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Old 2010.10.19, 11:13 PM   #101
Beltshumeltz
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AWESOME NEWS!

I actually never listened to any Pontiac stuff before. If this Youtube video indeed is from a Pontiac incarnation, well, it's AWESOME:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0pPX...eature=related

Please let me know if I'm correct so far... Asai Kenichi has worked with (ie. full albums):

-Asai Kenichi under his own name
-Sherbet
-Sherbets
-Blankey Jet City
-Pontiacs
-JUDE
-Ajico

Any others I'm missing?

Also can we find Pontiacs stuff on iTunes? I don't have it installed but I remember looking and I could only buy Kenichi/JUDE albums...
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Old 2010.10.19, 11:59 PM   #102
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That YouTube video you linked to, is one of several PONTIACS videos uploaded by the same guy, and if the videos are anything like what's going to be on the bonus DVD, that's probably why this one DVD jacks up the price of the album by 900yen.

As for your first question, no, you aren't exactly missing any particular bands (or at least not any bands where Asai Kenichi has any significant creative control), but you should probably familiarize yourself with the connections between Asai Kenichi and the other people he's worked with:

1.) 1 particular drummer has been involved in 3 of the bands, including AJICO (despite some AJICO fanboys' tendency to regard AJICO like it's so distinctly separate of an entity from the rest of Asai Kenichi's bands)

2.) 1 particular keyboardist has been involved in 3-4 of the bands (depending upon whether or not you'd count Sherbet and Sherbets as separate bands)

3.) The only roster thing Sherbet and Sherbets have in common aside from Asai Kenichi himself, is the keyboardist

4.) JUDE hasn't always had the same drummer, and sometimes (but not always) JUDE has had the same keyboardist as other bands, if and when JUDE ever had a keyboardist at all.

5.) The entire Sherbets roster got involved in the studio production of the most recent solo-career album, Sphinx Rose. That means there's another drummer who's been involved in at least two bands, and another bassist (aside from Terui Toshiyuki from Blankey Jet City) who has been involved in two bands.

6.) Masami Tsuchiya was a producer in the later days of Blankey Jet City, and a stage co-performer (backup guitarist) in some of the later days of Asai Kenichi's solo-career.

7.) Inside his own solo-career, Asai Kenichi has worked with the drummer of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, and in LOSALIOS (a band founded by the drummer of Blankey Jet City - in which Asai Kenichi was a guest) their full-time guitarist is also the full-time guitarist of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, and LOSALIOS's full-time bassist is the same one as AJICO. When a alto sax / bass guitarist recently left Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and started up a new band, they got published by Sexy Stone Records (Asai Kenichi's own independent record label). Most foreigners who follow Japanese music only discover one of these bands, and without learning about anywhere near the whole circle.

As for your second question, I would imagine there'd be complications with the record labels, considering:
1.) Sherbet (without an S on the end) and early Blankey Jet City were under EMI.
2.) In later years, Blankey Jet City was under Polydor - a subsidiary of Universal.
3.) Sherbets has been involved with Asai Kenichi's own record label (Sexy Stone Records), or BMG - depending upon which years you're talking about.
4.) JUDE was entirely under Asai Kenichi's own record label, including during the time when Sherbets was under that same independent record label - which made it more natural for JUDE to be able to occasionally borrow the Sherbet(s) keyboardist and play Sherbets songs on tour (with or without any keyboardist) far more often than Blankey Jet City songs.
5.) AJICO was only under Victor. This might have been because UA (the lead vocalist) was already under Victor, and they probably wouldn't let her get too seriously involved with another label.
6.) For the moment, PONTIACS is only under Sexy Stone Records.

Since it's up to each record label to decide if and how they want to sell the music digitally, I'm not expecting you to find much consistency or completeness at all.
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Old 2010.10.24, 12:49 AM   #103
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Thanks for all the info. You make this forum awesome

In one earlier post, you said you had heard plenty, but not listened to plenty of his stuff. In another reply, I think you had gotten Johnny Heaven.

So right now, are you a fan of a lot of his albums? Which incarnations/albums do you like the most?

Any other fans that are lurking here?

The good news for myself is that although I listened a lot to Kenichi when I discovered him, and repeatedly went through about 5 Sherbets/Asai_Kenichi albums, I still have a lot of albums I haven't listened to once... particularily from JUDE and Blankey. So lots of fun ahead.

I can't readily find anything about Pontiacs on iTunes (I hate having that program on my machine...) but I think I'll find some other source and order an album.

New Album Update:: I just found an album by yet another project by Asai Kenichi. The album is available on iTunes for 10$.

Artist name: Shallow Well
Album title: Shellby

Apparently, this is a new project of instrumental rock music. A website says it has humming, but no actual vocals. I just bought it but haven't listened to it yet...
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Old 2010.10.24, 09:27 AM   #104
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In case it appeared I was sending mixed messages, my current status (2010.10.24) as a fan/collector/listener is:

I have all 17 of the Blankey Jet City CD albums, a small handful of mostly-worthless singles (due to what's included in the compilations), 2 of the DVDs on-hand, and 4 more DVDs queued up in a shipment for late this year. I also have a couple of their LPs - for alternate tracks.

