I’ve been listening to a lot of P-Model lately and you should too. They were a Japanese New Wave band from the late 1970s/early 1980s that ended up lasting until 1999. Anyway, I found their first two albums on Mutant Sounds. Their first one In a Model Room (1979) is here. Its the better of the two in my opinion, although both of them are just amazing. The closest thing I could compare it to is probably Devo or the Suburban Lawns as filtered through a Japanese lens. The second album Landsale (1980) is here. Its the more conventional of the two but even with that said, P-Model is pretty wild. There are similarities to The Plastics but there are major differences too.
One of the things that makes P-Model stand out is the insanely tight level of musicianship they employ. I mean listen to The Great Brain below. But even though its technically proficient its also stupidly ridiculous and minimal. Utterly brilliant. On other songs there is almost a synth-rockabilly vibe that is completely retarded and infectious. I challenge you the listener to listen to Kameari Pop and not have it stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
On Mutant Sounds, P-Model is described as an example of Zolo and although I have some contentions with this moniker, I would begrudgingly agree. Primers on Zolo, if interested, can be found here and here. A lot of what has been posted on Last Days could theoretically be placed in the Zolo-basket.
From In a Model Room (1979)
From Landsale (1980)
If you have the money, the entire P-Model discography is available in a kickass Japanese box-set. Info on P-Model here and here.
Man does this music grow on me. At first I thought a cool and minimalistic electric sound was only to be found in the resoundingly German Kraftwerk, but then I found out about the very French Synth Pop happening at around the same time, and that was more than enough for me. Kraftwerk was enough, but now I got to listen to Autobahn followed by Polaroid Roman Photo? As I listen to more of P-Model, I’m hitting my usual Last Days of Man On Earth brought-on brain meltdown as the totally Japanese counterpart enters my consciousness. On my first listen, I found the rhythms too stilted, the melodies too poppy. None of the elements fit together in my head. Goodness knows what happened since then, but it all sounds so cohesive, so well executed. It’s got that James Brown feeling of never playing a wrong note, just the best notes and chords possible, one after another. Perfect music again, thanks, Joe.