Frigid as all heck out there but I can't complain about the sunshine over every place today. It's good to get that Vitamin D.
Seeing that it is a sunny Sunday, and also for the fact that it is Valentine's Day, I think something apropos is in order. Therefore, here is "Mujuuryoku no Photographer" (Photographer in Zero Gravity) from the pop/rock band Uwanosora（ウワノソラ）. The song is a part of the band's 2nd single "Kurage"（くらげ...Jellyfish） which was released in August 2020.
Although Uwanosora has been categorized in J-Wiki as a pop/rock unit, the music that I've heard so far from them such as "Umbrella Walking" seems to take them more into AOR or even a new version of Sunshine Pop. The opening piano and underlying rhythms for "Mujuuryoku no Photographer" even pay some tribute to those West Coast AOR sounds, and the whole effect is simply to drink in the weekend relaxation with a cup of chamomile tea. I think the video spells it out quite succinctly.
Hi J-Canuck, it's been a while! How have you been doing?
ReplyDeleteI really like the song, and I just wanted to ask—what's the difference between city pop and J-AOR exactly? They seem like very similar sister genres just based on the countless songs I've heard from both over the years and I know that city pop draws heavily from West Coast AOR in addition to funk and jazz, but where does one draw the line exactly between the two in your opinion?
Hi, Matt. It's been a while, hasn't it? Good to hear from you.
DeleteExcellent question and one that I sometimes have had to wrestle from time to time depending on the song. I have put the two genres side by side when describing them, and when it comes to a particular song, I have to think about whether it is one or the other, and often I end up categorizing it with both genres in Labels.
When it comes to distinguishing the two in my own way, I usually think that AOR is a lot breezier and the images that come to mind are of some sort of resort out at the sea rather than the city. City Pop to me feels like I'm listening to something truly within a metropolis and the instruments that come out are a really bouncy bass and a wailing electric guitar along with a brassy horn section (although not all of them are necessarily in one song together).
Having said that, City Pop has indeed drawn a lot from West Coast AOR so the explanation in the above paragraph may come across as rather strange. However, perhaps one example is that Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love" is City Pop to me while folk/New Music group Higurashi's "Bamen" (https://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.com/2021/02/higurashi-bamen.html) is AOR. Back on Friday, I did an article featuring Chika Ueda for a song of hers that I put down under both City Pop and AOR(https://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.com/2021/02/chika-ueda-madogiwa-no-high-heel.html), but of course, opinions will probably vary depending on the listener.
Due to an interview that I will be doing at the end of the month, I'm currently grappling about what the entirety of kayo kyoku really is as well.
Such a fantastic track. Once again, the single (more like an EP) with this song is nowhere to be found domestically. It's just not right.
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