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.
I've seen my fair share of shimmering mirages in the past including the one for a non-existent body of water. Nothing more exciting than that.
Looks like Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）was in the middle of a Danny Thomas spit take in that cover photo for her October 2006 album"NUNKI". The track I'm covering here is "Mirage" which doesn't really come across as anything Shibuya-kei, the genre that I've always associated her with. The soft and kittenish French vocals are there but I think there's more of an intriguing indies pop feeling with some adventurous percussion blasting away. Karie took care of the lyrics while American musician and longtime Japanese resident Jim O'Rourke was the composer and arranger.
No particularly good reason to do so but I just wanted to post up another Author's Picks with the theme today being "good" songs. That is to say, songs with "good" in the title and they are good songs, to boot. Plus, it is a Sunday so a lot of whimsy to share.
Personally, my favourite cocktail has been the Brown Cow: Kahlua and milk. Yes, I know...I'm sorry, but I simply prefer the simple and sweet stuff. So, I also like my Bailey's. One that I haven't tried yet is the Grasshopper which consists of crème de menthe, crème de cacao, cream, and ice thrown into a shaker.
When a group of students from one of the major Japanese oil companies and our teachers went out for a graduation dinner in Ginza, we stopped by one bar for a drink, and one of the students ordered a Grasshopper. He was mightily flying higher than an actual grasshopper for the rest of the evening. I guess something that sweet can be subversively powerful...just like a Long Island Iced Tea.
Anyways, before I retire for the evening, I'd like to put up a Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）song that's a little out of the ordinary for her. I mean, "Alcohol" has still got that Shibuya-kei quality and of course, Karie's kittenish vocals but it's also quite danceable...especially after all those Grasshoppers. Maybe a Grasshopper dance never existed in the 1960s but I can imagine it being accompanied by young folk doing something like the Swim. It's got quite the hip-swiveling quality thanks to Pizzicato Five's Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）who wrote and composed the funky soulful song. "Alcohol" was the first track on Karie's 1st studio album from March 1997, "Larme De Crocodile".
I have a few of Shibuya-kei queen Kahimi Karie's（カヒミ・カリィ）singles but not a full album, unfortunately. I'd been thinking of taking care of a couple of her songs today but figuring that if I add one more track, I can say, according to my own rules, that I've tackled part of an album, I've decided to go for talking about at least part of "My First Karie" which is indeed the singer-songwriter's first mini-album, released in January 1995.
To be honest, I've already posted on the first track from "My First Karie" which is "Elastic Girl". I noted for that one that it was atypical of Karie's material in that it sounds more like country pop. Also, I gave my little own story there about having a ramen lunch with my translator buddies that day back in 2019. Coincidentally enough, I had the same thing yesterday but happily, I didn't undergo any major gastrointestinal distress afterwards.
The second track is "Dis-moi Quelque Chose Avant de Dormir"(Tell Me Something Before You Go To Sleep) which is a relaxing Shibuya-kei moment...maybe a bit of pillow talk concocted by songwriter Catherine（カトリーヌ）. A nice little Sunday night thing punctuated by some relatively soft Bacharach-friendly horns.
The following track is "Zoom Up!" by lyricist Karie and composer Keigo Oyamada（小山田圭吾）. Its intro is something that I've heard often as background music for segments on the morning wide shows...usually regarding a garden or a café in Tokyo or somewhere out there in the outer regions of Japan. Once again, Karie's kittenish vocals stand out...almost felt like licking my hand.
One of my old bosses at one of my English schools used to razz me whenever I finished a lesson with a particularly attractive woman by spitting out "Well, heh, heh...did you do her?". Of course, I adhered to the Prime Directive. But in any case, the salty and sultry "Do Me Do Me" reminded me of my supervisor's teasing, and Karie's purring doesn't help in the reminiscings. The words and spacy music by Gregory Czerkinsky leave no doubt about Karie's intentions.
There is something very innocently Beatles about "When You Close Your Eyes" which was written by Karie and composed by Tomoki Kanda（神田朋樹）, not least by the fact that the intro is straight out of the Fab Four's famous "All You Need is Love". It's almost as if there was an alternate universe tangent with Paul and George deciding to take their increasingly epic "All You Need is Love" and go into a different and calmer direction.
The final track "Dans Mon Nombril"(In My Navel) had me thinking about whether Karie had been party inspired by Ionesco's "Rhinoceros" and his brand of surrealist humour. However, the song by Valerie Lemercier and Bertrand Burgulat finishes "My First Karie" with a touch of swinging 60s class and an upbeat sense that could accompany a nice drive to a beachside picnic.
Well, how about that? I ended up doing the entire album.
That dessert may look a little too gigantic for me now, but I have loved my strawberries on waffles with all of the ice cream and custard in the way. 😋
Anyways, I'm getting that image of French pastry in my head, so whenever that happens, I also get images of whispery voiced Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）as well. "Bonjour Line" was something that took time for me to track down, and as it turns out, it was produced and released right at the start of Karie's solo career. In fact, in her debut year of 1991, "Bonjour Line" was a track included in a compilation album called "Blow-Up" which was probably the earliest that it showed up. However, the music video showed up in a 1994 VHS tape titled "Karie on TV".
