Kotringo -- Edible Melodies: Original Soundtrack for "Koufuku Graffiti"（幸腹グラフィティ）

 

The above is a shot of my grilled eel lunch that I had in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture almost a decade ago. I figured that this would be the ideal shot for my latest entry in the "Koufuku Graffiti" (幸腹グラフィティ...Gourmet Girl Graffiti) franchise, a category that I haven't updated since 2015 when I first saw the anime at my friend's place. Up to now, I had covered the opening and ending themes along with the insert songs.

As with anything in the movie field, anime has covered everything from the goriest horrors to the zaniest comedies, and basically for me, I've always had a preference for the quiet slice-of-life type of show, and "Koufuku Graffiti" has been one of the most famous examples (mind you, it has those rather orgasmic scenes of ingestion). Having a couple of good friends enjoy Japanese dishes from episode to episode has been my manna from heaven...no psychological angst, no fierce rivalries and plenty of deliciously portrayed food that I've been eating since I was a tadpole myself.

Well, yesterday, as I was finishing off my usual five in the Urban Contemporary field as would befit a KKP Friday, my mind went back to that 2015 anime and wondered about its original soundtrack. Foe one thing, it was composed and arranged by singer-songwriter Kotringo（コトリンゴ）who already has a fair number of articles posted including her time with the cool band Kirinji during the 2010s and her cover version of the folk classic "Kanashikute Yarikirenai"（悲しくてやりきれない）as the theme song for the acclaimed anime film "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni"（この世界の片隅に...In This Corner of the World）.

For another, the soundtrack for "Koufuku Graffiti", known as "Edible Melodies" (the link will take you to Amazon), never seemed all that obtrusive which I think fits Kotringo's personality. There was never any hint that an electric guitar would be shredded at any time during the series. The music is all very whimsical, wistful and warm with the priority given to the visual joy of some of my old dishes from my childhood being animated in most glorious detail. The above track for example, Track 11's "Ippon Yozakura Tamagoyaki"（一本夜桜卵焼き...Night Cherry Blossom Fried Egg） centers around the flute and strings and sounds just like a number one would hear in an art gallery cafe. 

By the way, you can also access this link to hear very brief excerpts from the soundtrack at Apple.

One trope that pops up throughout the soundtrack is that Kotringo herself provides some of her vocal effects through humming or scatting, and that is the case with Track 15 "Omurice Horror"（オムライス・ホラー...Rice Omelet Horror）. It really does sound rather sinister although Kotringo's vocal beats let us know that it's not all bad out there. I do recall one episode where there was indeed an omurice accident. Omurice isn't exactly a novice dish, you know.

I definitely remember this piece, Track 22 "Atatakai O-nabe"（あたたかいお鍋...A Warm Bowl）, playing in the background, although the video here is of a cover version by AniMuffin Piano. If I'm being accurate here, it was playing during the quiet scenes and since there were a whole lot of quiet scenes in "Koufuku Grafitti", I'm sure that it was getting played at least once an episode. There's quite the nice waltz-y lilt.

I guess because the soundtrack was so subtle and relaxing, it hasn't gotten a lot of videos up onto YouTube, so I just have the above Episode 1 in its entirety to show off a few more tracks. Right from the start, there is a rendition of Track 1 "O-inarisan no Aji"（おいなりさんの味...The Taste of Sushi Rice in Deep-Fried Tofu Skin） which pops up whenever the main character of Ryo remembers back to the past, including her memories of her late grandmother. 

At about 5:00 of the video, in comes the petite force of nature that becomes Ryo's foodie friend, Kirin, so her theme song which is Track 3 has some of those Kotringo verbal beats and a circus-like arrangement. One more song that I'll throw in is "O-ryori Humming"（お料理ハミング...Cooking Humming） Track 20 which gets played at 13:40 and is one of my favourite parts of the soundtrack because it not only sounds a tad Xmas-y but it also comes across as something cheerful from an old-timey sitcom or Hollywood comedy. 

As I hinted above, "Edible Melodies" isn't a soundtrack to emphasize the action or the laughs for an anime. Think of it as a light and tasteful vinaigrette to add a little something to the salad.

Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery: Kirinji -- Ai wo aru dake, Subete（愛をあるだけ、すべて）

 

Happy Monday! After first introducing him on Friday's article for Mebae Miyahara's（宮原芽映）"Milky Cat", the suave if somewhat corpulent Mr. Calico is finally standing right beside Kayo Grace Kyoku. I figure that he can not only be Kayo's beloved pet but also her manager in all things business.

But getting down to brass tacks, the two of them are here with the usual J-C AI Gallery and this time, we are all covering three tracks from Kirinji's（キリンジ）grand 13th album "Ai wo aru dake, Subete" (Just With Love, Everything) from June 2018. The reason that we are focusing on this one album is that there are quite a few tracks with interesting and evocative titles, so therefore, to see what I've said about the three songs below, just click on the above link for the album. I'll be taking a look at some of their other songs in a future AI Gallery entry.

AI no Touhikou（AIの逃避行...AI Flight of Freedom）

 Jikan ga nai（時間がない...Got No Time）

Hi Zero Wa Game (非ゼロ和ゲーム...Non-Zero Sum Game)

Kirinji -- Ai wo Aru dake, Subete（愛をあるだけ、すべて）

 

Not quite sure why...but my article on Kirinji's（キリンジ）2018 13th album "Ai wo Aru dake, Subete" (Having Love is All) that I had put up a few years ago suddenly got deleted which is obviously very concerning for a couple of reasons: 1) It's one of my favourite albums ever and 2) It's frustrating to having to do it all over again. Well, Reason No. 2 isn't really true because of Reason No. 1. I can write about the wonders of this album again happily. Maybe I pressed the wrong button.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff6L_uHVHww

Basically, "Ai wo Aru dake, Subete" has more great hooks than the tackle box of a professional angler. Case in point is the second track "AI no Touhikou"（AIの逃避行...Flight of the AI） which has Kirinji's Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）and Charisma.com's rapper Itsuka combine their musical prowess to create this spacey good caper song of a couple of artificial intelligences fleeing from their overseers into an uncertain future. It's a very cool synthpop number enhanced by the vocals of Horigome and former fellow bandmate, Kotringo, and then Itsuka's rap.

Another observation is that although "Ai wo Aru dake, Subete" is uniformly wonderful, I also think that it does have that meat in its batting order. "Ai no Touhikou" is the first of the power trio, and up second is "Hizerowa Game"（非ゼロ和ゲーム...Non-Zero Sum Game） which (depending on my mood and the years to come) is my favourite song of the album. It doesn't only have a bit of that synthpop thing going but there is also that Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers vibe thrumming through the rhythm.

Realizing that "Jikan ga nai"（時間がない） already has its own article, I still had to include it here as the final song of the power trio in the album. Besides, it's another great song.

If I'm not mistaken, the original article for "Ai wa Aru dake, Subete" had one more song in the form of "Silver Girl". It wraps up the album nicely as this calming song with punches of steel drums as Horigome gives out these images of beautiful women and summer beaches. The video above comes from the YouTube channel of Renjiro Kaneko, the fellow who charmed the socks off of us for his salaryman dance in the video for "Jikan ga nai".

"Ai wa Aru dake, Subete" did pretty well on Oricon by peaking at No. 17 on the album charts, and as I said, it has become a favourite of mine in the heavy rotation category. In another way, it was good that perhaps that I had this "opportunity" for this do-over since I've just read on Kirinji's J-Wiki article that Kirinji in its full band form with Yumiki and his other bandmates decided to call it a day back in January 2020. Takaki is now basically Kirinji as a solo project. As much as I wish Horigome well on his own, I will always appreciate the vocal harmonies between him and Yumiki.

May 15, 2021: Well, last night had a little drama that I hadn't expected or wanted. It turns out that I didn't do anything wrong...at least in terms of the button-pressing. Blogger itself had ousted the original article for "Ai wo Aru dake, Subete" for allegedly breaking the Community Guidelines, specifically in the area of malware. I knew that the songs that I covered for the album were infectious but not in THAT way! I did send some feedback to The Blogger Team about the situation and apparently earlier this morning, I got the email from them stating that the original article has been reinstated. However, instead of sacrificing either article, I'll keep them both. Anyways, there are other articles for three other tracks on "Ai wo Aru dake, Subete".

