{"product_id":"kazuki-tomokawa-kazuki-tomokawa-1975-1977-3pk-cd","title":"Kazuki Tomokawa - Kazuki Tomokawa 1975-1977 (3pk) Music CD","description":"\u003cp\u003eA poet, soothsayer, bicycle race tipster, actor, prolific drinker, self-taught guitarist, and living legend of Japanese sound, Kazuki Tomokawa catapulted into Tokyo's avant-folk scene in the mid-1970s, forging a sound and sensibility marked by throat-wrenching vocals and searing ennui. Among his musical peers in postwar Japan, Tomokawa distinguished himself as a pioneer of radical individualism. He had \"the personality of a hydrogen bomb\"-as the notorious ultraleft band the Brain Police once put it-and a sound to match. Now, Blank Forms Editions gathers Tomokawa's earliest records for the first time in a deluxe three CD boxed set comprised of Finally, His First Album (Harvest Records, 1975), Straight from the Throat (Harvest Records, 1976), and A String of Paper Cranes Clenched between My Teeth (Harvest Records, 1977).In each record, Tomokawa shouts, cries, wails, and croons, his folk stylings tinged with psychedelia and swelling into ground-shaking rock. Many tracks are performed in his native Akita dialect, a highly regional vernacular of north Japan rarely heard beyond the prefecture, and even less often used in music. Matching his guttural, all-out vocals are profoundly existential meditations on everyday life and the world around him; this is, as record executive Kiichi Takara dubs it, \"I-music.\" It looks toward the interior, the quotidian, and the domestic with piercing and ever-honest eyes. The accompanying liner notes (here translated for the first time) include introductions by Takara, a round table discussion with Brain Police, and lyrics for all three albums-tracking the rise of Tomokawa as the \"screaming philosopher\" of Japan. The boxed set will be in conjunction with the release of each record in LP format in 2022, and the musician's 2015 memoir, Try Saying You're Alive! (Blank Forms Editions, 2021), the first-ever English translation of his prose; together they provide the definitive introduction to the singular world of Kazuki Tomokawa.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cdiv data-bt-autogen\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTracklist:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCD1: The Flower of Youth\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSoul\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYumiko's Spring\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSong from the Void\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGrave\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHail the Wonderful Law of the Lotus\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePhone Call\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAn Akita Folk Song Run Amok\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWorld School\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProtest, Age 23\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMr. Ishimori\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFirst Bon\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Cat Burglar in the Night\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBright Night\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCD2: Grampa\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGoddam Winter\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAmeran Kuyuran\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDagadzugu\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Fitting Adolescence\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFootbridge\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Spring is Here Again Song\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrdige\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSmithereens\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDon't Kill the Sea Lions\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHarmonica\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Little Ditty\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStone\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCD3: Opening Theme\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTry Saying You're Alive!\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKill or Be Killed\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMemory\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGot A Problem\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNamahage\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMy Hometown is Also Inside a Dog\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Boys of Hachiryü\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Donpan Song Goes off the Rails\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRunaway Boy\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMissed My Time to Die\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUPC:\u003c\/strong\u003e 769791979437\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLabel:\u003c\/strong\u003e Blank Forms Edition\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRelease Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e 5.13.22\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e CD\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Broadtime","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42112863207499,"sku":"252676","price":55.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/7223\/1499\/files\/4090852-2825230.jpg?v=1770186350","url":"https:\/\/rockbandmerch.com\/products\/kazuki-tomokawa-kazuki-tomokawa-1975-1977-3pk-cd","provider":"Rock Band Merch","version":"1.0","type":"link"}