Michiru Hoshino -- Koi no Funfair（恋のファンフェアー）

Fellow collaborator JTM just came back from a trip to Japan last week, so he was kind enough to allow me to show some photos of Tokyo. Here's one from the bayside Odaiba district with the famous Ferris wheel next to VenusFort.

So I assumed that this would be the ideal time and place to show off Michiru Hoshino's（星野みちる）"Koi no Funfair" (Funfair of Love) which was released as her 6th single from June 2014. At first, I had thought that it was "Koi no Fanfare" but the word fanfare is actually written in katakana as 「ファンファーレ」and not 「ファンフェアー」as in the title. Scuttlebutt says that a funfair is the British equivalent of a circus or carnival over here.

In any case, don't expect any of that organ carnival music here. "Koi no Fun Fair" seems to be a melodically loving tribute to good ol' disco. It would make for some fine background music while traipsing through the aforementioned Odaiba or even the famous amusement park Fuji-Q Highland in Yamanashi Prefecture. The music gets even more epic as "Koi no Fun Fair" goes along when the "Whoo~" backup vocals come sliding in. They give the song a further spacier feeling that makes me fantasize whether this could have been an ideal addition to a "Guardians of the Galaxy" soundtrack.

Speaking of the music, I've been associating the former AKB48 member with the groovy AOR duo of Blue Peppers（ブルー・ペパーズ）because of her contribution to their album "Retroactive". However, with "Koi no Fun Fair", the music was provided by Seiki Sato（佐藤清喜）who is one-half of microstar (lyrics provided by Hajimu Hase/はせはじむ), and if you've heard his "Tiny Spark", he knows a thing or two of the dance music of the 1970s. So I'm happy to say that Hoshino has connections with a couple of fine bands that I was able to first discover last year.

"Koi no Funfair" was also placed on Hoshino's 2nd album from July of that year, "E・I・E・N VOYAGE" (Eternal Voyage). It didn't rank too highly, only getting up to No. 240 on the Oricon weeklies but just from listening to this one particular song, I'd be interested enough to give the album a listen.

AKB48 -- Anata to Christmas Eve（あなたとクリスマスイブ）

"I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus..."

After having watched my fair share of "The Simpsons", "Family Guy" and "South Park" over the years, my response to this famous lyric would be "And then I saw Daddy grabbing for his baseball bat..."

Yes, I can be pretty snarky when I want to be, but as much as the Holidays here are about Mass, Jesus Christ, Santa Claus, turkey and presents, December 24th and the 25th in Japan are all about the partying, KFC, Fujiya cakes, and romancing. I can guarantee that last night in Tokyo, there were plenty of hotels being booked and restaurants getting reserved for some of those Second Valentine's Day dates.

So, for my final J-Xmas song this season, I give you "Anata to Christmas Eve" (Christmas Eve With You) by AKB48. I had only discovered this one just earlier today, and it's dripping with all of that Xmas romance-y stuff, just like a roasting turkey and its juices ready for basting. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by SHUJI, this apparently came out as one of the songs on the setlist for a concert by the group and then recorded for a CD which was released in March 2007. To be honest, it's a bit too treacly for me even as an Xmas song, but hey, I could imagine this song hovering over a lot of young couples walking through Tokyo neighbourhoods such as Shibuya and Omotesando.

From what I could find from the J-Wiki article, the CD is titled "Team A 1st Stage 'PARTY ga Hajimaru yo'"（チームA 1st Stage「PARTYが始まるよ」...The Party Is About To Begin）. "Anata to Christmas Eve" was performed by members Ayumi Orii（折井あゆみ）and Michiru Hoshino（星野みちる）.

Sister group SKE48 released their own "PARTY ga Hajimaru yo" album in October 2013 with that track (and for that matter, I think a lot of the other sister groups have given their own cover of the Xmas song). However the video above has AKB48 members Yuki Kashiwagi（柏木由紀）and Miyu Takeuchi（竹内美宥）performing a cover originally done by their own sempai.

In any case, I wish everybody out there...fellow collaborators, commenters and viewers...all the best for a Merry Christmas!

Michiru Hoshino -- Discotheque ni Tsuretette（ディスコティークに連れてって）

Apparently, disco never died...it just went into the Witness Protection Programme. Not that I mind. I've always remembered and enjoyed the genre as being part of my childhood growing up. Heck, even the early morning kids' show that I watched on the Buffalo ABC affiliate "Rocketship 7" had a disco-dancing robot.

