Caoli Cano & Haruo Chikada -- Mechanica（メカニカ）

 

Considering the music and age of this particular album, this might be one of the rarest of the rare. And yet, I would like to explore it further. According to the explanation underneath the YouTube video, this is "Tokyo-teki"（東京的...Tokyo-esque） from March 1993, a compilation of songs under the aegis of Haruo Kubota（窪田晴男）who had been a band member of Haruo Chikada & The Vibratones（近田春夫&ビブラトーンズ）and a music producer.

With each of the nine tracks on the album addressing some aspect of Japan's capital city, the first track is "Mechanica" which was written by singer and sake brewer Caoli Cano（かの香織）and composed by Kubota's old boss Haruo Chikada. Kubota himself was on the keyboards here. It's quite the way to start things off with Cano's light and breathy vocals fronting a half-strutting, half skulking House beat, it seems like, as if some guy or lady in a red convertible is making Shinjuku or Roppongi their territory on a Friday night.  There are also a couple of times when this musical flourish suddenly bursts forth like a fountain going several metres up into the night sky which in a way reminds me of some Pet Shop Boys tunes. This album may be quite the ride in my old stomping grounds.

J-Xmas Songs Without Anything Overtly Christmas-y In The Title

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to December. Not sure how it is meteorologically where you are, but here in Toronto, we woke up to a wind chill factor of around -7 degrees Celsius and a slight frosting of snow on the ground. Not surprisingly, the department stores and malls are in Christmas mode with the appropriate music, and sure enough, even KKP has entered the Yuletide spirit.

Of course, Christmas songs such as "Jingle Bells" and "White Christmas" are famous all around the world. And even the ones whose titles don't have a "Christmas" or "Santa Claus" or "Jingle" or "Eve" are well-known for their Xmas cheer including "Sleigh Ride" and "Little Drummer Boy". Now, in Japan, where Christmas has been taking hold of the population like icing on carrot cake for years and years and years (aside from the fact that it isn't a statutory holiday over there, and really shouldn't be), as we all know in "Kayo Kyoku Plus", many J-Xmas tunes have been created during the better part of the past century. And I'd add that perhaps around 90% of them have those special key words that I've mentioned above that would provide the big hint that Christmas is on the way. There are those tunes such as "Christmas Eve" and "December 24" that pretty much give the show away.

However, the remaining 10% don't have any of those Christmas-y buzzwords in the title. Therefore, for those listeners who have just gotten into Japanese popular music and are starting to discover the Xmas section of kayo kyoku and J-Pop, as a public service, I've decided to start December off with some of those J-Xmas songs that don't overtly include anything Christmas-y in the title. Perhaps they can make for some delightful discoveries for some. So without further ado:

(1985) Akiko Kobayashi -- Stardust Memories

(1988) Kazuo Zaitsu -- Fuyu no Main Street（冬のメイン・ストリート）

(1990) Crayon-sha -- Tokyo Yakei（東京夜景）

(1991) Miho Nakayama -- Tooi Machi no Dokoka de （遠い街のどこかで）

(1997) Caoli Cano & Hiroshi Takano -- First Flight

(2004) Masatoshi Hamada & Noriyuki Makihara -- Chicken Rice（チキンライス）

Caoli Cano -- Gozen Ni-ji no Angel（午前2時のエンジェル）

 

In my search for that Caoli Cano（かの香織）Xmas song, I did encounter a number of her other songs on YouTube including this one which seems to be perfect for upcoming Valentine's Day. It may be a tad bittersweet though if my interpretation of her lyrics is the right one.

"Gozen Ni-ji no Angel" (2 am Angel) was written and composed by Cano as her 7th single from January 1996. A contemporary version of some 70s soul balladry, it seems as if the angel is a nocturnal young lady who may be torn between two men with one man who finally takes one for the team and decides to let her go despite his own feelings for the lass while she runs off to the other lucky fellow. But again, I may be reading this all wrong. 

In any case, the arrangement is lovely and romantic and can be the right tune for February 14th. Just kinda wished that the music video from YouTube had been shown a bit more clearly. "Gozen Ni-ji no Angel" was actually used in a commercial for Nihon Unisys.

