More Japrock

Despite the potential for my order to have been delayed due to the UK's adverse weather conditions, I am now the proud and excited owner of Julian Cope's excellent Japrocksampler book. It's a great book to use as a reference and recommendation for Japanese rock and also a good read in general and talks about Japanese history and culture, and their impact on the music scene.

Tracking down some of the material mentioned, even online, is proving tricker. I have found some Flower Travellin' Band, Magic Power Mako and Les Rallizes Denudes on lastfm.com but often these are from different/later albums than those in the Japrocksampler Top 50.

One particular album that has appeared frequently on lastfm.com, and that has grabbed my attention, is Satori by the Flower Travellin' Band, which features at joint top place in the aforementioned top 50. The tracks on this are just brilliant and have been getting regular airplay this week.

Other more recent Japanese artists such as Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple also get a mention in the book and seem to have a lot of material on lastfm. To be quite honest I'm a bit undecided about this lot. Some of the tracks I've heard are great, but others less so. I'm sure that's no different than most bands and perhaps I set my expectations too high. The good thing about Acid Mothers Temple however is that I've definitely seen their CDs in the various record shops I frequent in London.