Quruli -- Tokyo（東京）

 

Contributor nikala was the first one of us to introduce the band Quruli（くるり）onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and it was a most entertaining tune since its 2014 "Liberty & Gravity" was one eccentric lallapaloosa of a mix of Okinawan music, Moldovan trumpets, and rap among other influences as nikala stated. Then several years following that article, I provided my own Quruli article with their 2016 single "Kohaku Iro no Machi, Shanghai Gani no Asa"（琥珀色の街、上海蟹の朝）which was a more conventionally cool soul groove number.

Now, from what I've read in their J-Wiki article, there have been eight iterations of Quruli since their inception in 1996 which included slight lineup changes and perhaps also their type of music during their time. Apparently, for the two songs that I've mentioned in the above paragraph, that was in their most recent iteration. I'd also read in nikala's article that Quruli identifies itself as an alternative rock band which I didn't see in those above songs.

However, I decided to go as far back as possible and so I did find Quruli's first single as a major act, "Tokyo" which was released in October 1998. Indeed, it's as different as one can get from "Liberty & Gravity" and it's a song that was from their first iteration. At the time, the band centered around the three members of Shigeru Kishida (岸田繁) (vocals and guitar), Masashi Sato (佐藤征史) (bass), and Nobuyuki Mori（森信行） (drums), and together on "Tokyo", they provided that 1990s jangly alternative rock that I remember hearing from the United States from the early part of that decade.

The above video is a shortened version of "Tokyo". Written and composed by Kishida, the story is about a fellow living his life in the capital while still having feelings for a former flame and wondering whether to dare give her another call. The single got as high as No. 64 on Oricon and was also placed on Quruli's first album "Sayonara Stranger"（さよならストレンジャー...Goodbye, Stranger） which came out in April 1999; it hit No. 16.