Kirinji -- Neo（ネオ）

 

Earlier this year, just before COVID-19 swamped the planet, I was able to give my thoughts on the two most recent albums by the band Kirinji（キリンジ）: "Ai wo aru dake, Subete"（愛をあるだけ、すべて）from 2018 and "cherish" from 2019. Both had their wonderful charms with the former being a trip to that spacey disco above the ionosphere while the latter also brought in some breathing time in the VIP lounge. Then, in late May, I came across "Koi no Kehai"（恋の気配）which was a track on Kirinji's third-most recent album released in August 2016. After listening to it a few times with singer-songwriter Kotringo（コトリンゴ）behind the mike, I knew that I had to get that album once I was gainfully employed once more. That album is "Neo".

Well, I became gainfully employed again sometime in midsummer so once I got my first real paycheck in a season, I used some of that salary to get a few albums including "Neo". My first impression on hearing the album a couple of times is that "Neo" is a bit less spacey than the next two albums with this release being the last one featuring Kotringo after being with the band between 2013-2016. However, that doesn't mean that Kirinji was on the straight-and-narrow pop path; they tried out some intriguing things. By the way, unless specified, leader Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）was responsible for words and music.

And already I'm going to specify something here. Right from the first track, "Neo" launches with a full blast with "The Great Journey" which invites one of the oldest Japanese hip-hop acts, RHYMESTER to add their writing contributions and singing chops to Horigome's own work. It seems from the lyrics by RHYMESTER's Utamaru（宇多丸）and Mummy-D and the Kirinji leader that it's a hyped-up theme for the evolution of life from the Ice Age to the Space Age. There is plenty of rapping in there by the two acts but "The Great Journey" is not a pure hip-hop tune and though there is some of that wonderfully whimsical Kirinji sound in there, it's not a pure Kirinji tune either. It's something that's perhaps a sum bigger than the total of its two parts. Certainly, everyone in the video above probably wanted to chug-a-lug a good cask of beer following the concert.

Then, we come to the second track, "Mr. BOOGIEMAN". As soon as I heard the first few bars, I figured that this was going to be guitarist Erino Yumiki's（弓木英梨乃）turn behind the mike since it sounds not only like something from the Doobie Brothers but also something which comes across as being so adorably cute. I also think that "Mr. BOOGIEMAN", who probably isn't scary at all but someone attractive and out for a good time on the town, could be great for a techno aidoru to tackle. Heck, Yumiki's performance at the concert above has her pulling off that old-fashioned showmanship technique of "making the rounds" except that it isn't through the seated audience of a restaurant-ballroom but just around the band members. 

Creamy-voiced Kotringo is behind the lyrics and Horigome is behind the music for what I think is "Hibi Kore Kanko"（日々是観光）. Not 100% on the kanji reading of that middle character and as for the translation, I think it's meant to say "Sightseeing Through These Days". Not going to worry too much about it, though, since this track is also quite soothing and quirky with the synth notes and the light samba as the two songwriters also perform "Hibi Kore Kanko" as the musical recipe in how to live happily for each day and not get too worked about stuff.

I could pick up some of the Beatles in the happy-go-lucky "Nen-neko"（ネンネコ）which could be a mashup between two words: nenne for baby blanket and neko for cat. All of those feline fans can do with a few listens of this track since it seems to be relaxing while viewing a cutely sleeping cat. I was bopping my head from side-to-side. It just goes to show that a cat's life can truly be the life of Riley. It would seem that every Kirinji album has that one truly quirky and catchy song; I'm reminded of "Pizza VS. Hamburger" from "cherish" for instance.

My final track here is a sad but beautiful ballad about love not finding the way. "Ano Ko no Birthday"（あの娘のバースデイ...That Girl's Birthday） by Horigome deals with a relationship that isn't meant to be due to too wide a gap in terms of things such as class. Both Kotringo and Yumiki share the microphone, and in the video above, Yumiki even shows her prowess with the violin. It's all very baroque but there's a part of the song that reminds me of some of the early love songs of Yumi Arai（荒井由実）.

In all honesty, of the three albums that I've written about here tonight, I think "Neo" has been the one that's taken a little longer to grab onto me. There's not as much of the spacey Jamiroquai feeling here on this album that was imbued into "Ai wo aru dake, Subete" and "cherish", and being a fan of Jamiroquai, I guess that's the thing for me. However, having said that, I'm happy to say that with repeated listenings to "Neo" over the weeks, the album has become as comfy as a pair of slippers. It's just another phase that I've experienced of this amazing band called Kirinji.

But as I've mentioned in the "Koi no Kehai" article, "Neo" has been the most successful of their albums so far in terms of the Oricon charts since it topped off at No. 11.

Kirinji -- Koi no Kehai（恋の気配）

It was my anime buddy who first informed me about the singer-songwriter kotringo（コトリンゴ）, aka Rieko Miyoshi（三吉里絵子）because of her version of the classic folk song "Kanashikute Yarikirenai"（悲しくてやりきれない）as the theme song for the acclaimed movie "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni"（この世界の片隅に）that we watched at his place a few years ago. Then, I realized on watching episodes of one of my favourite anime "Koufuku Graffiti"（幸福グラフィティー）, the Osaka-born singer had also composed the show's eclectic soundtrack, although the theme songs weren't handled by her.

Another surprise regarding kotringo was in store for me on learning that she had been a member of the band Kirinji（キリンジ）between 2013 and 2017, and she joined one of my favourite bands in the same year that founding member Yasuyuki Horigome（堀込泰行）had left for his own solo work. I read one comment underneath one Kirinji YouTube video which stated that when kotringo was with them that the band was truly special back at that time and that she's still missed.

That is indeed high praise considering that I've been very impressed with Kirinji's last two albums, "Ai wo aru dake, Subete"（愛をあるだけ、すべて）and "Cherish" which were produced after kotringo's departure. I can only imagine what Kirinji must have been like back then, but I got a little inspiration just recently on hearing "Koi no Kehai" (The Sign of Love), a track from Kirinji's 12th album "Neo", released in August 2016 and the final album with kotringo as a band member.

Written and composed by Kirinji vocalist Takaki Horigome（堀米孝樹）, kotringo is the main vocalist here, and that delicate and breathy voice of hers really helps lift the amazing and soothing melody. The arrangement is also helped by that quirky spacey keyboard that hints at what Kirinji was going to do in the next two albums. Other lovely ingredients are the onomatopoeia used in the lyrics, the whistling and what sounds like a steel pedal guitar. Something undeniably strange and romantic is taking place surrounding the lyrics depicting the classic illustration of autumn being the season of love fading away in Japanese music.

At this rate, once I return to buying CDs again, I'm going to have to add "Neo" to the Kirinji collection. By the way, the album had the highest ranking in the band's career by placing at No. 11 on Oricon, although I don't know how well their latest album "cherish" has fared.

Kirinji -- Ai wo aru dake, Subete（愛をあるだけ、すべて）

I came for the "Jikan ga nai"（時間がない）but I ended up staying for the rest of the album. This CD with the cover of what looks like two teaspoons in love belongs to Kirinji's（キリンジ）13th album "Ai wo aru dake, Subete" (Just With Love, Everything...which seems to be the final line from "Jikan ga nai") from June 2018. Having fallen for the band's 2003 "Sweet Soul" e.p. single and the aforementioned "Jikan ga nai", I opted to get both of them for the Holidays.

Quite amazing how Kirinji has evolved its sound between its start as a fraternal duo in the late 1990s and its current incarnation as a full group including anchor/songwriter Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）, and singer-songwriters Erino Yumiki（弓木英梨乃）and Kotringo (the latter having left in 2017 after a 4-year stint). My introduction to Kirinji was through their 2000 "Aliens", a love song so tender that I could have cut it with a fork, and from listening to some of their early work including "Sweet Soul", I could have been forgiven if I had assumed that Kirinji was a specialist in contemporary AOR balladry.

