Dance for philosophy -- It's My Turn（イッツ・マイ・ターン）

 

Hello, Dance for philosophy? Jamiroquai would like to speak with you.

Gotta admit that there's a fair bit of Dance for philosophy's "It's My Turn", the aidoru group's August 2018 8th single, which reminds me of Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat", but that's not a bad thing. I enjoy both songs for their combination of funk and groove and in the case of "It's My Turn", perhaps Jay Kay should actually phone up composer and arranger Gento Miyano（宮野弦士）. Judging from some of his other arrangements for folks like Galali（がらり）and CHiLi GiRL, this guy really likes the nu-disco. The lyrics were provided by Sho Yamamoto（ヤマモトショウ）.

The original single reached No. 7 on Oricon. A remix version called "T-Groove Remix" was created on Dance for philosophy's "Sapiosexual", their 2020 album of remixes. If anything, this version of "It's My Turn" sounds as if it had gotten even more of that 1970s disco groove and a slightly more laidback approach and a great guitar solo. As is shown in the original music video above, this could be a great tune to play "Dance Dance Revolution" to.

Dance for philosophy -- Heuristic City（ヒューリスティック・シティ）

 

After having a rather large roast chicken dinner with all of the trimmings earlier tonight, my metabolism is having an inner war involving all that protein and carbs against the cup of strong coffee. Who will win? Stay tuned.

However, I will try to support the coffee side by writing up another article for KKP. Let's take things forward into time to the end of 2018 when funky aidoru group Dance for philosophy（フィロソフィーのダンス）released their 23rd digital single "Love Variation with Scoobie Do/Heuristic City" in December, and I'm looking at the lightly soulful "Heuristic City" here. Written by Sho Yamamoto（ヤマモトショウ）and composed by Gento Miyano（宮野弦士）, it looks like the video has the group going off on a fun road trip. Meanwhile the lyrics are more wistful and melancholy as a woman talks about the impending breakup between her and a guy.

I'm no computer scientist so when I saw that word "heuristic", I began thinking of all things circuit-like but tracking down the definition for the word, I came across the following from The Oxford Dictionary: 1. enabling someone to discover or learn something for themselves. 2. (computers) proceeding to a solution by trial and error or by rules that are only loosely defined. From these definitions, I can assume that the woman sees her surrounding city (maybe not the one that she's originally from) as the setting where she first learned the whole process of love, from falling in and falling out of it. The wisdom that she's learned is sad, precious and invaluable.

Dance for philosophy -- Waterproof Night（ウォータープルーフ・ナイト）

 

A typical 2-step drum pattern features syncopated kick drums that skip a beat, with shuffled rhythm or triplets applied to other elements of the percussion, resulting in a sound noticeably distinct to those present in other house or techno music. (From Wikipedia's article for "2-step garage")

Still being a neophyte with the many subgenres of techno and dance music, I had to look up Wikipedia and a video on 2-step by RyKennon Productions. I can't say that I totally comprehend it yet, but I was curious because the song of this article is apparently based on this beat.

Not to say that Dance for philosophy's（フィロソフィーのダンス）April 2022 single "Waterproof Night" has struck me as being a technopop tune by any means. If anything, I think that it's more reflective of what I used to hear in the 2000s when J-R&B had a big payday with its beats and rapping. And according to this description of the song, the setting of "Waterproof Night" is Shibuya of the 2000s when the whole gyaru thing with loose socks and dyed hair was the big fashion statement. Hey, the very recognizable Shibuya landmark of 109 is right there in the video (and right above in the thumbnail).

Written and composed by Ameko Kodama（児玉雨子）, from watching the video and hearing the song, my impression is that "Waterproof Night" is the display of memories of four women who were the four teens in the video, and that the "waterproof" refers to that period of time protected forever as a monument to the good old days, a phrase which actually does pop up in Kodama's lyrics. I had my own good times in Shibuya with Tower Records and the used record shops in the area, along with frequent visits to Tokyu Hands and the numerous examples of night life. But getting back to the music, I remember in the last article that I had written regarding Dance for philosophy, "Double Standard", that was some of that Neo Disco feeling in there which reminded me of Mondo Grosso's discography from those early 2000s, and I get that same feeling here.