I gather that Japan was always a haven for disco. It's been unironically loved there and the arrangements have made their way into various J-Pop songs over the decades. There is Morning Musume's（モーニング娘。）megahit "Love Machine"（LOVEマシーン）from 1999 and another one is microstar's "Tiny Spark" which was the final spark for me to get their album "She got the blues" from 2016.

And then I found this one by ex-AKB48 member (graduated in 2007) and current singer-songwriter Michiru Hoshino（星野みちる）. This is her 13th single from May 2016, "Discotheque ni Tsuretette" (Take Me To The Discotheque), and both title and arrangements fairly scream mirror ball and "Saturday Night Fever".

According to the JASRAC website, Hoshino came up with the melody while Hajimu Hase（はせはじむ）provided the lyrics. Although the singer was born several years after disco had allegedly gone into music history, it certainly looks like she had the disco style down pat when she thought up the music, although perhaps "Discotheque ni Tsuretette" has some aidoru-like lightness mixed in.

"Discotheque ni Tsuretette" was also the opening track on Hoshino's September 2015 album "You Love Me". It didn't make too much of a dent in the charts, going up as far as No. 123. Still, I haven't had a problem with the music that she has given us since there are some nice hooks in there, and I am still grateful to Marcos V. for first introducing Hoshino back in 2015 with her “Seikan Renrakusen ~Night Voyage~” (星間連絡船 ～Night Voyage～) which has a different but appealing vibe.

Since we're on the topic of disco, let's go back 40 years or so, shall we?

Blue Peppers -- Retroactive

Well, the allure of free points for a limited time on CD Japan was too much to reject. I ended up getting another 4 albums to add to the collection, and one of them was a recent discovery. About a month ago, I discovered a duo called Blue Peppers（ブルー・ペパーズ）which has been creating this groovy sound of AOR and fusion for a few years. The song that I fell for was "Roku-gatsu no Yume"（6月の夢）with Shiori Sasaki（佐々木詩織）as the guest vocalist, and it was this cool happy-go-lucky number that could have described a sunny Sunday afternoon outing.

I heard a few more of their songs on YouTube and checked out their website. From that point, I decided that I would invest in their latest release which is their first full album "Retroactive" from November 2017.

Not certain whether Naoki Fukuda（福田直木）and Kaoru Inoue（井上薫）had thought about it this way, but I think the title is pretty darn clever because when I read it, I think of "retro" and "active". Having listened to the album once and hearing the individual tracks on YouTube again, there is that modern groove to be sure but there is also that love letter to the sounds of yesterday, notably the music that Fukuda and Inoue have loved listening to, ranging from the discography of Steely Dan to Toko Furuuchi（古内東子）. Retro is indeed active.

One of the tracks is "Zutto"（ずっと...Always）that actually came out earlier in 2017, and once again, the lovely vocals of Shiori Sasaki come to the fore. The music harkens back to the 1990s when the aforementioned Furuuchi first made her presence known. It is some of that J-Soul that was percolating through the late 90s into the early 2000s that "Zutto" reminds me of. Inoue wrote and composed this track.

"Akikaze no Regret"（秋風のリグレット...Autumn Wind Regret）, which was the coupling song for "Zutto", takes my mind back even further since it reminds me of an old late 70s/early 80s AOR number from one of my compilations from the genre, perhaps Jackson Browne. Fukuda composed and sang this piece of nostalgia while Masato Inami（伊波真人）wrote the lyrics about a fellow who has lost a love but would like another chance.

Former AKB48 member Michiru Hoshino（星野みちる）who has been carving out her own solo career for the past few years comes in as a guest vocalist for "Cobalt Blue"（コバルトブルー）which seems to be a new song. Written and composed by Blue Peppers, it has that similar happy-go-lucky vibe as "Roku-gatsu no Yume".

And for the final track, here is a shortened version of  "Ase wa Amai Kuchizuke"（汗は甘い口づけ...Sweat is a Sweet Kiss）which nearly demands to be heard with a glass of sangria. Some very sunny bossa nova infused into this track, and I think Blue Peppers even gave a tiny shoutout to Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Brazil".

