Being a Jason Falkner fan requires a lot of patience and some friendly connections in Japan, of which I have neither. Not quite as popular as the Kardashians, keeping up with Falkner's career demands a lot of "googling" and some extra yen, since he is one of those artists who somehow managed to slip through the US cracks and become somewhat big in Japan.
I thought I had read some months ago about a new record. It felt like enough time had passed since his last release, 2007's good, but not great "I'm OK, You're OK," so I started scouring the net. I stumbled upon ART INTO DUST, a great blog covering some of my favorite and obscure power pop artists and more. This is where I first heard of "All Quiet On The Noise Floor," the just-released new record from Falkner. (As a matter of fact, there seemed to be more info about Jason Falkner there, than on his own site.)
Logn story short, I ordered the CD through CD Japan, they sent it to the wrong address, I ordered it again through Amazon, and have now invested almost 7800 yen for this collection of tunes, which thankfully is excellent. Not necessarily 7800 yen worth of excellent, but I have faith that my friend (?) in Japan will re-ship the lost CD back to me, once it reappears in his hands. (Then I will have two and can play them both at the same time if I need to.)
Take a listen to "Jet Silver & The Dolls Of Venus." This is not the best song on the record, which is filled with the powerful pop and mellifluous melodies Falkner seems to write so effortlessly. It IS though, a cover of a Be Bop Deluxe tune from their brilliant debut "Axe Victim," and covering Be Bop Deluxe is a rarity in itself. I couldn't control my excitement. Plus, I really wanted to use the wonderfully photoshopped artwork by Mick over at Art Into Dust.
5 comments:
if you yearn for the new Falkner album but don't have the yen to get it yet then fear not, the US cracks that he's slipped through are being sealed up. All Quite On The Noise Floor will be getting a stateside release early in the new year while his previous japenese only album I'm Okay You're Okay with a bit of rerecording and remixing on a few tracks will also be released in the US both on CD and vinyl
all the best
mick (artintodust)
Sal, this song is really good! Put up some more stuff by Jason. Do a zip file or something, please?
Nice tune, great performance. Can You Still Feel? is the only Falkner solo album that I own, and it has some fantastic music on it. Lyrically he can be a bit lazy ala Mr. McCartney, but he certainly knows how to write a killer hook.
Good to now that his latest works will be released here soon.
I had a similar problem with CDJapan and this release. I ordered/paid in July and have received nothing.
HI all,
I had a similar problem I ordered from CD japan, then found out weeks later that the order would need to be cancelled as the manufacturer didnt have enough orders placed for All quiet on the Noise Floor- that month for my order to be filled. The price was good I think $25 range- but the reality is without coordinating a mass purchase they wont fill a small order- very disappointing...
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