Speaking of that music video of "Bonjour Line", which was created by Karie and Keigo Oyamada（小山田圭吾）, it strikes me as being typical of her videos as it resembles old-fashioned film footage of Paris from long ago. Karie is simply doing her relaxed strolling around the City of Lights taking in the sights, but also having time to set up a meeting with a little friend later on in the day. It's laidback Shibuya-kei with a bit more of the bossa nova and the initial light scatting by the singer had me swaying in my seat.
How very natsukashii! I remember this commercial for the Nissan March back when I was living in Japan and hearing those melodic whistles.
The oh-so-breezy song, "Mike Alway's Diary" belongs to Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）and the Cruel Grand Orchestra as Karie's debut single from December 1992. Although the spelling of always irks me a tad, one of the most famous figures of Shibuya-kei was indeed quintessentially Karie right from the start with that kittenish and breathy delivery of hers along with the happy-go-lucky rhythms and lyrics provided by Keigo Oyamada and Ken Takimi.
Within that single, there is the English/French version and right here, the Japanese version. In either case, it makes for a perfect accompaniment to a bicycle ride in the park on a sunny Sunday morning or afternoon. Plus I enjoy that guitar solo near the end to add some jazziness to the proceedings.
Yes, tis nearly the time for the annual influx of Xmas candies and chocolates into the household. Faster than I can say Laura Secord, I will probably have absorbed several examples of Toblerone, Turtles and Black Magic by December 25th, thereby inevitably risking my family physician's disdain. One of my other weaknesses in the chocolate category is Lindt, as shown above, due to its sweet and silky goodness.
Speaking of sweet and silky, I found another Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）tune from the 1990s, this time being "Candyman". One of the tracks on the whispery-voiced singer-songwriter's 2nd single"Girly" from June 1994, "Candyman" starts off sounding like an old Jackson 5 tune but then gets some of that 1960s pop swing.
Composed by Keigo Oyamada（小山田圭吾）and written by Karie, the story revolves around Karie's love for her older Candyman who so swept her off her feet that she was more than happy to ditch her Disney acquisitions. There's even a shoutout to those ancient Sony Walkmans. Her voice may be so whispery that I will refer you to the lyrics under the videos at YouTube if you couldn't quite catch them.
Had a very nice lunch with fellow translators and friends earlier today. It was ramen on the menu and I even took home some karaage chicken as a souvenir for my parents along with the mayo. Perhaps I should have taken it easy on the Kewpie, though, since after dinner, my gastrointestinal tract started holding protests against my choices. But then, I found out that an opened jar of mayo at room temperature can stay that way for 8 hours (!) before it's time to get rid of it. Go figure on that. Maybe my brain created a placebo effect.
Anyways, I shall refrain from further explaining the situation (I'm OK now...thanks for asking) since I now assume that you may all be giving me the same look that Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）is giving in the top photo. Speaking of whom, it has been a while since she's been given her own article, so here is "Elastic Girl".
"Elastic Girl" is from her 1st mini-album"My First Karie" from January 1995. In fact, it's the first track and unlike some of the other songs that I've heard from the singer-songwriter, this one doesn't seem to belong in the Shibuya-kei category. I'd say that this is more country pop (Sheryl Crow, anyone?) and when it comes to her musical categories on J-Wiki, that is one category which is also listed for her. Nothing country about her vocals, though, which still represent her famous whispery delivery and tell of a woman who's more than willing to bend over backwards for a man.
The song was written by Karie and Bryan Burton-Lewis and composed by Keigo Oyamada（小山田圭吾）.
Ah, Vie de France...along with kaiten sushi, tonkatsu and a can of Max Coffee, any time I visit my old stomping grounds of Tokyo, I just gotta have some sort of meal at this patisserie chain. Whether it's that fancy hot dog with the ketchup or the really buttery danish, I know that I will be gaining many calories there.
For those fans of Shibuya-kei chanteuses, Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）and Takako Minekawa（嶺川貴子）, this may make your night. It sure surprised me since I hadn't known that the two of them were actually singing together, however brief the time was.
Back in 1990, at the very beginning of their careers, Karie and Minekawa (under her stage name of Mamene Kirerie) were together as a duo known as Fancy Face Groovy Name. They recorded just one song together titled "Love Is Yé-Yé (Looking For My Idol)" which was created by their genre brethren, Flipper's Guitar, and inserted into a compilation album called "Fab Gear".
I'm not too well versed in the French pop genre of yé-yé, but "Love Is Yé-Yé" strikes me as being the story of Karie and Minekawa as happy-go-lucky teens going through some merry anarchic times in Paris or a particularly bohemian corner of Tokyo. Berets and croissants not included.
Always the mysterious beauty, Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）. Plus her eyes can slice through rock with more force than any Type X phaser.
I've mentioned in past articles about how I used to watch this midnight program on MuchMusic (Canada's equivalent of MTV) called "City Limits" which presented the more avant-garde or just plain weird music videos out there.
