I knew I was in for a mystery when I saw this face.
The album cover “The Adventures of Kindaichi Kosuke”
One night while listening to a Japanese Funk station I saw this amazing image come up.
I had to know more.
When I originally searched this I ended up only finding the 1977 vinyl release.
It was also only released in Japan.
It turns out the album was based on a series of Japanese murder mystery books written by Seishi Yokomizo.
Lucky for me there is a resurgence in this media.
The books are being published in English for the first time, and there was a re-release of the vinyl record in 2020.
I have read the first two books, “The Honjin Murders” and “The Inugami Curse”
The main character, Kindaichi Kosuke, is a charming private detective. Which, at risk of having a bad take, is like a mixture of Sherlock Homes and Columbo.
The mysteries are delightful, while reading I would think of a possible answer to the mystery and the characters would shortly bring up the point as well, then explain what I missed.
For those familiar with Japanese culture in the time period, might have a better chance to understand what is happening early.
I am still reading the next book, “Village of the Eight Graves” but I can not wait to finish it.
When it comes to the album, that is where the story gets weird.
The album was based of the novels, by an independent band.
They named their band “The Mystery Kindaichi band” after the lead character in the novels.
The most common appearance of Kosuke Kindaichi
“When I first heard an album was being made based on my novels, I felt very strange. I could understanding if my novels were turned into films and then soundtracks were recorded based on theses films. But this time, the music created was directly inspired by my novels.”
Seishi Yokomizo
The Funk music contains many traditional Japanese instruments, and many other odd choices like a screaming woman, and police sirens.
It sometimes would go to something I am hesitant to call disco.
The perfect album for such a unique series. I would suggest give it a read, or at least a listen.
Even if I have no idea still why album art is a vampire playing a golden flute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_-LZudHEk7k
Enjoy and consider grabbing a copy yourself!