Cool & Strange Music Vol. 3 - Top 5 for the Week of Sept 8, 2012.

We're back to another episode of Cool & Strange music. Welcome! This chart is the coolest and strangest music chart you'll ever see/hear...For those of you who like rock and pop music, please check out my friend George's Top 5 video chart here. (George Williams Top 5 Countdown: http://georgewilliams.jp/wp/category/ranking/)

Let's get started!

Everyone knows someone who can't sing, has no rhythm and is tone deaf... (Most of us see one every morning when we wake up and look into the bathroom mirror), but how about one who is a nice old lady and actually couldn't sing to save her life but somehow managed to get a recording contract with Columbia and sold over 1 million records! That's right! This lady sold over 1 million records!

Here's what Wikipedia says about Mrs. Elva Miller:

Elva Ruby Connes Miller (October 5, 1907 – July 28, 1996), who recorded under the name "Mrs. Miller", was an American singer who gained some fame in the 1960s for her series of shrill and off-key renditions of then-popular songs such as "Moon River", "Monday, Monday", "A Lover's Concerto" and "Downtown". Singing in an untrained, Mermanesque, vibrato-laden style, according to Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace in The Book of Lists 2, her voice was compared to the sound of "roaches scurrying across a trash can lid." Nevertheless, "Downtown" reached the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in April 1966, peaking at #82. The single's B-side, "A Lover's Concerto", barely cracked the Hot 100 that same month at #95.

Here's Mrs. Miller doing the Buck Owens classic tune that was made popular again at the time by Ringo singing it for the Beatles:

Most of Mrs. Millers songs have been removed on Youtube by those douchebags at EMI who seem to be unable to grasp the fact that if people can't hear Mrs. Miller's music, they won't buy or download her CDs... Or maybe they're too stoopid to have heard of Monty Python. 

Did you know that when Monty Python started their own Youtube channel and started uploading their skits for free, their Amazon sales jumped by 23,000%! Don't believe me? Read this: http://boingboing.net/2009/01/23/monty-pythons-free-w.html... That proves just how dumb these major record labels are when they block sixties and seventies (etc...etc..) artists off the Internet and Youtube! Gee... If people can't hear the music, they'll forget and not buy...

And speaking of people who have no rhythm and can't sing, how about Swedne's own Elvis Presley impersonator, Eilert Pilarm?

Wikipedia says this about this true gem and once in a century talent:

Eilert Dahlberg (born April 4, 1953 in Anundsjö, Sweden), who uses the stage name Eilert Pilarm is a Swedish Elvis impersonator. He gained fame when he performed on Morgonpasset in 1992. Pilarm self-released several cassettes, before his debut CD Greatest Hits was released in 1996 on MCA. Eilert is Back! followed in 1998 and Live in Stockholm appeared in 2000. He stopped performing in 2002 after 600 gigs and six albums. Pilarm is one of several musicians featured in Irwin Chusid's book Songs in the Key of Z, which focuses on outsider music. His album Eilerts Jul ("Eilert's Christmas") frequently appears in internet lists of "worst album covers of all time". He used to own a Royal Enfield motorbike, but has since sold it, and at present it resides in Tavelsjö.

Pretty, er, um, amazing... The guy got so popular that many famous musicians in Europe wanted to be in his backing band...

Even more amazing when you realize that Eilert Pilarm also sold more than a million records!

Funny thing is, though, if you keep listening to Eilert Pilarm, the Elvis Presley covers start to sound like he's singing them correctly... OH, my GOD! Elert Pilarm and Elvis Presley have the same initials!!!! How bizarre!

OK, well, we probably have to adjust our ears and tuning after that classic... 

The best use for Eilert Pilarm and Mrs. Miller (besides listening and laughing) is if you have a big party and you want people to go home, just start playing this stuff! Hilarious how fast the room clears out!

Here's an instrumental band that I really like. They are called the Ramonetures, kinda like the Ramones meets the Ventures, get it? Here they are doing the Ramones classic, Rock & Roll High School

AllMusic says this about the Ramonetures:

Created by guitarist Mel Bergman, the Ramonetures are hard to define in simple terms. Essentially an instrumental surf band, the Ramonetures separate themselves from the pack by specializing in "re-imagining" established bands work as, well, instrumental surf rock. On their first release, they -- hence the name of the band -- "surfed up" the Ramones, and on the second, they rework the legendary Los Angeles punk pioneers X. While the first Ramonetures was a purely in-house affair, the second release, Johny Walk Don't Run Paulene, features X guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer D.J. Bonebrake.

Yeah! Rockin'! I could imagine "playing" with her!

Well, so far we've had two werid and twisted songs and one rockin' one. Let's now go to something a tad bit cooler and more exotic with Arthur Lyman.

After World War II, lots of guys came back from the Pacific with good memories of the islands. Arthur Lyman capitalized on that by making a sound that became known as "Exotica" and is probably the classic sound when it come to Cool & Strange music. 

