RUSSIAN PAGE | PLAYLISTS | FEATURED ARTISTS | FEATURED LABELS | ABOUT US | LINKS | MAIL United Future Organization links:
United Future Organization #201,2-15-7 NISHIAZABU,MINATO-KU,TOKYO JAPAN TEL/+81 3 3797 1514 FAX/3793 0250 Page made by Italian fan: http://members.xoom.com/Dale_Cooper/ufo.html Page made by Japanese fan: http://www.j-link.ne.jp/~mayumi/ United Future Organization A trio of former DJs, numbering French-born Raphael Sebbag and Japanese personnel Tadashi Yabe and Toshio Matsuura, based in Japan, whose mix of dance-jazz, Latin and club sounds has endeared them to a British audience. Talkin' Loud boss Gilles Peterson heard their singles 'I Love My Baby' and 'Loud Minority' and chose the band (aka UFO) to launch a new label, Brownswood. The idea was to contrast natural elements in urban settings, though the label was actually named after his 'local'. There is a warm, breezy feel to their material, and a genuine conflagration of styles. Their debut album featured contributions from Galliano and MC Solaar, plus jazz luminaries Jon Hendricks and Japanese talent like singer Monday Michiru. As part of their Brownswood/Phonogram contract, they were invited to supervise a Japanese jazz compilation. Home Features Columns Art Reviews Exclaim http://www.shmooze.net/pwcasual/zines/exclaim/features/9709/nf/16txt.htm United Future Organization – Recycling Program By Prasad Bidaye Armed with just a sampler and an eclectic record collection, Japan's United Future Organization knows how to make music that's radically different from everything else. They don't play any instruments, they can't sing and they can't even mix records like a regular DJ. But they have a unique penchant for cutting up flavours from all over the planet and dropping them like acid on wax. Since they hit the jazz-dance scene in '92, the trio of Raphael Sebbag, Toshio Matsuura and Tadashi Yabe have been on a quest to recycle the fabulous music of the planet's past and educate audiences on what time it is, and what a time it could be. Their current release, The Third Perspective, finds them continuing on that path and exploring deeply into the harmonies and frictions between jazz, Latin, Indian and African rhythms as well as the excitement of soundtrack music. "We've been playing around with so many different things for years as DJs," says Sebbag. "When you get into jazz or Latin music there's so much to discover and play. And each one of us have different tastes, so when we make our albums, we try to put all of our different ideas together to make something completely different with different sounds, different melodies, different atmospheres. It's a bit un-square, but after all, the purpose of jazz is to explore something else in your mind, to explore some other things with the music as well with different kinds of music. Curiosity is the main thing for us." Sebbag firmly states that music is always "more than the basic cha-cha-cha," but still it's strange how he and his crew would be so fascinated with music like jazz and Latin, sounds so distant from their own rich Japanese and North African cultures. "I started DJing with a lot of Latin music, which no one was doing in Japan," explains Sebbag. "And when you are into music, you try to know about it and you find that there are connections When I was [growing up] in Africa, maybe I was listening to the percussion you have in Arabic music. And you have to know that the Arabs went to Spain and influenced a lot of Spanish music. And then the Spanish music goes to America and gets mixed up with European music, Native Indian music, African as well. Then there you have Latin music and then you have jazz. If you do some research you'll find there are some strange similarities in the music, in the songs, in the beat, in the percussion, and then strangely, everything is connected." "Japanese people have always listened to so many kinds of music," adds Matsuura. "Soul, funk, jazz, hip-hop, rock. And now in Japan, people can get information from all over the world in real-time. We can