Agi Jo - Ikiteru Dake No Koto Nanda (Hardly Living) 7"

An in-house favorite reissue (limited to 300 copies) which came at the tail end of 2021 from UK's Japan Blues label, who describe it perfectly: "Agi Jo, an alias of Yuzuru Agi, kayou pop singer, actor, model and Japanese electronic music pioneer. It’s unlikely the fan-base for his earlier pop outings would appreciate a spiky existential protest song, so Agi pressed 100 copies of the record himself. It was 1970, after he had briefly joined folk harmony pop-rock group The Happenings Four. The single was arranged by band member (now Japanese rock legend) Kuni Kawachi.

"'Ikiteru...', a nihilistic number, in the vein of underground singer-songwriter Mikami Kan: a pained cry of confused existence, in the darkness of a rapidly modernising world. 'Weekend Hippy', with a barely in tune harmonica blasted intro, à la Dylan, we have here a comment from the sidelines, on the hippy movement that had spread even to a reasonably conservative country like Japan. Two songs that express anger, a rejection of accepted norms, both the everyday, and the so-called alternative. A small testament to the character of a near unsung great of new music in Japan." – Japan Blues