Noriko Tujiko

[J.F.]

I read her name in several threads here... so let me ask what albums would you guys recommend?

I just listened through her album "From Tokyo to Niagara", which makes me curious to hear more. For now that one track near the end, with the trashy sampled drumbeat so far impressed me the most, but I figure most of her music might be more of an introspective nature.
How did she develop in those ten years?

I see she did/does collaborative albums as well... are any of those very different from her solo albums?

I googled her name, but didn't find any consistent overview about her record ouevre.

[nicenick]

i have make me hard which is pleasant listening, not too far i think from from tokyo . haven't really kept up since up then. only song of hers i regularly go back to is "white film" from an old tigerbeat6 comp which is amazing:

http://ifile.it/7edbka6

[billygomberg]

well, I would rec "From Tokyo..." bc it's my favorite, so well, there you are. I dug the disc she did w/Aoki Takamasa "28"

[jpeatt]

The first two on Mego are the best by far IMO. I think a lot of the weakness of the later albums comes down to collaboration. The first two are very personal & idiosyncratic, the later ones, not so much.

[Gaendaal]

I have Solo and 28, both of which I like. 28 has 'Doki Doki Last Night' which is quite high up on my favourite songs list.

One of those artists where I have no idea how I first got into her stuff.

[kcorcoran]

i think her best stuff by far is on the "shojo toshi" album - that "white film" track is from this record. harder to find now, but ed. mego put it out

[simplicio]

Yeah, her Mego albums are my favorite- I actually prefer Make Me Hard for its idiosyncrasies and density. It feels like her most personal work to me. I really love her peripheral broken pop music, and once she started collaborating I think she largely ended up with less interesting tracks and her voice just laid over the top.

[jpeatt]

My understanding is the first two were made on an mpc, also. Which accounts for a little of the roughness around the edges that makes those first two so appealing.

I also agree with both of the last two posters. Shojo Toshi has the best individual tracks, Make me Hard is the better album, on the whole.

[J.F.]

Weeks later, I'm having a better overview myself.

"From Tokyo to Naiagara" is still my favorite.

The 2000 release "Kesyou to Heitai" grew on me. She uses more straight forward powerful singing here (in spots almost like a classical alto), and I like some of the song material/melodies ("Hyper Liquid Dance" might be my favorite Noriko-track!)

"Shojo Toshi" is the one that does not have one track I like (at least after... maybe 10 listens).
What I like about "Make me hard" is that parts of it are rather dense and chaotic; many "interesting" sounds, but they just don't add up to something that clicks for me. That's an "interesting" that disappeard after several listens.

"Blurred in my Mirror" is fairly new to me. I find it to be quite different from the others, and I love the loose more "soundscapey" vibe already after two listens. That ought to be another great one!

"28" has a few highlights - the already mentioned "Doki Doki Last Night" and "26th Floor" are real electro-beat beauties.
Same with "Solo" and "Trust": only a few out-standing songs, while the sparse chambermusic-like "Damien Shingleton remix" of "Ending Kiss" by far impresses me the most among those later tracks. Wowowow.

Just found there are some more to delve into: "U", "I forgot the Title" and even one or two more.

Her music kept noodling in my room - sometimes for hours as background music - during the last few weeks, and it starts to leave a substancial lasting impression on me.