Dance for philosophy -- Double Standard（ダブル・スタンダード）

 

I've had Marcos V. and Joana kindly introduce me to the wonders of the aidoru group Dance for philosophy（フィロソフィーのダンス）, and I even wrote my own article featuring them because of their fun rockabilly jazz tune "Dance or Dance" (ダンス・オア・ダンス).

But that's definitely not the genre on display here for Dance for philosophy's 3rd major single from August 2021, "Double Standard". There's some gorgeous Neo Disco action going on here that had my mind wandering back to some of Mondo Grosso's stuff from the early 2000s, and the music video appears to have the group going into action spy mode. With words by SHOW and music & arrangement by Yoji Noi（野井洋児）, "Double Standard" also became the ending theme for a spinoff anime titled "Mahōka Kōkō no Yūtōsei"（魔法科高校の優等生...The Honor Student at Magic High School） which had its run between July and September 2021.

Masayoshi Oishi -- O-Tomodachi Film (オトモダチフィルム)/Dance for philosophy -- Dance or Dance (ダンス・オア・ダンス)

I've been grateful to a lot of folks ranging from commenters to fellow KKP writers to the City Pop big wigs such as Van Paugam and Rocket Brown for their tips on some fine music. Another such person is the fellow(s) behind the YouTube anime-based channel KHORnime, one of the many channels that I've subscribed to. Not only has the channel provided a lot of amusement through his videos based on a variety of genre tropes, but it has used introductory music that has tickled my ears such as Little Glee Monster's "Seishun Photograph".

KHORnime's latest creation was his video on deranged women with kitchen knives (had no idea that it was such a big trope) which was entertaining, as usual. However, it was excerpts from two songs that came in the introduction that attracted me as well, and as any KHORnime fan is well aware of, the channel provides a fun montage-style intro with the song of choice. Most fortunately, the titles and singers of the songs are also provided.

The slow scat at the intro of this particular KHORnime video hooked me immediately, so on finding out that this was from a song by singer-songwriter Masayoshi Oishi（オーイシマサヨシ）, I did my usual naruhodo. He's been able to provide some fine anison with good hooks (e.g. "Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai"), and his "O-Tomodachi Film" (Friend Film) is no exception.

"O-Tomodachi Film" is another happy tune that greeted viewers each week for the 2018 anime "Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai"（多田くんは恋をしない...Tada Never Falls In Love）. I had never heard of this rom-com and I would have thought that my anime buddy would have told me about this one since he seems to enjoy this sort of slice-of-life show (and it's anime-first, not based on any light novel) that's set around yet another mellow café. Plus, from what I've read and seen in some of the scenes, it looks like there has been at least a glancing tribute to one of my favourite films "Roman Holiday". Finally, it features a few seiyuu that have starred in "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん）, the show that has the aforementioned "Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai" as its opening theme song, also showing up in "Tada-kun".

Watching the music video for "O-Tomodachi Film", I keep thinking that dancing Oishi and that little girl would be great in a commercial for milk tea. Anyways, it's an adorable concoction for a song whose strings have been the instruments that have drawn me in. I guess that I will always be a sucker for good string arrangement. The single came out in May 2018 and peaked at No. 3 on Oricon's digital singles chart.

Following the first few bars of "O-Tomodachi Film" and then the first scene comes the introductory montage with the song, and once again KHORnime has come up with another nifty sequence of anime characters dancing around with joy and abandon. The song of choice here is "Dance or Dance" by the aidoru group Dance for philosophy, known in Japanese as Philosophy no Dance（フィロソフィーのダンス）.

Marcos V. and Joana have each given their own articles on this group that has loved to do the urban contemporary thing, so this is my turn. And being a fan of jazz in all of its different subgenres, I have to say that I was also drawn by the boogie-woogie rockabilly form of "Dance or Dance", Dance for philosophy's 10th CD single from October 2019. Written by Sho Yamamoto（ヤマモトショウ）and composed by Gento Miyano（宮野弦士）, I think "Dance or Dance" could have also become a nifty opening or ending theme for an anime in itself, but apparently this 10th single by the group was only available at concerts.

