HALF JAPANESE..."OUR SOLAR SYSTEM"

this isn't the most representative song of the album, but it remains the sole track from this album available on youtube.



"our solar system" is the third half japanese album, following shortly after the release of the "horrible" e.p. brothers david and jad fair created their own little musical universe, requiring little to no musical knowledge or technique, singing songs about sexual frustration and their collective inability to understand girls. half japanese is one of my favorite groups, and "our solar system" is just slightly behind "sing no evil" as my favorite record in their career. their early music had an astounding lack of concern for listenability, but it is among the most passionately made music i've ever heard. synthesizing a sound that was itinerant, deprived of an attention span, and sounding something like a even more cacophonous and nebbish version of DNA (with saxophones too!), their early music was typified by an almost free jazz approach to composition (no doubt to compensate for their absence of traditional talent). "sing no evil" is certainly a better record from the perspective of songwriting, production and performance, but the atmosphere and manic quality of this album hits me straight the chest. "girl athletes," "danger rachel lang," because i love you," "classical music," "electricity respect" and "esp" are the epitomization of this early style. i'm not as enamored of their later work (after the two subsequent albums, "sing no evil" and "music to strip by"), as jad became the sole focus of the group, emphasizing a bizarre sentimentality to the songs in later albums that went so far as to tame their sound and turn down the saxophones and feedback. jad went on to record an album with daniel johnston as well, though i've never quite had a taste for it. jad is comparable to johnston in a way, how both of their early work was much more visceral and unique, while their later work became subject to an almost uncomfortable sentimentality, victim to repetition and the dreaded "cute and misunderstood weirdo artist" category. jad still puts out good stuff periodically, and if you send him a check he'll personally write you a song. there's a terrific documentary on half japanese called "the band who would be king" that's available on youtube that is well worth the time to watch.

download "our solar system"

1. dance when i say dance
http://www.mediafire.com/?ejngmywxjwx
2. girl athletes
http://www.mediafire.com/?zkwnzae3kjm
3. because i love you
http://www.mediafire.com/?ltyjhdzmjkd
4.danger danger rachel lang
http://www.mediafire.com/?zogyn2mmihe
5.esp
http://www.mediafire.com/?5jfgt2wgdqm
6. classical music
http://www.mediafire.com/?n1iz4zbtjjj
7. you're gonna miss me
http://www.mediafire.com/?qzgm3qmm3hz
8. little girls have to be home early
http://www.mediafire.com/?nqmjincty0o
9. too much adrenaline
http://www.mediafire.com/?jxnmfnazd5o
10. fire to burn
http://www.mediafire.com/?nhwieommc2n
11. rhonda
http://www.mediafire.com/?ymmjaj3yuxy
12. electricity respect
http://www.mediafire.com/?jkiwzoowz1n
13. knocked down on the dance floor
http://www.mediafire.com/?mbrtu5t3kmb
14. european son
http://www.mediafire.com/?nzxauenwmfm
15. there's a girl
http://www.mediafire.com/?mjzmdymulvm
16. hall of mountain king/ louie louie
http://www.mediafire.com/?uydjghymnyy
17. young hearts break
http://www.mediafire.com/?tzyndyczyxc
18. did you miss me
http://www.mediafire.com/?zzim4dt2jod