choose everything and mix everything." The Third Perspective unfolds with strong melodies rarely achieved by the average sample artist, and is enough to make a soundtrack composer envious. Blue pianos duet with film noire sound bites on "The Moving Shadows," culminating with a soft fanfare of orchestral horns; while guest vocalist Chezere croons seductively over a dense attack of Latin breaks and dancing pianos on "Friends- We'll Be." The entire listen is surreal, filmic and fun. "We worked more on the melodies this time. We also tried to create music with a soundtrack feel as well. If you listen to some soundtracks, it's really amazing the freedom of creativity those musicians have. It's crazy. Using timpani, clave sounds, strings, orchestras. "What is important to us as well is to recycle the music. People think with electronics, all this techno, doing this 'hype' music, people think this is very trendy, very quirky. If you look in the past, to people who worked on electronic sounds or avant-garde musicians, or people who tried to explore a lot of new and different kinds of music, what you're hearing now, what people are doing in dance music is really ridiculous. Let's be honest with ourselves. A lot of people have forgotten their music, their fabulous music! And then some people see more in themselves than in the great work of people before. People have no idea that what has been done is really fantastic. "There are too many things out there and there's too little time to listen to it. Old and new. But the point is to get something else. When it's explorative, when it's recycled, it's positive." Home Features Columns Art Reviews http://wallofsound.go.com/archive/reviews/stories/2922_53Index.html United Future Organization 3rd Perspective Label: Antilles Genre: none File Under: Jazzy grooves for the spy in you Rating: 85 While London continues to be the closest thing we have to a modern music utopia, one of the more unexpected metropolises making innovative sounds today is Tokyo, Japan. Dig beneath the surface of the Yankee-mimicking kitsch-pop the country has come to be known for and you'll find a burgeoning subculture of musicians, jazz bohemians, and deejays who are truly influencing underground movements worldwide. United Future Organization (U.F.O.), a loose-knit group of Tokyo musicians, is the leading purveyor on this vibrant scene, creating upbeat grooves that defy categorization. What they do doesn't qualify so much as "dance music" as it does music that compels you to move, whether in a full-sweat boogie or a sultry saunter under the moonlight. 3rd Perspective, the group's third album, is a fictional soundtrack to a film that never existed. Though it's not an entirely new concept, U.F.O. pulls it off with some clever ideas: they mix their jazz tones with bits of what sounds like film dialogue; they sing only in French and English; and they draw on everything from the samba to full-blown cinematic orchestration to set their moods. Opening the score is "His Name Is . . . ," an understated introduction that revels in the tension created by its dub-like bass and tinkering piano keys. Elevating the spy-film atmosphere is "The Planet Plan," an up-tempo, brassy number with punch--clearly the action sequence of the "film." "Spy's Spice (Mon Espionne)" is a bouncy go-go track that could be straight out of the Our Man Flint film series, while "Friends--We'll Be," featuring the female vocals of Chezere, is a breezy serenade in pure sixties diva style. The album closes with a number of jazzy, somewhat down-tempo creations, like the Latin-flavored "Cosmic Gypsy" and the swank interpretation of Horace Silver's "Nica's Dream." U.F.O. is undeniably, even intentionally, quirky, which may lead some to dismiss an album like 3rd Perspective as a novelty. But the collective's arrangements are fresh, and their execution of this faux soundtrack is truly masterful. So much so, that after listening to the album a few times, you might just start believing you actually saw this movie. — Joseph Monish Patel