Anyways, many thanks to KHORnime for these earworms!

My 2019 Tokyo Trip - Top 5 Moments

Last August, I spent a week and half in Tokyo with my boyfriend. I documented some of the trip in my Twitter account, but it was all so eventful and emotional that it is impossible to convey all of it. I decided to pick 5 highlights, roughly in chronological order.

Keep in mind that the artists documented fall in the "Plus" section of the blog and they are exclusively aidoru. I didn't really explore the "Kayo Kyoku" side, but I plan on doing so in a next opportunity.

1. First live show impressions

Our first and foremost priority in this trip was to see live idols. We thoroughly decided which lives to see (I spent some months beforehand compiling all the options for our dates), and the rest of the schedule would be winged out as the days went by. We had some destinations in mind, but it would depend on the live shows we had for each day.

In the first day, still not fully rested from the plane trip, we mustered energy to go to our first live show. It was a two-man show by EMPiRE and BILLIE IDLE, two groups linked by the history of the WACK agency, as three of BILLIE IDLE's members were part of the the first iteration of BiS.

My first cheki, with MiDORiKO EMPiRE

These days, almost all medium-sized idol groups do a photo session sometime during the live event. If you buy records, a piece of merchandise or simply a ticket, you can take a polaroid picture (cheki) with your idol of choice. This is easily the selling point for most live performances, as many fans attend them to have a little chat and collect pictures from their favorite idols, rather than exclusively to enjoy some music.

The system that leads to purchasing these cheki is sometimes a bit tricky and we were fortunate to meet some online friends in our first live shows, who helped us with that process. A big thanks to them! Honestly, once you get the hang of it, it's not very hard.

My first cheki with Rio Hidaka from Benjamin Jasmine

In our second day, I discovered my new favorite idol, a girl called Rio Hidaka from the group Benjamin Jasmine. Though the group debuted last year, it borrows some fame and songs from other groups from the same agency. Since "Benjas"' cheki session was simultaneous with other live shows (most times, several groups perform in the same event - this is called taiban), I sprinted away and figured out another cheki purchasing system.

I wonder if all this talk sounds too confusing for someone who isn't aware of this, but I swear that once you do it a couple of times, it gets a lot easier, and it's very nice to talk to idols. The girls are very kind (it's their job, after all), it's a very good Japanese practice and you get to take a little souvenir home.

2. Shibuya

Shibuya is the idol hub of the 2010 decade and we managed to spend a lot of time there, starting with Hachiko Square, where we often went to eat some breakfast. It's bad manners to eat while walking in Japan, so we would go sit there for a while and watch all the tourists take pictures with the famous dog statue. Since it was Obon season, there would be both national and foreign tourists lining for a shot.

The tilted Hachiko statue in front of Tower Records Shibuya

Early in our trip, we paid a visit to the local Tower Records store, which is very big (6 floors, if I'm not wrong). It was amusing and somewhat time-consuming (but well spent time!) to explore the whole store, seeing all the exclusive goodies all kinds of groups had left (autographs, pictures and whatnot).

Former BiS members left a picture and some Ultraman figures in Tower Records Shibuya

Even at night, it's a place bustling with activity. We managed to visit more pop culture stores and even spotted some idols handing flyers on the street. My recommendation for someone who likes music and unique products, besides Tower Records, is Village Vanguard. Though a really cramped store, it has a bit of everything you can't really find anywhere else.

3. August 11th

The special thing about this day is that it is my birthday and it was also the most eventful day of the trip. We basically watched live shows from morning to evening.

By morning, we travelled to Shimokitazawa to attend "the propagation", a show featuring several groups me and my boyfriend love very much. The one that led to us going was Wyenra. My boyfriend is really fond of this group and insisted on seeing them live at least once, hence why we attended two live shows instead of the usual one per day. After seeing them live, I also became a really big fan.

