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| From Good Free Photos |
Considering yesterday's slight flood in the bathroom that I noted in yesterday's Casiopea's article, things are quite a bit more chill in the household today. But man, I could have used a cocktail...or three or four...to assuage my stress. Speaking of which, you can take a gander at the above video featuring the winner of the 2019 Suntory Cocktail Award. To be honest, I'd like to taste Asuka Hijiya's Shunmu cocktail as well.
I'd been wondering what the first released-in-2024 song on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" would be and as it turns out, it's this one. "Cocktail From Japan" is a track from good ol' Nash Music Library's January 12th album "Stylish Japan 2". Short and sweet, perhaps like the Shunmu, I wouldn't say that it is a perfect melding of traditional instrumental and technopop; it's more of an amiable give-and-take between those two genres with the synths pumping away on one side while the koto and shakuhachi are playing on the other. So, if I were to think of a cocktail analogy here, maybe it would be a layered drink like a B-52.
Unfortunately, I've never had the pleasure of drinking a B-52 though I've seen it made and imbibed by friends. It took a while to get a response from them afterwards, though. Perhaps if I downed one, I would be sleeping it off in the corner for the rest of the day.🍸 Incidentally, as of this writing, "Cocktail From Japan" is only the second song that I've blessed with the Traditional Instrumental label. You can also check out the first one, Michio Miyagi's（宮城道雄）"Haru no Umi"（春の海）.
I didn't know music like "Cocktail From Japan" existed! This is very refreshing just like a nice cocktail might be.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I have to commend the folks from Weathernews Japan for introducing me to NML.
DeleteFireminer here. I expect a cocktail song to be a Friday, not Monday song. But you raise some interesting points. Lately there have been some songs on top of the Spotify chart that try to incorporate acoustic instruments. Maybe it is the trend of this time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the B-52 is just way to sweet for me, and this is from a guy who have knocked cheap rum-and-coke his entire life.
Hi, Fireminer. Friday would be an ideal day for the cocktail but knowing a little about the corporate life in Japan, it wouldn't be surprising if every night of the week had Happy Hour! :) There has been a collaboration of the genres recently with Latin and min'yo for example that I've noticed so maybe various types of fusion might indeed be the thing now.
DeleteFrom what I've seen of the ingredients for a B-52, it would probably be too sweet and powerful for me as well, and I would end up as I how described myself up in the article. I've been a Brown Cow aficionado myself.