I thought that nothing could top the Ultra Lounge series for worlds greatest compilations back in the way back but Café Aprés Midi has done it for me a ton o' times over. Here's all the conflicting information that I know. 1. The series was put together by a Japanese DJ that is quite popular and given free reign to go through the entire Sony Music vaults and put together whatever amazing smooth mix cd's he could. 2. Café Aprés Midi is a sweet bar/lounge in Japan that plays the greatest sounds around in regards to old school bossa/lounge/sunshine pop/jazz/everything used by downtempo artists. 3. All of the oldschool Shibuya-Kei greats hung out there like Cornelius, Yoshinori Sunahara, Towa Tei, and a crazy other group of like minded people who wanted to trade their latest obscuro finds in the world of smoove pop.
I'm not sure what it all really is but as far as I can tell the Swedish seem to be the only ones who can buy these comps. They're the only ones to blog about them. I've asked a couple of J-Students in my home town to try to find a CD for me and they say there is no such CD in Japan. I find this hard to believe. The series is unbelievable. Each disc is based on mood, based on a lesser known color. There are also artist discs as well as label discs. Several artists are treated to greatest hits like Blossom Dearie and Clementine. Some labels get their own special treatments like Compost, Cherry Red, and even Blue Note.
The first song I'm posting is by Ned Doheny. He was a singer songwriter that didn't find immediate success in the US but he quickly grabbed onto his success in Japan. He moved there in the 70's and became a big radio DJ there and thrived there throughout the 80's as a pop radio icon. My wife thinks he sounds like Jackson Browne and I find him reminiscent of Billy Joel. Here's that track for you. I hope to post more for you from this series for a little bit. I'd like to thank motocchio for letting me use her picture of the real Café. What strange coincidence that she should upload so close to this post. Here's some tracks. Enjoy!
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Sam, this is fab. have read about Café Aprés Midi on occasion but never found them in record stores. am with your wife on Jackson Browne; the Dan Hicks and Hideki Kaji tunes rule.
ps. if you get desperate, my sister has lived in Japan for 20 years, where she teaches English and answers Japanese crossword puzzles (even if it's in Kanji, bring it on). hit the scanner and i'll have her decipher. :D
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great post mister. i feel nostalgic but i don't know why! :-)
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I know how you feel LadyC. I wish my parents listened to this kind of stuff so I could've grown up on it. Not that I'm not grateful for my large knowledge of 70's and early 80's country music. ;)
Poebegone how cool that your sister lives in Japan. I will keep that offer in mind. I'm a bigtime Japan junkie. I'm going to shorten that to J-unkie. I want more of this series but it costs 4 times a normal cd here and they're rare when they show up for purchase. It's my mission in life to have it all.
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First I wanted to say, that I only liked the third track. Then I listened to the other two again, and now I got them, I think ;). Just came back from the Klangbad festival with ultra-experimental music, so I think my musical perception got bent a bit. Is all of the compilation in that "old school" style?
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Yeah it's all old school. Except for their Compost release. I've gotten a couple of tracks from that. Compost fits since they put out a lot of jazz/lounge electronica. There's a lot of obscure Brazilian music too. I want to post some more from this series this weekend. Ultra-experimental music fest sounds great. This would be a shock to hear if your head is in that space.
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Oh, that festival was very delightful as always. This year I had only time to go there for one day - the last two years I was working there and enjoying all three days. I'll make a post on that tomorrow or on Sunday, as long as I have this strong internet connection here, before going home again. I took place the last weekend, but I bought two CDs, that I listend to extensively this week, so the influence of the festival is still heavy ;).
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Wow, they must be good to win out over Ultra Lounge. I love those cd's too much.
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Hermes sounds really great. Look forward to the post.
Lester I know it sounds like I'm smoking drano but I like it that much. I also have big love for Ultra Lounge. My life wasn't complete until I heard Walter Wanderley and Les Baxter.
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Word to that, Les Baxter's the man!
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Ultra Lounge is ultra-cool, but the Aprés series sounds downright smashing; fantastic tunes/artists, and hope you can complete your mission to acquire all the Café Aprés Midi gems! Cheers, and an excellent post.
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It is my destiny Girlcrawl. One day it will happen. And then the universe will collapse on itself as I listen to the last note of the last song. Maybe not that last part so much but it will happen.
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J-unkie - LOL.
And then the universe will collapse on itself as I listen to the last note of the last song. - omigod, listen to A Strange Day by The Cure (Pornography). :D