Caoli Cano & Hiroshi Takano -- First Flight

 

Admittedly, I'm beginning the KKP Xmas season a tad early but it's just for this song and I won't be officially getting into Christmas season until November 25th.

About a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Scott's podcast, "Holly Jolly X'masu", regarding Masamichi Sugi's（杉真理）1997 compilation "Winter Gift Pops" from which I posted one of the tracks, Miwako Saito's（さいとうみわこ）cover of "Anata dake I Love You"（あなただけ I LOVE YOU）. The album itself may have that feeling of enjoying the wintry life but it isn't specifically Xmas-based for all of the tracks, according to Scott.

Case in point, we have another track which shows up at about 26:57 on the podcast titled "First Flight", a bubbly duet with Caoli Cano（かの香織）and Hiroshi Takano（高野寛）. One reason that I got impatient enough to put this one up is that neither Cano nor Takano have popped up all that much on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so I wanted to further add to their files on the blog. Written by the two singers, composed by the aforementioned Sugi and Kiyonori Matsuo（松尾清憲）and arranged by Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）, "First Flight" dances on the line whether it's a Xmas tune or a general winter tale of cool and breezy romance punctuated by the appearance of an aurora. Regardless of that short argument however, it's the story of two friends meeting up for the first time in a while and having the time of their lives with the potential promise of a more permanent relationship. 

You can take a gander at my first article for Cano for her song "Gensou Game"（幻想ゲーム）. Cano also contributed another track to "Winter Gift Pops" but unfortunately it hasn't shown up on YouTube, so I'm glad that at least "First Flight" is available. As for Takano, he's also done another winter-themed duet which got out several years earlier with Takao Tajima（田島貴男）, "Winter's Tale ~ Fuyu Monogatari"（冬物語）.

Hanayo -- Dang Dong（ダン・ドン）

 

To partially quote Wikipedia, Hanayo (花代), "...born Hanayo Nakajima (中島 花代, born 1970), is a Japanese musician, photographer, and artist known for her playful and subversive artwork that is often rooted in Japanese culture."

And she is also a singer who started her colourful career training as a geisha from 1989. I'm not sure when she gave up the chase on becoming a traditional entertainer but by 1995, Hanayo had gone into the singing business beginning with the album "Makka na Shizuku"（真っ赤なしずく...Deep Red Drops）. After that, she came up with the single "Dang Dong". An eclectic tune with a bit of rock and a bit of some French ye-ye pop, the other thing that struck me about Hanayo was that child-like whispery voice of hers. The lyrics were provided by singer-songwriter and sake brewmaster Caoli Cano（かの香織）while Hanayo herself came up with the melody.

Generally, Hanayo is known for her experimental music, so perhaps "Dang Dong" might be one of her more conventional pop tunes. She has put out several examples of music between 1993 and 2016, along with many photo books and artistic exhibitions.

Cioccolata -- Sandwichman

 

OK, I am well aware that there can be a huge difference between the statements "I like cooking!" and "I'm good at cooking!". For the record, I declare the former but I don't really say the latter too loudly. What I can iterate is that my cooking is good for me. As this photo from 2017 will show you, I did like making sandwiches including that one with Wonder Bread encapsulating a couple of slices of fried pork tenderloin. During my life in Japan, I was more adventurous, though, as I created stuff like Kimchi Chicken sandwiches and sandwiches filled to bursting with pork and onions cooked in soy sauce, mirin and sake.

All that mouthwatering cooking preamble is for the fact that I wanted to introduce this band. Some minutes ago, I wrote up an article for Miho Yonemitsu's（米光美保）sunny "Orange"（オレンジ）and noticed that singer and sake brewer Caoli Cano（かの香織）had helped create that 1998 single for Yonemitsu. Then I took another look at my lone Cano KKP article in which I wrote about her past association as the vocalist for the band Cioccolata which had its run in the sun between 1982 and 1986.

