Name: Laura Gibson - The Cause by Sweet Dreams Press
Duration: 4 min 20 s
Description: Taken from "Empire Builder" CD released on 15th December 2016 from Sweet Dreams Press, Tokyo.

Following in the footsteps of the pathbreaking Minna Miteru compilation of Japanese indie music, Morr Music and Alien Transistor have again joined forces to release The Fruit Of Errata, a compilation introducing the world to the intimate DIY pop of yumbo. Led by songwriter, pianist, and occasional vocalist Koji Shibuya, the Japanese band has released four albums since forming in 1998. This compilation draws fifteen songs (eighteen on vinyl) from those albums, and some ancillary releases, to uncover a biographical narrative of yumbo, showing how Shibuya’s songwriting, and the group’s limber, sensitive playing, has developed over the decades. It also places them squarely within a tradition of home-spun but ambitious Japanese pop that takes in Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Tenniscoats, Nagisa Ni Te, Yuzo Iwata, Kazumi Nikaido and more.

yumbo is very much the vision of Shibuya, an amiable iconoclast whose songs seem informed by some of his early listening – there’s the playful seriousness of Maher Shalal Hash Baz’s Tori Kudo here, an avowed long-time hero for Shibuya, but also the flexibility of freely improvised music. You can also hear Shibuya’s fondness for Mayo Thompson and The Red Crayola in both the idiosyncracies of the writing and the egalitarian looseness of the playing. Shibuya also carries those energies into the group’s membership – there are fantastic stories of him having a conversation at a record shop, or overhearing someone speaking, and asking the person in question to join yumbo as one of their various singers. He seems open to chance as a driving force, as a way to make space for unexpected possibilities to blossom.

The great achievement of yumbo and Shibuya, though, is translating all of this into beautiful, unpredictable pop songs. There’s a gorgeous soul-inflected lilt to “A House” that makes it delightfully affecting; the swaying brass on “Storm” propels its melody to a moody, dreamlike conclusion; the nakedness of “The Sweetest Mass” is slightly reminiscent of Carla Bley’s more pop-focused writing, crossed with the classicism of the songs that spilled from the Brill Building in the ‘60s. Throughout, Shibuya renders pop a deeply personal experience; you can hear musings here on friendship, family, intimacy, the complexity of relationships, mortality, and imbalances of power. These musings are also shadowed by real-life events: the effects and impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 are captured in songs like “Umbrella People” from Onibi.

Throughout the performances on The Fruit Of Errata, Shibuya and the group play with tenderness; they also often draw on other players to flesh out the music even further, two such guests being the aforementioned Tori Kudo (on “Umbrella People”) and Olympia, Washington’s LAKE (on “The Devil Song”). Community-minded and generous in approach, the writing of Shibuya and the music of yumbo is never less than lovely, and The Fruit Of Errata is a welcome introduction to their world. Open and gentle, confident and generous, these pop songs are filled with charm and spirit.

The Fruit Of Errata

LP/CD

yumbo: A House

Track from the cassette album "Portfolio vol.4"

Portfolio vol.4

Isolated Island

Live at WWW, Tokyo on July 4, 2021, recorded by Naoto Oka. This track is digital only and not for sale, just for your listening pleasure.

personal:
Shota Terai: vocal & guitar
Tetsuro Fujimaki: drums
Guitarow Hakaba: bass
Tsutomu Nakayama: piano
Yuichi Ushioda: electric guitar
Ztom Motoyama: pedal steel
Kensuke Ide: chorus
Buoy: chorus

Mixed By Naoto Oka

Photo by Ryo Mitamura

GOFISH - ライブアルバム（Live Album）Live at WWW, Tokyo

"PF02" cassette tape side B

Snail Is Eating

わたしのすいか

Nihon Mukashi Banashi

Taken from "Empire Builder" CD released on 15th December 2016 from Sweet Dreams Press, Tokyo.

Empire Builder

Laura Gibson - The Cause

https://mathbeatrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nn-ep

NN EP

07:45, March 13th, Krakus Train(from Kraków To Warsaw)

DC Promo Tracks #284: "Return to the earth" by UNKNOWN ME is part of the release "Astronauts" on Not Not Fun @not-not-fun-1 @yakenohara 

Buy Now: https://unknownme.bandcamp.com/album/astronauts 

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Laura Gibson - The Cause

Sweet Dreams Press

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Thomas Vr12

Good Afternoon

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