Mika Nakashima -- FIND THE WAY

 

I heard this song a number of times when it was released, but I never realized until very recently that it had been used as one of the ending themes for a "Gundam" anime. To be specific, it was part of the franchise known as "Kidou Senshi Gundam Seed"（機動戦士ガンダムSEED...Mobile Suit Gundam SEED） which was televised between 2002 and 2003.

Up to that point, I'd known Mika Nakashima's（中島美嘉）"FIND THE WAY" as one of her many ethereal ballads of that time, and not anything that I would have connected with a bunch of gigantic battle mecha. Released in August 2003 as the singer-songwriter's 9th single, those strings really tenderize the song into a heart tugging love tune that I would have associated with a regular live-action TV drama. Nakashima was behind the lyrics while COLDFEET's Lori Fine took care of the melody. Both ladies would collaborate again in the following year for Nakashima's 11th single, "SEVEN".

I myself cracked the tip of the mighty Gundam iceberg by watching the first few movies in the franchise but never caught any of the series. According to Wikipedia, "Seed" has been one of the shows that has been widely well regarded. My anime buddy has often talked about the various entries on TV, but I can't quite remember whether he enjoyed "Seed" or not. He can be quite contrarian.

J-Wiki states that "FIND THE WAY" was Nakashima's first stab at an anison. Well, it was a successful hit since it did break the Top 10 by peaking at No. 4 on Oricon. It also ended up as the 79th-ranked single for 2003. The song can be found on her 2nd original album "LØVE" from November that year which hit No. 1, quickly became the 14th-ranked album for 2003 and then even rose to become No. 12 in 2004.

COLDFEET -- Every Day a Saturday

 

Wouldn't that be something? Every day a Saturday. We can all go hedonistic and paint the down red 24 hours a day. Unrealistic as that is, it's something nice to fantasize about.

I figure that if my previous article can have something to do with the cool set of Shibuya-kei, then I can see that bet and raise. So I came across "Every Day a Saturday" by the club duo COLDFEET. The last time I'd written about vocalist/songwriter Lori Fine and programmer/musician Watusi was in late 2016 for "In My Lucid Dream", so they were due for another one.

"Every Day a Saturday" comes from their 2007 album "Feeling Good", and I think the titles of track and album fit well. Maybe someone can specify the exact form of melody being illustrated here but I can give it the general category of club music, and as the title indicates, it's quite the inviting song for an evening out in some gorgeous metropolis with a hustling and bustling night life. Among all those beats popping out, Fine's soulful vocals ring with a refreshing clarity. She can say that title to you with a straight face and you'd be happy to believe and oblige in her night on the town.

Shinichi Osawa -- Sakurahills Disco 3000

Early in the life of this blog, I provided an article on bird's single "Game" which was the impetus for me to get producer Shinichi Osawa's (大沢伸一...aka Mondo Grosso) April 2000 compilation album "Sakurahills Disco 3000". Did love the neo-disco that bird provided, and the version of that single on this particular compilation was just a shade under 10 minutes long.

Basically, that's what Osawa provides through his friends here: a set of remixes that brings together that old disco feeling incorporated into the contemporary clubbing atmosphere at the time. Some of the tracks stand out more than others, including the launching track "Discotique Murphy's Theme" by SHD 3000 and Murphy himself. Couldn't find out who exactly SHD 3000 was but I'm wondering if it's just another alias for Osawa himself. Yup, it's repetitive but the point is just to get you all warmed up on the dance floor and into the rhythm.

Monday Michiru will always be a welcome sound for sore ears. Thus, she is here with SHD 3000 to provide "Real Thing". Written and composed by Michiru herself, it's very nice to hear the good ol' sweeping and soaring R&B with some classy jazz. Could imagine darting among the skyscrapers of Manhattan on a magic flying carpet while listening to this one on a clear night.

I read about the band Kyoto Jazz Massive in my copy of Steve McClure's "Nippon Pop" years ago but didn't actually get to listen to the these fellows until I bought "Sakurahills Disco 3000". Their contribution to the album is "Substream" which also came out as one of their singles. According to their Wikipedia entry, they like to combine crossover jazz and electronic styles, and with "Substream", there is that mix of funk/soul with the improvisation of jazz with the result being something like the coolest AOR on a couple of cans of Red Bull. It certainly gave me wings.

One of the members, Hajime Yoshizawa（吉澤はじめ）, is on the Fender Rhodes and as I hear him noodling away, I couldn't help but be reminded of the late Vince Guaraldi when he was playing some of his "Peanuts" music in the 1970s entries of the beloved series with Charlie Brown & Snoopy. The other members are the brothers Shuya and Yoshihiro Okino（沖野修也・沖野好洋）.

These must be the cool kids of Seton Academy!

