Whether it’s the ‘70s exotica of Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Haruomi Hosono, the mutant synth-pop of Yasuaki Shimizu’s Mariah, or the artists from the 1980s featured on the compilation Heisei No Oto: Japanese Left-Field Pop From The CD Age, 1989–1996, Japanese artists have been blurring the line between pop and experimental music for decades now. With influences including ambient music, dub, avant-garde jazz, AOR, psychedelia, and neo-soul, the Tokyo four-piece TAMTAM continue this long tradition.
Their song “Ramble in the Rainbow” has recently received steady play on Gilles Peterson’s BBC 6 radio show, but the group has been together for a while now, releasing three LPs between 2016 and 2020 on the Tokyo label P-Vine Records, as well as two Bandcamp exclusives. In their early days, the group’s sound skewed toward reggae-pop. “We were trying to learn by doing Lee Perry covers, but were also influenced by Japanese dub bands like Dry & Heavy and Fishmans,” says singer Kuro who is also the group’s main songwriter. (The lineup is rounded out by drummer/programmer Affee Takahashi, guitarist Yuthke, and bassist Haluna Ishigaki.)
Vinyl LP
TAMTAM’s self-released 2017 debut, Easytravelers Mixtape, marked something of a departure for the group. “We began to look for a way to respond to the music we’d been influenced by in a new way,” says Kuro. “It was around this time that we developed a deep empathy for the modern sound of L.A., with artists like Odd Future, The Internet, Toro y Moi, and many of the artists on Stones Throw and Brainfeeder.” The resulting album consists of of tracks that clock in under two minutes long, and it was sold at their live shows in Japan. “Because we needed to keep costs down, we got our first opportunity to learn DIY sound production,” says Kuro. Another self-released album, We Are The Sun: Home Edition, followed in 2020. “I love synthesizers,” says Kuro. “On that record, I used a Casiotone MT-800 and a toy piano I bought on Mercari, the second-hand marketplace app.”
As on previous albums, necessity became the mother of invention when it came to the creation of the group’s latest album, Ramble in the Rainbow. “Tokyo is a densely populated city,” says Kuro, “so if you want to play loud sounds—especially drums—you basically have to use a music studio. But for this album, we dared to play at home at a very low sound level, because we wanted a sound closer to everyday life rather than forcing a rich sound.”
Vinyl LP
In addition to their wide stylistic taste, Manga provides another source of inspiration for the group. “I wrote the lyrics of ‘Go Down The Mountain’ after I read Yoki Na Yatsura (ようきなやつら) by Sakumo Okada,” says Kuro. “It’s about Yamamba, a monster in Japanese folklore. Sometimes the allegorical style can help when a story rooted in realism becomes too serious or too dark.”
We asked Kuro to walk us through just a few LPs that the group has in regular rotation right now.
Sun Ra
“When There Is No Sun”
“What he made is not simply music, it’s like a big ship. It is as if his music creates the entire stage and space around it, inviting the listener inside. Sun Ra‘s performances show us alternative futures. We want to be like that, too. My ideal is also to make music that’s like a big boat that everyone can board. I can feel the imagination that Sun Ra used to escape the narrowness of this world. It’s also an act of peeling off the labels that others put on him.”
Charles Stepney
Step on Step
2 x Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD), Cassette
“We couldn’t believe it when these lost recordings came out on International Anthem. We were always a big fan of Charles Stepney, but to hear him in this stripped-back form blew us all away. The sound of his home recordings transcends time and space. The texture of the sound is amazing, making it feel like you’re listening to a friend’s work.”
DJ Harrison
Shades of Yesterday
Vinyl LP
“We also learned the joy of home recording from the work of Butcher Brown and DJ Harrison. The band’s approach to a hip-hop sound inspired us—and approach that brings out the lo-fi beauty of the melody. It’s wonderful.”
The Sweet Enoughs
Marshmallow
Vinyl LP
“I came to know this because it’s another project involving the bassist of Hiatus Kaiyote. When I am extremely tired, this is the only music I can listen to. Of course, their mellow and relaxing sound is great; but it also made me realize that a big part of my taste is for that ‘easy listening’ or soundtrack sensibility. I felt the same way about some songs on the recent BadBadNotGood and Mndsgn as well.”
Hiroshi Yosumura
Green
Vinyl LP
“Hiroshi Yoshimura was one of Japan’s ambient pioneers, and this is one of his cult classics that was re-released by Light in the Attic so that more people can come to love him as well. This is one of the pieces we listened to the most while making Ramble in the Rainbow. It’s such a great ambient album and Deep Listening piece—a record that conveys beauty both near and far.”
Yasuaki Shimizu
Music for Commercials
Compact Disc (CD), Vinyl LP
“We listened to Yasuaki Shimizu’s works a lot during production. Jazz, Japan, Asia, New Age, punk, classical—he mixes the influences of various music and regions together to make his own unique music. This was re-issued as part of Crammed Discs’s series Made to Measure.”
Sault
7
Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
“We have all been big fans of Sault since we first heard them. The attention to detail in tone is amazing, and it gives the whole thing a solid sense of tension. We would love to see them live—we’ve heard they are incredible.”
Nala Sinephro
Live at Real World Studios with Edward Wakili-Hick & Dwayne Kilvington
Vinyl LP
“Simply one of the most impressive works we have heard in recent years. The natural fusion of electro sounds and live music is really impressive. The ensemble is wonderful, each sound blends into one another. We all love this one.”