I think the video for Karie's 5th single"Tiny King Kong" might fit the requisite conditions to get onto "City Limits". Released on Valentine's Day 1997, the video has Karie all glossed up and dressed up in a skintight leather bodysuit while slinking around on an austere set which includes a microscope. Apparently, the song written by Momus has the singer purring about turning the tables on the famous King Kong by just turning the microscope and making him look like an ant that she can control while she scales the Empire State Building.
Japanese accordionist Coba composed the melody that slinks just as much as Karie does in the video. I've put the "Shibuya-kei" tag onto "Little King Kong" but there's more of a technopop quality to the proceedings. I'd say that she was perhaps even filtering a bit of Bjork.
"Tiny King Kong" was also placed on Karie's first full studio album"Larme de Crocodile" from March 1997. I didn't get the album but I did purchase the single, and to be honest, the reason I did so was that the flyer advertising the single had the full body shot of heavily made-up Karie in her Louise Brooks hairdo looking over her shoulder...and it was just her in her birthday suit. Well, that's not exactly true. She did have a string of pearls around her neck.
Well, welcome back, Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）! It's been about 3 years. Not that I hate her stuff at all but I think for me I have to be in a certain frame of mind to fully appreciate the silky-voiced songs by her. Perhaps it's similar to something I heard from a fellow at a recent birthday party who remarked that one has to be in a certain frame of mind to watch "Doctor Who". I don't quite agree but I digress.
Anyways, I did come across this Kahimi song that I found quite soothing and mysterious at the same time called "I am A Kitten", created by Scottish musician Momus. To be honest, it's a tad hard to hear all of the French that she's singing but I do like the bossa in there. The song first appeared in Kahimi's 2nd mini-album "I AM A KITTEN (Kahimi Karie sings Momus in Paris)" from January 1995.
There's also the music video. Perhaps it's just me but there is something quite Greta Garbo about her.
This is the English-language cover of the song. I'm not totally sure but I think it may indeed be Momus.
Looking at the video for Kahimi Karie's （カヒミ・カリィ）3rd single, "Good Morning World", I just thought about which dance club the singer hit in Shibuya. Wherever it was, I imagine that she and all of the beautiful people there vogued all over the place on the dance floor...in slow motion. Having said that, Karie did a good job in the video as a world-weary supermodel.
Written and composed by Momus (aka Nicholas Currie), "Good Morning World" was released in October 1995. Karie's sex-kittenish vocals are on full display here. To be honest, I could hardly hear what she was whisper-singing so I had to check out the lyrics on another page. They match the video in that she is playing that self-absorbed ennui-soaked French debutante, waking up to another day of resignation of how perfect she looks before dancing the night away at only the coolest Parisian discos. It's like watching Brigitte Bardot and Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly.
"Good Morning World" is also available on her 1998 album, "The Best of Trattoria Years Plus More".
Considering that the long-running anime "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）and its most famous theme song "Odoru Ponpokorin"（おどるポンポコリン） are pretty much tied at the hip, it's hard to imagine any other song being associated with it. And yet, for a brief time in the mid-90s, there was an opening theme that was truly different.
The ethereal beauty queen of Shibuya-kei, Kahimi Karie（カヒミカリィ） came up with "Humming ga Kikoeru"(I Can Hear Humming) in 1996, a short and fun piece of pop cultural nostalgia which brings together the opening notes of 60s US sitcom, "That Girl",Stephane Grappelli's violin and some old-style French pop. And of course, there are the breathy vocals of Karie.
The official video for "Humming ga Kikoeru" has Karie traipsing nonchalantly around a room of stuff to play with while filmed in a black-&-white that reminded me of some of those old French TV dramas that I inexplicably watched as a kid on Canada's CBLFT-25. The singer certainly got the tone right. And from watching the video, I certainly feel like skipping down to the nearest boulangerie to grab a croissant and café au lait.
And just for nostalgia's sake, here is the opening from "That Girl". Man, that show takes me back to my diapers!
Along with Pizzicato Five and Flipper's Guitar, Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリイ） is one of the other standard-bearers for Shibuya-kei. I very rarely saw her on television in any capacity....I think the only time I caught her on the tube was on a late-night one-off special starring her having a conversation with another like-minded artist. I don't remember very much of the talk but she struck me as being very refreshingly frank and down-to-earth which dispelled some of that mystery surrounding her. I only usually see her through her photogenic poses with those large sharp-staring eyes.
I've chosen "Zoom Up" for my first Karie profile since it's a song that I've heard so many times on Japanese TV...but only in excerpts. Japanese variety shows and the daytime wide shows seemed to use the beginning of the song as the introduction for segements on fashion or artful coffee houses in the chic quarters of Shibuya, Omotesando or Harajuku. But no wonder..."Zoom Up" has that Frenchness which characterizes part of Shibuya-kei. The other French part is that whispery, kittenish voice of Karie. I would've thought that she had been born and raised for a good part of her life in The City of Lights. But actually, Mari Hiki（比企真里） was brought up in The Capital of Gyoza....Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture, about an hour's Bullet Train ride from Tokyo. If you like your pork dumplings, Utsunomiya is one of your touchstones.
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