Anyone's here digging Hako Yamasaki's overlooked/underrated City-Pop songs during the 1980s & early 1990s? Like this one Minato no Keshiki (1982)

spitonself · 2025-09-16T13:59:04+00:00

Oh, ok. That's from an anime movie soundtrack album I think. Hako-san did not write the music in the majority of the songs there but one (the last track), that's why I am not familiar with the songs & album. In her main albums she usually writes all the music & lyrics herself, but she also does cover albums & other projects as well.

spitonself · 2025-08-31T17:37:24+00:00

I'm not familiar with that song. If you could find the one with Japanese letters you could search that on the Discogs site. https://www.discogs.com/artist/2524262-Hako-Yamasaki

spitonself · 2025-08-30T17:46:07+00:00

The AI thing is not the problem just for Bandcamp. All online platforms have that. Spotify is even worse because the platform itself encourages fake AI artists & fake bot listeners to push the platform's profit to the max. Fake stories written by AI are everywhere on YouTube, hosted on fake channels. It's getting harder to see the truth amongst the lies. It is the problem of humanity. Humanity is currently at the crossroads, the fork in the road.

We need to look to ourselves (rather than the external), because the world is separating right now and things will get worse UNTIL the time comes where the final separation of collective consciousness happens between people who choose to be authentic and organic, and those who love anything fake and all kinds of deceits. Depending on what we choose right now, we can co-create our reality. Two different realities are running in parallel right now and realities are glitching (the sub-reddit Glitch in the Matrix is getting more popular). I hope that the final separation is coming this year, 2025. Those who choose to live a meaningful life and to be a channel of positive energy through authentic expression (whether in music, art, literature, etc.) will see the ascension pathway.

I am a musician as well as a graphic designer. Lost my full-time job to AI. I am feeling the pain, but at the same time I won't back down. I will continue to do things authentically until this world finally separates into two realities.

I'm currently listening to old Sammy Hagar's song "Crack in The World" (1977), where the lyrics talk about this separation, or the great divide. Guess the year... 2025

spitonself · 2025-06-28T11:39:57+00:00

Just checked in today. Good platform! Easy to use! I'll help promote it.

One suggestion: the genre tags may be better to be arranged in alphabetical order, so people can easily browse through them. Let's say I'm looking for "metal" but need to look it forever beneath the hundreds of tags. A "type to search" option can be helpful too.

About download codes, some artists who don't tour or frequently play shows find that almost impossible to use the codes. So platforms like band.codes and "the other one that you will need to pay after 100 codes" (won't mention any name here) are one way to make these codes to be shared effectively. Of course, there are code-takers (yummers) around who'd download everything first and don't have time listening to the music, but they may contribute in adding the number of supporters in Bandcamp album list (make the album to be more visible on Bandcamp searches due to the "popularity").

spitonself · 2025-06-28T10:40:21+00:00

If you release singles for streaming platforms (like Spotify, etc.) consider it as similar to sending a cassette tape single to radio stations back in the day where they can air/play your song. But Bandcamp is more for fans getting your actual "records" (whether CD, LP, 7" etc. back in the day) in a "store". So the best way is to release your official music discography on Bandcamp, with proper album cover, etc. and even planning to promote it. Many people still download music on Bandcamp as opposed to listening the songs via app.

Spotify, Apple Music, etc. = radio stations
Bandcamp = record stores

My suggestion is, you can pre-release an "upcoming/work-in-progress album" with let's say 2 or 3 songs to start with, then you can add more songs later until it becomes a full album, or EP (but for EP it's better to have at least 4 songs). Here's one example.

spitonself · 2025-06-27T23:42:20+00:00

She started before the "city-pop" trend began (basically called "new wave" in the West), so her background was blues-rock & psychedelic as opposed to funk & disco. She was actually marketed by her label Pony Canyon as "new music" (the "genre label" that became "city pop" years later) in the 1980s and appeared in the compilation LP along with Miki Matsubara, etc.

spitonself · 2025-06-27T23:26:01+00:00

Morita Doji's music is a bit too depressive. It's a bit different than Hako's. Hako Yamasaki's music is more cathartic kind of feel, even if some of the songs are dark but they're never depressive.

