I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Readers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus"...allow me on this Saturday night the 3rd of December 2023 to inform you once again that we have reached our 1000th article of the year! Unfortunately, we really couldn't get a cake to commemorate the occasion, but if you've got something sweet in the fridge, feel free to nosh on it right now.🍰 I'll wait.😉 Anyways, let's see if we can break another record by the end of the year for highest number of articles.
It has been almost three years since I put up my most recent article on the groovy group BLU-SWING, but I'd like to actually go all the way back to February 2018 when I posted their "FLASH", the first song that I discovered of them. Vocalist Yuri Tanaka（田中裕梨）and her group have been classified on J-Wiki as being a band specializing in club music, City Pop and jazz, and I do agree with the assessment, and I listen to the incredible "FLASH" as a song that has incorporated all three musical descriptors.
"Spectre" is BLU-SWING's newest album which was released in May 2023. It's their first album in almost 7 years and we have here one of the tracks "Last Scene". With lyrics by Tanaka and keyboardist Yusuke Nakamura（中村祐介）and melody by Nakamura, there's something about this particular song that sounds quite 1970s City Pop. I realize that Tanaka's got some technology affecting her voice, but it's quite light and airy. Adding to the nostalgia is the nighttime jazz sax solo...a nice time was had by all in the city.
I can honestly now state that I found the ideal song to match the above thumbnail.
In recent years, it's been standard operating procedure for me to pay attention to the musical output of any Japanese band of the 21st century that starts with the first three letters BLU. Therefore, that would mean Blue Peppers and BLU-SWING. I actually made a reference to the main vocalist of the latter in my last article.
Ah, BLU-SWING did put out a digital download single in May 2020 but apparently the official music video for it wasn't put out on YouTube until last month. Titled "Kurage" (Jellyfish), I haven't quite deciphered the lyrics by vocalist Yu-ri Tanaka（田中裕梨）but the video pretty much tells the story of a tiny jellyfish who is so in love with a guitarist (the band's Show Kojima/小島翔) that for 24 hours, she takes on human form (played by Moka Kodama/小玉百夏) and enjoys the bright lights and big city of Tokyo. That is, until that full day and night are up and perhaps she and the target of her love evolve into a glowing whale over Tokyo Bay. Maybe we can call this "2021: A Sky Odyssey".
The music for "Kurage" by BLU-SWING keyboardist Yusuke Nakamura（中村祐介）sounds slightly different from what I've heard from the band recently in that it's jazzier. I believe that when BLU-SWING first started out, they were more into the jazz vein and I did start thinking (perhaps because of that trumpet performance by Atsushi "Charanpetter" Suzuki) that I could make comparisons with Ego-Wrappin' through "Kurage". All in all, the band has once again provided another lovely and elegant night on the town through the flying instruments and the sinewy bass rhythms.
Geez...how long has it been since thanks to that lucky YouTube algorithm, the world became cognizant of Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）famous "Plastic Love"? A couple of years, I gather. Well, along with the multiple videos of the singer-songwriter's 1980s single that have materialized on the site, plenty of the amateurs and professionals have also plied their vocals to the tune that has also ended up on Takeuchi's comeback 1984 album"Variety".
Among the pros is vocalist for the Neo City Pop band BLU-SWING, Yuri Tanaka（田中裕梨）, and in 2019, she released the sequel to her 2016 album of covers"City Lights", "City Lights 2nd Season". It even starts off with a cover of "Plastic Love" which doesn't stray too far off from the original and retains all that groovy goodness with the boppy bass and the horns. On listening to this, I had to go "Naruhodo" on Tanaka, one of the new generation of City Popsters, taking on this 80s City Pop classic.
I don't think that this has been released as an official song in her discography, but seiyuu/singer Saori Hayami（早見沙織）performed an unplugged version of "Plastic Love". Takeuchi has created songs for Hayami and I gather that this could be Hayami's way of paying tribute and saying thanks to the lady. Boy, wouldn't it be something if Blue Mountain Aoyama were to perform this one at Rabbit House during Amateur Night there? Sorry, just geeking out a bit.
It looks like today is going to be all about the first-person songs. After "Myself" by Nachiko Tateoka（舘岡奈智子）, I now have "I am" by cool BLU-SWING.
A track on the band's 10th-anniversary BEST album from 2019, "I am" is something along the lines of a fresh pop/City Pop tune of the 21st century. I would label it spearmint. It's not quite the clubby sort of song that I've associated BLU-SWING with, but it still has that groovy bass and in a nice little addition, I swear that "I am" even has some of that Tatsuro Yamashita-friendly saxophone. Lyrics were provided by vocalist Yuri Tanaka（田中裕梨）and music by keyboardist Yusuke Nakamura（中村祐介）.
The music video above is an economically-sized version. Y'know...there is a splendid beach, three abandoned chairs and a dancer. Why not?
The above photo was something that Rocket Brown of Come Along Radio was very kind to send to me some weeks ago. If you look closely, you can see a very young Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）in the middle of Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and Red Stripes. With all that heavy garb, they look positively Canadian! I hope that provides some happiness especially to the Mariya fans out there.
And that is the point of this Author's Pick article. Over five years ago in March 2015, I posted up an article in commemoration of the United Nations' International Happiness Day on March 20th (coincidentally Mariya's birthday!) titled "Happy Songs for Me" which listed some of the many songs that have made or kept my spirits happy and light. Just a few months after that, I then provided "Happy Songs for Me 2" just to show that the list was far from complete.
Well in July 2020, I've decided to go for a three-peat. And I think it's especially important now when the pandemic and its various ill effects have left millions upon millions of people feeling anything but happy. Not to say that this article is going to provide the ultimate cure to the population of Earth obviously. However, perhaps for those who do like Japanese popular music, some of my choices in "Happy Songs for Me 3" (along with its two cousins) can be your choices that make you feel happy.
For a fellow who got his education in all things Taeko（大貫妙子）first through her synthpop offerings at the turn of the decade into the 1980s, hearing the singer-songwriter going really high into the 1970s City Pop was quite the revelation. In the years since listening to "Summer Connection" repeatedly, this has become one of my summer must-hears and it's a grand aural sepia-toned photograph into the Tokyo hot season of that decade. Especially when the brass launches it and then she hits her highest notes in the song, I get to go to my happy place.
This wasn't the first Seiko-chan（松田聖子）song that I ever heard but it's been the one that has struck me as being one of the purest grin-giving aidoru numbers of the 1980s. When I first heard this on "Sounds of Japan" decades ago, I thought that this was the ultimate Seiko song. It's just a buoyant summer song of yesteryear powered by disco strings that takes flight over the beach and surf while the teen aidoru and a beau are frolicking the days away.
There's nothing like listening to an Anri（杏里）song from the 1980s with a Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生） engine to drive the blues away. Of course, that includes many tunes but one of my very favourite is "Shyness Boy" from her "Timely!!" album. As soon as I hear this one on the stereo with the sunny brass, I get transported to wherever Anri was having her photograph taken on the cover of the album; I'm assuming that it's either Hawaii or Los Angeles. Just imagine the rise on the happiness scale when listening to "Shyness Boy" while in a convertible driving along the California coastline.
SLT's "Together" is already included in one of the previous "Happy" lists and while that is just one joyous caper through the city, "Mitsumeru Ai de"（みつめる愛で）has me preparing for a fun night out on the town. It's pure fantasy but this song is the theme for throwing on a Hugo Boss suit (that would probably have to go beyond its usual parameters to fit me), getting into a limo with the lady of my dreams (no comment on that), and tripping the light fantastic for dinner and drinking and dancing. Pianist Satoru Shionoya（塩谷哲）absolutely helps in batting this one out of the park.
One of my friends on the JET Programme frankly had the same attitude toward KAN's magnum opus "Ai wa Katsu"（愛は勝つ）that I had (and still have) toward natto: GET IT AWAY FROM ME! She really wasn't much for whimsical pop. For me, "Ai wa Katsu" was one of the musical touchstones in my life since it became that big hit during my two years in Gunma Prefecture. Perhaps the message is as corny as a field in the Midwest but the song still manages to prop up some happy memories of pop culture and life back then.
The next few entries involve some of the wonderful new urban contemporary acts in the last decade that I've discovered in the years since the first two "Happy" lists have come out. Case in point: the cool AOR duo Blue Peppers with vocalist Shiori Sasaki（佐々木詩織）with their "Roku-gatsu no Yume"（6月の夢）, one very happy-go-lucky number that deserves its own light sitcom set in a Tokyo suburb. I get some of that lovely Steely Dan vibe here and I still eagerly await that next album.
Around the same time that I first heard about Blue Peppers, I came across the coolness of BLU-SWING which has been around for over a decade. I really am a late bloomer. At least, I was fortunate to discover "Flash", a great calling card for the band and perhaps the theme song for the nightlife in any major city in Japan. With a combination of sultriness in the vocals and the snap-and-bang in the arrangement, any listener can potentially be enticed to plan a vacation for the metropolises of the nation (although unfortunately not now).
It was quite the re-introduction to Kirinji since I had known them mostly for their soulful ballads back in the early 2000s. How was I to know that the band made a change into catchy/spacey pop tunes some years back? And then I get hit with "Jikan ga nai"（時間がない）with its video that has gone worldwide with that middle-aged manager and his disco moves. I didn't stand a chance. Even now, as I write this, my shoulders instinctively started shimmying to the groove. I won't ever hit a dance floor but I can imagine that I'm on one thanks to this one.
Of course, I'm going to end this list with the first singer that I mentioned off the top. There's something so adorably 80s AOR about "Morning Glory" and since I'm a big AOR fan, it's downright Pavlovian how I react whenever I hear this track from "Miss M". Thankfully, I tend to get happy instead of salivating all over the CD. Maybe Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）thought it was a little too AOR for his tastes, but I'm perfectly happy with his future wife's original (although Tats' version on "For You" is also fine).
Well, that is my third list of happy songs. I hope that at least some of them made you happy in these uncertain times. Already there are tunes that are stabbing me in the head demanding why I haven't included them so I'm pretty sure that there will be a fourth list sometime down the line without having to wait another five years. For commenters and collaborators, let me know what your happy song or songs are.
As soon as I found out the fact that the group BLU-SWING had put out a BEST album earlier in 2019, my Xmas list already had a space waiting for it. Released in May last year, I had been first enchanted by their "Flash" from 2015 and then came some other songs via YouTube such as "Sunset" which culminated in me getting their 2013 album "Transit". But it was indeed the cho-kakkoii"Flash" that had me frothing at the mouth to get their BEST, especially since I couldn't get the album which was also given the same title.
So, on that note:
1. Sunset (2019 Y. Nakamura remastering) 2. Syndrome 3. I am 4. Find Your Way 5. Pulse 6. Fabulous 7. Sum 8. Golden Time 9. Lark 10. Michite Iku Taion（満ちていく体温） 11. Shinkirou（蜃気楼） 12. Taiyo no Bell（太陽のベール） 13. Rain 14. Like We're Lovers 15. Flash 16. Hitohira（ひとひら）
Allow me to show off a few songs here.
"Syndrome" kinda has that sci-fi feeling from the title but it's actually a shaki-shaki example of what might me neo-City Pop with some of that old disco in there. Originally from BLU-SWING's 2014"Arrival", "Syndrome" also sends me reminders of the soul angle of J-R&B from the early 2000s. Glad that Yuri Tanaka（田中裕梨）and the guys are still holding the torch for that particular area of music.
Meanwhile, "Michite Iku Taion" is another brisk urban contemporary number but I think the snappy horn section has me thinking fusion. A track from "Flash", I wasn't quite sure how to translate the title. Maybe it can be "Filling Body Temperature", but I feel a little better with "Rising Body Temperature". I realize that this might be considered to be a little too contemporary to be placed into the City Pop genre but perhaps folks like Van Paugam and Rocket Brown might even include this one into the podcasts someday, if they haven't already done so.
Having bought "Transit", this BEST compilation and hearing a number of their other songs on YouTube doesn't necessarily make me an expert on BLU-SWING, but from hearing "Sum" on their very first 2008 album"Revision", perhaps in the beginning, the band was more into the bossa jazz scene. One commenter on YouTube even mentioned how much it sounded like a Bird song from earlier in that decade, and yep, I can agree that "Sum" is rather reminiscent of that mix of Latin and club music.
"Pulse", also from "Revision", has the same sort of feel as "Sum" but this one is an instrumental track that goes more for the jazz. And the crazy thing is that there's a good part of it that sounds like Pat Metheny music. It might be a bit too active for dinner music but "Pulse" still makes for a good listen during its 6 minutes and change.
"Hitohira" can mean anything from a leaf to a snowflake to a petal or anything flat and thin according to jisho.org. To me, it is a free and swinging French jazz ballad and a nice way to finish their July 2012 album"Find Your Way".
Speaking of which, I'm gonna finish this one up with the title track from "Find Your Way" which is a driving jazz number energized by that frantic wood bass and guitar. At the same, though, vocalist Tanaka and some of the other instruments want to stubbornly keep their own languid pace. Yet, the two halves of their own speed somehow make a nice rounded whole.
The "10th Anniversary Best" album is certainly a great way to find out about what BLU-SWING has been about for the past decade or so, covering the genres of jazz, Latin and urban contemporary. It makes for a good starting point to backtrack into their original albums and even find some gems that didn't make it onto the BEST album. That's always been the case with a singer or band that I've just discovered and the backtracking hasn't let me down yet.
Took me a while but I eventually did get my copy of BLU-SWING's November 2013 album"Transit" after listening to one of the tracks, the kakkoii "Sunset", and of course, having first being enamored by the title track from their 2015 album"FLASH".
One of the distinctly and deliciously intriguing/frustrating characteristics of this group is that from song to song, it has been difficult to pin down an exact genre. Even now, having listened to "Sunset" again after having written about it, I'm still having second thoughts about how to categorize this particular one. I initially put it down as a neo-City Pop and R&B tune but I'm wondering whether I should even throw in some jazz and Latin in there, too. Indeed, BLU-SWING has been placed as a band for jazz, City Pop and club music. However, I think now that those are perhaps starting points.
And that's how I've been feeling about "Transit". From song to song, I get all sorts of different flavours, although they have a certain main genre. The first track "Fly High" (actually, this is a remix version compared to the album version on "Transit") triggers the party right off the bat with that mix of club and Latin and even a bit of spaciness, as if Space Dandy had docked at some sort of Rio-themed space station orbiting the Moon.
Before going further, I have to add that the silky vocals of Yuri Tanaka（田中裕梨）are the glue that brings every song together but BLU-SWING swings thanks to all of the band members and all of those wonderful horns. Another case in point is "Like We're Lovers", a breezy romantic tour that has a similar feeling to "Fly High".
The one especially interesting track is "Freak The Funk" in the above video. I actually had to listen to a few times before I finally "got" it. Bootie Brown of the American alternative hip-hop group The Pharcyde and Christina Eva are the guest vocals here and I think Tanaka is helping out on backup. Perhaps the reason that I hadn't quite accepted it at first is because it just sounds like a song that is outside of BLU-SWING's range. However, the cool factor gradually seeped through with the beats and the groove.
"Are You Still Mine" is actually a couple of songs down from "Freak The Funk" but the melody sounds like a natural progression from that earlier track with Tanaka returning as the main vocalist. The song tends to take things closer to a pop ballad with hints of the 70s or 80s.
My final contribution here is "Amaiuta" which translates into "Sweet Song", and it has that hint of a jazz torch song brought over from the 1950s and arranged for the 21st century. Tanaka's sweet vocals really resonate here especially when she begins each verse. It could almost be something of a lullaby. I really like the combination of the Latin guitar and the shimmering strings that sound as if they could have been part of a Nelson Riddle arrangement.
I don't know how BLU-SWING came up with the album title of "Transit", but it may indicate a very pleasant musical ride across the urban music landscape with no signal delays or overcrowding or potential fare hikes (et tu, TTC?). As well, I've heard that the band released their 10th anniversary BEST album earlier in the year, so I gotta get that one soon since it has the amazing "Flash" ("Flash" the album is still not available). I think this band has been one of those underrated gems in Japanese pop music.
Well, did get that major burst of precipitation today. It actually came down as snow north of us but over here in my neck of the woods, it was simply rainy and windy. Not exactly the greatest conditions to purchase a kitchen appliance but that's life for you.
This, on the other hand, is a much nicer "Rain". Provided by this sweet band, BLU-SWING, I definitely want to get one of their albums but those things are getting pretty rare...which is a good thing, I suppose where the band's popularity is concerned.
BLU-SWING's "Rain" comes from their 2012 album"1212", released ironically enough in December. I think that I was talking with one commenter on how the band's music is hard to categorize, but that adds to the appeal. Perhaps this might be one of the relatively few fusion ballads that I've heard via this blog, and I'm happy to say that it's a winner. Strangely, I get more of an image of sun rather than rain on listening to this. At this point, I will be satisfied enough simply to get any BLU-SWING album before Xmas.
Happy Saturday to you, all! Things were very unseasonably cool today...definitely felt like autumn and only a few days after we went through a Humidex of 42 degrees C! Plus, we'll be getting back to those hot and humid days at the end of next week. So the roller coaster of transitioning seasons begins yet again.
I've been getting into the music of BLU-SWING since I wrote about the title track from their 2015 album"Flash" earlier this year. At this point, I can't get that album since it's either all sold our or whatever is left is being sold at exorbitant prices. Being rather stubborn, I was focusing all of my purchasing energies on that one, but listening to some of their past songs, I'm realizing that getting one of their earlier albums would suit me fine, too.
