the chef cooks me -- WEEKEND MAGIC NUMBERS/Now's the time (New Feeling)

 

Scott put up a new episode of "Holly Jolly X'masu" last week featuring a compilation album called "We Wish You a Happy" from 2010 which has some new J-Xmas tunes and interesting covers of J-Xmas songs of yore and Christmas numbers from across the pond. So, if you have a chance, give those a gander. None of the acts in "We Wish You a Happy" are bands that I had ever heard of, and there were a few of them whose contributions on the album can be found on YouTube so once KKP's annual Xmas season gets underway again in a few weeks, I'll be happy to cover those.

One band whose Xmas contribution of "silent night" I couldn't find on YouTube was the chef cooks me. The name might sound like a threat from a horror movie involving deranged kitchen masters and frankly, I have no idea why that name came about. However, they formed in 2003 and are still going with the categorization of genre on J-Wiki being pop and techno.

Still, the first track of their debut album from November 2006, "Our Cooking Hour"（アワークッキングアワー）, "WEEKEND MAGIC NUMBERS" sounds more like a party-hearty indies rock tune for the college kids. Written by keyboardist/vocalist Ryo "simoryo" Shimomura（下村亮介）and composed by the chef cooks me, the music video features the band and a couple of chefs having a time of it in the studio. The overall feeling is "What the heck...let's party like there's no tomorrow!". Speaking of that video, the YouTuber izmint uploaded it all the way back in October 2006, so it's gotta be one of the oldest examples on the platform.

Now, let's warp ahead by thirteen years into 2019. By this point, the chef cooks me's lineup had decreased down to just simoryo, who's also been a support member for the bands chatmonchy（チャットモンチー） and ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION. In October of that year, he released his fourth album "Feeling" in which can be found the track "Now's the time (New Feeling)". It's a pretty catchy piano pop piece with some added cool sax, and I like the video which was recorded on one of those old shopping streets that can be found anywhere and everywhere in Japan. I've certainly enjoyed them in Asakusa and Nakano in Tokyo.