Wikipedia says this about Arthur Lyman:

Arthur Lyman (February 2, 1932 – February 24, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His group popularized a style of faux-Polynesian music during the 1950s and 1960s which later became known as exotica. His albums became favorite stereo-effect demonstration discs during the early days of the stereophonic LP album for their elaborate and colorful percussion, deep bass and 3-dimensional recording soundstage. Lyman was known as "the King of Lounge music."

If that's not the definitive Cool & Strange sound then I don't know what is!

Finally, I like to always have at least one Japanese song in the Cool & Strange countdown. And this one is definitely cool and strange and is this week's number one. It is dedicated to my friend Jp Valentine.

These days there is a massive Japan boom all over Europe. It seems the Europeans are fascinated with this country and can't get enough. In France there's even annual Japan festivals! I used to think this was a recent craze but evidence shows that the notion is not true. It seems the Europeans (especially the French) are madly in love with Japan and all things Japanese and have been for decades. So much so that even the famed French songstress France Gall sang a song in Japanese and it was a massive hit in Japan in the 1960's!

France Gall, while not so famous outside of France, is a huge star in that country. Here's a brief from Wikipedia.... 

France Gall (born Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall on 9 October 1947 in Paris, France) is a popular French yé-yé singer. Gall was married to, and had a successful singing career in partnership with, French singer-songwriter Michel Berger.

Read more about her storied career at Wiki. 

Here she is singing that song in Japanese in a very rare video that I just found the other day. The song is called "Yume Miru Chason Ningyo" (Translation: "The Dreams of Chanson Dolls" - I think.....)

For an extra treat, here she is singing the song in it's original French (written by Serge Gainsbourg):

Well that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the tunes and I hope to see you back here next week!

Rock and Roll and a Reason Why American Musicians No Longer Capture the World's Imagination?

“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.” -Pericles 

6 O'Clock Yatsura on 76.1 InterFM in Tokyo

I sit at the Yakitori-ya (BBQ chicken on sticks restaurant) and nurse my Hoppy and a few delicious sticks of chicken. Kashimura san, the neighborhood school English teacher besides me howls about the decline of Japanese civilization,


"Japanese kids today don't care about studying English. They don't want to go to the United States anymore. They are not fascinated by the west. If Japanese kids don't learn about other cultures, especially the United States, Japan is doomed!" He says.


I laugh. Kashimura san comes from an older generation of Japanese. He is from the generation that grew up with Elvis Presley and Rock and Roll music. The United States, to his generation of Japanese, represented dreams and freedom. Kashimura even has posters of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe - very old American idols from a day long past - on the walls of his classroom. But, that's not what the United States represents to young Japanese people anymore... I say to him, 


"Don't worry about it, Kashimura san. It's not the end of Japanese civilization, it is the end of the United States. You are just witnessing the fall of the American empire, that's all. That's what it is."


Kashimura stares at me incredulously.

"Seriously, that's what it is, Kashimura san. Japanese kids are not interested in the United States anymore NOT so much because the Japanese kids have changed so much, kids are always kids and interested in fun and excitement,  they are just not interested in the United States anymore because the United States isn't fun and exciting anymore. It has changed, and not for the better. The United States isn't a good place full of dreams.


It used to be that the USA were the good guys, but they are not anymore. The USA and NATO lackeys as well as the UN (which has become a rubber stamp organization for US imperialism) bomb and destroy the homes and families of brown skinned people all over the world 24/7 and it is obvious to everyone (excepting many Americans).


I hear that Japanese enrollment at Ivy League universities are way down. I know for a fact the enrollment in English schools in Japan has crashed. I submit to you that it is because of three things:

• The United States has a very bad image of a country full of crime and a definitive lack of safety

• The United States has a very bad image of a country full of abusive police and a police state (TSA, Homeland Security, etc...)

• The United States and its people have the image of a nation of war mongers

I'd like to add another one to that list but I don't think most Japanese realize this (I do - I talk to Americans all the time) and that is: Far too many Americans are completely out of touch and ignorant of the extent of the murder the US government and military are involved in in the name of the people. The really dumb Americans act like and say, "I'm apolitical." When, in fact, it is these very same people who are responsible for what has happened to that country. They can bury their heads in the sand all they want. But they are responsible.


I wonder if the sixties artists who protested the Vietnam war, guys like Bob Dylan, would have gotten very far if while the Vietnam War was going on and we were bombing those people 24/7, he'd have shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know about it. I'm apolitical." 


Ha! How can you be apolitical when your country takes your money and uses it to kill children in other countries? That's like Germans in World War II saying they are apolitical while the Nazis killed minorities and Jews and wiped out entire populations.


"Yeah... But, well, I don't know about that!" Typical American says. 


Since when has ignorance been an excuse?