Amazon.com With a thing for vintage spy-thriller themes and ersatz jazz, the international collective United Future Organization has an inherent aura of cool. On 3rd Perspective, its most accomplished release to date, the group has no problem living up to the funk and flair of its forefathers. Moving through soulful vamps and sleek rhythms, the sharply dressed band bashes out the ideal soundtrack for any jet-set daydream. UFO even has their own answer to Shirley Bassey in a woman named Chezere on the 007-ish "Friends." Elsewhere, "Spy Spice (Mon Espionage)" sounds like a lost gem from the Quincy Jones catalog, while "Picaresque Eye" prominently features soothing, exotic percussion and the poetic voice of Skip McDonald. Kitschy but classy. --Aidin Vaziri Unique in Quality Reviewer: Armed Sauzier from Hong Kong January 8, 2000 Although criticised for sounding like a soundtrack to a 70's movie (aka Lalo Schifrin) - it's meant to be. UFO manage to keep the same groove throughout the entire album allowing it to roll from track 1 and back without you noticing. This is managed despite them pulling in a wide range of musical influences making each track extremely unique as they take you into an unpredictable direction (I'm sure I heard Tom Waits'Swordfishtrombone in there somewhere) - note the superb rendition of Horace Silver's 'Nica's Dream'. The bass has that deep and fat sound that allows tracks like 'His Name Is...', 'The Planet Plan' and 'Fool's Paradise' to realign your heart beat. The keyboard, guitar and drum sound is just phenomenal - holding their own in a way JTQ and Corduroy would be proud of. More importantly though, are the instruments that take a couple of listens to to realise what they are. Guest vocalists on a few tracks ('Friends - We'll Be', 'Waltz (Le Serpent Rouge)', etc) bring another dimension to the music without making it sound like a bunch of musicians who can't write vocal music (believe me, I'm not a fan of vocal asid jass/funk music - and this impresses). Only one weak track on there for me (I won't say which, find your own) but on a 60min album of solid tunes that pushes the boundaries of contemporary Asid Jass and Funk - who cares? http://www.organ-b.net/dj/matsuura.html WORKS [ SINGLE ] I Love My Baby(My Baby Loves Jazz) 1991 Loud Minority 1992 Nemurenai (Kind of Groove/France)1992 United Future Airlines (Talkin loud/UK)1995 Cosmic Gypsy The Planet Plan 1996 [ ALBUM ] Jazzin' 91-92 1992 United Future Organization 1993 No Sound Is Too Taboo 1994 Remix 1 1995 3rd Perspective 1996 Spicy Remix 1997 Now And Then 1997 [ PRODUCE ] V.A. / Multidirection 1994 Small Circle of Friends / e.p. Monday Michiru / What Is Jazz (Kitty) U.F.O./ Stolen Moments (Impaluse/USA) V.A. / Multidirection 2 1995 Small Circle of Friends / A Quiet Neighbor Small Circle of Friends / Wonder Small Circle of Friends / Never Never Land 1996 Small Circle of Friends / Plat form 5 1997 Akiko Wada / Dynamaite Groove (East West) [ REMIX ] Original Love / Million Secret of Jazz (TOSHIBA-EMI) 1992 TAKAGI KAN / Essential Logic (Sony) 1993 Monday Michiru / Scat Attack (Kitty) 1996 Hitomi / By Myself (Avex) *Unreleased P.Umiliani/ Mana Mana (Right Rempo/Italy) 1997 Ecd / Oretachi-Ni-Asu-Wa-Nai (Cutting Edge) Armando Trovaioki/ Sesso Matto (Right Rempo/Italy) OST/Lupin 3rd(Nippon Columbia)1998 [ COMPILATION ] Freedom Jazz Dance (Victor) 1992 Descarga Latina 1-2 (Victor) 1993-95 Suite Espanole 1-7 (P-Vine) 1994-96 Zanzibar 1995 Tropical Jazz Mood (Bad News) Playin' Loud (Talkin Loud Rare tracks) 1996 Jazzeando Cubano(Caramba) J.P.T'S Propulsion(Caramba) City Lights(MME)1998 Night Trip(MME)1999 Zanzibar2(MME) [ CM est ] TOYOTA 1993 UCC 1995 FORD (EUROPE) 1996- NTT(Grobal Card Project /Internet) 1997 HARPIC (WORLD WIDE) 1998 Absolut Vodka Home Page CASIO 1998-1999 [ DJ TOUR ] UK-Germany-Austria 1993 NEW MUSIC SEMINAR (USA) 1994 Australia 1995 UK(Ministry of Sound)-France USA-Canada UK 1996 WORLD TOUR Europe-USA-Canada /33VENUES 1997 [ CLUB ] Yellow (Tokyo) 1991- Blue (Tokyo) 1993- [ VIDEO ] U.F.O. / The Scene 1995