What Am I Listening To? - The Nimbly Edition

[Guybrush]

Thanks for the write-up, @Nimbly9 🙂 Sounds pretty good! I'll check this one out 👍

[Nimbly9]

Masayoshi Takanaka - The Rainbow Goblins (1981)

A fun one here. This is an exceptionally smooth (mostly) instrumental concept record that tells the story of seven rainbow goblins who travel through the land, catching rainbows and stealing their color. The narrative is presented through spoken word bits at the beginning of most tracks, creating an immersive experience that transports listeners into the world of the goblins. It is supposedly based on a famous children's story but I haven't ever read it.

Sonically, the jams here disarmingly smooth and would be right at home at your next beach grill party. It incorporates strains of ECM-styled Third Stream jazz, early City Pop, and even some Progressive Rock touches, creating a rich and diverse sound palette.

For me, it is Takanaka's masterful guitarwork that's the biggest highlight of the album, flowing seamlessly through every track. He's a god on both electric and acoustic, so you get fair amount of both. And like Herbie Hancock was doing around this era, you also get the occasional vocoder use for extra flavor, so extra points for that.

There's a live version of him at the Budokan back in '81 where one of his guitarists ls literally dressed up as a yellow goblin while he shreds, so that's worth checking out too on YT.

[Guybrush]

Takanaka I'm actually familiar with as I saw a mini doc about him on YouTube a year or two or three ago. It's fun music, upbeat and well produced 🙂

[Nimbly9]

^ I think I've seen the same one.  I love all his crazy album covers (like the one where he's skydiving) and that one for 1981's Alone where he's on a bigass sand dune. 

[Nimbly9]

Mad Honey - Satellite Aphrodite (2023)

One of my favorite albums of the year come from this Indie shoegaze act out of Oklahoma City.  And whilst it does carry a lot of of the typical trademarks of the genre, the vocal stylings of Tiff Sutcliffe have an almost Westcoast singer-songwriter kind of timbre to them which are rather striking. You also get a variety of tempo types and subtle stylistic shifts.  'Kamakura' is a gorgeous little acoustic cut that has more than a little bit of Linda Perhacs in its DNA whilst that confident bass / drum combo stride on 'Eileen' is very Tool-esque without being a ripoff.

My version of the album also came with a cool extra single, a beautifully Gothic new wave jam called 'Blue & You' which felt like it should have been the closer on the original digital album release. The groove reminds me a lot of something the Psychedelic Furs or Chris Isaak might have done, but with a Cocteau Twins twist.

In a year full of great albums and songs, it was nice to have something that tickled my shoegaze-meets-David Lynch soundtrack itch.  Looking forward to the next release!

[Nimbly9]

10. Mad Honey - Satellite Aphrodite

See previous post. A fantastic and very novel shoegaze album.

9. Ozric Tentacles - Lotus Unfolding

Space rock perfection with a strong classic psych influence and even some jazzy flute thrown in.  Best album they've done since 2000's The Hidden Step, maybe even since the early 90's.

8. Press To Enter - From Mirror To Road

Djent meets veryyy catchy modern pop.  It reminds me a little bit of what District 97 were trying to do awhile back but with better hooks and tighter arrangements. It also helps that Julie Jules Wiingreen has the voice of an angel.

7. Osaka Punch - Mixed Ape

A debut that's been 10 years in the making.  They take Australia's heavier alternative rock sound and throw us right back to Faith No More's super eclectic mid 90's period with pure swagger and charm like its the easiest thing in the world.

6. YATTE & Duett - The Minute

Austin, TX's premiere champion of 80's popcraft nostalgia takes his skills to the next level with Duett's delicious synthwave production skills, resulting in a legitimately great album that's stronger than either one would have been alone. 

5. Trevor Rabin - Rio

The mastermind behind Yes's best pop albums (90125 through Talk) returns with his first vocal solo album in 30 years.  Ironically enough, he actually sounds a lot like Jon Anderson himself now after working on his vocals so much in the past decade.  His songwriting is leagues above anything Yes themselves have done since the 90's for the most part, so if you are a fan of some of Yes's pop/prog hybrid jams you'll really dig this album.

4. Perfect View - Bushido

If Journey and Queensryche had a baby and that baby was the main character in a lost Akira Kurosawa samurai epic, the result would be Bushido.  These Italians weren't great on their past outings, but this album has some legitimately awesome concept rock/metal hijinks going on. AOR with a slightly heavier edge is never a bad thing in my book, especially when it is done this well.

3. Moon Safari - Himlabacken Vol. 2

Some catchy power pop inflected prog.  I've waited 10 years for another album from these guys and it doesn't disappoint. They got those classic late 70's Styx synths going on and six part vocal harmonies that make the best barbershop quartets green with envy.

2. JELUSICK - Follow The Blind Man

Dino Jelusick is a Croatian singer with a voice bestowed by the heavy metal gods of old.  He's early 80's Ronnie James Dio and David Coverdale all rolled into one person and he's a multi-instrumentalist prodigy on top of that.  This album is his first end-to-end original work in a few years and it sounds positively massive with a ton of touch points covering classic metal sounds through grunge and even Queen-esque balladry.  Dude is a monster talent and he's just going to get even better as time goes on.

1. ModX - Secrets

Peter Ericson is a talented singer-songwriter from Sweden who has been involved in the music industry over there since the mid 80's.  Most of the time he writes for or produces other people, but on this awesome debut Secrets he really showcases his true calling - the classic pop-rock sound of Toto and Mr. Mister crossed with mid 90's/early 00's Max Martin boy band hook crafting. The end result is way more substantial than anything Max Martin has been involved with, but you can hear his influence and it comes through in the best possible way on jams like 'Looking For Closure' and the rollicking title cut.  This style isn't for everyone, but he does it exceptionally well and it's one helluva sugar rush if your in the mood.

[Nimbly9]

Toto - Mindfields (1999)

An extremely adventurous and interesting album from the best session musician band to ever emerge out of L.A. Toto IV and Africa this ain't, but it has a lot of varied and interesting ideas (60's psychedelia, blues rock, even progressive metal).

Back on MusicBanter years ago, I reviewed this record over a conversation with UnknownSoldier.   In retrospect, I was hard on some songs I didn't need to be and I appreciate the wider range of styles they tackled.  'Cruel' is one of Bobby Kimball's best vocal performances ever, and it swings hard with those horns like a lost Motown jam.  The groove is very typically Toto though (not a bad thing).

Songs like 'Melanie' and 'Mad About You' are pretty good 90's flavored pop-rock numbers, but the real gem here is the super proggy 'Better World'.  It has some fantastic central motifs and some serious payoff at the end.  Might be the best thing they've ever done.