Wyenra is a self-produced group inspired in Japanese folklore, with visual themes such as smoke, forests, youkai and ghosts. The leader Misato Miira is also an illustrator and produces many of the group's visuals, while the other two girls, Hikari Takiguchi and Kirara Takiguchi, are sisters. I might expand on them in another post, but I really recommend their mini-album KEMURI.

The second show we attended was the one we had tickets for longest. It was the anniversary live of RYUTist, a local idol group from Niigata. I usually call them Negicco's successors, and it seems like they have been gaining more fame outside of their home prefecture, which is great. I love their soothing songs and cheering atmosphere and it was totally worth it to run from one show to another.

The finale of RYUTist's concert. Can you see me doing a heart with my hands? Hint: I'm really at the back

I honestly couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my birthday.

4. Meeting Michelle and Haru Hinata

When meeting idols, I usually went for my number one from each group and only after that, if I had time and funds, I would go for my second favorite. This was what happened in the two cases I will elaborate upon, and it proved to be very fulfilling.

Michelle is a member of Necronomidol, a metal-inspired idol group that has gained considerable fame outside Japan, even managing to perform an European tour earlier this year. Michelle is a girl who loves fashion and adopts an "idol AI" character, which makes her a distinct presence in the group. It was very fun to talk to her, as Necroma's staff provides plenty of time (more than the usual for other idol groups). She complimented my clothes and encouraged me to pay a visit to Harajuku, Tokyo's fashion hub, which I ended up doing a few days later.

I have previously written about Dance for philosophy and I was more than happy to be able to see them live. It was a really good show and they are one of my favorite idol groups of all time. After taking a picture with Mariri Okutsu, I went for Haru Hinata, the red-haired member with a very powerful voice. Her impactful stage presence contrasts with her fun and cheerful personality, always speaking in a exciting tone and smiling a lot. I was really happy to see my Japanese being complimented and acknowledged, since this trip was my first chance to have conversations in Japanese with locals.

5. Meeting Pour Lui

Closer to the end of the trip, we ended up seeing BILLIE IDLE again. This is a group I really enjoyed seeing live. I love their music since they have a very vintage rock style. All members have good, distinctive voices and confident stage presence.

My gratitude: Go Zeela (gifted by a friend), Chibi Godzilla and Pour Lui

I went to take a cheki with Pour Lui, the former leader of BiS. She is an idol I love very much and also the one person that allowed me, through her social network accounts and YouTube vlogs, to see my beloved Go Zeela after she left BiS and retired from the entertainment world. I have a lot of respect and gratitude for her, thus, I was quite nervous upon meeting her. But you can tell how experienced she is, as she looked me in the eyes and stroked my hand the whole time we were talking. I had bought a Godzilla T-shirt earlier in the day and she noticed it, but it was nice to focus the conversation on Pour Lui herself.

In the end, I took two pictures with her. I had time to tell her I watched her YouTube channel and left feeling quite confident and happy with the interaction. It is, without a doubt, one of my best memories.

Akihabara's Kanda Shrine at night: the end roll of our trip

I returned home with a bunch of cheki, merchandise, and character goods - but especially with irreplaceable memories. I finally accomplished my dream trip and I can't wait to go back and add more experiences. I hope you enjoyed reading this post!

Dance for philosophy - Dance Founder (ダンス・ファウンダー) / Just Memories (ジャスト・メモリーズ)

It's been a while since my last article. I've been trying to enjoy my summer vacations to the most - there's not that many years left until my long vacations start to get shorter, so I ought to make the most of these three months.

Me and my boyfriend have been compiling a playlist of modern idols and it's been a lot of fun. I've been opening up to more genres, while becoming aware that modern idols have been covering way more music genres that what I thought. The current trend seems to be shoegaze and light rock, but there's also rap and hip-hop, punk rock, metal, electronic, folk music... You name it. Still, there are some unique groups, such as the one I'm presenting today. 

