Agi Jo - Ikiteru Dake No Koto Nanda (Hardly Living)

by Japan Blues

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Yuzuru Agi, 1970, in original artwork, with lyrics in Japanese and English lyric insert

Includes unlimited streaming of Agi Jo - Ikiteru Dake No Koto Nanda (Hardly Living) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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	1.	Agi Jo - Ikiteru Dake No Koto Nanda (Hardly Living) 03:46		buy track
	2.	Agi Jo - Oira Wa Kanashii Uiikendo Hippy (I am a sad weekend hippy) 02:27	info	buy track

about

Agi Jo, an alias of Yuzuru Agi, kayou pop singer, actor, model and Japanese electronic music pioneer. It’s unlikely the fan-base for his earlier pop outings would appreciate a spiky existential protest song, so Agi pressed 100 copies of the record himself. It was 1970, after he had briefly joined folk harmony pop-rock group The Happenings Four. The single was arranged by band member (now Japanese rock legend) Kuni Kawachi.

Ikiteru..., a nihilistic number, in the vein of underground singer-songwriter Mikami Kan: a pained cry of confused existence, in the darkness of a rapidly modernising world. Weekend Hippy, with a barely in tune harmonica blasted intro, à la Dylan, we have here a comment from the sidelines, on the hippy movement that had spread even to a reasonably conservative country like Japan.

Two songs that express anger, a rejection of accepted norms, both the everyday, and the so-called alternative. A small testament to the character of a near unsung great of new music in Japan.

credits

released December 3, 2021

Written & performed by Agi Yuzuru, arranged by Kuni Kawachi, 1970, licensed from Agi Yuzuru's estate.

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about

Japan Blues London, UK

Ten years on NTS, eight Japanese compilations, via Ace, BGP, Ethbo, Honest Jon's and The Trilogy Tapes. Releases and remixes for Place No Blame, NoCorner, Musica Altra, Vox Populi Field Works and Les Editions Japonais. First solo LP out 2017, second (collaboration with The Dengie Hundred) out in 2023 on Demdike Stare. ... more

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