The Beatniks - Existentialism

Finally found employment about a month ago and have been busy trying to settle into things. I have a long list of requests and posts to get to and I hope all my visitors have been well!  I have a good amount of files already uploaded, now its just putting the posts together. Life has been strange the last three years since I started this blog and hopefully more stability will be in my future... 

Many thanks to Fen, Corwyn, JJ and others for continuing the spirt of the blog world and reminding me to stop being lazy and post more haha! 

The album featured today is a fantastic debut collaboration from two true synth geniuses. Keiichi Suzuki of Moon Riders fame and the "voice and rhythm" of YMO, Yukihiro Takahashi, formed this side project as a tribute to the 50's/60's counter cultural movement known as the beatniks. This underground movement was a powerful force during the time and was seeped in French New Wave motifs. These aspect are featured throughout the album, with the included use of French lyrics. However, the album is unmistakably a product of the minds of the early Japanese new wave movement, with the then modern sounds and the "beatnik" concept pieced together beautifully.

Keeping up even further with the French theme, the album's name "Existentialism" is also derived from the 19th/20th century philosophical movement of the same namesake. In high school I was extremely intrigued by the works of Sartre and Camus, but if any of you have actually sat down and tried to absorb anything from "Being and Nothingness", you know how fruitless that can be haha!

The Beatniks still sporadically release albums, with their last effort seen in 2011. Fortunately I was able to come upon this 3 or 4 years ago on a now defunct blog. Many thanks to the original poster and I truly hope you all enjoy it!




Existentialism (1981)

1. Le Sang Du Poete
2. No Way Out
3. Ark Diamant
4. Now And Then … 
5. Loopy
6. Une Femme N'est Pas Un Homme
7. Mirroris
8. Le Robinet
9. L'Etoile de Mer
10. Inevitable

Music from the Films of Takeshi Kitano: Dolls & Zatoichi (座頭市)

As most of us learn in life, most good things don't last forever and after a decade long working relationship, Kitano and Hisaishi parted ways after the completion of 2002's Dolls. Apparently the two had a argument concerning the films soundtrack and that may be the reason why there are only five tracks present. Dolls is a fantastic art film and it was a new beginning for Kitano in a way. While many of his films were building up to this, Dolls really set the tone for the second phase of his directorial career in the 2000's. This was slightly subdued in his revamp of the popular blind swordsman film series, Zatoichi (座頭市), however Kitano, like in A Scene at the Sea, played off his characters disability intriguingly with sound. Musician Keiichi Suzuki of Moonriders fame took the role of composer and the two created an interesting world together. Both men have eclectic ways of crafting their art and much of this film is synchronized to the soundtrack. This is my favorite aspect of the film and while I did not love as much as Dolls and his works from the 90's, I did find it greatly entertaining. Unfortunately, this will be the last of his film soundtracks but I will continue post the randomness that I usually do. Check the films, check the soundtracks and enjoy!

Dolls (2002) Joe Hisaishi

1. Sakura

2. Pure White

3. Mad

4. Feel

5. Dolls

Zatoichi (座頭市) (2003) Keiichi Suzuki

1. A road to a post-town

2. Firewood-chopping and a farmer who wants to be a samurai

3. Ginzo's first command

4. The Naruto-ya rice merchant massacre

5. The gambling house massacre

6. The wasteland massacre and the reminiscence of Geisha

7. A house on fire and massacres all over

8. Constructors

9. O-kagura

10. Zatoichi showdown

11. Festivo

12. A road to a post-town - alternate mix

13. Ginzo's first command - alternate mix

14. A house on fire and massacres all aver - alternate mix

15. Trailer