Agata Morio — Submarine

from Norimono Zukan (1980)

Heard this track on Liz Berg’s show this morning. It’s from Japanese folkie Agata Morio’s 1980 album Norimono Zukan, aka Transportation Encyclopedia. Don’t be fooled, though. This sounds nothing like folk—it’s one of the 11 LPs issed on the underground “techno-pop” label Vanity Records:

“Vanity Records in Osaka was one of the unforgettable hallmarks of the early Japanese underground music scene of the late-70′s. This label was founded by Yuzuru Agi, the music critic/editor of ROCK MAGAZINE. Agi was a sort of alternative visionary with a superb talent to assess new musical modes at a time when blues and West Coast-style rock still dominated the local music scene…Inspired by punk and the flood of indie labels that swept New York and London, Agi started Vanity Records in 1978, releasing 11 LPs, 3 singles, 12 flexis, and 6 cassettes between ’78 and ’82 (each release limited to 300-500 copies).”

- Satoru Higashiseto from Music No. 2, 1998, via Dave Knapik

Someone over at Direct Waves says the Morio track might actually be a cover (the music, at least) of the 1979 Joy Division track ‘She’s Lost Control‘… it’s a dead ringer.

Charles Albright — I’m on Drugs

Look at that pile of heads! Behold the blaring vocals! And the noise! It’s only a minute and fifteen seconds! YES.

WFMU’s still hollering for dollars, and every day over at the blog they’ve been posting mp3s from each DJs thank-you-for-pledging mix cd. Liz Berg is one of my favorites, and this headbanging track comes from her premium, aptly titled “Bratty”:

When the world turns against you, mouth off with these unruly, sophomoric, tantrum-fueled tunes fit for throwing a conniption.

Dustin Wong — Brother (excerpt)

from Infinite Love (2010)

Dustin Wong (formerly of Ponytail) plugged his guitar into a rack of loop, delay and octave pedals, and out came this beautiful noise. This is eyes-rolling-back-in-your-head good, at times. This is what you wished you could do when you were 14, the first time you first plugged your electric guitar into a delay pedal. Or, maybe I should say, what I wished.

Dustin’s playing in an orchestra of one, surfing each new rhythmic wave as it rises from the loopy primordial soup. The album is two tracks, each 40 minutes and 30 seconds long, entitled ‘Brother’ and ‘Sister.’ They start and end in the same place, but take different paths to get there. I cut out one of my favorite sections so it was tumbler-able.

Stream a wonderful hour-long live set he did on Liz Berg’s show on WFMU.

Download an mp3 excerpt from that show at the Free Music Archive.

And go buy the record at Thrill Jockey already!