Crazy Ken Band -- Shinpai Muyo Bushi（心配無用節）

 

Last night's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was a pretty entertaining episode, all told. We had new popular group Monaki（モナキ）with their senpai group Junretsu（純烈）, an old favourite in the form of an Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）and Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）duet that my friend and I used to sing at karaoke in the late 1980s, and quite a bit of soulful stuff. As well, there was a brief announcement of the passing of enka singer Nobue Matsubara（松原のぶえ）.

As for the soulful stuff, Crazy Ken Band（クレイジーケンバンド）appeared with their leader Ken Yokoyama（横山剣）to sing their latest digital single from July 2026, "Shinpai Muyo Bushi" (The No Worries Song). Usually when I add the Labels for this group, it's pretty simple: the music is always gonna be J-R&B. Ahhh...but this time, I have to add an extra genre...that of enka. Crazily enough for Crazy Ken Band, "Shinpai Muyo Bushi" may have the usual funk and soul in there, but even my mother could distinctly hear the traditional undercurrent of enka popping in and out of Yokoyama's melody. I had been thinking of whether to apply the hybrid New Adult Music tag, too; however, the enka and funk n' soul were in there but separate rather than blended so I just kept it as enka and J-R&B. 

Lyrically, it's all about brushing off any of the problems since after all, they really don't even amount to a hill of beans in the grand scheme of things. With good ol' Ken by your side at the bar, the song is the reassurance that everything will be A-OK!

Miharu Koshi (Haruomi Hosono) -- Figlio Perduto

By Dick Thomas Johnson via Wikimedia Commons

Recently, I came across a series of YouTube videos from the channel "remain" which has provided recognizable songs with titles that are unknown to a lot of people. The second entry in the first of these videos is a good example. Until a week ago, I hadn't known the title "O Fortuna" by Carl Orff but this 1936 song is something that I have heard often enough to depict some massively epic scenes in movies, TV and commercials. I'd even thought that "O Fortuna" had been the song to accompany the trailer for the original "Cliffhanger" with Sly Stallone back in 1993 but I was totally wrong.

Just a few minutes ago, I finally found out the title for this other classical music piece that I've heard many times in my life. This happens to be "Allegretto", the 2nd movement of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 7 in A Major Op. 92" from the early 1800s, and perhaps not surprisingly, I've heard this being performed as background music in certain pensive scenes in movies. Apparently, a version with lyrics by Chiara Ferraù was made under the title "Figlio Perduto".

Now, one might ask why I am talking about classical music here since I'm not a classical music fan per se. Well, as I've indicated above, I may not be a fan but I have heard my fair share of the genre over the years through public media and the rare concert I've attended. Also, I was informed by an anonymous commenter last night and I'd actually read a "New York Times" article back on Sunday regarding Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）latest album "Yours Sincerely" that was released a mere few days ago. 

According to a review of "Yours Sincerely" on Pitchfork, it seems as if Hosono in his old age has decided to tie up some loose ends in some of his music over the decades, and the products of his tightening up (inside joke here) make up the tracks. Going back to that Beethoven movement, one of those tracks is Hosono's rendition of "Figlio Perduto" which is supposed to be based on Sarah Brightman's approach to the song back in the year 2000. As well, according to the notes underneath the YouTube video, additional lyricists were Hosono himself and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 

The "Figlio Perduto" here is ancient, intimate and perhaps even tearjerking as if only a very few of us were invited to a tiny salon in Hosono's house thanks to the reassuring plucking of the guitar and the haunting and halting delivery of the lyrics by frequent Hosono collaborator Miharu Koshi（コシミハル）and someone named KuKuKu. But no matter the dramatic change in arrangement, I could instantly recognize the tune and it finally inspired me to find out how it's been identified. 

Kaze -- Wasureteyuku Rekishi（忘れゆく歴史）

 

I recall posting an article on a Kaze（風）song about a month ago, and there were quite a lot of categories in the Labels below it.

This time, though, the Labels are short and sweet. Kaze was doing what it was doing best during their time in the 1970s which was providing folk songs. One half of the duo, Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）, provided "Wasureteyuku Rekishi" (Fading History) that was a track from their 2nd studio album from January 1976, "Toki wa Nagarete..."（時は流れて…Time Passes）. It's a mid-tempo and fairly hopping tune about a man trying to get over the heartbreak of a breakup going into the fall. He tells himself that his lost Lenore is gradually becoming one more drop into the ocean of past blurring memories but by the end, he is about to admit that winter may not bring back the cold but also the pain of losing her. Nope, not the happiest tune but hey, that is also life.

Shikao Suga -- Yuudachi（夕立）

https://kokugo.jitenon.jp/word/p51842

 

I know that there are many examples of such kanji in Japanese, but I often marvel at how much information a couple of characters can provide. For example, 「夕立」or "yuudachi" means a sudden cloudburst on a summer afternoon. It's kinda like suddenly yanking out eight people from an old Toyota Corolla. It also means that one has to be careful when using the expression since you may get some quizzical looks using "yuudachi" if a snow squall happens on New Year's Eve.