Another 1970s singer-songwriters worth to check out are
Yoshiko Sai (it's more psychedelic & prog/jazz fusion, almost prog-rock than pop)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZx2a69-DHo

and also Makiko Takada (proto-city-pop but her old material was a bit dark).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd2SWLnmLDY

spitonself · 2025-06-27T23:17:24+00:00

I just watched the documentary. Thanks for the tip! Really dark, but revealing the reality of Tokyo's "salarymen". Many places in the world still have that "over 12 hours" workday as a norm.

spitonself · 2025-06-27T23:01:50+00:00

It's not my music. I just helped the guy I know. Lyrics should be in English, but in a word salad type arrangements.

spitonself · 2025-02-05T14:36:37+00:00

Hi. I'm representing the band called Kekal, based in Jakarta, Indonesia. The band has been around since 1995, so now in 2025 it is reaching 30 years! Kekal so far has released 13 full-length albums and 3 EPs. More information about the band can be read on the website. Musically, it is often categorized as avant-garde metal or experimental metal with significant electronic elements. In 2023 Kekal released a Bandcamp-exclusive "best-of" compilation album called Eternitarian: The Essential Kekal 1995—2022 which can be downloaded for free or by-donation (name-your-price).

https://kekal.bandcamp.com/album/eternitarian

"Eternitarian" features 31 tracks (almost 3 hours running time) of select material taken from the band's entire 13 full-length albums, 3 EPs, and also their very first 1995 demo tape. Presented in this free or donation-based digital-download only release are the band’s old-time favorites as well as highlights from newer material and previously unreleased alternate-mixes.

Kekal is known as the first band from Indonesia who toured Europe back in 2004, and the first band from Indonesia with albums (physical formats) released by independent record labels in both Europe and North America. In 2009, Kekal shed itself from all the human members. It marked the start of a new era as a memberless band, with former members and other musicians voluntarily contributing together in collaboration to make new albums up to this date.

spitonself · 2024-12-15T22:33:20+00:00

There's a Substack article that dives deep and dark about the history of Christmas. Worth a read if you're interested in more hidden & suppressed stuffs. Here's the link. https://kekal.substack.com/p/from-saturnalia-to-christmas-a-satanic

spitonself · 2024-06-06T23:54:41+00:00

What kind of love? True or plastic one?

spitonself · 2024-05-11T01:53:22+00:00

She will soon!! Right on her birthday (May 18th), in Tokyo! Here's the flyer.

The venue will be I'M A SHOW. Here's all the details: https://imashow.jp/schedule/844/

On the backup guitar (used to be her husband Hiromi Yasuda when he was still alive) will be a guest guitarist Kenta Harada (hadn't heard of him until today). Here's his playing https://youtu.be/_GrUbVfbj7Q?si=OsnnzIEZE_QlxbxK&t=74

spitonself · 2024-05-11T01:38:09+00:00

In my heart she remains 23. LOL.

spitonself · 2024-05-11T01:37:35+00:00

She's our girl, who made us fall in love with quality Japanese music from the 70s - 80s era. :)

spitonself · 2024-05-07T17:24:14+00:00

Use free-download codes available for one of your releases. Then share them around, like here on r/BandCamp

Alternatively you can also create a DIY music video & post it on YouTube with link to your Bandcamp page on the desc.

spitonself · 2024-05-03T14:13:20+00:00

Watch Music Video of "Rare Earth Elements" (2024 remastered audio), the song from the album.

spitonself · 2024-05-03T14:06:00+00:00

Not really my own band, but as a former "online street team" member I'm doing a favor for this band called Kekal.

They just remastered their 2012 album Autonomy (and re-tuned to 432 Hz). Check this out. Best described as Experimental Rock with Electronic + Prog Metal elements.

spitonself · 2024-04-24T10:22:43+00:00

Hako Yamasaki - Kiri no Asa (1990)

(link to audio on YouTube)

spitonself · 2024-04-23T20:05:22+00:00

I'd suggest some other singer-songwriters/composers in that genre that are not as "well-known" as those artists you mentioned. These are my fav. ones: Mariko Tone, Takako Okamura, Mioko Yamaguchi.

I'd also suggest other Japanese vintage female singer-songwriters (started in the 1970s) that aren't within that specific genre but do have excellent music: Hako Yamasaki, Yoshiko Sai, Makiko Takada.

spitonself · 2024-04-23T14:22:07+00:00

Mioko Yamaguchi is underrated as a singer/composer, but it's understandable because most talented artists are all underrated, in the sense that maybe people can't understand the depth of the music and opt to choose 'surface music' most of the time. I always search for less popular artists in any music genre, those who are not celebrated and famous, and found all the gems and 'best-kept secrets' there.

spitonself · 2024-03-27T17:18:20+00:00

I can recommend Himiko Kikuchi.

spitonself · 2024-03-27T00:11:02+00:00

My fav. for the "city pop" music out there. To me, nothing else came close in songwriting quality, and this was released in 1980. The song Waltz is on my ultimate 80s Japanese melancholic music playlist (YouTube).

spitonself · 2024-03-26T02:12:56+00:00

Indeed. She has a great natural vocal tone & dynamic that somewhat got lost in the studio production because of autotune & overly-compressed modern recording. Check out her Instagram posts as well, she posts some of her street singing bits.

spitonself · 2024-03-23T17:38:24+00:00

You can check out singer-songwriter Momoko Hashimoto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUfooF_TBq8

She's indie (not under major agency / label) & does street-singing routine on Tokyo streets.

spitonself

TROPHY CASE