Lock & Loll!!!

I'm sending this one out to Professor Grewbeard (I'm gonna need to see credentials, professor) over @ Magic Carpet Burns on account of his affection for the Land of the Rising Sun.

One can't spin hip Japanese culture w/o Takeshi Terauchi much like one can't really begin to wrap their grey matter around Japanese popular music unless one consider the previously posted death of Ventures co founder Bob Bogle. Yes, the Ventures were that big; big enough to squash the Beatles w/o so much as Brighton scowl or a Liverpudlian lip-quiver. Why? Because the Ventures are painfully pasty Caucasian models of musical efficiency. Needless to say, the Japanese swallowed these Tacoma boys feet first (there goes that over-achiever stereotype again). Then there are, of course, the myriad of Asian acts(Both good and patently ridiculous) which followed in the Ventures more-than capable wake. But as w/ any master/teacher relationship, the new guard must best the old, applying methods both contemporary and traditional in an attempt to outshine their predecessor.

Yes, Takeshi Terauchi is that good



Perhaps it is the loose playing, Takeshi dive bombing that Bigsby and bending those notes into configurations the Ventures would be want to explore. More than likely it is Takeshi's observance of traditional Japanese scales as played on the Koto, an instrument whose essence has been fully adopted into Terauchi's musical style much as it has the pervading culture in the form of Eliki music. Regardless of the particulars, this SOB can sure hang an axe!

I'm Not Quite Sure What This Song is About - Takeshi Terauchi

I Think This Song is About the Beach - Takeshi Terauchi

Note: Special thanks goes out to Amy & Mike over @ Fancy magazine and Go Ape Records for furnishing me w/ this lovely 45rpm while on their travels in the far east. Much obliged!