I spent a few hours this week digging through the boxes of CDs that haven’t quite made it to shelves since my move in January; from them I compiled aplaylist of music that I purchased in the late ’90s, back when I probably should have been investing in tech stocks or something that I haven’t really listened to since. At one point, I ran into a somewhat embarrassingly large collection of Pizzicato 5 discs.
Somehow, owning Japan-only CD singles of rare Shibuya-kei tracks seems less useful now than it seemed then, but pulling out the act’s American full-length debut Made in USA is a nice flashback to a time when reimagined versions of ’60s stereophonic sounds seemed like the next big thing. Although I guess I stopped following the band around 1996 or 1997, they continued on until 2002. As far as I can tell, the mastermind behind the group now does remixes of songs from cartoons or something. I was a bit confused by the translation. Anyhow, selections from the album I consider their finest moment, below.
“Sweet Soul Revue”:
“Baby Love Child”:
“Magic Carpet Ride (live)” (if you believe the tags on YouTube clips, this was their last TV appearance):
“Go Go Dancer”:
Pizzicato Five [Official site]
I love the P5, they always made a jaded, atonal music-loving bum like me act like a go-go dancer in a 60’s department store.
Check out the great “Happy End” remix collection, there’s an awesome remix by Oval.
I used to spin their “Five by Five” EP a LOT when I would DJ back in the day…
I used to spin their “Five by Five” EP a LOT when I would DJ back in the day…
I used to spin their “Five by Five” EP a LOT when I would DJ back in the day…
I used to spin their “Five by Five” EP a LOT when I would DJ back in the day…
I used to spin their “Five by Five” EP a LOT when I would DJ back in the day…
That album is just ridiculous amounts of fun.
Made in USA pops up on my iPod from time to time. It is both amusing and embarrassing simultaneously.
I used to hate this group. Turns out I still do!
What’s a CD?
What, no “Twiggy Twiggy”? Loved it on “What’s Up Matador.”
man, i loved this group. “twiggy twiggy” actually got quite a bit of radio airplay on Q101 (which is how i heard of them in the first place).
Might as well share the Twiggy Twiggy love (partially because it’s a great video too):