I'm on vacation away from my cats. I took pictures before i left so that when I come back I can check to make sure they're the same cats

This is an interesting one, though I picked up from a more music/tech history point of view which the first side kinda neatly follows.

The first track is a fairly simple arrangement, vocals and guitar, with a number of following songs adding additional elements: a counter melody, percussion, harmonies, ensemble arrangements, as the tech improved and additional western influences seeped in.

It's before the US pop sensibilities of the '40s kicked into high gear everywhere, so the songs presented have a fairly folksy vibe that was kinda common in the '20s before giving way to some of the jazz band stylings of the '30s, and the record itself also sidesteps some of the uh... more questionable elements that were introduced/forced into the genre by the nationalist fervour of wartime Japan and it's government with the time period it covers.

The genre itself helped set the groundwork for popular recorded music in genre, eventually spawning enka, j-jazz and, of course, j-pop. So an interesting little snapshot!

Also, Luma found it pretty chill.

one stripe