Vinyl Vault Entry #13: The Genesis of Shibuya-Kei with Doctor Head’s World Tower

With the release of the 1991 album Doctor Head's World Tower, alternative rock group Flipper's Guitar introduced a wholly original sound to the burgeoning music scene in Japan, and even created a new genre dubbed "Shibuya-Kei". For this entry in the Vinyl Vault, we spoke with our friend and zine artist Randy Asakura about the history, influence and legacy of this seminal, yet underappreciated, album.

Album: Doctor Head’s World Tower (1991)
Artist: Flipper’s Guitar  
Label: Polystar
Genres: Shibuya-Kei, Plunderphonics, Alternative Rock  
Favorite song: "Groove Tube"
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Why did you choose this record? 
 
I chose this record because it was the first Japanese album that I truly listened to, and yet it remains my favorite to this day. It was one of the first albums that I sat down and listened to from beginning to end as a complete work. At the tender age of 18, I foolishly felt like I had exhausted listening to most popular music from the Western canon, and I had the idea of looking up the best music made in my home country of Japan. I came across a list online that ranked the “best” albums, and based on the title and cover I decided to start with Doctor Head’s World Tower (1991) by Flipper’s Guitar. I bought a used CD online (it would be a decade before I could afford the vinyl) and I checked the mailbox weekly, my cheeks apple red with anticipation.
 
When I played the first track, I immediately recognized the sample from The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.” It then went into a surreal, dreamy production that was sustained for the entirety of its 57 minute runtime. It was the coolest album I had ever heard. The samples, melodies, and rhythm all conjured an image of, I wish there was a better way to describe it, cool. I hadn’t yet deciphered what the lyrics actually meant, but the sound was so exciting and psychedelic and entrancing that I was enamored and it immediately became my favorite album. The second song, “Groove Tube”, in particular had a melody so uplifting and otherworldly that I was almost brought to tears. The only other time this has happened was when I listened to Abbey Road (1969) for the first time. And the last song, where snippets of the previous songs were edited into a sound collage, made it feel like a complete statement. What that statement was I still don’t know, but it didn’t matter when the music sounded this good.   
 
 
Give us some background on this record. What does the album sound like?
 
The album sounds like if Primal Scream’s Screamadelica and the quieter ambient tracks from My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless and the UK Guitar Pop scene of the late 80’s and the kitsch of the 60’s were remixed in technicolor with a Japanese filter.
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​What is the significant history of this record?
 
I can attempt to give a background on the importance of this album. Flipper’s Guitar is a duo consisting of Keigo Oyamada (later rebranding himself as Cornelius and a prolific producer) and Kenji Ozawa (who went on to have a successful solo career, more in the vein of pop). They started as a group, but quickly became a duo when making their second album, Camera Talk, and immediately disbanded after making their third and last album, Doctor Head’s World Tower (1991).
 
The title is inspired by the 1968 Monkees film, Head, a transgressive and self aware art film that’s worth seeking out- it was given a criterion release. The album is also a self aware journey that’s not afraid to cut and paste melodies from other hip artists at the time. The sound of the album is largely inspired by the Baggy/Madchester scene of the early 90’s, and some songs basically take the backing tracks from Primal Scream’s Screamadelica album (“Loaded” and “Come Together”) with guitars over them. Yet, despite the copycat nature, the group introduced something wholly original to the burgeoning music scene in Japan at the time, and even created a new genre referred to as “Shibuya-Kei.”
 
Shibuya-Kei is named after the district in Tokyo known, especially at the time, for its record shops and hip, young gatherings. The genre takes its influence mainly from western music of the 60’s and its aesthetics. Flipper’s Guitar took a vastly different approach with Doctor Head’s World Tower and spliced in genres that were unfamiliar to many people in Japan at the time of its release in 1991- a combination of rave-dance music, psychedelia, dream pop, and plunderphonics. This was released right after the Japanese economic bubble had burst, and the City Pop music of the 80’s (which is currently seeing a huge rise in popularity because of Youtube algorithm recommendations) had met its end. The optimism was gone, and in came Flipper’s Guitar with its sarcastic, self aware cut and paste soundscape- the likes of which had never been heard before by the youths of the country. The influence of this album can still be felt today, and artists felt compelled to experiment with their sound and move away from the polished work of the 80’s and into an alternative era. Even 30 years later, the production still sounds fresh.

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RIYL (Recommend If You Like): Fishmans, Pizzicato Five, My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, The Stone Roses


What pressing is this record? / Is this a highly collectible record?
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This record was pressed in 1991, a year when vinyl wasn’t being manufactured in high numbers and compact discs were being pushed for retail sale (especially in Japan). Because of its limited quantity, the advent of being recommended foreign music on Youtube for a wider audience, and the resurgence of vinyl, the record has become somewhat collectible

  
What’s the story behind you purchasing this album? 

Many years after I had purchased the CD, I discovered that there were vinyl editions of their albums that were all released in 1991. I had gotten into listening to vinyl, so 7 years ago I took a solo trip to Osaka and Kyoto to check out records shops and go digging. Records sold in Japan tend to be kept in immaculate condition, so I was excited to pick up some artists that were sold for much cheaper overseas. I found the Doctor Head’s World Tower (1991) LP at a small record shop that was located in an outdoor shopping center in Kyoto. About 5 years after that I returned to the same record shop and the owner remembered me as the guy that picked that record up for a (relatively) bargain price. I see it go for anywhere from $800-$1000 on Japanese auction sites now. For some reason it has skyrocketed in value and keeps going up every year. I’m guessing one of the reasons is people who grew up with the album now being able to afford paying higher prices which drives the value up.

Do you have any specific memories of listening to this record?

A nice memory I have associated with this album is I had gone to see Keigo Oyamada (of Flipper’s Guitar) perform at The Independent in San Francisco in 2018, and afterwards I met him and told him about how much I love Doctor Head’s World Tower. He was very surprised and humble about his status, and asked how I knew about it. He didn’t know people in the states were aware of the reach the band had.


Tell us more about your record collection in general.

I collect a fairly wide variety of genres, but a large portion of it are Japanese artists and private pressings (if it’s a Japanese private pressing, then that’s a goldmine). Private pressings are made by artists and bands in small quantities (sometimes just given to close friends and family members), and tend to have very interesting and unique music that never reached a larger audience. That’s been changing lately with YouTube giving a lot of exposure to album uploads and labels like Light in the Attic reissuing a number of otherwise unknown albums, but I try to seek out original pressings. There’s a lot of them waiting to be discovered out there in the wild.