Blog - C-Ya Doopees?
C-Ya Doopees?
Last week I picked up Yann Tomita's new release, "Music Meme 4 Variations", who's is a thick DVD-sized box containing a CD, a DVD, and a book. Also striking my attention was a "Doopee Time 2" sticker! Surely it meant good things to come... or so I first thought.
What I decided to enjoy first was the CD, on my train commute (the place where I listen to music the most). I found it to be very much along the album's title, as a series of 4 chords finds its way into all of the songs, no matter if they're pop (Kahimi Karie, Koizumi Kyōko (1988!), Yamamoto Linda (1991)) or hip-hop (Naives) or electronic tracks. The whole makes for a very nice compilation of his various works, not going too much into his abstract side. The new Doopees track ("C-Ya! C-Ya!") is short and with some Hawaiian feel, fun!
I must say that I appreciate and feel sympathy for Yann's obsession with a sequence of chords, as I've mostly been playing the same 3 or 4 chords (not the same as Yann's) on my keyboards for the last 5 years.
Later I checked out the DVD, which is a recording of a concert at a temple in Kamakura, featuring Ohno Yumiko (Doopees, Buffalo Daughter), Takagi Kan, Itō Seikō and Mokuren. The 3 songs are stringed together. Yann sits at a large table of electronic stuff that only he can understand. The video quality is amateur, the cameraman even coughing at some point, but it feels like sitting in the grass and watching Yann's concert in the nature which is quite nice.
While watching the DVD I was leafing through the book and reading bits, and a chapter towards the end caught my attention, titled something like "Why Doopee Time 2 was canceled twice"... Written by Yann, he explains that he had worked on the album for about half a year everyday without seeing the end of it, and he realized that he wouldn't make it for the original release date (July 2006). Around then he became sick, perhaps from working too much, and he was hospitalized for 2 months. This and other events made him decide to cancel the release altogether, even though it seems like it was pretty much completed, even down to artwork and liners.
That Doopee Time 2 sticker is not an announcement for an album, it IS Doopee Time 2, in the only form Yann is planning to release... I would sure like to hear the nice music too, but he apologizes and asks for his fans to understand his decision.
So I just hope that Yann keeps well, and that he will keep making nice music, whether Doopees or not, as I've really been enjoying his releases of the past few years.
元気 de yanns!
Posted on April 29, 2008 at 00:47 | Tweet
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Thanks for the review! I ordered my copy of this over the weekend - it should be arriving tomorrow. I have to admit that while I love "Doopee Time", I was a little disappointed with the Doopees "Music Meme" CD and wasn't expecting much from "DT2" (though the Kahimi/Doopees tracks on "Nunki" are great!)... I'm actually glad in some ways that he's been working on new projects, and I'm really excited to hear the flow of the compilation.
What I'd love is a new Astro Age Steel Orchestra CD and a Naives album! Seiko Ito's "Mess/Age" album is probably my favorite Yann production, followed by the Astro Age album. I did just find out that Seiko has a new CD out in late May in collaboration with a band called Pomeranians, who I'm not very familiar with, but are some sort of live dub band... Yann also features on some tracks on that CD. Should be good!
Posted by Mikey IQ on April 30, 2008 at 07:15
I love the tracks with the Doopees on "Nunki" too. Great stuff! I'd really have liked a "Doopee Time 2" to see the light, but oh well..!
A Naives album would be great indeed! I'll have to check out "Mess/Age", which I didn't know about.
Posted by Patrick on May 2, 2008 at 10:12
It's funny, after writing that last comment, I went back and relistened to the Doopees "Meme" CD, as I hadn't in almost a year, and I ended up REALLY enjoying it more than I had remembered!
The new Yann package is really great - I have a few songs now which I could never track down in the past, and the DVD is a nice bonus.
"Mess/Age" is amazing! Seiko was originally in Tinnie Punx with Tagaki Kan; they released their 1st album ("建設的", also produced by Yann) on Yuki Takahashi's T*E*N*T label in the mid 80's, and then Seiko went solo. "Mess/Age" is a phenomenal CD of "golden age" hip-hop style productions in the style of De La Soul or Tribe Called Quest, but with a distinct touch - you definitely feel Yann's presence all over the production, with lots of Sun Ra & calypso samples... and Seiko's raps are, even with my limited Japanese skills, totally brilliant & clever. I'm not 100% sure about this, but from what I've gathered, those two Seiko/Tinnie Punx records were essentially the first true japanese rap/hip-hop albums (even before Tycoon Tosh & Major Force), though the Tinnie Punx album has a more eclectic vibe, with lovers rock reggae, a punk tune, and even a Smiths-esque ballad at one point!
There have been really nice deluxe CD editions released in recent years of both records, and the Tinnie Punx CD has the entirety of Seiko's 1st solo single EP, "Body Blow", which is also a killer.
I also just received a copy of the first Havana Exotica CD which Yann produced, which I had never heard (I only knew the Konishi-produced album). Really fun stuff! I like the loose "party-jams" feel of the record.
Whoo, rant is over!
Posted by Mikey IQ on May 2, 2008 at 16:17
I never quite figured out the deal about Pardon Kimura.
Posted by nick on May 9, 2008 at 04:08