Satellite Young -- Moment in Slow Motion

 

Earlier this morning, I saw on NHK News that as of tomorrow, facial recognition gates will be set up at Narita Airport for the Skyliner express trains going into Tokyo. One user said that it worked just fine...it only took 10 seconds to get through. Did I hear that correctly? It would take about ten times as long to get through that gate compared to the usual gate?! I will be very interested in hearing the results of this test.

Well, it's been several months since I've posted a Satellite Young tune. I was looking to put up something technopop for a while and with this one, "Moment in Slow Motion", which was the group's November 2018 single, I got something more. I've always liked music which combines a number of genres smartly, and "Moment in Slow Motion" (whose title reminds me of The Art of Noise) has that mix of technopop, City Pop and that retro-futuristic 1980s vibe. 

Enjoy the music video below with the wide streets and narrow alleys of nighttime Ueno, Shibuya and Shinjuku. No special effects here. It is as it is displayed.

Satellite Young -- Jack Doushi（ジャック同士）

 

It's been several years since I posted anything by the synthwave group Satellite Young, but catching some of their old videos on YouTube the other day, I decided to look up some of their back catalog. Fellow KKP writer Marcos V. was the first of us to introduce Emi Kusano（草野絵美）, Bellemaison Sekine（ベルメゾン関根）and Tele Hideo through his article on Satellite Young's self-titled album from 2017.

I provided the article on the group as well and it was on their February 2017 single "Sanfransokyo girl". Since that point, I've always associated Satellite Young with that futuristic city from the movie "Big Hero 6", and perhaps that Bing AI illustration at the top can represent Sanfransokyo. As has been once said, there are millions of stories in the city, and one could be Jack Doushi.

No idea who Jack Doushi is but "Jack Doushi" happens to be Satellite Young's debut single from January 2014. The synthpop is twinkly 80s but the arrangement still comes across as depicting something or someone gritty and dramatic as if Jack Doushi is a cyber-detective lurking among the moral muck of the not-so-nice areas of Sanfransokyo. It can't all be shiny and chrome in the big city. Vocalist Kusano and Sekine were responsible for words and music, and the song is also included on "Satellite Young" the album.

Satellite Young -- Modern Romance

Last week, I had a talk with an old friend of mine who's been extremely busy managing one of the movie theatres here in Toronto because of all of the safety concerns regarding COVID-19. Not sure when I'm going to have the opportunity to talk with him in person again, but hopefully before the autumn comes in earnest and the chances of infection rise once more, maybe we can grab dinner a couple of times. In any case, he told me that he's become a fan of the synthwave trio Satellite Young which rang a few bells, and I remember that both Marcos V. and I had written articles on this band that has had a love for all things pop cultural from the 1980s. The Eighties are also the decade that I've associated myself with the most.

Their November 2017 single "Modern Romance" isn't an instant classic with me but listening to it, it's got that retro-futuristic aidoru feeling that has been a mainstay theme for Satellite Young, especially punctuated by those nostalgia-sparking synthesizers. The sound actually reminded me of the work of the now-disbanded group Especia. And I gotta say with that official video, I do wonder whether Apple, Nokia and Blackberry among other companies got their piece of the action; plus, I do miss my kaiten sushi.🍣

Seeing those models of the Macintosh being hugged by vocalist Emi Kusano（草野絵美）in the video, my memories go back when I bought a Mac IIsi in the early 1990s following my return from Gunma Prefecture. That cost me a whopping $5000 plus I threw in the laser printer for an extra grand! If I'm not mistaken, the IIsi wasn't even the top of the line...I think the title went to the Quadra. One of my other friends had that one and when I went to his place, he was wondering why I was looking so green (with envy).

Y'know...I actually like this brinq -Neo Tokyo- remix even more. Perhaps it's the even shinier synths!

Satellite Young -- Take On Me/Sanfransokyo girl

Back in 2017, Marcos V. introduced the trio Satellite Young which specialized in "...hard-hitting and retro futuristic Techno songs, but also some great girly synthpop tunes...", and listening to their "Fake Memory" in Marcos' article, I also thought that Emi Kusano（草野絵美）, Bellemaison Sekine（ベルメゾン関根）and Tele Hideo (a cousin of Daft Punk?) rather tapped into that blood vessel of 80s pop music in general.

