. Life is not fair. Most of us on this planet wish it was differently. But it can not be right that the record companies should be the one's
responsible for changing the future of this planet. The arguments for "giving something back to the artists for enjoying the music" can in this case be applied as: Even if you live in a country with a bad economy, please at least do what you can, after all, you're paying for your internet connection so it can't be that bad. Buy at least a couple of downloads and take the music that is put up legally. These two things together should give you many hours of music pleasure. The
artists would very much appreciate if you do what you can to support them. And perhaps you would feel good about it yourself, knowing that you are a true fan. Artists and fans should work together.
6) It's just data, I'm not stealing a physical CD
Well, let's say that I electronically get in to your bank account and empty so I can use the money to buy things I can't afford. It's a similar principal again, I didn't actually steal your wallet or purse and the money in it, I just moved some data out of your account and in to mine, which is only fair because I can't afford all the things I want, so you should help me. Pirates like to say this isn’t a fair argument, but it is exactly the same, you’re being deprived, electronically, of money/income.
7) Oh yea? Well what about when people taped albums and shared them?
There is a significant difference in ability and cost to make a cassette copy of an album and give that to some friends, you’re going to be limited in how many you could realistically do, let’s call it 20 copies. If those people make copies and hand them out, the quality degrades with each generation, you can only go a few times. With a digital copy and the internet, you make a perfect copy (more and more people are using CD quality fidelity now, which also destroys the “I’m just checking it out” argument) which can be downloaded millions of times by millions of people, if only 1% of those people are prevented from purchasing because they were able to get it this way for free, that’s a lot of sales.
To sum up, we don’t want you to put our material up for “sharing” without our permission
K.-I'll post the Chronicle LP shortly...
ReplyDeleteOh...and as you can all can see, I've heeded your requests for Hosono & Yokoo. Check the main body of the Yasutaka/Yosuke post for the link to the Synopsis Elektronica blog's post of it....
ReplyDeleteanonymous--->may i ask who are you?????????????????
ReplyDeleteHey "anonymous," your argument only works if you're talking about the mainstream crap that's being released today. Most of the stuff oo Mutantsounds was released 10-30 years ago and is not available on any of the "pay to legally download" sites that you hype up. In more cases than not, the people who made this music are loosing no money from downloading because THERE ARE NO NEW COPIES TO BUY! On the other hand, by offering up long fogotten music, there is a chance at creating enough of a "buzz" about an obscure artist that some independent label will want to do a legal reissure. So next time, try to research what's being offered on a music blog before posting the same old "you're stealing from the artist" argument.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, instead of writeing that spiel and inspireing me to write out my less-thought, bad typo post, you could of simply just read the disclaimer on every blog that says if you have problem they will fix it. But the disclaimer does not say that they guarantee your self-validity.
ReplyDeleteanonymous-I will decline to rise to your bait and offer you a point by point rejoinder to your statements. Rather, I'll merely state that in addition to the salient points raised by John, there's this little fact: after having posted the work of several thousand artists here, we've only ever had exactly *one* whose contacted us to ask that his work be removed. So too, in the few instances when a label has contacted us and asked that we remove a title because they're intending to reissue it, they've been unfailing polite and understanding. One gathers that this is because, unlike you, these people live in the present and can adjust to paradigm shifts.
ReplyDeletewow, really like this album! thanks a lot! really appreciate it. LOST IN TYME went to invite only right? i dont know if they closed shop... how do you get invited?
ReplyDeleteI've said it before, and I will say it again, 'All copyright is theft'.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'd be interested to know who the "we" is in the first sentence of anonymous' post.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as already mentioned, the stuff on this blog is all out of print. I have purchased more new CDs in my life than I have room for (thousands are boxed up and sitting in my bedroom). However, the music I love the most (crazy, avant-garde shit) is impossible to find new, which is why I love this site. I can discover music that is now impossible to purchase.
(I don't know why I bother posting... I am about 90% sure anonymous will not be returning, he or his "we".)
Regarding what happened to the Lost In Tyme blog, go here:
ReplyDeletehttp://pleasedonteattheyellowsnow.blogspot.com/2008/01/we-have-major-problem-with-this-dmca.html
Hmmm....let's try that again. For the Lost In Tyme info, Go Here
ReplyDeleteOne blog down ... yes, it's a pity ... but now what about the rapidshare debacle, if that's true ? ugh ... is it really true ?
ReplyDeletehttp://only-always.blogspot.com/2008/01/19-january-2008-rapidshare_20.html
It seems rapidshare is working again ... false alarm
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely fantastic!!! Many thanxx for this obra maestra. Yasutaka is a genius, the music seems to hace influenced a lot groups like Tortoise.
ReplyDeleteGREAT!!!
wow!!!!!that's the coolest thing i've heard in a loooong time...thanks so much
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the IE album - wonderful! Another unknown to add to my Japanese music page at Record Heaven.
ReplyDeleteregards
Chris
Hi again,
ReplyDeletecan I add a request for a post of Ryuichi Sakamoto's 'Thousand Knives Of'? Also, does anyone know what happened to the promised missing files for the Coma - Financial Tycoon post from a month or two ago?
cheers
Chris
was cochin moon credited for the THX sound you hear at the beginning of movies? (see start of track 2)
ReplyDeleteMike Oldfield indeed- there's a Tubular Bells quote halfway through side 1.
ReplyDeleteFuzztunnel: It's curious that you mention the similarity between Hosono's bass tone and the THX "theme"; actually, for a sound much closer to the THX, I'd direct you to "Galaxies" by Kevin Braheny (sorry, can't recall the exact track). Can't say that it's anything *close* to "Cochin Moon", but it has its moments, especially the THX-like "lift off" tone...
ReplyDeleteHello VDOANDSOUND
ReplyDeleteThank you always for sharing great music.
And now I try to make Yosuke Yamashita discograhy. So it linked with this article.
If you think there is a problem, please tell me.
All the best
el goog
Listening to this one again after a long while... once track 1 gets going (just before the Oldfield quote), there are some definite points of comparison with Dionne/Bregent too.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing excellent!
ReplyDeletePlease Please Re-Post This Album!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnyone...