KAGAMI feat. Natsu Summer -- Itsuka Sonotokiga（いつかその時が）

 

I've only known about the Cosmic Funk duo KAGAMI since September but they're already leaving quite the lovely impression upon me with their take on Neo-City Pop. And it appears that I am going back in time with Lucas Sim and Rotem Gerad. I first started with their "Friends" track from their April EP "Time Machine" and liking that, I really enjoyed their "Endless Midnight" featuring City Pop singer Hikari which had come out a couple of months earlier in February.

Well, now I've learned that there was a single released by the duo in October 2024 titled "Itsuka Sonotokiga" (If That Moment Comes Back Someday). And this time, the singer helping out here is City Pop/reggae-loving Natsu Summer. Written and composed by Gerad, it's a short and catchy song which is notable for Summer not showing off any reggae vibes here. Nope, it's straight-up blippity-bloppity Neo-City Pop with that crystalline keyboard and a thumpy bass.  And the craziest thing is that the whole arrangement sounds like a contemporary form of the music that Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）had been doing in the late 70s and early 80s.

KAGAMI feat. Hikari -- Endless Midnight

 

I know that I introduced the duo KAGAMI just last Friday, but on hearing this other song of theirs in the last few days, I simply couldn't leave it alone. It's just that attractive to me.

Their debut album "Time Machine" was released earlier this year in April, but then I encountered this single that had come out even earlier in February titled "Endless Midnight", and the guest vocalist here is Hikari（ひかり）. Now, if that name sounds familiar to all those into their Neo-City Pop, then it's because she has been often aligned with another artist, Tokimeki Records, in covers and original material such as their "Sweet Escape" from 2022.

Well, "Endless Midnight" may be a fresh new song from 2025 but its arrangement sounds like something from the original City Pop days (and nights) of the 1980s. With Hikari cooing softly into the mike, the arrangement reminds me of Tomoko Aran's（亜蘭知子）"Slow Nights". And overall, KAGAMI may have made another ideal driving song as one is traveling to, through or from the big city around the bewitching hour. 

KAGAMI feat. kiki vivi lily and Kan Sano -- Friends

 

Just out of curiosity and a sense of the nostalgic, I threw in the phrase "Doctor Who and the TARDIS whizzing through space and time in a cartoon way." via the Bing AI art generator. Well, I thought I was going to get something bizarre but apparently, even Bing knows about everyone's favourite Time Lord and his TARDIS. However, the Doctor above apparently has the Tenth Doctor's face and the Eleventh Doctor's costume.

Anyways, enough geeking out over one particular corner of my pop culture mind. Let's go back to the one that I should be geeking out over for this blog. Let me introduce you to the group KAGAMI and quote their description from their website:

KAGAMI is a Netherlands-based Cosmic Funk duo led by producers Lucas Sim and Rotem Gerad. 

What began as a shared love for 80s Japanese City Pop and AOR grew into a project that also embraces the pulse of French Touch, Italo Disco, and Brazilian MPB. Inspired by artists like Daft Punk and Tatsuro Yamashita, their music blends live instrumentation with synth-centered production into a sound which is both nostalgic and forward-looking. 

So, as far as my own musical tastes go, there's a lot of potential expected from Sim and Gerad although I'm not up on my French Touch, but you can check out this link to YouTube for what this genre has. In any case, their debut EP from April this year, "Time Machine", boasts their take on 80s Japanese City Pop and AOR, and they've got some help from the buttery-voiced Fukuoka-born singer-songwriter kiki vivi lily and keyboardist, singer-songwriter and track maker Kan Sano. This one track "Friends" certainly has the groove of City Pop and some of that cute blippity-bloppity, timey-wimey synthesizer sense. It kinda sounds like the Doctor's innocent traipsing through Shinjuku with his latest companion.