Saturday, December 12, 2015

This goes with this (extreme eighties edition)

When I get to the end of Tomo Akikawabaya's "A Dream Of No Pillow", what song is going through my head? "Strength Of Strings", from the second This Mortal Coil album. 


versus


What's interesting is that these two records were made at roughly the same time, and yet it is quite possible that at least one of them had no idea of the other's existence. 

(This year, Veronica Vasicka's invaluable Minimal Wave label rescued Tomo Akikawabaya from crate-digger hell, putting out a compilation of his work entitled "The Invitation Of The Dead". It's another reminder that there is a lot of music that remains locked away in the past. The first song is stunning, and if the whole album had been in that vein I would quite possibly be shouting Album Of The Year. The final piece on the album, "The Hill Of Dreams", wouldn't be out of place on an Oneohtrix Point Never record. I'm not sure what that says.)

(Plus, how can you go past a record cover like this?)

(Footnote: both songs are notable for (some might say "marred by") some slightly awkward vocals, but in both cases I'm not sure it is possible to imagine them being sung any other way, or at least any more suitable way.)