Whenever I put on Subliminal Calm’s first and only release I immediately think of spring. Featuring a sublime mix of country, dub, folk and soul music, Subliminal Calm could only have been created by the inspirational minds behind it. Appropriately titled, there’s something quite delicate and beautiful in this set of music from minds that would go on to revolutionize the world Japanese Pop, reggae, and urban music. Not quite any of the musical styles I mentioned before, their self-titled debut sounds like all of these ideas shuffling around to fit within the same picture. What’s impressive is they actually pull this off, in a way that still sounds timeless…
You hear the name “Hiroshi Fujiwara” and immediately the first thing you think of is fashion. Much like Steve Hiett, Hiroshi Fujiwara has an equally impressive music career, sadly heretofore slept on by many who actually follow his much larger, cultural influence as fashion designer. There was a time long ago, in some cool Japanese shop, where Hiroshi, struggling to light up Japanese music world with his friends in Major Force, decided to turn out pieces of clothing inspired by what he was trying to do musically and quite literally create the idea of modern, Japanese streetwear, Harajuku style. My interest though lies in his music, which I think deserves equal exploration.
For many years, Hiroshi had been honing his musical craft as both session musician (guitar playing was his calling) and as record producer. Working with Toshio Nakanishi, future Melon and ex-Plastic, he helped create what were the first Japanese hip-hop records and was one of the first Japanese all star DJs to promote rap and harder American urban music in Japan. After a while he retired from DJing and solely dedicated himself to playing guitar and singing. As a session musician and writer he was able to expand as an artist.
At the beginning, Hiroshi stretched his soul influences over early House remixes of music from Y.M.O. that then in turn allowed him to fully explore his dub experimentation through some mind-blowing music productions for T.P.O. and Kyoko Koizumi. In a sea of ‘80s J-Pop world, it was his productions you can find sprinkled in Kyoko’s albums, that already pointed to Pop that could be vanguard in a different way. One that could fully absorb other, urban influences and maintain a welcome “in” for someone not accustomed to the more kaleidoscopic J-Pop that would be created in the ‘90s.
Front-facing, Subliminal Calm, at least on the cover, gave off the look of a duo. However, on paper they were really a studio quartet. Joining Hiroshi would be hip-hop lyricist Seiko Ito and dub specialist Izumi “DMX” Miyazaki and reggae brass player Masayuki Kundo. What promised to be a massive meeting of two of Japan’s pioneering underground music crews — Mute Beat (Reggae) and Major Force (Hip-Hop) — turned out to be less heavy as many would have imagined. As Subliminal Calm they went another fascinating way.
Subliminal Calm: カントリー・リビング (Country Living)
Completely fleshing out Hiroshi’s vision of a new kind of urban Japanese music, they tried to reimagine the folk rock of Happy End for a world long past that idea of going back to the countryside to commune or a generation enjoying the good times. Now looking back with a bit heart ache, Subliminal Calm could use their contemporary technology and technique to get at a new kind of melancholia. Speaking to a generation, after the bubble, this Lost Generation could be more in tune with the lilting nostalgia found in genres neglected during the shiny techno Pop of ‘80s Japan.
Wistful experimentation grounded in very acoustic sound is exactly what Subliminal Calm aimed to create. I won’t compare it with grunge, but Subliminal Calm finds a new found light in some creative conservatism (not of thought) of presentation, that harkens to keeping it simple, in a more profound way. By purposefully going back to some roots Hiroshi and Masayuki tied those knots of urban and tropical music that could be explored in a different way. Perhaps it was a “lover’s rock” for a generation that truly needed it.
Nothing could show this clearer than their masterful reimagining of The Stylistics “Country Living” into “Country Living (Flute)” and “カントリー・リビング” . The obvious touchstone lays in the Mighty Diamonds’ reggae rework of it, but Subliminal Calm go one further and transform it into a knotty bend of country, roots folk, dub, and ambient music. Sans vocals, as an instrumental, Masayuki takes the rein on flute to lay over the gorgeous instrumental with one foot on the floating spirit of Japanese New Age and the other in Hiroshi’s obvious love of Lovers Rock and mellow folk music.
Subliminal Calm: メルティング・グリーン (Melting Green)
“Melting Green”, and it’s dubbed out version, roll in the hip-hop technique of Major Force into another tender lovers rock ballad, this time an original that sounds positively “church-like”. In it, I hear ideas that other groups like Fishmans would digest and further take to unreachable heights in the panoptic view of reggae music. Wonderful vocals by Hiroshi really capture the soft vibration of the most tender tropical musical ideas.
As you go back into the obvious album highlight, the Hiroshi sung and played, full band version of “Country Living” the album settles into its saudade, one perfectly fitting its namesake. For me, just to hear one of my favorite R&B songs from any era/country, getting reworked into something somehow more romantic and powerful, in a country that few would imagine can roll that way gets to me. Subliminal Calm taps into a certain mood and its breathtaking, if I do say so myself. If I say it’s magical when Hiroshi and Seiko harmonize in the chorus would you forgive me for being maudlin? What a dazzling track, I can easily say is one of my favorite soul songs anywhere, that I never tire of.
Subliminal Calm: 誰もいない (Nobody, Ain’t Noone Judge Us)
“A Fainting Sign” takes the inverse and builds from a piano instrumental into some country soul Ray Charles would smile hearing, in Subliminal Calm’s full band version. On that track a different midway between soft rock, lovers rock, and Allen Toussaint’s N’orleans, moonlit balladry is heard. The album ends on “Nobody, Ain’t Noone Judge Us” a song which foretells all the future trip hop that had yet to reach Japan’s shore. Heck, chronologically, it might have appeared before one that would be created in England. From Subliminal Calm to pleading torch song, this final track shows the influence of Gainsbourg-esque pop on the crew but also the role some willfully cool/new regions where sample-heavy hip-hop drums can stretch out the original personal thought into an epic one, also lay. If ever there was a track that could cement the importance of Izumi “DMX” Miyazaki, it was this one.
As hard as it is to actually find this album, it enshrines in my mind another thought I have stewing in there. With other groups like World Standard, Group of Gods, and others trying to ride a new wave after the pop of the asset bubble, there’s more there, there, if one looks for it. We’ll have more time for the far more “difficult” stuff later. For now some Subliminal Calm is perfect to begin with. Right now this country life calls out my name.