Cioccolata, which is Italian for chocolate (yum!), was a band that I mentioned in that Cano article as having merged contemporary pop music and Italian opera. Well, that did get my attention. Looking deeper into the source J-Wiki article for Cioccolata is that Cano and her band combined the genres of New Wave, jazz, funk, opera and canzone among other influences for their creations. I certainly wanted to know what came out of that blender.

Well, I could find out on YouTube. From their 1983 debut album "Cioccolata special", I found "Sandwichman", and yeah, it did come out of that blender. I'm not sure whether any sandwiches were made in the song but as Cano sexily puts out her Italian, my ears bring in this mix of eclectic pop, horn-driven jazz, funk and avant-garde stuff. A few other artists came flitting through my mind such as Kome Kome Club（米米ＣＬＵＢ）and Chakra as I listened to "Sandwichman". Apparently, Cioccolata performed often at what has been called Japan's first club located in Harajuku, Tokyo: Pithecanthropus erectus（ピテカントロプス・エレクトス）which sounds like one rather unusual venue.

Alongside Cano in the band, there was another member who has also gone onto some measure of fame himself and that is keyboardist Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）who would later join the band VIZION with Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）and then also head on into the composing and arranging field. In the late 1990s, he came up with the soundtrack for the Fuji-TV comedy-drama "Odoru Dai Sosasen"（踊る大捜査線）.

Miho Yonemitsu -- Orange（オレンジ）

 

It's no longer the case but whenever the year was on the verge of ending, my parents used to bring home a box of those Mandarin oranges, aka mikan, from the downtown Japanese food shop. My brother and I always looked forward to those since they were almost always sweet and darn easy to peel. What I wouldn't find out for a few decades is that the mikan was also the staple fruit to nosh on during those early days of the New Year while dug in deep under the kotatsu in Japan.

Not that the above video signifies anything remotely related to New Year's Day. In fact, I'd say that the music video for Miho Yonemitsu's（米光美保）"Orange" is more for the summery days that probably a lot of us in the northern hemisphere are already longing for. It was -4 degrees Celsius this morning but with the wind it was feeling more like -11! Talk about wanting to dive under the kotatsu.

"Orange" is indeed a nice slice of groovy pop which was released as Yonemitsu's 17th single in August 1998. Along with her creamy vocals, the accompanying guitar and, well, just the overall arrangement of the music are very relaxing and reassuring. Singer-songwriter and current sake brewmaster Caoli Cano（かの香織）helped create "Orange" with Yonemitsu. It may be getting cold out there but perhaps something like this song can help with the warmth.

Caoli Cano -- Gensou Game（幻想ゲーム）

Oh, goofy me! All this time, I was looking forward to putting up this song by singer-songwriter and sake brewmaster (more on that later) Caoli Cano（かの香織）, and I had thought all this time that it was pronounced "Rensou Game"（連想ゲーム）instead of the accurate "Gensou Game". So I had been wondering why Cano wanted to name this beautifully dreamy song after NHK's version of the American game show "Password".

Actually "Gensou Game" is translated as "Fantasy Game" and it is a track from her July 1991 debut solo album "Fine". Cano started out as a vocalist and songwriter of the 1980s pop/New Wave band Cioccolata（ショコラータ）formed from her music circle at Waseda University which lasted from 1982 to 1986. I'm gonna have to look further into Cioccolata's music since the J-Wiki article for Cano described their output as often merging Italian opera and contemporary pop music!

But as for "Gensou Game", it's one of those tunes by Cano that struck me as one of those desired rarities (to me, anyways) that occupies a fuzzy-walled intersection within a three-lobed Venn diagram. It has elements of bossa nova, Shibuya-kei and good old-fashioned pop but it also seems to have its own identity that I can't quite categorize. Anyways, the track is splendid enough, especially with that warm and woodsy guitar in the intro and Cano's breathy vocals that I wouldn't mind making an attempt to get my own copy of "Fine".

Although she's still officially active, her albums and singles go as far as the mid-2000s. However, one thing I found out in her biography is that in the early 2000s, after training as an apprentice, she became the 12th generation sake brewmaster at the Hasamaya Brewery（はさまや酒造店）in her native Miyagi Prefecture.