Well, some time down the line, the band increased their membership and started going more for some catchy spacey disco beats along the path of Jamiroquai which got me further interested. "Jikan ga nai" was just the bait for me to get hooked (line and sinker) onto "Ai wo aru dake, Subete". The entire album has had me already playing it a couple of times with the power middle of the (baseball team) order starting from Track 2. "AI no Touhikou"（AIの逃避行...AI Flight of Freedom） has that cool spacey sound with plenty of bass groove as Horigome's lyrics read like a synopsis out of a movie for a couple of androids who have discovered the concept of love and have taken off from minders who don't particularly like their discovery. Cyber-Romeo and Cyber-Juliet, so to speak. Kotringo has apparently come back to help out on backing vocals according to the liner notes, and special guest DJ Itsuka from rap group Charisma.com makes her own contribution. Have this on the car stereo while bombing down the more futuristic lanes of Tokyo. "AI no Touhikou" was actually released as Kirinji's 16th digital download single from November 2017.

Track 3 is "Hi Zero Wa Game" (非ゼロ和ゲーム...Non-Zero Sum Game) is my new favourite song...maybe for the entirety of 2020! Rather bold prediction, I know, but man, this is one supremely catchy number even more than "Jikan ga nai". One commenter referred to it as very Doobie Brothers while I've compared it to Steely Dan, and since both bands have a very close connection with each other, I'm good with both descriptions. Out of all of the tracks, this has been the one that I've listened to the most. Another commenter was wondering what the song was all about. Even Horigome has playfully stated in the lyrics that even he isn't sure what all the caterwauling is about, spitting out "Go Google it!" in one of the lines.

Then comes "Jikan ga nai". I realize that it already has its own article but I just had to include the song here. Since I've written about it, it looks like the music video has garnered a lot of compliments due to the now-famous dancing salaryman, identified as choreographer Reijiro Kaneko. I'm a couple of years older than the guy and seeing him trip the light fantastic in the video has made me wonder about getting some more exercise in. But then, I see the Pringles...

Unfortunately, those are all of the videos that I could find representing the various tracks on "Ai wo aru dake, Subete", but you can check out excerpts from all of them in the summary video above. Yup, plenty of stuff for Doobie Bros./Steely Dan fans. And may I say that the secret sauce here is that splendid synthesis of the voices of Horigome and Yumiki?

The album peaked at No. 17 on Oricon. Now that I've gotten a lot of fun from "Ai wo aru dake, Subete", I would very much like to give Kirinji's latest album "Cherish" that came out late last year a try as well.

May 15, 2021: Because of some interesting developments over the past 12 hours that will be explained at the end of that article, we now have two articles on this album.

Kotringo -- Kanashikute Yarikirenai（悲しくてやりきれない）

Back from another round of anime at my friend's house. For me, it was a bit strange today since today, September 24th, was the debut of the latest "Star Trek" show that is being filmed here in Toronto, "Star Trek: Discovery". Perhaps 20 years ago, I wouldn't have hesitated...I would have given my friend an excuse not to come out today and wait fervently in front of my TV to catch this new show. However, the "too little, too late" feeling of "Star Trek: Enterprise", followed by the not-so-great Abramsverse part of the franchise (I mean, I liked the first "Star Trek" in 2009 despite the plot progression), and the relative indifference to the 50th anniversary of Gene Roddenberry's space adventure last year in my opinion has ended up dulling my enthusiasm to the point that I'm not even sure I can call myself a dedicated Trekkie/Trekker anymore. However, I got home in time to see the last 10 minutes of the 2nd episode of "Discovery" and it does look markedly different from any of the past series although it does remind me of the Abramsverse (are those lens flares again?).

Instead, the main feature today at my friend's house was the second of the three big anime motion pictures from 2016. A few weeks ago, I caught "Kimi no Na wa"（君の名は。）, the space-and-time-cross high school romance. Tonight it was "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni"（この世界の片隅に...In This Corner of the World）, a film that I think is even better than "Kimi no Na wa" although my friend liked it even better than I did.