For example, "Sunset" from their 2013 album"Transit". Commenter roelm and I were talking in the Comments section below "Flash" and wondering about how this particular song would be categorized. Well, on first listen, I have to say that I was fairly wracking my head. Not that anything is wrong with the song at all. In fact, I think it's great and it's great that it can have elements from different genres, and the band itself, as I mentioned in the "Flash" article, covers different musical styles such as hip-hop, Club Jazz and the newer type of City Pop.
I can hear strands of jazz and some electropop and perhaps even some Latin in "Sunset" but in the end, I wouldn't add those categories in the Labels section. Overall, I think it has that funk and soul to place it as a J-R&B number and since I can't help but place it in a soundtrack for walking through Shibuya at night or driving in a car on Van Paugam's highways, I would also give it a City Pop tag as well. But as the video shows vocalist Yuri Tanaka（田中裕梨）walking on the wet sands, I could also imagine it being heard on the deck of a yacht while some party is getting started; there's even that fizzing sound at points in the song which had me thinking club soda being passed around to the happy guests. By the way, roelm also noted that the song had some similarity to an old Chic tune from 1978, "I Want Your Love".
For those who can remember reading some of my thoughts down to an iota, you are probably already aware that I enjoy listening to music that can show facets of different genres in one song. Well, then, welcome to the club, "Sunset".
Yup, I finally did it. Caught "Avengers: Infinity War" yesterday afternoon followed by copious amounts of Japanese food and drink. Did I think it was the best movie ever made for the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Uh...not really, but didn't expect that it would be. I still think "Captain America: Winter Soldier" and perhaps one other have higher rankings. However, the year's most anticipated blockbuster is as solid as Thor's muscles and I have realized that it is truly a Marvel comic book brought to life. The only thing missing is the splash line by Stan Lee screaming "THIS ISSUE: EVERYONE DIES!!". And of course, in a Marvel comic, no one (at least no one important) really stays dead for long.
Ah, I did use the word "realize", didn't I? Time for another lame segue into what is a really cool song. "Realize" is a track from BLU-SWING's debut album"Revision" (September 2008), and as the sophomore entry for the band on this blog, I can make comparisons between it and their 2015 "Flash", and state that "Realize" is a pretty frenetic piece of jazz-pop compared to the groovier and funkier nature of "Flash".
There was at least one YouTube comment to "Realize" that alluded to its resemblance to "TANK!", the classic anison for "Cowboy Be-Bop". Yes, one of the guys is really working that wood bass hard which makes me wonder if anison fans will listen to certain jazz songs and automatically think "TANK!" like Pavlovian dogs. As for "Realize", I really like that bass going off at full speed and also that storming percussion. It makes me really realize that there is some fine music not necessarily recognized by Oricon that one can access if willing to dig a few centimetres below the earth, so to speak.
Last night, I had dinner with an old friend of mine and his wife. All three of us are pretty diligent foodies but the friend and I also have an affinity with Japanese pop music. So we were talking a little on how the Oricon yearly charts over the past few years have been dominated by the alphabet aidoru groups with a little representation by either Arashi or Exile. As much as we sometimes wish that some variety would return to the charts in terms of individual singers and genres, we also mused that because of the charts being filled with so much aidoru, perhaps music fans have started to search for alternate sources of melodic enjoyment with these bands starting to come into the fore. My friend has found some hitherto unknown acts in Japan and I have as well. I guess in a way, Newton's Third Law of Motion has been enacted.
In the last several weeks, I've come across acts such as microstar and Lamp thanks to YouTube and commenter tips. Not that such bands have suddenly started their careers. These folks have been around for many years but I've only made their acquaintance very recently and I guess it may have been my curiosity for something new that has made these discoveries all the happier for me.
Another band that has not only piqued my curiosity but has garnered interest enough for me to want to get their material is BLU-SWING. According to their website, the band released their first major album in 2008, "Revision" and covers the genres of City Pop, Club Jazz and Hip-Hop. BLU-SWING has keyboardist Yusuke Nakamura（中村祐介）, bassist Shinji Hasuike（蓮池真治）, guitarist Show Kojima（小島翔）, drummer Tomoaki 'Bhutan' Miyamoto（宮本“ブータン”知聡）and vocalist Yuri Tanaka（田中裕梨）.
"Flash" is the title track from their 2015 album. Man, do I like the smooth running of this song and the arrangement had me thinking of some of that wonderful Misia and bird soul from the beginning of this century. I think Tokyo nighttime drives have become even more attractive. Wouldn't it be nice for an urban contemporary song with some good groove to crack the Oricon Top 10 for the year someday?
