CINEFIL

2001 (CD)
DML Classics DICT-2890
  • 1
    108 Desires
  • 2
    Cinefil Imagica Jingle -French
  • 3
    Truffaut
  • 4
    Hollywood
  • 5
    Horror
  • 6
    Alla Turca
  • 7
    Changes
  • 8
    Cello Suite No. 5 - Sarabande
  • 9
    Electric blues
    Electric Blues
    Lyrics: Suzi Kim, Yasuaki Shimizu

    She had a delicate feathered face
    Black eyebrows angled like a silent movie sphinx
    (M stands for me)

    She had a delicate feathered face
    Black eyebrows angled like a silent movie sphinx
    (S stands for sufficiency)
    Hush, mellow noises ...

    She had a delicate feathered face
    Black eyebrows angled like a silent movie sphinx
    (You know what C stands for?)

    He watched the trains come and go
    He counted his keys ...

    She had a delicate feathered face
    Black eyebrows angled like a silent movie sphinx
    (J stands for jackpot)
    He watched the tenements rise and fall
    Rise and fall, he counted his keys

    She had a delicate feathered face
    Black eyebrows angled like a silent movie sphinx

  • 10
    Antonioni
  • 11
    Cinefil Imagica Jingle - Arabic
  • 12
    Line 0.29
  • 13
    Kalimba
  • 14
    Heart
  • 15
    Here it Is
  • 16
    Patteten
  • 17
    Shitamachi
  • 18
    Cello Suite No.3 - Gigue
  • 19
    Il Etait Snob
  • 20
    Rain 1920
  • 21
    Jade
  • 22
    Orange
  • 23
    Nevotheeb

Recordings made between 1966 and 2000 for the Japanese film channel Cinefil Imagica, rearranged for this album. Acoustics and electronics combining to create a wide range of moods… with numerous cinematic references, this album takes the listener on a timeless musical journey, revealing Shimizu’s eclectic approach to music along the way.

YS NOTES

  • Even though I occasionally find myself saying regretfully, “Oh dear, I watched a movie again today,” I know I really needn’t worry. For me, films are not for passive consumption; rather, they are a medium through which I can think while experiencing the true “me.”
    ‘With this album I have tried to emphasize how incredible music is as an “invisible” medium. The various songs on this album are crafted of the same matter as ordinary words-an attitude expressed in the opening track “108 Desires,” in which 108 words representing worldly passions are set to Henry Purcell’s “Cold Song” (made popular by Klaus Nomi’s version in 1980). Food, sex, sleep, money-ordinary words recited in no particular order-clash beat by beat, negate each other’s meaning, transform, merge on a new plane, and clash again. While repeating this exercise, meanings rendered meaningless slowly ascend in a spiral. I develop this plot in the album as a whole, which progresses by taking advantage of the disparities between pieces, the same technique used in “108 Desires.” Heard as if carried in on a distant breeze, the final track “Nevotheeb” (Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 1 played reversing the upper and lower parts of the score) is reminiscent of the credit roll appearing at the end of a movie.

Produced by Yasuaki Shimizu, Hisao Tomono, Ryuichi Takahashi
Composed by Yasuaki Shimizu, W.A. Mozart (6), J.S. Bach (8, 18)
Based on “Cold Song” by H. Purcell (1), “String Quartet Op. 18 No. 1” by L.v. Beethoven (23)

Yasuaki Shimizu: tenor saxophone, clarinet, piano, guitar, keyboards
Suzi Kim: vocals (1, 9, 15, 16)
Scott Browes: narration (4, 5, 7, 14)
Masataka Hirano: baritone saxophone (12, 18)
Fukuma Missa: vocals (22)

Recorded/mixed by Shinji Kano at Pathway, Yasuaki Shimizu at Submarine(Tokyo)