Karkador

Karkador
Studio album by P-Model
Released October 25, 1985 (1985-10-25)
Recorded Tokyo, 1985
Studio
Genre
Length 36:38
Label Alfa, Edge
Producer Akiro "Kamio" Arishima
P-Model chronology
Scuba
(1984)		 Karkador
(1985)		 One Pattern
(1986)

Karkador is the sixth album by the Japanese electronic rock band P-Model, and the first where frontman Susumu Hirasawa was the sole remaining founding member.

Background and composition

Karkador was mainly inspired by the dreams of P-Model's vocalist Susumu Hirasawa. He had been seeing a Jungian counselor at a welfare facility for the mentally ill in Takayama, as he was in a troubled mental state at the time. The counselor suggested that he record his dreams in a notebook to aid his recovery. He developed a narrative and lyrics for the album based on those notes.

Sadatoshi Tainaka, the band's original drummer, decided to leave after the previous tour's conclusion. He was replaced by Yasuhiro Araki, a huge fan of P-Model who had formerly played in a punk rock band. The band got signed to Alfa Records's sub-label for underground acts Edge, which allowed them to use Alfa's studios and mixing equipment, which was far better than what they had access to during their independent period.

Recording and production

In addition to Hirasawa's journal, P-Model used songwriting contributions from their keyboardist Shunichi Miura and bassist Tadahiko Yokogawa. Hirasawa and Yokogawa had equal creative control over the band, though Yokogawa has said that his influence on the album was somewhat nuanced.[1] Although the album has a new wave style much like 1984's Scuba, it also includes a wider array of sounds; mixing live drumming with programmed drumming, march-styled rhythms, and classical instruments. The band tried to keep the album raw, with the MIDI data of the electronics going uncleared.[1]

Hirasawa had many ideas in regards to the sound of the album, but faced issues with engineering. He wanted Karkador to sound "underground", feeling that in-house engineer at Gok Studio Yoshiaki Kondo was best for the job. Alfa balked at the idea and wanted to use their own engineer. Kondo mixed the recordings, making the drums purposefully messy,[2] but his work was altered by Alfa without Hirasawa's consent.[1] Miura had doubts as to the direction that P-Model was taking and left the band[3] alongside Yokogawa, who felt that touring in support of the album was too rigorous.[1] Due to their departure, half of the album was never performed live after from 1986 onwards.

Track listing

All tracks written by Susumu Hirasawa, except where noted. 

No. TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "Karkador"     2:58
2. "On the Organ-Yama" (オルガン山にて Orugan-Yama ni Te)   3:13
3. "Dance Subomp" (ダンス素凡夫（スボンプ） Dansu Subonpu)Hirasawa, Shunichi MiuraMiura, Tadahiko Yokogawa 4:19
4. "Cyborg" (サイボーグ Saibōgu)   3:33
5. "1778-1985"     4:14
6. "Leak"     4:19
7. "Oar" (オール Ōru)YokogawaYokogawa 4:05
8. "Hourglass"   Hirasawa, Yokogawa 3:17
9. "Piper"   Yokogawa 5:53
10. "Kar¢ador"     0:48

Personnel

P-Model - Arrangements
Staff

Release history

Date Label(s) Format Catalog Notes
October 25, 1985 Alfa Records, Edge Records LP ELR-28002
February 21, 1992 CD ALCA-258 Released (alongside One Pattern) five days before the release of P-Model.[4]
December 21, 1994 Alfa Music, Edge Records ALCA-9134 Released 20 days after the debut show of the "Revised" P-Model.
May 10, 2002
July 4, 2014		 Chaos Union, Teslakite CHTE-0009 Remastered by Hirasawa. Part of Disc 5 of the Ashu-on [Sound Subspecies] in the solar system box set, alongside phonosheet-only releases from 1983 & 1985, some of them by the members that played on this album. "Birds" is on the fan club exclusive Disc 0 (CHTE-0021). Re-released with new packaging by Kiyoshi Inagaki.
July 25, 2007
April 12, 2012		 Sony Music Direct, GT Music MHCL-1136 Remastered, limited release. Packaged in a paper sleeve to replicate the original LP packaging. Re-pressing (without sticker to indicate packaging) sold only through Tower Records.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 キミは年末だからパーッといったか?. The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS (in Japanese). Chaos Union. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "レコレコ - recommend record -　音と生活 vol.4". 音めがね (in Japanese). otomegane.
  3. ↑ アーティスト列伝　P-MODEL [Artist Chronicle － P-Model]. Keyboard Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. Autumn no. 370. Rittor Music. October 2010. ISSN 1344-6371.
  4. ↑ カルカドルコレクション. 電子降る日記 I am only my MODEL (in Japanese).
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.