And we bring ourselves to this "Yuudachi", namely singer-songwriter Shikao Suga's（スガシカオ） track from his September 1999 3rd album "Sweet". I believe I heard this when the man was doing his medley on a recent episode of "Asaichi"（あさイチ）some weeks ago, and I found it rather cool and summery as we approached the final weeks of the hot season. It also strikes me as being rather old-school funky and laidback and it's reminiscent of some of the stuff that Original Love has been doing all these years. Imagine the lad doing this on his guitar at an early September BBQ party at your house. As for the album, "Sweet" hit No. 3 on Oricon.

Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian -- Bamboo Houses

 

As I've mentioned before, I'm like my five-year-old self lost in a department store (five minutes away from getting screamed at by Mom for not sticking by her side) when it comes to the many genres within electronic music. I have never heard of grime music before aside from the fact that it originated in London around a quarter of a century ago. For those who are also unacquainted with the genre, you can take a listen to the samples above.

But apparently, this musical collaboration between Yellow Magic Orchestsra's Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Japan's David Sylvian called "Bamboo Houses" is seen as a prototype for grime music, some twenty years before it was actually born. Released as a single in July 1982, it's been labeled on Wikipedia under electronic, avant-pop, New Wave, proto‑grime and synthpop. Within my personal limited knowledge, I can definitely go with the technopop and New Wave and I'm sure back when it was released, most kayo kyoku fans were probably remarking "Uh, yeah...that's the Professor going weird on us again!". Indeed, it is original. Even the cover with a pouty Sakamoto in dapper tie, shirt and suspenders...and eye shadow probably took people's breath away. 

I'm not sure about the bamboo house, but strangely enough (and perhaps as of this writing, I'd eaten too many roasted peanuts), I kinda think the collage of sound in "Bamboo Houses" makes me feel as if I were stumbling through a crystalline forest of bamboo trees. But at the same time, it's oh-so-Sakamoto! Several months later, the Professor and Sylvian would work together again on "Forbidden Colours" whose variant song is known under a much more famous title.

Nobue Matsubara -- Enka Michi（演歌みち）

Yahoo News

Unfortunately, this week of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" will begin with some sad news from the Japanese music industry. Along with a number of famous people in the USA and UK who have passed away recently, I also have to inform readers that veteran enka singer Nobue Matsubara（松原のぶえ）died suddenly yesterday at the age of 65 although the cause hasn't yet been determined definitively. I found out last night through the Mixi news feed.

Born as Nobue Hirohara（廣原伸恵）and raised in Oita Prefecture, she was scouted into the show business industry as a junior high school senior and made the move to Tokyo while in high school. "Onna no Defune"（おんなの出船）was her debut single in 1979 which earned her a Best New Artist prize in a number of competitions. She would have to wait several years until the invitation from NHK came for her to appear on the 1985 Kohaku Utagassen to sing that hit song, though.

Matsubara made a total of seven appearances on the Kohaku between 1985 and 1992. Her second appearance came at the end of 1986, thanks to her 10th single released in June 1985, "Enka Michi" (The Path of Enka). Written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, it comes across as a bittersweet telling of the life of an enka singer with all of its ups and downs. I'm not sure whether it was meant to be autobiographical or just a general impression of a career of someone in the industry. 

My condolences go out to Matsubara's family, friends and many fans. Her 67th and final single, "Tsutenkaku no Sora no Shita"（通天閣の空の下...Under the Sky of Tsutenkaku） was only released last October.

TPO Meets Linda Masters -- Rock the Hour

From Discogs

Well, if I'm going to jump and burrow down a rabbit hole, why not do it on a sunny Sunday afternoon? Plus, I also gotta shake off the post-lunch narcolepsy. All this began became I was scrounging around to sate my curiosity on other Japanese technopop bands; one can't survive simply on YMO alone. Then I found this 2025 album titled "Techno Kayō Vol. 1 - Japanese Techno Pop 1981 - 1989" which was produced in the Netherlands.

One track tugged at my ears and it was called "Rock the Hour" from the 1985 album "Linda". This was a collaboration that went by the moniker TPO Meets Linda Masters (getta load of that big 80s hair!). Neither band nor singer were familiar to me; from Gemini, I found out that Masters was an American chanteuse who was active in the 1980s synthpop and Hi-NRG scene, especially via Japan. TPO may have stood for Tiny Panx Organization and it was also active during the 1980s. Their membership included keyboardist Taku Iwasaki（岩崎工）who was involved with the technopop band FILMS and then much later got into the soundtrack for the 2013 anime "Gatchaman Crowds".

"Rock the Hour" isn't rock at all but it is a fascinating and catchy blend of City Pop and technopop with Masters' plaintive vocals that often get into some nice jazzy harmonies. It was noted that TPO had wanted to bridge the gap between YMO's technopop and the 80s dancefloor stuff, and "Rock the Hour" has been provided as one big example of this bridge. Plus, for all those pop culture nostalgia buffs, there is plenty of music (including orchestral hits) from those old-fashioned synths and drum machines. As well, I do love the design of the cover. The Memphis Group would be so proud.