I have 8 out of 11 SHERBET(S) albums, only 1 of the singles/EPs, and all 7 DVDs (including bonus ones). 2 of the albums I don't have on CD, I have on LP. In the aforementioned shipment, I'm attempting to get the rest of the SHERBETS CDs I don't already have, but we'll see how that goes. (when I recently tried to order Blankey Jet City - Pepin, it turned out to be out-of-print and it got delisted) I also have an LP for Siberia (even though I have it on CD too), because the LP contains an alternate track I'm not sure exists on any CD. The Vietnam 1964 LP is also extremely nice, even though the tracks they added were not exclusive.

I have 1 out of 6 JUDE CD albums, 1 of the singles, and 3 out of 5 DVDs. 4 of the albums I don't have on CD, I have on LP (in a nice set called CLUB COLD JUDE). No alternate/bonus tracks on the LPs.

I have no AJICO CDs yet, but do have the 1 (disappointing) DVD they ever released. I also have most of their LPs.

I have all 6 singles, all 4 albums, and all 9 DVDs (including bonus ones) ever released for Asai Kenichi's solo-career.

I've got nothing for PONTIACS yet, and won't get my hands on anything until late this year.

I've also been able to download any of the albums I haven't got my hands on yet, which isn't very many. So I've heard pretty much everything there is to hear, except for some SHERBETS or JUDE B-Sides.


Now, it should go without saying, that when you try to familiarize yourself with that much material, it can get bewildering. There's so many songs and the line is so blurry between the bands, that I don't always immediately notice when one band is covering another, or recall specifically which band is being covered.

That's why a relational database would be very handy for laying out the origins or the reoccurrence of Asai Kenichi's material. I'm already working on that, but it's a bit of a challenge when you haven't heard everything, and when some of the song names occasionally change. For example, I had no idea ahead of time that "JJD" in the JUDE - Interchange Coconuts concert was actually Joan Jett's Dogs. There are also some Blankey Jet City demos which took on entirely different names when they were finalized as AJICO or SHERBET(S) songs. Then there's inconsistency about whether or not they romanize the same song title, so if there's a concert I haven't watched and nobody else is romanizing the song titles for me - I can't speak for 100% of the reoccurrences of a song.

As for my 'favorite' of the bands, it's difficult to say. I haven't been annoyed by any solo-career concerts, while there are some chapters I've wanted to skip on Blankey Jet City or SHERBETS concerts for songs I had no problem with the studio versions for. On the other hand, Blankey Jet City and SHERBETS both have so much studio history, and each of those bands changed so much throughout the years (especially Blankey Jet City). I like how sweet and prevalent the bass in JUDE normally is, and I like some of the grooves they get into even when their music isn't the most complicated. I'm not the biggest AJICO fan, because UA's attempts at conveying personality, sound very rehearsed. I love some of the instrumentals in AJICO, though. Jury is still out on PONTIACS.

-------

As for Shelby,
I saw that awhile ago, and I've been confused about it. All I really know for sure is that it's being published by Asai Kenichi's record label (Sexy Stone Records), but beyond that I haven't found any indication for how much creative/performing involvement Asai Kenichi himself has in that.
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Old 2010.10.25, 08:03 AM   #105
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A quick listen to Shellby will 100% confirm that it is Asai Kenichi. There is absolutely no doubt about it I listened to it now and I'm very satisfied. It reminds me a bit of the album Chelsea at times due to the loads of "tum tu-tum tum" style of humming in it. Also reminds me of the first Sherbet album due to the violin in it. And then like the second song of the AJICO album due to the guitar.

You do actually hear a bit of singing in it, but it's limited to one sentence repeated over and over in one song.
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Old 2011.01.22, 08:13 PM   #106
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Sexy Stones Records have a link to 8otto's site. This link has died by now (it leads to some irrelevant site), but it's there. I don't think 8otto have any connection with any of Benzie's bands, but nonetheless it's a great band. I advise anyone who hasn't checked them out yet (and has interest in this thread) do so.
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Old 2011.05.08, 02:44 PM   #107
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I bought GALAXY HEAD MEETING from PONTIACS (Kenichi's new act) a few months ago, and it rocks! Waiting for more new stuff...

It's available on iTunes and I highly recommend it, though I would recommend Sherbets album MAD DISCO or Asai Kenichi album CHELSEA first to a newcomer.
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Old 2011.05.08, 03:07 PM   #108
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I came in with high expectations for PONTIACS, but I'm actually a bit underwhelmed by them. They are quite possibly the least groovy band Asai Kenichi has ever created. I'm more comfortable with my least favorite albums from any of the other bands, than I am with GALAXY HEAD MEETING. I want to say "it hasn't grown on me yet" like it's only a matter of time, but plenty of time has already passed.

I should be getting the new solo-career compilation along with Tokyo Jihen's new single. Due to the combination of my now-tight budget and my waning enthusiasm, the next PONTIACS releases will probably turn out to be the first Asai Kenichi-fronted material I won't have been in a rush to buy throughout the last 3 years.
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Old 2011.05.26, 02:38 AM   #109
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There's a new SHERBETS album coming out. The first one in nearly 3 years!

This has to be worthy of holding up my Discovery shipment for an extra week.
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Old 2011.05.26, 02:59 PM   #110
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Looking forward to the new Sherbets as well. The Pontiacs album was a total dud so here's hoping Asai finds his mojo back.
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