Hey all! Been a while I know but finally I found a little time to re-share albums of this wonderful artist. I did a "all I have" share back when she passed away and you can read about it here but I've decided to make a separate post now because of two things. The first is that I have a couple more albums compared to before and second is that I have previously posted albums I've shared in better quality now (more or less).
Some of the albums are in flac and I know some of you have a distaste or preference for it so the ones in flac will be marked with a * at the end while my favorite albums will be bolded. The rest should be in acceptable bitrates.
Maki was a jazz/blues vocalist from Japan that enjoyed a popular and cult following mostly in Japan. From what I've managed to read she started out singing in American army bases which explains a lot about her style (earlier one anyway). He vocals are not so typical of Japanese female vocalists, it's raspy, deep and almost folkloric.
Back during the golden days of blogspot shareblogs her album Cat Nap would be shared a lot. This is how I discovered her but I can't really say I've enjoyed it that much over the years. It's very funky sprinkled with some weirdness but I can rarely be in the mood for it.
The purely blues and jazz style of music prevails in her early career but gradually she will include more rock and funk elements to her music with free jazz elements also influencing her on albums like One from 1980. At about the start of the 80s her style will shift to a more electronic sound that dominated Japan and world in general in general (oh lord the snares). I'm not so big on her later albums but they can be enjoyable. They're not bad but it's just not what I prefer so I'm not really in a position to claim which is best or which one is most worth listening to.
Included with the studio albums I'm also sharing her compilation series that are titled Darkness, there are several volumes of it all featuring hand picked songs and live sets. Mostly following some kind of theme or time period.
If you're in doubts as to where to start I still think 灯ともし頃 (Hi Tomoshi Goro, 1976 album) is her best work and is my go to album when I want to listen to her. So if you don't know where to start that's a good stepping stone in my opinion. Going through her discography chronologically is also a good option as you can sense her change or progression in sound much more deeply rather than jumping around the timeline. Whichever path you decide to go I'm sure it'll be a lot fun as she really was one of the best. Enjoy!
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Awesome! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteI'm gobsmaked - what an incredible treasure trove! A thousand and one thanks, you have given so much to explore and I cannot thank you enough. My eternal gratitude to you for reposting these.
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