So this situation is why Japanese kids are no longer fascinated with the USA. I believe it is also a big reason American and western rock artists are no longer popular here. What ever happened to musicians who had a message and something to say? Weren't politically charged and motivated artists in the sixties moving entire segments of society? They sure were in Japan!


What's the difference between the artists of those days and today's American artists? Back in those days, the American military were bombing and killing brown skinned children 24/7, yet American musicians sang about it and protested. They were popular all over the world.


Today, the American military are bombing and killing brown skinned children all over the world 24/7, yet American musicians, for the large part, are in muted silence... They tell me, "I'm apolitical."


Ha! Yeah, and you don't sell records all over the world like you used to either. 

Rong Rive the King! Japan Celebrates "Elvis"

Well, it's that time again.

"What time is that?" you say? Well, it was anniversary of the Elvis Pulesley's, er,  mean, Presley's  birthday (Jan 10). So for you folks in the USA, it's going on right now.

In Japan, we have a contest to crown the new King Elvis for 2011.

As Sky News reports:

According to the Elvis Presley Society of Japan, there are at least three important criteria impersonators must live up to to be named the next 'King of Rock' -- voice, make-up and costume, and the ability to make women scream with delight. The 'Tribute to Elvis 2011' held in Tokyo is a contest to choose Japan's new king, who would also be given a chance to test his skills against other Elvises from around the world. 


Here's Aaron Narikyo. The former Elvis champion.

Marketing Japan: The Next King of Music is Born - and She's Japanese

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

Move over Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson... And, you too, better roll over Beethoven. The next king of  music has been born and he's not a he, he's a she... And she's not even human.

Meet Hatsune Miku. Hatsune means "first sound" and Miku means "music." She was "born" August 31, 2007. "Hatsune Miku is the next superstar of music. She does everything and is the embodiment of everything that pop music aspires to be...

Hatsune Miku

She can sing, compose music, play all instruments and doesn't need an agent or a manager. She is the ultimate rock star. She is the ultimate Pop Idol. And she doesn't even really exist.

Since she doesn't really exist, her music and songs are all free. There is no copyright for her music.

Today, I went to a meeting at Japan's #1 music TV station, Music On! TV (no, MTV is dead last in this country!) There I met with a man with a vision. His name is Youichi Endo. Endo san introduced me to Hatsune Miku. Now, I'm introducing her to you.

Do you remember in the movie, "Blade-runner"? The girl Rachel? Well, I say, "girl" but was she really a girl or was she an android? Do you remember at the end of the movie thinking, "Wait a minute! Is Rachel human?" I did.

Well, you will think the same thing about Hatsune Miku.

Hatsune Miku sings, and can play, but she doesn't really exist. She is an android. Miku is what is being termed as a Vocaloid. She has a voice synthesizer... In fact, many of the numbers she does feature voices as instrumentation as a sort of Sci-Fi acapella.

Here is what Wikipedia says about "Vocaloid":

Vocaloid is a singing synthesizer application developed by the Yamaha Corporation that enables users to synthesize singing by typing in lyrics and melody. It utilizes Yamaha's Vocaloid synthesizing technology with specially recorded vocals of voice actors or singers.


Hatsune Miku is causing a sensation now in Japan and in Europe, especially France, where her songs have been picked up and are covered by real-life musicians. Some of the most bizarre stuff is on Karaoke in Japan too!

Hatsune Miku "performing" Sebastian Bach "Fugue in G"

The cultural impact of Hatsune Miku cannot be over-stated, folks. This is a real revolution in music. If real humans playing music is considered "Music 1.0". Then remix DJ's sampling music could be considered "Music 2.0." Then, taking the logical progression one step further, then Vocaloid music or Hatsune Miku could be considered "Music 5.0." It is music without rights... Anyone is free to use any track as they see fit. There is no ownership. This music is community owned, so no one person can own it.


This will revolutionize the music industry. Once again, from Wikipedia:


As the recognition and popularity of the software grew, Nico Nico Douga became a place for collaborative content creation. Popular original songs written by a user would generate illustrations, animation in 2D and 3D, and remixes by other users. Other creators would show their unfinished work and ask for ideas. 


(Nico Nico Douga is like a YouTube members only community in Japan).


The impact of Hatsune Miku and soon to be coming "artists" like her will surely change the world as we know it. There will surely be ”musicians" who pooh-pooh what I have written here as nonsense, but mark my words; "Hatsune Miku is a music revolution that is coming very soon."


Hatsune Miku has several videos on YouTube that have over two million views! Not bad for a girl who doesn't even get up in the mornings.


My musician friends... Think about that!


See Wikipedia: Vocaloid


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Keywords:


Yamaha, Mike Rogers, Vocaloid, Hatsune Miku, Japan, YouTube, Nico Nico Douga, Michael Jackson, Beethoven, Marketing Japan, Elvis Presley, Sebastian Bach,