Masanori Ikeda is a Japanese DJ whose various projects include Mansfield, which has a sort of retro-'60s lounge sound; Montparnasse, Happy Charm Fool Dance Music-tinged funky breakbeat; and the High Yummies, quintessential Happy Charm Fool Dance Music.
From 1991 to 1997, Ikeda was
a resident DJ at the London club The
Blow Up, where he DJ'd under the name DJ Nori. After returning to
Japan, Ikeda released material on Escalator
Records under the names Montparnasse and the High Yummies, the latter
a collaboration with "Chabe," a.k.a. Gakuji Matsuda, a.k.a.
Cubismo Grafico.
Ikeda also collaborated with Fantastic Plastic Machine's Tomoyuki Tanaka on the writing, arrangement, and/or remixing of various tracks on the FPM albums The Fantastic Plastic Machine and Luxury (in one instance, credited along with Tanaka as "Sound Possible," a nod to Tanaka's earlier DJ team "Sound Impossible").
Currently signed to Tokyo's Readymade Records (whose label producer is Yasuharu Konishi of Pizzicato Five fame), Ikeda seems to be focusing on his latest project, Mansfield. With labelmates Konishi and Comoestas (Comoesta Yaegashi), Ikeda also DJ's under the auspices of Readymade Entertainment, Tokyo. His mix CD, Spinout, was released in February 2000 by V2 Japan.
Masanori Ikeda / Mansfield / Montparnasse / High Yummies Links
Readymade
Records (Japan) - This record label is home to Pizzicato
Five, Mansfield, Comoestas, and others, and was home to Fantastic
Plastic Machine prior to FPM's departure for Avex
Japan. The Readymade site includes pages with audio samples on the
following Mansfield/Ikeda-related releases:
- Mansfield - It's a Man's Man's Field
- Various Artists - La Génération Readymade 2000
- track 2: Mansfield, "Mansfield Theme"
- Various Artists - Punch the Monkey [vol. 1; mislabeled vol. 2 on site]
- track 1: Lupin III '80 (Latin Love & Peace Calcutta Mix by Masanori Ikeda)
- Pizzicato Five - The Remixes 2000
- track 4: Pizzicato Five's "One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine Ten Barbie Dolls" (Ken's Old Aiwa Mix by Masanori Ikeda)
The Readymade Records site is part of the site for Nippon
Columbia, which distributes Readymade. Navigation is in English, text
is mostly in Japanese.
If you want software to support Japanese
text for your browser (either to read Japanese pages, or just to preserve
their visual integrity), check out the free download site for NJStar Communicator at NJStar.
Masanori Ikeda-related releases on Escalator include:
- Escape 003 - Montparnasse - Mini Mini Mary 7"
- Escape 005 - The High Yummies - Mog Au Go Go 7"
- Escape 008 - Marlon Sea - Disco Del Mar 7"
(B-side is an Escalator Team remix involving Ikeda)
- Escape 010 - Montparnasse - Dolly Catcher 7"
- EscapeCD001
- Various Artists - Wohnmodell 1999 - 12-track compilation CD;
includes:
-
Montparnasse's "The Wiggely [sic] Cat Walk," "Mini Mini Mary
(Mission Escape)," and "Hugo Star"
-
the High Yummies's "Mog Drummond" and "Mog Alphonso"
- the Escalator Team remix of Marlon Sea's "Disco Del Mar"
- EscapeCD003
- Various Artists - Qui Êtes-Vous Polly Maggoo?
-
CD EP; includes songs by Losfeld, Cubismo Grafico, and Montparnasse
- ESCD013
- Various Artists - Collection - 18-track compilation CD; includes
Montparnasse's "Atlas."
- Various
Artists - Escalator Records Tokyo - 15-track compilation CD
(11 tracks on vinyl) released by Bungalow
-
includes Montparnasse's "The Wiggely [sic] Cat Walk" and the High
Yummies's "Mog Alphonso"
The seven-inches are all out of print, but the CD compilations can be obtained (as imports) from indie-oriented online music stores like Other Music. For the compilation Escalator Records Tokyo, don't buy the Japanese pressing; buy the substantially cheaper (and more readily available) pressing on Germany's Bungalow Records, available from numerous online retailers.
Bungalow
Records (Germany) - Released the compilation Escalator Records Tokyo
(see above) at a very reasonable price, something that cannot be said of
the pressing on Escalator Records.
The European center of what it terms "trance cocktail"
and of Happy Charm Fool Dance Music, Bungalow is home to such artists as
Fantastic Plastic Machine,
Laila France, Momus,
and Yoshinori Sunahara. In English.
V2 Japan - Masanori Ikeda's Spinout - Archive.org's record of the page no longer on the site of V2 Japan. Provides a tracklisting (in English) of the Masanori Ikeda mix CD Spinout, released by V2 Japan in February 2000 (and available via such online retailers as Amazon.com), a discography (partly in English), and a bio (in Japanese) of Ikeda.
V2 Japan - Masanori Ikeda's Spinout 2 - Archive.org's record of the page no longer on the site of V2 Japan. Provides a tracklisting (in English) of the May 2001 release Spinout 2. The profile section (in Japanese) repeats some of the information from the original Spinout page.
V2 Japan - Masanori Ikeda's Spinout 3 - rchive.org's record of the page no longer on the site of V2 Japan. Provides a tracklisting for Ikeda's third mix CD.
Masanori Ikeda discography - From a Japanese fan site. Mostly in English, partly in Japanese. There is a Japanese-language profile of Ikeda on the same site.
Readymade Entertainment - Masanori Ikeda - Page on the site for Readymade Entertainment, Tokyo (see below). In Japanese.
Readymade Entertainment, Tokyo (Japan) - Includes information on selected Readymade Records releases, on recent remixes by Yasuharu Konishi of Pizzicato Five, and on Konishi's "Readymade" DJ event. Navigation in English, text mostly in Japanese.
Related Links
Ursula 1000 (Variety Is the Spice of Life page) - The Montparnasse track "Hugo Star" appears on Ursula 1000's mix CD All Systems Are Go Go.
Variety Is the Spice of Life - Japan-related links - A comprehensive selection of links for Japanese artists, record labels, places to buy Japanese music, music press, general press, and more.
This page created May 2001 - Last modified July 11, 2007