Towa Tei - Last Century Modern

Towa Tei's third album returns to the eclecticism of his first, with bossa nova lounge ("A Ring"), drum'n'bass soul ("Angel," "Butterfly"), Ryuichi Sakamoto-like ethnic forgery ("Stretch Building Bamboo"), and silly sampladelic house ("Congratulations!," which samples somebody saying "The finest turntable in the world" until the all the words become meaningless). Once again, Tei assembles an impressive roster of guest musicians and gleefully watches what happens when they meet. Japanese chanteuse UA, accordionist Coba, and the Balanescu Quartet open the album with the sophisticated title track. Elsewhere on the CD, Pascale Borel, Les Nubians, and Chara add vocals, and two thirds of YMO, Harry Hosono, and Yukihiro Takahashi turn up as well. The album is also surprisingly short, and the stronger for it. The American release adds remixes of "Butterfly" and "Let Me Know" by Cornelius and Mighty Bop, respectively. ~ Ted Mills, All Music Guide

Name Credits Akemi Nakano Make-Up, Hair Stylist Ayumi Obinata Keyboard Programming, Drum Programming, Arranger Ayumi Tanabe Performer Balanescu Quartet String Arrangements, Strings Bob Brockmann Mixing Chara Vocals Coba Accordion Cory Daye Vocals Cutee B. Mixing Engineer Dave Darlington Engineer Eri Model Fernando Aponte Engineer Gemi Taylor Guitar (Electric) Gene Perez Bass (Electric) Goh Hotoda Mixing Haruomi Hosono Bass (Electric) Hiroshi Takano Guitar (Electric) Hisa Ishioka Coordination Joanne Vocals Julian Wheatley Engineer Kahimi Karie Translation Les Nubians Vocals Louis Philippe Vocals Pascale Borel Performer Romero Lubambo Guitar (Acoustic) Sam Nagashima Executive Producer Stuart Hawkes Mastering Tadashi Matsuda Engineer, Mixing Terry Burrus Fender Rhodes, Piano The Mighty Bop Arranger, Programming, Remixing Tom Browne Trumpet Tomoyuki Asakawa Harp Towa Tei Mixing, Keyboard Programming, Programming, Liner Notes, MIDI, Drum Programming, Art Direction, Editing UA Vocals Viv Performer Wizdom Life Rap Yasuaki Shimizu Sax (Soprano)