Tomita Lab -- MAP for LOVE

 

A Happy Good Friday to you! Yup, it's a long weekend here in Canada so while things are still chilly outside, at least the sun is out brilliantly. 

Starting off Urban Contemporary Friday from a weird angle, I recollect that I saw Stanley Kubrick's classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" in its entirety only once. There were a number of noteworthy scenes including the title sequence with "Also sprach Zarathustra", the appearance of the massive spiral space station, HAL 9000, and that final mind-altering sequence featuring Dr. Bowman's evolution into the Starchild. The one chilling scene was seeing HAL murder Dr. Poole and throwing him into the celestial abyss (no worries, though...he gets better in the novel "3001: The Final Odyssey").

Watching the relaxing music video for Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）April 2021 digital single "MAP for LOVE", I couldn't help but feel that this could have been the perfect song and fate for good ol' Dr. Poole...he somehow gets thrown into an alternate universe over Tokyo in the year 2021 (mind you, he seems to have an even better future in the year 3001). As for the song itself, "MAP for LOVE" is basically a get-together of the Tomita Family in the recording booth. Written by Ryuta Tsunoda（角田隆太）of the band Mononkul（ものんくる）and Ryohu from KANDYTOWN, both of whom had a hand in Tomita Lab's 2018 album "M-P-C 'Mentality, Physicality, Computer'" and composed by the Lab himself, there are no fewer than nine singers behind the microphone: the aforementioned Ryohu, singer/seiyuu Maaya Sakamoto（坂本真綾）, guitarist Ryosuke Nagaoka（長岡亮介）of R&B band PETROLZ, Kento Nagatsuka（長塚健斗）of WONK, Naz, Bird, Sakura Fujiwara（藤原さくら）, Yasuyuki Horigome（堀込泰行）of Kirinji（キリンジ）, and Mononkul vocalist Sara Yoshida（吉田沙良）, all of whom have collaborated with the producer in the past.

All of the Arthur C. Clarke comparisons aside though, "MAP for LOVE" is a sweet and breezy romantic soul ballad about being connected by love no matter the distance whether it be in kilometres or light-years. My apologies but I'm going to have bring in another motion picture here. There's something about the story that reminds me of "Sleepless in Seattle" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan...and the crazy thing is that I read on Wikipedia that Hanks had once been interested in adapting "3001: The Final Odyssey" for the big screen. 

Tomita Lab -- M-P-C "Mentality, Physicality, Computer" (Part 3)

 

Finishing up last week on Part 2 of Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）2018 album "M-P-C 'Mentality, Physicality, Computer", we have here the third and final part covering the remainder of his concept of the above three features being indispensable for 21st-century society thus far. As mentioned, all of the melodies have been provided by Tomita himself.

Strings so tender that you can have them with Worcestershire sauce greet the ears in "Interlude 2" once again with KANDYTOWN 's Ryohu as your congenial host singing about the ever-present dream, you and me.

Singer-songwriter Tavito Nanao（七尾旅人）lends his lyrics and silky and chocolatey vocals to "rain on you". It's a gently undulating pop piano piece about the rain perhaps a triggering bittersweet memory of a past romance. I really do like the combination of strings and piano here along with the background chorus. If I ever decide to write out an article on a rain theme, "rain on you" is more than welcome to join the list.

The band Mononkul（モノンクル）comes in with "Yuruyakana Doku"（緩やかな毒...Slow Poison）. Bassist Ryuta Tsunoda（角田隆太）wrote the lyrics about the so-called slow poison of love as the protagonist seems to be "succumbing" to the charms of the other whose voice repeatedly plays out in the head, and probably vice versa as well. Meanwhile, vocalist Sara Yoshida（吉田沙良）gives a soft and haunting account of the affair. 

"Outroduction" with Ryohu finishes up "MPC" as a pretty lively funk-hop hinting melodically at some of the early 70s cop movie soundtracks such as "Shaft". It also references back to Track 2 (aka the title track) that was described in Part 1, but instead of the analog vs. the digital there, Ryohu gives a laidback warning about the choice between love and all of the other temptations out there in society including money. Being a realist in this century, I think a combination of everything would be fine. By the way, the album peaked at No. 72 on Oricon.

Tomita Lab -- M-P-C "Mentality, Physicality, Computer" (Part 2)

 

Last week, I provided an article on Part 1 of Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）2018 album "M-P-C 'Mentality, Physicality, Computer'", and so far, from him and his collaborators, it's been some a mixture of R&B, hip-hop and even a bit of synthpop. All music is by the Lab himself.

