Weird Japanese Art Jazz?

[WeHuntKings]

I realize ILF may not be the place to post this (but hey, who knows?). I need your help! Last night I sat down and watched Nobuhiko Obayashi's film House, which is a very trippy 70s horror flick. I was woefully too sober to fully enjoy it methinks...But also included on the disc was an avant garde film he did years before called Emotion:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/ManooN/videos/1/

The music in this film, composed by Naoshi Miyazaki, is just perfect...Take a listen for a bit to see what I am talking about.

Anyway, my question is this: Does anyone know of any artists (more specifically Japanese) that have a similar sound? I sort of fell in love with it already,

Thanks!

[Chankgeez]

There were a number of Japanese film composers with jazz and avant-garde leanings. Most of them I can't really remember off the top of my head.

Check out Toru Takemitsu. He's done things such as Harakiri, Woman in the Dunes, Samurai Rebellion and Ran.

I also like the soundtrack to the first Mothra movie. Can't remember who the composer is right now.

One of Kurosawa's favorite composers, Masaru Sato, is also really great. He did the scores to Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, The H-Man (aka Beauty and Liquid Men), and some of the Godzilla films among others.

Overall, a very worthy genre to start investigating. Some of those Japanese composers were brilliant. Hope this is what you're looking for.

[snipelfritz]

I'm not sure what's more of an oxymoron, weird art jazz or weird Japanese.

Wait, definitely the second one. Definitely.

[WeHuntKings]

^Don't you mean redundant?

[Gearmond]

like kaoru abe?

[Chankgeez]

Everything I do gonh be redundant from now on.

Everything I do gonh be redundant from now on.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsYdCp-vCb8[/youtube]

[StopReferencing]

like kaoru abe?

Kaoru Abe and Masayuki Takayanagi are fucking unbelievable.

[andtheLiquidmen]

There were a number of Japanese film composers with jazz and avant-garde leanings. Most of them I can't really remember off the top of my head.

Check out Toru Takemitsu. He's done things such as Harakiri, Woman in the Dunes, Samurai Rebellion and Ran.

I also like the soundtrack to the first Mothra movie. Can't remember who the composer is right now.

One of Kurosawa's favorite composers, Masaru Sato, is also really great. He did the scores to Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, The H-Man (aka Beauty and Liquid Men), and some of the Godzilla films among others.

Overall, a very worthy genre to start investigating. Some of those Japanese composers were brilliant. Hope this is what you're looking for.

Sir,

You are the only person I've run into that has mentioned Masaru Sato on anywhere that isn't a Japanese science fiction themed site. Also, the composer of the original Mothra is Yuji Koseki.

I'll have a much more lengthy/nerdy post when I get home. I've amassed gigs upon gigs of soundtracks to Japanese movies. Sort of a hobby/obsession.

[WeHuntKings]

The Kaoru Abe and Takayanagi stuff is pretty incredible, but not exactly what I was looking for. I am glad to have that in my brain now though! Seriously, someone go watch that movie though.

[Chankgeez]

There were a number of Japanese film composers with jazz and avant-garde leanings. Most of them I can't really remember off the top of my head.

Check out Toru Takemitsu. He's done things such as Harakiri, Woman in the Dunes, Samurai Rebellion and Ran.

I also like the soundtrack to the first Mothra movie. Can't remember who the composer is right now.

One of Kurosawa's favorite composers, Masaru Sato, is also really great. He did the scores to Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, The H-Man (aka Beauty and Liquid Men), and some of the Godzilla films among others.

Overall, a very worthy genre to start investigating. Some of those Japanese composers were brilliant. Hope this is what you're looking for.

Sir,

You are the only person I've run into that has mentioned Masaru Sato on anywhere that isn't a Japanese science fiction themed site. Also, the composer of the original Mothra is Yuji Koseki.

I'll have a much more lengthy/nerdy post when I get home. I've amassed gigs upon gigs of soundtracks to Japanese movies. Sort of a hobby/obsession.

Woo hoo!

Can't wait to read your lengthier post. This is a genre I know a little about, but would like to get into more. There's a lot of amazing music to be found there.

