(Guess today’s theme is juke artists in Japan)
Oh, those moments when something sounds so familiar yet you can’t place just what it is. The last song on Japanese (well, Japan stretching to San Francisco) juke group Paisley Parks newest collection Payzulee Packs centers around a saxophone sample I know I’ve heard multiple times before. I’m pretty sure it comes from an enka song…the sort of song that pops up on those televised karaoke contests. The title, “Yokohama Bay Blues,” seemed like a clue…but it didn’t lead anywhere. Driving me nuts!
Of course, what Paisley Parks does with that sample is nothing like the original I think I’ve certainly heard — it turns into a skeletal juke number, complete with passages that sound like Pac-Man overdosing on dots. That’s Paisley Parks (and a lot of juke artists) gift, to turn the vaguely familiar into something very very different. See also — “Only 4 1 Night,” which starts off with an uptempo sample that turns into, well, something very sparse and very hypnotic. Get it here, or listen below.