Fujifabric -- Dance 2000（ダンス2000）

 

The last time I wrote about the rock band Fujifabric（フジファブリック）, it was back last August when I posted an article regarding their "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni nattara"（星降る夜になったら）, a track from their third original album "TEENAGER" from January 2008. So far, my impression of them has been one of alternative music but not really in a shoegaze way. They are quite peppy.

I'm going back even further in their discography today. In fact, I'm going right to their first album of any sort which was the mini-album "A La Carte"（アラカルト）from October 2002. "Dance 2000", which was written and composed by the late vocalist Masahiko Shimura（志村正彦）, seems to be the answer to the question "What would an indies disco song sound like?". It's all about dancing and partying now and worrying about the world once the party is done...although the party will be going on for quite a long time.

According to the J-Wiki file on "A La Carte", "Dance 2000" also showed up as the coupling song to Fujifabric's June 2005 5th single "Niji"（虹...Rainbow） and as a track on their 3rd mini-album "A La Molto"（アラモルト）from February 2004. These versions have their own slightly different arrangements including bringing the psychedelic rock keyboards to the intro as shown above. By the way, I found an English-language cousin blog dedicated to the band.

Fujifabric -- Hoshi Furu Yoru ni nattara（星降る夜になったら）

 

A few months ago in the spring, thanks to the "Weathernews Live" segment "Weather Music", I heard about the rock band Fujifabric（フジファブリック）and their major debut single "Sakura no Kisetsu"（桜の季節）from 2004. I remarked on their sound which reminded me a bit of an earlier band, GREAT 3, and not surprisingly, the song was produced by that band's Akito Kitayose（片寄明人）.

Some Fujifabric lightning struck twice recently because I was watching "Weathernews Live" once more and through "Weather Music", I got to hear another catchy song by the band. "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni Nattara" (Shooting Star Night) is a track from Fujifabric's third original album "TEENAGER" from January 2008. There's a lot of thumping percussion and wailing guitars which fuel the rocket engines on this one, along with the soaring vocals of Masahiko Shimura（志村正彦）. Although "Sakura no Kisetsu" isn't really a spring song despite its inclusion of cherry blossoms in the title, "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni nattara" is a summer song and it feels like a young couple in their yukata having the time of their lives through a spin at their local festival. Especially love the chorus.

The song was written by Shimura and composed by him and keyboardist Daisuke Kanazawa（金澤ダイスケ）. "TEENAGER" reached No. 11 on Oricon. I can imagine "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni nattara" being a favourite at the concerts.

Fujifabric -- Sakura no Kisetsu（桜の季節）

 

First off, on learning about the earthquake in Taiwan a couple of days ago, I checked with my anime buddy who hails from the country. He assured me that his relatives living in the area are doing fine. Still, I hope that the residents of the affected areas are coping and recovering from the disaster.

Once again, I have to give my thanks to the "Weather Music" segment on Japan's "Weathernews Live" for finding out about this April 2004 major debut single by the band Fujifabric（フジファブリック）. "Sakura no Kisetsu" (Cherry Blossom Season) isn't about the passage of time and/or graduations but it's something on the pain of love and romance. Written and composed by vocalist/guitarist Masahiko Shimura（志村正彦）and produced by Akito Katayose（片寄明人）of GREAT 3, I kinda now detect a bit of that GREAT 3 sound in the song. Before that, when I had heard "Sakura no Kisetsu" for the first time on "Weather Music", I even noticed some feeling of 70s band Off-Course（オフコース）in there, too. Both influences have gotten me to enjoy the song a lot. 

"Sakura no Kisetsu" managed to peak at No. 49 on Oricon and is also available on the band's first album "Fujifabric", released in November 2004. The album did even better by ranking in at No. 17. As for how the band got its name, according to the Wikipedia writeup, it was named after the company Fuji Fabric which had been owned by the father of former band drummer Takayuki Watanabe（渡辺隆之）. Fujifabric has been around since 2000 and as of this writing, it consists of vocalist/guitarist Soichiro Yamauchi（山内総一郎）, keyboardist Daisuke Kanazawa（金澤ダイスケ）and bassist Shinichi Kato（加藤慎一）. Sadly, the original vocalist Shimura passed away in December 2009 at the age of 29.

When I was watching NHK earlier today, the news reported that Tokyo finally had its full cherry blossoms today. I'd suspected that things were coming into bloom a lot later than usual, and I discovered that the blossoms did arrive two weeks later than average which is about the latest that I have ever heard. I figure then that there will be a lot of corporate types carousing under the trees for the next few nights.