Kings of the beat and their all-star show!
June 6, 2015 11:57 AM Subscribe
Deavid Soul ("The Avid Soul") aka "Rich & Famous" are a Japanese duo who make house/disco/funk and, more recently, world music. You may remember them from such Dreamcast darlings as Jet Set Radio and Jet "Grind" Radio. Their style is an instantly recognizable mix of 90s house and classic disco with copious samples from hip hop, disco, R&B, reggae and 80s/70s film. For their latest album, they've collaborated with Exotic Light Orchestra to add a Latin American fusion sound to their already eclectic aural soup. They're real good.
2000's Sparkling Music is a bubbly, refreshing late-night blend of classic house and disco that includes the runaway smash hits, "Miller Ball Breakers," "Yappie Feet" and "Up-Set Attack" featured on JSR, but keeps many of its best tracks for itself.
Highlights:
"Sweet Back"
"It's Magic"
"Red Thunder Drivin"
The aforementioned "Miller Ball Breakers"
2002's More Special Things EP offers up five original songs that further develop the thread of house/funk mashup present in Sparkling Music, while moving away from the more downtempo atmosphere of the album. Despite its brevity, the EP is rich and satisfying and well worth a listen in full. This is probably the best place to step in and start with.
Highlights:
"Fat's Luv"
"Can't Stop Vibration"
"Take Me to the Top"
2009's Urban Disco Flava!! is an alphabetically structured never commercially released album posted to the group's (now defunct) MySpace in what is referred to with strained affection as, "back in the day." In spite of its obscure release, tracks like "B Free!" and "From Chocolate City" show artists growing their talent and accruing considerable funk. As an album, it represents a more consistent sound than prior releases. It also includes an early version of the track, "Daydio," which would appear on the next album.
Highlights:
"Woo Wave"
"From Chocolate City"
"Get Up Stand Up"
"Wonderfulll"
2013's The Other Side, partially a collaboration with The Exotic Light Orchestra, is the greatest styllistic leap for the duo, blending a Latin big band sound with Deavid's traditional housediscofunk and lending tracks like, "Step Across the Border," and "Continental Grind!" a jazzier, more "world" flavor. The oddly Air-esque track "A Little Something" features the smoky, mumbly vocals of Hiroshi Sato, and stands out almost as an alternate path considered and walked away from. The cover is also neat.
Highlights:
"Interzone"
"Step Across the Border"
"Continental Grind!"
"Daydio"
Bonus! A remix of JSR mastermind Hideki Naganuma's "Rock It On" with just an echo of that earlier neon circus music house style that may be more familiar to SEGA fans. A snappy little remix of "Miller Ball Breakers" over here. And a real classic released under the Rich & Famous banner. History! Members 8(hatch) and Taiji Takahashi were both originally in the synthpop/avant-garde jazz band Hi-Speed. Here's the synthpop part. Here are the avant-garde jazz parts.
2000's Sparkling Music is a bubbly, refreshing late-night blend of classic house and disco that includes the runaway smash hits, "Miller Ball Breakers," "Yappie Feet" and "Up-Set Attack" featured on JSR, but keeps many of its best tracks for itself.
Highlights:
"Sweet Back"
"It's Magic"
"Red Thunder Drivin"
The aforementioned "Miller Ball Breakers"
2002's More Special Things EP offers up five original songs that further develop the thread of house/funk mashup present in Sparkling Music, while moving away from the more downtempo atmosphere of the album. Despite its brevity, the EP is rich and satisfying and well worth a listen in full. This is probably the best place to step in and start with.
Highlights:
"Fat's Luv"
"Can't Stop Vibration"
"Take Me to the Top"
2009's Urban Disco Flava!! is an alphabetically structured never commercially released album posted to the group's (now defunct) MySpace in what is referred to with strained affection as, "back in the day." In spite of its obscure release, tracks like "B Free!" and "From Chocolate City" show artists growing their talent and accruing considerable funk. As an album, it represents a more consistent sound than prior releases. It also includes an early version of the track, "Daydio," which would appear on the next album.
Highlights:
"Woo Wave"
"From Chocolate City"
"Get Up Stand Up"
"Wonderfulll"
2013's The Other Side, partially a collaboration with The Exotic Light Orchestra, is the greatest styllistic leap for the duo, blending a Latin big band sound with Deavid's traditional housediscofunk and lending tracks like, "Step Across the Border," and "Continental Grind!" a jazzier, more "world" flavor. The oddly Air-esque track "A Little Something" features the smoky, mumbly vocals of Hiroshi Sato, and stands out almost as an alternate path considered and walked away from. The cover is also neat.
Highlights:
"Interzone"
"Step Across the Border"
"Continental Grind!"
"Daydio"
Bonus! A remix of JSR mastermind Hideki Naganuma's "Rock It On" with just an echo of that earlier neon circus music house style that may be more familiar to SEGA fans. A snappy little remix of "Miller Ball Breakers" over here. And a real classic released under the Rich & Famous banner. History! Members 8(hatch) and Taiji Takahashi were both originally in the synthpop/avant-garde jazz band Hi-Speed. Here's the synthpop part. Here are the avant-garde jazz parts.
While we are talking about JSR-related stuff, I should mention that Hideki Naganuma has a Soundcloud full of fragments of the crazy stuff he's continued to crank out for Sega.
Aaand with perfect timing, their label's store (jetsetrecords.net, this amuses me) is down for maintenance:
posted by egypturnash at 12:57 PM on June 6, 2015
Aaand with perfect timing, their label's store (jetsetrecords.net, this amuses me) is down for maintenance:
■ Announcement: Server MaintenanceiTunes only has their first album so I will have to wait before buying their stuff as hard as I can.
Due to the server maintenance, customers will not be able to access the online shop from 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Japan Time for a while.
Helsinki 21:00 ~ 23:00
Paris / Berlin / Milano / Madrid 20:00 ~ 22:00
London 19:00 ~ 21:00
NY 14:00 ~ 16:00
Chicago 13:00 ~ 15:00
LA 11:00 ~ 13:00
We apologize for the inconvenience.
posted by egypturnash at 12:57 PM on June 6, 2015
...and their label only sells CDs. Which they are out of stock on. Itunes and Amazon have Sparkling Music, I guess I'm going to have to rip the audio from the youtubes or something if I want this in my collection. WHICH I DO. But not as CDs.
posted by egypturnash at 1:28 PM on June 6, 2015
posted by egypturnash at 1:28 PM on June 6, 2015
Ooooooh. Me likee. Stuck in my office on a beautiful day, so the booty shakin' mood elevation is much appreciated. Great compilation. Thank you!
posted by mondo dentro at 1:57 PM on June 6, 2015
posted by mondo dentro at 1:57 PM on June 6, 2015
Ahh, I love the Jet Grind Radio soundtrack! Can't wait to jump into this post.
posted by oceanjesse at 10:56 PM on June 6, 2015
posted by oceanjesse at 10:56 PM on June 6, 2015
Woah, I bought Sparkling Music ages ago based on how much I liked their JGR tracks, I didn't know that they released anything afterwards. Will definitely be checking these out once I get home, thanks for the heads up!
posted by C^3 at 1:04 AM on June 7, 2015
posted by C^3 at 1:04 AM on June 7, 2015
Fantastic post, and great music. Thanks!
posted by beijingbrown at 6:07 AM on June 7, 2015
posted by beijingbrown at 6:07 AM on June 7, 2015
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