Well, recently, I dropped in at the Japan Top 10 podcast site where one of the casters reminded me of Satellite Young with their Japanese-language cover of "Take On Me", originally done by A-Ha. Considering the upload date on the video on YouTube, I am assuming that it was released last year in 2018. Now, being a fan of the original song and the amazing video, I thought Satellite Young's take on "Take On Me" was fine enough, but not enough to replace A-Ha in my heart.

Actually, what I've really liked is their February 2017 single "Sanfransokyo girl". With lyrics by Yuka Oishi and music/arrangement by Satellite Young, I'm pretty sure that the band was inspired by the movie "Big Hero 6" which was set in that hybrid city representing two grand metropolises on opposite sides of the Pacific. Not sure if the target of the song's affections was either Go Go or Honey Lemon, but I would say that "Sanfransokyo girl" is a poppy romance tune filtered through the synths of The Buggles or Tangerine Dream if the latter band had drunk copious amounts of fizzy drinks.

Y'know...having seen "Big Hero 6" recently again, I would probably say that "Sanfransokyo girl" would be ideal for a date with Honey Lemon.

Satellite Young -- Satellite Young (サテライトヤング)

Satellite Young is a Technopop (they call themselves synthwave, which is a electronic music genre obsessed with 80s pop culture, such as cartoons, series, movies and, of course, synthpop music) unit that have a very obvious passion for 80s Japanese synthpop. In fact, in many interviews, they mention how 80s electronic pop music and female aidoru singers are the main source of inspiration for their work (somehow, Seiko Matsuda’s [松田聖子] “The 9^th Wave”, from 1985, is an influential synthpop album in their opinion).

This month, they released a self-titled debut album, which is a collection of all the singles released since late 2013/early 2014, plus some new songs. Well, I can tell that if you like cheesy synthpop music from the 80s with lots of catchy hooks, than this album is for you. Every song is a grower and the synth work is amazingly over-the-top.

Satellite Young’s songs can be divided in two categories: the hard-hitting and retrofuturistic Techno songs, but also some great girly synthpop tunes that could’ve been handled to Kylie Minogue or Sinitta back in the SAW era. Let’s start with the cute songs before going to the more exciting ones.

“Fake Memory” and “Geeky Boyfriend” are cute songs that evokes nostalgy in the listener with the cotton candy-like melodies and dated synths. Satellite Young is not trying to reinvent the wheel with these songs… on the contrary, I like how they play with the concept of familiarity here, which is all people willing to listen to their type of music want. With that in mind, I could truly see Moulin Rouge, the Eurobeat duo from Slovenia, which was responsible for Wink’s “Namida wo Misenaide ~Boys Don’t Cry~” (涙をみせないで), recording both song back in the late 80s.

As for their hard-hitting retrofuturistic Techno songs, there’s “Sniper Rouge”, an amazing collaboration with Swedish synthpop artist Mitch Murder that evokes 80s anime series in a very exciting and dynamic way (the epic synth solo just kills me every time I listen to this song), but also “Dividual Heart”, which even features an almighty guitar solo amidst all the synth chaos.

To finish, there’s one more song to feature, which is “Sotsugyou Shinaide, Senpai!” (卒業しないで、先輩！). This one could be described as one of their cute songs, which in fact is, but there’s more to it since the tune was composed especially for an internet anime (more a parody of old school anime) called “Senpai Club”.

What I like about Satellite Young is how loyal they are to the genre. Absolutely nothing is restrained here, from the awkward aidoru-like vocals to the cascade of icy synths… everything is sincere, and obviously hit or miss (if you hate J-Pop vocals, like I’ve seen some people complaining about on YT, or dated electronic music, there’s nothing here that your ears will like). Like I said earlier, every song is a grower, and I recommend the full album if you like the songs I featured here.

In the end, I wasn’t able to resist and bought my copy from CDJapan. It’ll take a while to get here in Brazil, but I became too addicted to this album to let it pass.