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.
Showing posts with label Cunimondo Takiguchi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cunimondo Takiguchi. Show all posts
From what I've read, Autumn 2026 officially arrives on September 22nd, so we've got about another 18 days left to enjoy the hot season. Hopefully, a lot of that can be done over the Labour Day long weekend here in North America.
Something to have with your cocktail is singer Natsu Summer's "Pretty in Summer" which was a 2024 release. Written and composed by Ryusenkei's（流線形）Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）, the song follows the singer's style of mixing Neo-City Pop and reggae for a most relaxing number. Enjoy this with a really potent rum punch. 🍹If you would like to listen to another collaboration by the two, there is always "Twilight Shadow" from 2022.
Last week, I started posting a 2-parter translation of an article that I'd found in the April 2018 issue of "Record Collectors" titled "Cunimondo Takiguchi ga Erabu Shiteki Hachi-juu Nendai City Pop Best 10"（クニモンド瀧口が選ぶ私的80年代シティポップベスト10）. Part 1 contains the Ryusenkei（流線形）leader's first five albums for his Top 10 City Pop list and I'll be wrapping up here with Nos. 6-10. Again, although he doesn't go into great detail about his choices, I will still leave what he said about each one. One more point is that except for No. 6, I was able to bring in whole albums for the other entries. (Part 1 of the article is here.)
6. Baker's Shop with Haruko (Kuwana) -- Hot Line (1980)
I got to know Baker's Shop when they performed as Ruriko Ohgami's（大上留利子）backup band on "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）. I thought that their playing was just so cool and reminiscent of a bunch of foreign studio musicians. It was through my discovery of Haruko's"Akogare no Sundown"（あこがれのSundown）in the 90s that I found out about this album. Their wonderful performance was able to bring back some distant memories to me.
Over the past few years, it's become fairly regular for me to wait in hospitals and clinics while my folks and myself go through various medical procedures. And as such, I bring a book along to wile away the time. A few weeks ago, I brought the above tome called the April 2018 edition of "Record Collectors" which was focusing on the City Pop singles and albums from 1980 to 1989.
Well on Page 47, there was an article with the title "Cunimondo Takiguchi ga Erabu Shiteki Hachi-juu Nendai City Pop Best 10"（クニモンド瀧口が選ぶ私的80年代シティポップベスト10）which has been translated into the title on the above byline. Now, Takiguchi is the leader of the band Ryusenkei（流線形）, one of the groups that spearheaded a new version of City Pop going into the 21st century although he has gone on record to state that he doesn't particularly want that exact label applied to his work since City Pop is a musical phenomenon of past decades; he would prefer that his discography and those of other similarly-minded contemporary musicians be called urban contemporary. I respect his opinion but I also have my own on the reach of City Pop throughout the past few decades and I feel that City Pop never really died out even when the Bubble Era collapsed at the turn of the decade from the 80s into the 90s so I have continued to use the label to categorize songs by Ryusenkei, Kirinji（キリンジ）and Suchmos, etc.
But in any case, I have here Part 1 of his list of those City Pop albums from the 1980s that he has enjoyed starting from 1 to 5. The latter half of the selection will be posted next week. I have also included the comments that he stated in the article for each album. For the last couple of entries, I wasn't able to find a full album.
When I was a junior high school sophomore, one summer, my three buddies and I listened to "Futari" on the Walkman from the veranda of an Atami cottage while looking at the night sky. We were so moved as we each had a turn listening to it and the memory has lasted as a formative experience in City Pop for me.
For the wonderful keyboardist, Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）, who had his input on that Yamashita album, I took another look at his "Awakening" in my thirties and it became one of my most favourite albums. He once gave me an interview and though I was nervous, he was kind enough to give me two hours of his time which was a happy memory.
Going back from Matsushita's（松下誠）days with AB's, the original jacket from "First Light" struck me as something that was so cool. The refined chord progressions and arrangement along with Matsushita's not-overly-polished vocals were very comfortable to hear.