I guess with the overall concept of what life is like in early 21st-century Japan, there will be a couple of interludes. "Interlude 1" which is officially Track 5 is another cooperative effort between Ryohu of KANDYTOWN and Tomita that has disco and rap as the former gives his patter about making that first step going into the big city for what might be a terrifyingly exhilarating night. Looking in the liner notes, I gotta say that I never expected a couple of clarinet players alongside the horns helping out here.

Track 6 is "Let It Ride" which I already wrote about and the link to that song can be found in Part 1, so let's go over to the soulful "OCEAN" featuring Naz, aka Nazu Yamada（山田なづ）, an Okinawan R&B singer. With lyrics by Lori Fine of COLDFEET, Naz delivers a pleasingly smooth and smoky performance about suddenly finding joy, reassurance and power. Her website is currently out of commission but her Facebook and Twitter accounts are still open.

One more track is "POOLSIDEDELIC" featuring singer-songwriter and guitarist Rei. With lyrics by Jun Kamoda（鴨田潤）, aka hip-hop musician Illreme（イルリメ）, I'm not quite sure which part of R&B this track belongs to, but the percussion is snazzy. Lyrically, there seems to be an Agatha Christie novel's worth of suspense and intrigue surrounding one recreational pool. In any case, I will wrap up "M-P-C" with Part 3 next week.

Tomita Lab -- M-P-C "Mentality, Physicality, Computer" (Part 1)

 

Over the past decade of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I've really cottoned onto the works of musician, producer and arranger Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, aka Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）, and I've managed to collect some of the fellow's albums including his early 2000s "Shipbuilding" and "Shiplaunching". Unfortunately, his very first album when he was one-half of the duo KEDGE in the late 1980s, "Complete Samples", remains the rarest of the rare but is a fun release in which his music was very different back then.

During my recent Christmas splurge at CD Japan, I bought Tomita Lab's 6th album from October 2018, "M-P-C 'Mentality, Physicality, Computer'" on the strength of one of the tracks, the poppy and boppy "Let It Ride" as sung by Kento Nagatsuka（長塚健斗）of the soul group WONK. And once more, Tomita has continued the tradition of bringing a number of other singers from all over to help record the album with him.

Regrettably, there's isn't a lot written about what "M-P-C" is all about. In fact, I only had the obi for the album to inform me that Tomita had wanted to address the necessary triumvirate of mentality, physicality and the computer for what is contemporary human life, and so, this 2018 release has that concept. The first track is "Introduction", an instrumental which begins with a metropolis' sounds and then a harp with some accompanying dissonance. Then, a combination of pumping percussion, voices and strings go for some good ol' cacophony for the remainder of the one minute and change.

Track 2 is the title track itself featuring MC and track maker (and lyricist) Ryohu from the hip-hop group KANDYTOWN (which will be ending its time in a couple of months). As Ryohu raps the light fantastic just like the J-R&B folks from the early 2000s, Tomita's warm melody of soulful horns and piano lays the foundation of what life is like in the opening decades of the 21st century: the real vs. the unreal, the analog vs. the digital. It could almost be a musical description of "The Matrix".

Ryosuke Nagaoka（長岡亮介）from Tokyo Jihen（東京事変）joins in for "Password"（パスワード）which strikes me as being a mildly synthpop Track 3. However, the Tomita Lab tropes of grooviness and ASMR-inducing chorus are back here as well. As for the lyrics, I received the impression that a couple's surrounding environment isn't quite as robust as first thought. Maybe they are in a holodeck on the Enterprise?

The final song for Part 1 is "Arpeggio"（アルペジオ）by the rap duo chelmico. Three years ago, I first wrote about Rachel and Mamiko because they had come up with the hyperspeed "Easy Breezy", the opening theme song for the 2020 anime "Eizouken ni wa Te o Dasu na!"（映像研には手を出すな!...Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!）. Now, buying "M-P-C", I've found out that they had also helped Tomita Lab with another chrome-lined track. As has been the ritual so far, chelmico provided the lyrics which seem to break the fourth wall in that they openly ask Tomita-san about what they should be rapping about. Mind you, Rachel and Mamiko get their bearings extremely quickly as they let folks know that everyone ought to chill, hang out and have a good time.

I ought to have Part 2 of 3 out sometime next week. But so far, I'm getting the feeling that Tomita Lab wanted to add in that "Computer" part of the title via the appropriate instrumentation.