I don’t really know how to introduce this song
other than to simply say that it’s by Makoto Kubota, a Japanese musician from Kyoto.
I’m linking to the full album because it’s a fantastic album, but for the sake of Three-Tune-Tuesday, I’ll share the title track.
I hear the sound of so many other artists present in this song, specifically the Velvet Underground and the sound they had on their Nico album, and the sounds and feels of Nick Drake, my second recommendation for today.
Looking through the comments of this album, somebody wrote, This album saved my life 22 years ago.
Isn’t it strange how a person can put so much beauty into the world, enough to save the life of someone who is hurting so badly, but still can’t free himself from his own torment and ends up taking his own life?
It reminds me of the story told at the end of the 1996 Basquiat movie: A boy with a beautiful crown on his head is locked in a tower and can’t get out, so he bangs his head against the bars on the tower window. As he does so, a beautiful sound rings out and spreads across the land. Everyone who hears it is amazed. The sound continues for years but nobody ever finds the boy. Nobody ever knows of his existence. But nobody can forget the beauty of the sound that he brought into the world (roughly paraphrased).
Lastly is a song by John Fahey. It’s a slow, peaceful song, like many of his wandering compositions. I think he, Makoto Kubota, and Nick Drake drew from a lot of the same influences.
