#Haruo Chikada

[anamon-book]

考えるヒット 3　近田春夫 文藝春秋 Illustrator＝安斎肇

[c-40]

A-T-3 310 Gate Ball - シー・ユー・イン・セプテンバー

See You In September from Gateball's 1983 cassette スマートなゲートボール which was released in Japan by Japan Record, this had a reissue in 2019

[radiophd]

haruo chikada & vibra-tones -- vibra-rock [12″, 1982]

[koholint]

today's playlist:

Papaya Paranoia - Odoranya Son

Harumi Kitagawa - Horizon

Masumi Hara - Zutto Jitto

Klara Circus - Boku no Katamuki

Hotra Picarra - Itai Jikan

Qujila - Yosomi

Haniwa-chan - Waitress

Mariko Fuji - Hanagatami

Haruo Chikada & Vibratones - AOR Daikangei

Jun Togawa - Yumemiru Yakusoku

Sasara - Joukyou Musume

Lizard - Baby, Hit Yourself

Shounen-B - Me-ro

Miyuki Hara - Yurari Yurari

thanks for listening!

[mybetterhalfdotcom]

Soul Life § Haruo Chikada

[instanttunes]

Haruo Chikada - エレクトリック・ラブ・ストーリー [Electric Love Story]

[movierx]

The Legend of the Stardust Brothers (1985) dir. Macoto Tezuka

Starring Shingo Kubota, Kan Takagi, Kyôko Togawa, and Kiyohiko Ozaki

Cinematography by Eiichi Ôsawa

Songs by Haruo Chikada

With an animated sequence by Yōsuke Takahashi

[itsblosseybitch]

I recently purchased the Blu-Ray for The Legend of the Stardust Brothers (1985), a cult musical-comedy from Japan.

While its visuals are freak-tastic, the film (and its soundtrack) contain commentary on the music industry that is both biting and clever.

The Blu-Ray took about a month to reach my house, but if you want to watch it ASAP, the Alamo Drafthouse is streaming it on demand.

[transfemgeorgecostanza]

had this stuck in my head all day

[eccentricplanet]

The short lived band Godzilla  /ゴジラ - who were active winter of 1971 until spring  of 1972.  The band made one album “Godzilla and Yellow Gypsy / Dai Go Go Party” released on King records Japan. 

[gachael]

Tokyo Glow / Various Artists

Teaser

[harajyukukid]

Godzilla band reunion, founding members Haruo Chikada and Alan Merrill with journalist Hitomi Ohmori.

Godzilla & Yellow Gypsy recorded one album, “Dai GoGo Party” for King records in 1972.

[disappointingyet]

Hoshikuzu Kyôdai No Densetsu (The Legend Of The Stardust Brothers)

Director Makoto Tezuka Stars Shingo Kubota, Kan Takagi, Kyôko Togawa Japan 1985 Language Japanese (with English subtitles) 1hr 40mins Colour

Unhinged pop musical

I’ve seen this described as a satire, but that suggests that there is a point being made, something is being targetted. And I’m not convinced that’s the case. A better way of describing it is maybe as a very broad knock-about comedy that’s a pop musical. But that probably wouldn’t get you close to understanding what this is like. 

It’s framed by what the lyrics of the song they are singing explain is a comeback performance from the Stardust Brothers (their name is in English, the rest of the song in Japanese). The Brothers (who are not brothers) are dressed in silver jumpsuits while their backing band is in evening dress. They are in colour while their (horrified) (stylishly retro/futurist) audience is in black & white. 

We then flashback to the start of their abrupt rise and fall. Shingo (Shingo Kubota) and Kan (Kan Takagi) had been singers of rival aspiring bands sharing club nights. Kan��s band are a punky lot with a chanty theme song indebted to the Ramones’ Do You Remember Rock’n’Roll Radio, Shingo, meanwhile, has a would-be loverman schtick – his band’s track, synth funk with echoes of A Certain Ratio and Imagination (and of Haircut 100 in the group’s outfits), is the best song in the movie. 

Then a mysterious record executive offers them instant fame, but only if they ditch their bands and become a duo. With a huge advance on offer, they sign up. There follows their rapid success and a equally quick crisis – the standard stuff of music biz movies. They make one friend – aspiring singer Marimo (Kyôko Togawa) and gain a rival in Kaworu (Issay), who has a very late 1970s Bowie look. 

There’s a lot of Three Stooges’ level slapstick – director Makoto Tezuka clearly thought the skinhead security guys at the record company bopping people on the head with baseball bats was endlessly hilarious. The music is mostly pretty poor – a lot of it has a 1970s Eurovision vibe, 1950s rock-inspired but with an oompah cheesiness. 

The main actors are reasonably endearing – enough to make me wish that a better film had been built around them. But everything else is a mixture of the perfunctory and the bizarre. At moments it made me think of the more on-the-nose bits of Absolute Beginners and occasionally maybe Brian de Palma’s Phantom Of The Paradise, but it never approaches the messy fascination of either of those movies. 

The explanation for the shoddiness of all this is that it started as an album by Haruo Chikada and film student Tezuka was commissioned to make a movie from it. That could work, of course, but really doesn’t here. It would be great to say this was a rediscovered masterpiece, but it really isn’t. 

Part of my  ‘Every girl should be given an electric guitar on her 16th birthday’ series

[mifhortunach]

Playlist: unhinged FM

ty! - you asked for unhinged && hopefully this delivers, lol

Spider in my Room / BNL

恋の晩だな / Haruo Chikada & Vibratones

Shaxicula / DJ Cummerbund 

No Drug Like Me (Nightcore) / Carly Rae Jepson

Vengablood / Neil Cicierega

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Special Edit Radio Mix) / Negativland

Chaquita Banana / Eric Andre Show

[movierx]

The Legend of the Stardust Brothers (1985) dir. Macoto Tezuka

Starring Shingo Kubota, Kan Takagi, Kyôko Togawa, and Kiyohiko Ozaki

Cinematography by Eiichi Ôsawa

Songs by Haruo Chikada

With an animated sequence by Yōsuke Takahashi

[mugems]

Midnight Pianist (1981)