Dance for philosophy, also known as The Dance for philosophy and Philosophy no Dance (フィロソフィーのダンス) (the group itself jokes about using several names), is an idol group formed in 2015. It's composed by four girls: Otoha Totsuka (十束おとは), Haru Hinata (日向ハル), Mariri Okutsu (奥津マリリ) and Maria Sato (佐藤まりあ).

They describe themselves as a contemporary funk and R&B group. And from what I've seen, they are one of the only idol groups (even J-Pop groups) tackling that genre, and the most solid one at doing so. Every release sounds like a refreshing tribute to the popular sounds of the late 80's and 90's, particularly in American music. It wasn't until I finished writing the article that I noticed Marcos already did a write-up on their first album "Funky but Chic", but the songs I'm presenting are part of their second one "The Founder", released in 2017, which I personally prefer.

"Dance Founder" is one of the best idol releases of this year so far, in my opinion. The song had been released in "The Founder", but was re-released as a single this year, with a new arrangement. It is a funky dance tune accompanied by a music vídeo that pays tribute to several decades of pop culture in a very fun fashion.

I thought about covering only "Dance Founder", but I would be missing the R&B part of the group, and the best way to showcase it is with "Just Memories". This 6-minute long ballad was also included in "The Founder" (it's just a great album). Me and my boyfriend usually call it it "the Mariah Carey song", because it's essentially how it sounds, in a positive way. Haru Hinata's vocals making for the powerful chorus parts, it's other of the staple songs of the group, in my opinion.

Dance for philosophy seems to be quite underrated in the West, so I hope to get some more people listening to it, because I think it's a group that can appeal to almost anyone. Besides the nostalgia factor of the funk and R&B sounds, the mix of different and unique vocals of the girls, great songs, as well as their group dynamics as a whole, make it worth of giving a chance.

Dance for philosophy -- Funky but Chic

Source: natalie.mu

Maybe we can’t rely on Especia to fill our hunger for silly aidoru groups recording 70s/80s-inspired funky gems anymore, but some other groups, like Dance for philosophy (フィロソフィーのダンス), are doing similar things… and que quality is just great!

So far, Dance for philosophy (yeah, they call themselves Dance for philosophy, even if the original katakana spelling points in other way) released one album in November 2016. Called “Funky but Chic”. The album is a collection of ten solid songs ranging from disco stompers to more aidoru-friendly territory, but never forgetting the 70s/80s overall theme.

First song “Aidoru Philosophy” (アイドル・フィロソフィー) is an instant winner with its anthemic feel anchored by a plethora of interesting sounds, such as the combination of chants and a jungle-like percussion at the beginning and brief yet strong guitar solos. Overall, it’s a funky synthpop song with rock touches here and there, but everything works in a very harmonic way. Also, one nice surprise: the girls are not bad performers at all, which is something unusual for underground aidoru acts. Truly amazing album opener, in my opinion.

Second song I’d like to highlight is the one chosen to have a proper music video, which is “I’m After Time” (アイム・アフター・タイム). Right from the beginning, it sounded obviously reminiscent of Chic’s disco material, and some comments on YouTube were quick to acknowledge the resemblance between this song and Chic’s “Forbidden Love”. After a while, though, you can see how the old disco was well integrated into this new offer, and a very well rounded Fusion/City Pop song emerges to be appreciated.

Now, as for the third song, it’s called “Kou Kando Agetai” (好感度あげたい). Maybe a little less serious than the other two, and falling in the aidoru-friendly category I mentioned before, it’s a bubbly and bouncy number with a catchy chorus with a funky bass in the arrangement.

Now, I’d like to notice one last thing: even though I only introduced three songs here, the whole “Funky but Chic” album is very nice and consistent. There are a couple of Motown-inspired songs, and even one resembling The Jackson 5, among other disco-inspired tunes. In the end, it’s a truly special aidoru album that makes fine reference to the 70s and 80s in a very classy, albeit sometimes silly, manner. As the group is not signed to a major label or anything, I can’t really tell if they’re going to continue its activities, but I’ll surely be happy if they keep this quality work in the near future.