From what I had heard from my anime buddy and had read online, the movie is supposed to be a slice-of-life flick about wartime Japan in the city of Kure near Hiroshima. Well, my first thought was how can a slice-of-life flick traipse around the first nuclear bomb blast. After seeing the movie, my answer came: it doesn't. There is a lot of lightheartedness and gentle humour in "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni" but it doesn't hold back on the tragedy of war especially in a couple of scenes. Still, it's not a war movie or an anti-war movie.

My friend actually saw the movie in Japan during his trip last year at a Tokyo theatre and he said that although he saw it some three months after its premiere, there was still a full house at the first morning show and there were a lot of folks who he considered to be not regular anime-watching folks in the seats.

The movie starts out with the opening theme, a wistful tune by Kotringo（コトリンゴ）as people are going about their daily lives. As the song went along, I detected a certain familiarity when the words "kanashikute, kanashikute" were heard, and I realized that the singer-songwriter was doing a cover of the old 1968 folk song by The Folk Crusaders, "Kanashikute Yakirenai"（I Can't Bear How Sad It Is）. Noelle has already provided an article of that chestnut here so you can listen to the original version. But Kotringo makes the song her own with her soft-as-cotton delivery and that ethereal combination of piano and guitar and chorus before it rises into a brief boil and quickly subsides.

Kotringo's cover of "Kanashikute Yakirenai" originally came on her 2010 album "picnic album 1" and although that version was used in the trailers, an interview with the singer on the website OtoCoto via J-Wiki back in March 2017 noted that it couldn't be used for the movie itself due to the usual red tape so I guess what I heard tonight during the opening credits was made specially for the movie.

Anyways by the end of "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni", I felt like I caught one of the best movies that I'd seen this year.

ORESAMA -- Wonder Drive （ワンダードライブ）/ toi toy toi -- Chant

Looking at the above trailer, you would be forgiven if you had thought that this was merely one of those heartwarming slice-of-life anime starring a little cosplayer. However "Alice to Zouroku"（アリスと蔵六...Alice and Zouroku）has a split personality. I've been watching this as one of my buddy's presentations during the biweekly sessions this season, and it seems like it can swing almost fully into sci-fi thriller for one episode while swinging into a slice-of-life light comedy for another. However, everything hinges on the relationship between the perky and headstrong super-powered Sana and the cranky Zouroku with the heart of gold.

As I said on the article for the theme songs of "Uchoten Kazoku 2"（有頂天家族2）, none of the anison for the shows this season have been instant hits, but at least, the ones on offer here for "Alice to Zouroku" have been appealingly quirky. For instance, the opening theme, "Wonder Drive"（ワンダードライブ）by ORESAMA has got a nice pop beat that reminds me of ZAQ's "Hopeness" for last year's "Koukaku no Pandora: Ghost Urn"（紅殻のパンドラ）.

ORESAMA consists currently of vocalist and lyricist Pon（ぽん）and guitarist and composer Hideya Kojima（小島英也）, both from Nagano Prefecture. Since their debut single in 2014, they have released 1 album and 3 singles including "Wonder Drive". During their high school days, they covered a number of hits by Tokyo Jihen（東京事変）, Avril Lavigne and Judy and Mary. Lyrical Nonsense has the English translation of the lyrics right here.

It's the ending theme that I think fits in with the overall feeling of "Alice to Zouroku" because of its dreamy, innocent and whimsical nature. And in meeting with that mysterious vibe, I've got no idea who this unit, toi toy toi, is. Whoever they are, though, I'm starting to like "Chant" since there is something rather Enya with that layered vocalization. However I've been getting some push from my anime buddy about the lyricist and composer for "Chant", songwriter Kotringo（コトリンゴ）. Even before this show started, he had been telling how accomplished she is and I've passed by some of her videos on YouTube so perhaps I should give her more of a look-see. Translated lyrics are also up at Lyrical Nonsense.

June 13 2017: Well, Lantis Channel on YouTube put up the official music video for "Chant" yesterday, and I did find out that toi toy toi is made up of Kotringo herself, Babi, Rie Yoshihara（良原リエ）and Masumi Ito（伊藤真澄）.

Due to various circumstances, I've been running behind the sessions and with the spring season wrapping up in a couple of weeks, I'm wondering if my anime buddy might end up showing me the rest of episodes in a massive marathon session.