For the lack of a better expression, I guess Fantastic Plastic Machine's "Petitions" would be one of the more frantic chillout disco tunes that I've heard. It's been years and years since I was on the dance floor (and frankly, any disco that would have me nowadays would need the extra insurance), and "Petitions" is one of those songs that will have my legs twisting all over the place into a pretzel while my upper body goes all slow and rubbery. While FPM chugs up the beat, the sultriness is provided by the voice of Lori Fine, the vocalist of COLDFEET.

All these years, I've been waiting to get some excuse to get the legendary Earth Wind & Fire here. Well, now I've got the reason. The final track in "Sakurahills Disco 3000" is the Phats & Small Mutant Disco Vocal Mix of EW&F's just-as-legendary "September", known as "September 99". As soon as I got the video here, I turned up the volume solely as an automatic reflex.

I first got to know the original "September" back on the radio when I was in high school. Since then, I've never failed to listen to the song and appreciate it in the fall. The original was also a pretty short number but it's just so filled with fun and goodness, and when I heard that there was an extended remix, I just had to listen to it. If bird's "Game" was the bait that got me drawn to "Sakurahills Disco 3000", seeing the listing for "September 99" was the hook that finally landed me.

COLDFEET -- In My Lucid Dream

A few nights ago, I wrote about Mika Nakashima's（中島美嘉）"SEVEN" which had been a collaboration between her and a music duo called COLDFEET.

I mentioned in that article that their music was supposedly based on House, Breakbeats and Drum n' Bass. So I had been expecting their work to be sort sort of techno spun in the middle of a darkened room with strobe lights going off like explosions and a DJ frenetically spinning the turntables. However, listening to some of COLDFEET's material on YouTube, I've found out that vocalist/songwriter Lori Fine and programmer/musician Watusi have been a lot more melodic.

Case in point: their 4th maxi single from February 2000, "In My Lucid Dream" which pleasantly delighted me with a mixed Latin melody that sounded like it came from the late 1980s and early 1990s. And to add onto the nostalgia, the beautiful Fine has a delivery that reminded me of singers from that era such as Corinne Drewery from Swing Out Sister and Basia (yup, I've got their CDs as well).

Up to this point, COLDFEET has released 6 maxi singles, 13 albums on CD, and 16 analog albums.

Not much in the way of techno in this one but it's sure nice to listen to. If my dreams were all scored this way...

Mika Nakashima -- SEVEN

Had a somewhat frustrating day due to the fact that I was editing a pretty massive translation which was done by a fellow (hope it wasn't one of ours) who clearly was very pressed for time. The image I can give you is a 20-year-old jalopy literally dropping pieces of itself as it putters down the highway.

What soothed the pain to a certain extent was popping in the above CD for the first time in a while. Yep, that is Mika Nakashima's（中島美嘉）BEST from December 2005 which zoomed up to No. 1 and sold over a million copies. It also ended up becoming the 6th-ranked album for 2006 which goes to show how successful it was. Although I like her songs, I cannot say that I have been a super die-hard fan of hers so as I said, it was quite a while since I threw the disc into the player. However in that way, I not only re-acquainted myself nicely with those big hits but re-discovered some of those other singles which I'm starting to re-appreciate.

One such song was "SEVEN" which was actually her 11th single from April 2004. I've been accustomed to hearing Nakashima sing those languid ballads for so long that I had forgotten that she did perform her share of uptempo material as well. So this was another one of my re-discoveries. Unfortunately, the above video is the short version but I think we can all get an idea of the song which seems to bring back some of those memories of House music.

There was a small point about the music video as noted in J-Wiki in which the plan was to have Nakashima drive through the streets in a car but then it was decided to do it all in-studio with some CG speed effects. Perhaps her insurance agent was feigning a heart attack during the planning meeting.

The lyrics by Nakashima herself relate a tale of a woman who tries her best through the course of a week to resist the pull of a man only to ultimately fail. As some aliens have said, "Resistance is futile". That bouncy beat was provided by Lori Fine, the vocalist of COLDFEET, a band that has covered House, Breakbeats and Drum n' Bass. And in fact, Fine and her partner from the band, Watusi, arranged the song.

I guess Nakashima really had a long association with Kanebo Cosmetics since the above video has a whole slew of her commercials featuring her songs. The one with "SEVEN" is at 48 seconds. I've always remembered the catchphrase breathed by that sultry voiceover: "No more rules, KATE". The singer could've probably adopted the name by the time she finished her time with the company.

(karaoke version)

"SEVEN" hit No. 3 on Oricon. Not sure how she has been doing recently but she recently released her 41st single last month "Forget Me Not" which has gone as high as No. 33. Her latest album, "REAL" came out back in 2013 and hit No. 1.