Buffalo Daughter -- Great Five Lakes

 

Well, I noticed from the article count that this particular article is No. 9000 after over a decade of work by all of us on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so another milestone achieved. Maybe if we're still going strong next year, No. 10000 can be reached. In any case, enjoy this photo of the boardwalk along Lake Ontario.

Speaking of Lake Ontario, I will be devoting No. 9000 to a song called "Great Five Lakes" which is the direct translation of the Japanese term "godaiko"（五大湖）for the Great Lakes. And this was created and performed by the eclectic band Buffalo Daughter. I've already written a couple of songs by this group: "Oui Oui" and "Cold Summer".

"Great Five Lakes" hails from their January 1998 2nd album "New Rock", and it's a weird and wacky and catchy entry which might be avant-pop or very light hip-pop with some 80s dance remix effects flung in for interesting effect. It's all delivered in a sing-song way so I can only wonder whether suGar Yoshinaga（シュガー吉永）, Yumiko Ohno（大野由美子）and MoOoG Yamamoto（山本ムーグ）had wanted to come up with something that could be considered to be an indies tune for kids. Regardless, the music video for the short version of the song must have been one massive labour-intensive undertaking while working in New York City. The result is well worth it, though.

Buffalo Daughter -- Cold Summer

 

A few years ago, I put up an article on the rock band Buffalo Daughter. The particular song that I focused upon was "Oui Oui" which appeared on their 2014 album "Konjac-tion"（コニャクション）, and that one sounded more like a funk/pop tune so it went against the grain in terms of what I'd assumed their sound was. But perhaps that was the point by Buffalo Daughter...to be as unpredictable as possible.

My mind then wondered about the type of music that suGar Yoshinaga（シュガー吉永）, Yumiko Ohno（大野由美子）and MoOoG Yamamoto（山本ムーグ）were putting out in their very early days which began in 1993. So, after checking out their J-Wiki file, where I also discovered that there had been a fourth member, drummer Chika Ogawa（小川千果）, during their indies days, I saw that there was their very first album "Shaggy Head Dressers" from 1994.

I found one track called "Cold Summer", and yep, all I can say is that if Quentin Tarentino ever gets that final picture of his out, perhaps he can consider putting this one in. The Discogs website has a homegrown term called Leftfield to describe any album or song that is quirky and can't be easily defined. It's been used as one of the terms for "Shaggy Head Dressers" and I can certainly use it for "Cold Summer" which is a ball of alternative twangy film noir Western rock and some synthpop with a sprinkling of INXS attitude.

One big message that I got from "Cold Summer" is that the members don't really like cold winters. As a Torontonian who's been through one major snowstorm this season and several days of frigid temperatures (gotta another snowstorm coming in tonight), I can totally understand their feelings.

Buffalo Daughter -- Oui Oui

I'd heard of the band Buffalo Daughter during my days in Japan and I remember seeing one music video by them on one of the music channels on cable, but that was about the extent of my exposure. So, my knowledge of their music is still very limited although I had been under the impression that they were as Shibuya-kei as Pizzicato Five and Flipper's Guitar.

However, according to a Japan Times article via the Wikipedia write-up about Buffalo Daughter, member suGar Yoshinaga（シュガー吉永）has said that she doesn't really think the sound of the band has ever really been about Shibuya-kei. Judging from their snappy song "Oui Oui" from their 2014 album "Konjac-tion"（コニャクション）, I would tend to agree.

Although there is that vague feeling of French pop in "Oui Oui" which is a genre that has been one of the inspirations for Shibuya-kei back in the 1990s, I really see this song as being more of a pop/funk piece (and that's despite the Wikipedia categorization of their music all being various types of rock). Along with the funk beat, I also like the onomatopoeia in there, too.

Buffalo Daughter's other current members are Yumiko Ohno（大野由美子）and MoOoG Yamamoto（山本ムーグ）. They've been around since 1993 and have released six full studio albums. I will probably be playing catch-up with some of their past efforts.