Koji Ueno - "Music for Silent Movies" Vinyl, LP, Album, Japan, 1985 (Yen Records)

Koji Ueno was in Guernica, the duo/band with Jun Togawa that brought the 1930 aesthetics of Japan to the late 1980s.   Here on his solo album, from 1985, he makes music to go with early Surrealist/DADA silent films from the 1920s.   The pieces are "Retour a Raison," "Le Etoile Mer," and "Emak Bakia" by Man Ray, "Anémic Cinema" by Marcel Duchamp, "Ballet Mécanique" by painter Fernand Léger & Dudley Murphy and Rene Clair's "Entr'acte."  So, in a sense we have an album of Modernism, but 1920's modernism written and recorded in 1985. 

All six music pieces do match well with the original silent films.  I know, because I have seen these short movies many times.   "Ballet Mécanique" is very electronic and reminds me a bit of the French Musique Concrete pieces from the 1950s, but most of the album is done on real instruments, and the talent of Ueno's scoring, arranging, and composing becomes in focus.   "Entr'acte" has traces of Erik Satie's original score for the film, and Ueno is very respectful of each film's aesthetic and purpose.  Perhaps a man born in the wrong time, still, he makes up with his obsession for the pre-war era of Japan, and it's acceptance or at the very least, a curiosity of the avant-garde world of Europe at that time. 

Keiichi Ohta and Koji Ueno - "Jingai Daimakyo" Vinyl, LP, Album, Japan, 1983 (Yen)

Japan has a dark history, and the pre-war years of Tokyo was an exciting time of politics, but also a great period for then-contemporary literature, visual art, and various movements that were taking place.  Some inspired by the West, but still rooted in Japanese aesthetic.  In the 1980s various members of the underground Japanese pop world were obsessed with the 1920s/1930s such as the band Guernica, Koji Ueno, and the great vocalist Jun Togawa.  "Jingai Daimakyo" (the savage terrifying places) is a separate solo album by Ueno along with lyricist/visual artist Keiichi Ohta, based on the writings of mystery/horror writer Oguri Mushitaro (1901-1946). 

"Jingai Daimakyo" is very much a Guernica album but without the vocal talents of Togawa.  Each song has a different vocalist, and the most noted singer on this album is Haroumi Hosono, who at the time was a member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) and he and fellow YMO member Yukihiro Takahashi ran the Yen record label.    Ohta, the lyricist as well as producer for this album is a noted artist/illustrator in Japan, and his work captures the sexuality/violence of the pre-war mentality.  Retro to the extreme, both Ueno and Ohta make music and images that are unique, and could only come from Japanese pop culture.  

The album is a small masterpiece because it captures a passionate part of history, and convey it to an aural assault of the senses.   Ueno's music is very much in the manner of 20th-century music history. In a fashion, this album reminds me of Van Dyke Parks' "Song Cycle" album, if one needs a reference to their aesthetic.   Not an easy album to find, especially outside of Japan. Still, one can locate the album on YouTube. Happy hunting! 

Guernica - 電離層からの眼差し CD, album, Japan (Teichiku Records)

In my year-long exile (1989) in Japan, I discovered this remarkable CD I think at the Wave music store in Roppongi.   I was immediately intrigued by the graphics on this CD, and thought to myself, how can this possibly go wrong?    It's a masterpiece. 

Guernica is a musical project with music by Koji Ueno, lyrics by Keiichi Ohta, and most remarkable of them all - Jun Togawa singer.  She is like every great new wave singer from the 1980s rolled into one body or mouth.     The music is highly orchestrated with real strings, horns, and it's so retro that it's basically an avant-garde pop album.  The album even has tap dancing, which I think is real.  The roots go back to the 1930s, with a touch of Busby Berkeley.  Togawa's vocals are operatic, to small Judy Garland "Wizard of Oz" era vocals to the vocal range of someone like Yma Sumac.  

This is not easy listening music.  It's very much in your face and totally doesn't take any prisoners.  The closest thing I can think of is "Song Cycle" by Van Dyke Parks.   It's a militant aesthetic that looks toward the past but to make something totally new.   This album is totally unique.   Hard to find, even in Japan, but worth the hunt.   I strongly recommend this album to anyone who is interested in orchestrated pop, baroque pop, and experimental music.