I will leave it at that for now since you can also listen to the samples of all of the tracks from "Retroactive" below and form your own opinions. As for me, another happy acquisition from the current crop of urban contemporary music from Japan.

Michiru Hoshino -- Watashi wa Schedy（私はシェディー）

I was going to close off tonight with my usual two contributions to "Kayo Kyoku Plus" when I encountered the above Future Funk/Vaporwave/whatever creation performed to the swaying figure of one Lynn Minmay. And I was quite curious about the originating song since I could hear elements that I enjoyed.

Well, I managed to track it down to former AKB48 member Michiru Hoshino's（星野みちる）"Watashi wa Schedy" (I am Schedy) which was a track on her debut full album "Hoshi ga Michiru"（星がみちる...Filling with Stars）released in July 2013. Hoshino has already been highlighted in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" by Marcos V. who introduced us to her "Seikan Renrakusen" （星間連絡船）which came out a year later, a song that I also liked.

http://mp3.zing.vn/bai-hat/Watashi-Wa-Shady-Hoshino-Michiru/ZW68UAA7.html

Now I can understand how Marcos felt when he discovered "Seikan Renrakusen". I possibly had the same feeling listening to "Watashi wa Schedy". Like "Seikan Renrakusen", "Watashi wa Schedy" has that appealing spacy groove to it. It's sweet and out there at the same time (kinda like Abby Sciuto on "NCIS"), and I could imagine that it would have made a nice addition to the soundtrack for the anime "Space Dandy". One commenter for Marcos' article mentioned that he enjoyed the "Hoshi ga Michiru" album. If there are any more of this spacy groove in it, I may just pick it up myself.

I couldn't find out who composed and wrote "Watashi wa Schedy" (which is a pity since I really want to know what a schedy is). However, at least for the composition, at least I think I can resolve that part. "Watashi wa Schedy" is heavily taken from "Clouds Across The Moon" which was a single released by the RAH Band in 1985. Created by the lone member of the band, Richard Anthony Hewson, there is a bit more technopop in the arrangement but this song is also a wonderful romantic ballad of the stars. I almost wanted to slap myself upside the head after listening to it since I was a big listener of UK pop of the 1980s (Depeche Mode, Swingout Sister, Level 42, etc.) and I had never heard of either the RAH Band or "Clouds Across The Moon". But better late than never as they say, and it's still always a joy to discover some new appealing music no matter how old it actually is.

Michiru Hoshino -- “Seikan Renrakusen ~Night Voyage~” (星間連絡船 ～Night Voyage～)

A couple of nights ago, I had a great surprise with a song called “Seikan Renrakusen ~Night Voyage~”, which was recorded by an aidoru called Michiru Hoshino (星野みちる). After listening to it two or three times, I quickly learned, thanks to the video, that “Seikan Renrakusen ~Night Voyage~”, which was originally the b-side to her “Ame no Naka no Dreamer”, ended as the promotional song for her second full-lenght album “E.I.E.N Voyage”, which was released in July 2014.

According to generasia, Michiru Hoshino is an ex-AKB48 member who graduated from the group back in 2007 with plans to become a singer/songwriter. Based on that, it’s obvious that she didn’t experience what AKB48 became after it finally reached the top spot on the Oricon charts in late 2009.

When I listened to “Seikan Renrakusen ~Night Voyage~”, some things caught my attention. In a more general view, it’s a bubbly pop song that’s not over-processed like the majority of today’s aidoru music. Thing is, the arrangement is airy and can breath at some points. Also, the sparse piano twinkles are a lovely addition.

The video is also a nice piece of “art”, as, although simple, it drinks from the “retro” fountain in a very interesting way. Somehow, it made me think about the 70s and 80s, when the capitalist societies shared a dream about what the future in the 21st century would be like. This dream, which is called “retrofuturism” by the specialists, shows how the futuristic beliefs of not-so-long-ago were more on point with the society of its time than with the future itself. It was something like “imagining the future based on what we already have”.

In a more specific way, I just loved the silly dance routines performed by Michiru (her faces were a mixture of fun and shame while doing them), and also when she acted as if the yellow game boy was a cell phone. In the end, although light and happy, the video, plus the song, shared some melancholy... no, maybe nostalgy is the right word... or both melancholy and nostalgy.

The “E.I.E.N Voyage” album reached #240 on the Oricon charts.