Japanese fusion band of Tropique has released its second studio label, a follow-up to the band's surprising debut Buster Goes West (Electric Cowbell Records). Released in May, the new album Looking For My Foot Foot is on the new Japanese label Pepei Records.
Buster Goes West was a surprising album because it seemed to many people that it came from nowhere and made musical connections that were, well, surprising.
The band's new album, Looking For My Foot Foot continues a remarkable musical journey that blends tropical pop -- often cumbia -- with elements of lounge and exotica, jazz, rock and funk. The band describes themselves as "a Tokyo-based instrumental band playing twisted funky music with exotic vibes".
The band began as a trio of clarinet, bass and drums, sounding at times like Japan's unique Chindon street music (a peripatetic trio of drum, clarinet and saxophone, which parades advertising written on banners and is often used to open a pachinko parlour).
Teppei Kondo is the clarinet player and uses an "Albert System" instrument which has larger finger holes than a classical clarinet, which allows him to add dashes of cumbia, calypso, New Orleans jazz, klezmer and Balkan beats (sometimes reminding me of the frenetic sound of Ivo Papasov and His Bulgarian Wedding Band).
Daisuke Tanaami adds funk and R&B electric bass, working in tandem with Ryo Fujita's funk drumming.
On the new album, the band is joined by 14 guest musicians including members of the hugely popular Tokyo roots band and World Beat favourite Minyo Crusaders, The Cedrics, Les Khmers, Cassette CON-LOS and Exotico De Lago, all from Japan, and US-based musicians Miramar and Chicha Libre's Joshua Camp. (Chicha is the Peruvian version of cumbia.)
Interestingly, Les Khmers play Cambodian-style pop music from the 1960s and are well known in Cambodia.
Pepei Records was recently set up to collaborate with Electric Cowbell Records and develop international tropical pop music -- this new 12-track album is the first major release from the new label.
The album kicks off with a lilting Latin torch song, Tiempo (Time) that features Miramar and Teppo's clarinet. This segues into the funky clarinet-led tune Golden Beauty which features what sounds like Northeast Thai phin-like riffs.
Track 5, Nocky Nock opens with a Link Wray guitar riff, then quickly moves into a surf guitar with lots of quotes from the 60s Beat and a-go-go sounds. This one has a 60s film soundtrack feel to it, but with the twist of a mutant clarinet.
The tune Theme Of Kitaro Okuwa, featuring Samut Nobe and Minori Izumi, is a bass-driven song with lyrics in Japanese and what sounds like Khmer. This one is intriguing and I would like to know more about how this song came about.
The wonderfully named Fishcake And Fortune features duelling guitar and clarinet, cranked up to maximum -- a great dance track. Another great foot-tapper is Gerry In The Desert, featuring Kazuma Koseki, which is a Latin jazz workout that features terrific Latin piano and frenetic clarinet.
The album closes with a soft and lyrical jazz number, Forever Night Shade Mary.
There is so much going on in this inventive and adventurous album that it takes a while to process all the different sounds and textures. At times it reminded me of the pioneering work of Holgar Czukay (from the German rock group Can) and his music.
It would be interesting to get of Tropique's core members to work with Thai musicians to see what a collaboration might produce. The collaboration between Thai musicians on two tracks with the Australian cumbia band Amaru Tribe shows one way to do this -- a blend between molam and cumbia. It worked really well.
For of Tropique, Teppei Kondo hopes that the new album will mark "a vibrant new chapter in contemporary Japanese tropical music". He also has another collaboration to come out, a Tokyo-New York effort with Miwazo of Cicala Mvta last year.
Long-time readers may remember a World Beat column on the Chindon-Balkan-klezmer music by Cicala Mvta many years ago when I reviewed their album Deko Boko. Hopefully, it will be released this year.
The new album is available on digital download, streaming and vinyl.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
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