I got into "Coconuts High" through the soundtrack she provided to "Urusei Yatsura"（うる星やつら）, and those tropical songs contained the Latin rhythms and her light and cute vocals which harmonized just right with those muscular synths.
I fell in love with "Tasogare My Love"（たそがれマイ・ラブ） when I was in elementary school. I got to know her cool and groovy side when I listened to "Point Zero" in my twenties.
I've seen a Mobius strip before on paper and now in solid 3D form as depicted in the above photo. It's a rather endless story so I shall let it be before I lose my fragile little mind.
Luckily, singer-songwriter Atsuko Hiyajo's（比屋定篤子）"Mobius" is a lot more soothing and acceptable to the senses. Coming out as her November 1998 5th single, this was written by Hiyajo and composed by Jiro Kobayashi（小林治郎）, this is another fascinating song that can't be easily categorized since I get bits of a number of genres here and there. There is soul, funk, City Pop and maybe some Shibuya-kei, and the craziest thing is that right from Note One, I think "Mobius" could have been inspired by the 70s works of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. At the very least, the Ohnuki of that decade could have covered this song and it would have fit her perfectly. It goes on for over seven minutes, but the last couple of them are devoted to a generous jam by the instruments backing Hiyajo up.
"Mobius" made itself known once more through the 2009 album "Natural Woman", a result of a collaboration between Hiyajo and Ryusenkei（流線形）. The leader of the latter band, Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）, took care of the arrangement which gives this somewhat shorter "Mobius" that quintessentially effervescent Ryusenkei urban contemporary touch.
Sunday would be the ideal day to put up this track from Hitomitoi' s（一十三十一）9th album"The Memory Hotel" from October 2015. It's written by the singer and her contemporary, Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）from Ryusenkei（流線形）and composed by Takiguchi, but it's not the usual Neo City Pop that we've seen them do together on projects such as the 2006 Ryusenkei album"Tokyo Sniper".
One commenter for the YouTube video above put it best: "Labyrinth ~ Kaze no Machi de" (In The Windy City) would be the ideal song to listen to while soaking in a bath. This pop tune is as soothing as the conclusion of throwing in some of that special onsen powder into the hot water, and it's no surprise that it was placed as the final track in "The Memory Hotel". Even the video comes off as a strange but oddly comforting dream in Hitomitoi's head. The combination of synths and strings acts like some sort of relaxation-inducing lullaby. Methinks that this would also be the type of song to hear once that Friday night of a long hard work week comes to pass, although Sunday is nice, too.
As for "The Memory Hotel", it peaked at No. 69 on Oricon. Another one to put on the wish list.
It was definitely a busy weekend with a translation assignment, my regular Skype student and even a first-time podcast but it was that first task that has my shoulders in knots right now. Thankfully, I got it done a full 24 hours before its due date. Now I just have to face the music with my doctor tomorrow since I've gained a few kilos over the past several months (sigh). Just can't win.
Well, at least for the evening, I can relax a bit with some good music through the lovely tones of Hitomitoi（一十三十一）. Her "Summer Breeze '86" from her "City Dive" album of 2012 provides some super sunset solace. I'm slightly surprised that there was no mention of the second singer since he's in there enough to make this a duet, in my opinion. Written and composed by Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）from Ryusenkei（流線形）, I wonder if he is indeed singing with Hitomitoi as well.
Anyways, "Summer Breeze '86" is one of those songs that is slightly difficult to classify. It's got that R&Bgroove although I wouldn't say that it goes into funk but still has that nice and light pop feeling. Plus, it's mellow enough to travel into AOR territory, and even with at least one of those synthesizers in there, I was even wondering whether I should list it as at least a partial technopop tune, but I have held off. Inevitably though, it doesn't matter. It's just a tune that induces me to exhale the fatigue out and inhale some fine vibes.
My Sunday is coming to an end and Heisei is also approaching its finish within the next few days.
