aoyama -- High Heel Douri（ハイヒール通り）

 

Whether you believe that City Pop music should simply be restricted to the 1970s and 1980s or it can be expanded for any urban contemporary tune in Japan into the 21st century, it's still wonderful to know that the groove is still happening among certain bands and singers, no matter the name of the genre or the period of time.

Last September, I wrote up an article about singer-songwriter Rie Aono（青野りえ）who has been in action since the mid-1990s and was still singing as of 2022. However, back in 2007, she and four others started up a Neo-City Pop unit by the name of aoyama, and they managed to produce a mini-album titled "Tsuki wo Yomu"（月を読む...Read the Moon）. From the album comes "High Heel Douri" (High Heel Avenue).

Written by Aono and composed by Hideaki Ishikawa（石川秀明）, "High Heel Douri" is a lively, funky and bright number, although unfortunately the above is truncated by a minute or so (Spotify has the album for members). The song seems to bring together the funk, some gnarly psychedelic electric guitar from the late 60s or 70s, and some of that Neo-City Pop sound. Incidentally, the photos above and below are of the actual Aoyama (and Omotesando) in Tokyo.