Takako Minekawa (rules!)

D'oh!

http://www.teu.ac.jp/chiit/hayama/Music/mine_face.gif

She's easily my favorite of all the Shibuya-kei acts (maybe I like Cornelius more but just barely). The first time I heard "Roomic Cube" it was like hearing "The White Album" for the first time, I got that sense of holy shit someone is making really amazing music and as i had just gotten into Shibuya-kei i started fantasizing that there were all these other Takakos pumping out insanely amazing records but sadly that was not the case.

Fun9 is really good. I have a videotape of some live show she did in 98 or 99 during that time period and she plays stylophone during "Tiger" in between tweaking her live vocals with a tremelo pedal. "Maxi-On" is so dreamy and gorgeous and I wish it was longer but it's a nice length. If you can find the "Athletica" EP I highly suggest that one too. Very electro, like lo-fi b-boy jams.

No idea what she's doing now. Really sad she hasn't released anything in years...

the only one i've got is "cloudy cloud calculator", its good fun.
this video is really good, is it a cornelius remix?

I used the track where she talks to the children's book on Fun 9 to open my DJ set the other week.

Am listening to Fun 9 and am most impressed.

The 'Close Encounters' bit is genius, I thought.

whatever happened to her? she released several albums in the late 90s...she marries Cornelius in 2000...then...nothing?

Nippop says "Minekawa maintains a busy writing schedule, having published several books and countless magazine articles. She has also dabbled in painting and clothing design." Although what she writes is not specified.

I love her stuff too, she should come back and make some crazy, extravagant Shibuya-Kei/PicoPop record and get Cornelius to produce.

for that matter I wonder what happened to Cornelius. I heard they had a baby in 2006 so maybe they're just being good parents?

Cornelius is decent but i always loved her stuff a lot more. it's just so weird when someone so talented stops completely.

Is there an all purpose thread on stuff like Kahimi Karie, Tomoe Shinohara, Hi-Posi, Aria Mitsuke and the like? I wonder.

Yeah TM is AMAZING. Miles ahead of any other Shibuya-kei stuff.

I have a complete concert of hers in 1998 from japanese TV it's a companion to a Cornelius "Fantasma" concert, and it's amazing. I tried uploading it to youtube but they took it down due to copyright reasons. The first song started off with 5 guitars set up on the front of the stage, all plugged into a delay pedal, and she would slowly walk to each one and pluck a string. Over the course of the show she sang, played guitar, and rocked the Stylophone (for "Spin Spider Spin").

Hah just read my post from 8 years ago.

5 years ago

Who were you 5 years ago? (maybe that's an existential question)

oliver8bit

man, i really want to see that concert! how did you get it in the first place?

Wow, Adam, if you ever find the time to do a wetransfer upload, we'd be indebted.

Does Vimeo allow stuff like that? I don't have a Vimeo account but I feel like lots of people upload footage there.

i second the collective emotion, i want to see this video/buy this dvd!

Actually i don't know if i even have that video anymore - at least in digitized form. I still have the VHS tape though. If I ever get them back up, I'll definitely post on here. I'm just super scared of doing so again and losing my youtube account, as I've gotten a number of copyright scares. One of which involved a video of my friend singing a song at a karaoke bar, oddly enough...

So over 10 years ago I purchased some tapes from a trader in Japan, googling through Japanese language sites and somehow finding this cool collection of stuff. This show, from 1998, was preceded on a tape by the Cornelius show. Another tape i got was Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her's "Motorhead and Drive" video, which is an album-long music video featuring a few videos directed by Cornelius. This is the only one from that series still on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_HCb7gH9hM

Also there was a really cool tape of a game show called (i think!) Quiz Manji Gran Prix which featured some skinny 20-something American guy as a host to a week of a fake Jeopardy-style quiz show where all of the contestants were Trattoria records artists and friends. So there was Cornelius and Takako Minekawa and SSKHKH and DMBQ and Violent Onsen Geisha and all these Japanese noise rockers playing this silly game show. In the commercials sometimes were clips of promo videos like "Sugar Clip" from Omiode Hatoba (Boredoms) and TM's very own "Fabie (1, 2, 3, Beat It)". The "Fabie" video I had was just a minute or so sample and it was kind of brightly colored stuffed animals dancing or something, sort of like that solo part in the "Star Fruits Surf Rider" video. I had that one youtube as well and it was knocked down =(

the salyu x salyu record ("(s)ound(b)eams"?, i can't quite remember) cornelius produced a couple of years ago is p much classic. really recommended if you are hungering for a modern & clean sounding serious & poppy japanese record to hear.

whatever happened to her? she released several albums in the late 90s...she marries Cornelius in 2000...then...nothing?

New album! A collaboration with DUSTIN WONG:

http://www.factmag.com/2013/03/05/dustin-wong-to-collaborate-with-long-absent-j-pop-singer-takako-minekawa-on-new-lp/

Dustin Wong is pretty great btw, could be a fun record.

Yeah this has me as excited as the new mbv record!

http://www.artuniongroup.co.jp/plancha/top/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/toropical-circle-draft0-300x300.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0X-VjRXcjU

<3 <3

wow this came out of nowhere, big fan of Dustin too. excited!

has anyone heard "toropical circle"? i didn't realize it was already out! for like three weeks!

can't even tell if it has a physical u.s. release

Thrill Jockey have picked it up in the US, looks like it's coming out there on July 23

http://www.thrilljockey.com/thrill/Dustin-Wong/Toropical-Circle#.Ua4Y-3enfjI

Was supposed to have come out a couple of weeks ago here, but it's still showing as "pre-order" from my local record shop. Oh wait, Amazon UK are saying "This title will be released on June 17, 2013."

Digital version is already on sale though

oh cool thanks - so long til the u.s. release though

http://www.cdjournal.com/image/interview/851/02.jpghttp://www.cdjournal.com/image/interview/851/03.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8519/8586339144_06655fdc59_z.jpg

yessssssssssssss

http://www.douban.com/event/25106417/

Chinese tour! Anyone catch her shows w/Dustin Wong in the US last year?