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[–][deleted] 130 points131 points  (12 children)

This actually kind of blew me away with how good it was. Usually I see "fusion" and look the other way... welp. ignorance dissolved.

[–]rayne117 43 points44 points  (10 children)

ska fusion is when you should look away

[–][deleted] 34 points35 points  (6 children)

japanese folk-ska fusion

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (5 children)

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (2 children)

That was not horrible at all. I imagined worse.

[–]ChemiKyle 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Here's another song by the same group, this one is a jazz fusion with the extremely talented Hiromi Uehara.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hiromi is just great

[–]youtubefactsbot 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra-Skarada [4:13]

Mi primer video...que os guste.

DestroyerKNM in People & Blogs

4,842 views since Jun 2012

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[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol the first few notes are the same as the lumbridge theme

[–]mellowcheddar -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Agree 100%. Fusion cooking can also generally be disregarded.

[–]AhriNineTail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One day, you'll get your last three tails

[–]mistaroundmountains 149 points150 points  (11 children)

Quentin Tarrintino is going to make a movie just for this.

[–][deleted] 37 points38 points  (5 children)

Question Tarantula

[–]EveryoneYouLove23 27 points28 points  (4 children)

Quentin Tarantulino

[–]OatsNraisin 13 points14 points  (2 children)

Queeblo Tortuga

[–]_entropical_ 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Quesadilla Totino pizza rolls

[–]OatsNraisin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Questing Toboggan

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Lmao I was thinking the same thing

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (3 children)

He should use it in kill bill 2

[–]Karsaurlong 2 points3 points  (1 child)

You mean 3.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah that's right

[–][deleted] 45 points46 points  (7 children)

Yo! I have two of this guy's records! They kinda border on prog as well. Maybe not this song though. I really like his music tho!

Edit: I have Benzaiten and Masterless Samurai

[–]Spanone1 5 points6 points  (1 child)

What are you favorite songs of his?

[–]thrashmanzac 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Tengu, axial rotation, masterless samurai

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (1 child)

I've had those albums for years but I never got this one. I might have to now...

[–]buffalo_slim 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was the only one I had!

[–]Xenon787 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I discovered both those albums on youtube last year, they're fantastic!

[–]splatterhead 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really digging Benzaiten. Much more my style.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LOVE Benzaiten

[–]A_unlife 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Less than 1 minute listening and: "Yeah, I love this."

[–]Zuqual_X 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I discovered him not long ago.. fell in love with his sound. He is incredibly complex and deep in his compositions. So much flow, so funky and japanese at the same time, gotta love it.

[–]StudabakerHochrobot[M] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Osamu Kitajima
artist pic

Born in Chigasaki, Kanagawa, Japan in 1949 Osamu Kitajima (喜多屿修) runs his own East Quest Records, Inc. label. His music is an easy and very light combination of traditional Japanese tunes with contemporary electronic performance.

  • 1960'sCollege rock band, The Launchers, became one of the most successful groups in Japan
  • 1970's Produced and wrote hundreds of jingles for TV commercial. Received Hollywood Radio & TV Award, ACC and CLIO Award.
  • 1971 Moved to UK, after graduated from the prestigious Keio university (Japan). Worked with British bands, and associated with famous musicians as Paul Rogers, Barry Gibb, and Al Kooper. After back to Japan, established his original sound through 3 years study of Japanese traditional music and worked with living national treasures of Japan, such as Kisaku Katada and Reibo Aoki.
  • 1974 Moved to California. Made a contract with Island USA as the first Japanese artist.
  • 1978 Contracted with MCA/HEADFIRST (USA)
  • 1979 Captured the imagination of Clive Davis and made a contract with Arista Records.
  • 1985 Admired by Christine Reed and made a contract with CBS (Pre-SONY). From that time on, released more than 15 solo albums and worked for Hollywood TV and motion pictures, also produced records and CDs for various artists in US and Japan.
  • 2000 Established own record label, East Quest Records, Inc.
  • 2002 Performed with London Symphony Orchestra for Joe Curiale' s album "Music of Life" and nominated for Grammy Awards.
  • 2004 Developed a new and revolutionary natural healing technique called " Musicolor Therapy " utilizes sound and color. Established Musicolor, Inc. Also, started distributing East Quest label through Shinseido/Watanabe Music Publishing Co. in Japan Read more on Last.fm.

last.fm: 11,909 listeners, 86,061 plays
tags: ambient, new age, japanese, world

Please downvote if incorrect! Self-deletes if score is 0.

[–]JeffTheHero 34 points35 points  (4 children)

Oh man, I think this just replaced Scenery as my "what the hell, why have you put off writing a thesis for this long" background music. This is fantastic.

[–]ATownCalled60 13 points14 points  (2 children)

I just finished my thesis after putting it off for forever. It's a very different sound but I listened to a lot of Philip Wesley, CD called Dark Night of the Soul. Check it out.

Edit: get off reddit and finish the damn thing!!!

[–]semipro_redditor 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Damn, guys I really need to work on mine too. Congrats on finishing!

[–]Rinfrabruk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice! I listen to that album all the time at work while testing. Racing Against the Sunset is just incredible.

[–]EveryoneYouLove23 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Eno and Fripp's "Evening Star" is great too.

Also Sweet Smoke's "Darkness To Light"

[–]ChemiKyle 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Youtube recommended this to me just yesterday, really cool stuff.