I also wanted to add that I've seen The H-Man billed as Beauty and Liquid Human. Apparently that movie has many names.

Also, great screen name, andtheLiquidmen.

[WeHuntKings]

Yes, I'm excited to see this too. I actually used to watch loads of Godzilla movies and the like when I was a little kid, so it will be interesting to get back into it all again!

[andtheLiquidmen]

Alright! So!

Seeing as Masaru Sato was already mentioned, I'll begin with him. Please take into consideration that I'm trying to keep it down to one track/video per film as to not make my posts TOO lengthy. I urge you to poke around and listen to more to really take in the strength and versatility of the composer.

Sato (also cited as Satoh on some websites, but really it should be Satou or Satō) was one of those composers who had as much versatility as Ennio Morricone. Much like Morricone, he was able to seamlessly blend a HUUUUUUGE variety of sounds, styles, and timbres to create something entirely unique. Despite some of his earlier efforts not being his strongest, consider the jump between his score for Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Throne of Blood, and Kurosawa's spaghetti western, Yojimbo.

Throne of Blood combines very subdued orchestral elements with a heavy reliance on Japanese traditional music.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XWogmntJls[/youtube]

Yojimbo on the other hand was an incredible blend of east, west, new, and old that encapsulated the composer's unique style.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqw9QbvYeaI[/youtube]

What he came to be known for here (other than his extensive work with Kurosawa), would be his scores featured in Godzilla movies. His first was Godzilla vs The Sea Monster (Also known as Ebirah, Horror of the Deep). This was Toho's first attempt at changing their target audience for Godzilla from adults to teens and young adults. Out went original composer Akira Ifukube (who I'll be getting to later) and director Ishiro Honda. In came director Jun Fukuda and Masaru Sato. The change of tone is evident throughout the film, and Sato's surf-rock influenced score set the tone in a big way. The whole production of how the film came to be is an interesting tale, but I'll save that for any interested parties to hear another time.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmUzZhS5fsE[/youtube]

With Son of Godzilla (1967), they kept the same director/composer lineup, and made the tone even more light and playful. Despite the film being jam-packed with goofiness and kid-friendly shenanigans, Sato keeps the film grounded (as grounded as a film like this can be ) by employing a great sense of characterization of the monsters. Innocent/playful pieces for Minya, the son of Godzilla, and dark/strange pieces for the scheming giant insects that populate the island of its birth.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ax9i1ZhoPM[/youtube]

Fast-forward to 1974. At this point, the attendance and financial success of the series was in the toilet. How Toho threw together a movie as fun as Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla, I don't know. Satoh blended big band, airy Okinawan-influenced melodies, fuzzed out guitar, and his usual orchestral playfulness into something that really saved what could have been something otherwise too preposterous to really enjoy (Ape-humans from another planet, INTERPOL agents, giant robotic Godzilla, Okinawan deity come to life, etc). Seeing as this is probably my favorite of his scores, I'll go against my initial rule and post a handful of tracks.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTd2zirA1pE[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZGENZr01jE[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiQaCwLGVzw[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwZD2NQreXA[/youtube]


If any of you made it through that, let me know and I'll continue. I was planning on dedicating each post to a different composer/style/etc just to keep things somewhat organized. Sato just happens to be one composer that's right in the middle: Not too experimental, not too traditional, and somewhat easy to locate his music.

And thank you for the compliment! I'm actually working on a musical project called Beauty and the Liquidmen, hence the name.

[Chankgeez]

Thanks so much, andtheLiquidmen.

Those late '60's Sato Godzllla clips you posted are pretty amazing. I also had forgotten how good the score to G vs. MG was. I can hear why it's one of your favorites.
I haven't seen that movie in a long time. I guess I should probably begin to revisit those old classics. I guess I like cinematic music in general.

I made it through all of those. Thanks again for posting them. Please, feel free to post as often as you'd like. I'm listening. Your plan for each post sounds like a good one.

What do you know about Tadashi Yamauchi, the composer for the first Gamera film?

How about Sei Ikeno?

I like some of their stuff.