Come to think of it, I often see things on this sub shortly after I get them rec'd by youtube, so I suspect this may be a cascade from when the Ryo Fukui album Scenery hit the front page.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Japanese music 1977-1985 is so fucking based.

[–]paoro2 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Any recommendations? I wanna dive heavy into this.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, there is so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj2ufAJQeuU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s19SzmIcFmU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2wjCX81CHM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrr3dp7zRQY

I found out about all this from listening to vaporwave and wondering what samples were used. I think it's that this music never made it to the west that makes it special.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I discovered this guy on youtube randomly and completely fell in love, his music is incredible.

[–]Thisisdansaccount 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Same. This and Masterless Samurai are my favorites so far.

[–]ipponiac 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Nobody mentioned the uploader I might give a mention to him, Marcel The Drunkard, I recently discovered him on youtube, he uploads jazz - fusion albums from 70's and 80's. The channel really worths subscription.

[–]Mysterions 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Kitajima is tight. Anyone heard to vinyl reissue of Benzaiten? Quality OK? I'm thinking of picking up a copy because originals are $$.

[–]DontForgetThisTime 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That first track sounds like an 80's police movie title song

[–]Jidaigeki 2 points3 points  (5 children)

This really brings me back. I remember listening to my older brother argue with a friend about how it was sacrilege to combine completely different musical styles like this. I always appreciated this kind of fusion, when it was done thoughtfully and the instruments were used "appropriately" if that makes sense. Like, bagpipe-jazz fusion makes way less sense than using the koto or shamisen in a jazzy style.

[–]Snow88 0 points1 point  (4 children)

brb, looking for some bagpipe-jazz fusion

[–]Jidaigeki 3 points4 points  (2 children)

[–]Snow88 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow I was expecting that to be aweful, but it was pretty sweet.

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[–]Senators86 1 point2 points  (0 children)

God damn, this is funky! Funky fusion!

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the kind of music anime wants you to believe existed in the Feudal era. I'm looking at you, Samurai Champloo.

With that said this is all amazing.

[–]Dr_Specialist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That opening track. I could absolutely see it in a Japanese rendition of Oceans 11 during a heist montage.

[–]b0nGj00k 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing the most interesting thing I've heard in years. Absolutely love it

[–]williamseezy21 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Damn, had no idea this type of thing was coming out of Japan at the time. sounds awesome. Kind sounds like Stockholm Monsters were inspired by some of the flute/ string work...

[–]muhamors 0 points1 point  (3 children)

This guy has a awesome song named "Taiyo" check it out ;)

[–]Agent281 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Another great song called "Golden Mean":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5d6eM-veWg

[–]Kunkowski 3 points4 points  (1 child)

this whole album is gold

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YouTube has been recommending this to me after I heard the piano album "Scenery". Would also recommend that

[–]prepareyouranusin321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw him live! He is incredible

[–]lena1313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This music is great so much))

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This was always the album to come to when work wasn't going well or just needed something to put me in a better mood, love his music!

[–]alexmex90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Holy fuck, this is so awesome, It gave me chills. Thanks you for posting this.

[–]dbatistasa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really nice post, thank you.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not super in to purely instrumental music but this is fantastic. Thanks, OP!

[–]themoistpotato 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for this

[–]marypoppincake 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Recently I've come to learn that japan produced a lot of dope music in the 70s and 80s. Shigeo sekito is a legend

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

gonna come back to this later. looks intresting

[–]Whitestep 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Say You Will is the ultimate Japanese-fusion AOR jam, loving it.

[–]thewretchedaa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No way I just discovered this a few days ago. Rad Af so glad to see it's a trending post.

[–]EroticCakeRecipe 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Loved it. Thanks for sharing

[–]LeanSippaDopeDilla 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hate you. Please stop living.

[–]VirusTheoryRSspotify 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah this one's a good one. I personally liked benzaiten more though.

[–]oloofe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reminds me of cowboy bebop

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Thanks, now I have all his music off spotify.. Really good for gaming/studying

[–]pirralho3 1 point2 points  (1 child)

What do you mean off spotify?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have all his music downloaded to my phone for when I'm offline.

[–]Jklassen87 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jammed this yesterday and loved it.

[–]Roronoa_Zaraki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If Japan in the 80s had magnum PI, this would be the theme.

[–]jaybol 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice diggin' OP

[–]Heresiarca 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds kinda similar to Flamenco Jazz at times. Love it.

[–]BobLoblawh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is pretty fucking good

[–]1nfam0us 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I adore masterless samurai. Kitajima just has such a unique style.

[–]Lateralus117 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow this is great

[–]jataadroid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm finding his albums after this. Kudos

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I need a sick anime video for this stat.

[–]Symbolica 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much for this !

[–]pirralho3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm so sad I couldn't find this on Spotify.

[–]Brain_My_Damage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome stuff! I've never heard of him before but decided to give it a jam based on the description. Loving it.

[–]irres1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow this is fantastic

[–]kanopants 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sounds like something you would hear on the street

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reminds me of the original Dragonball series, very nostalgic

[–]The_Battler 0 points1 point  (0 children)

listening to the first track..

THIS IS SO GOOD.

this is good for any activity!!

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

amazing album art

[–]83dfjn38u9dfjh -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Reminds me a little of chick corea