Team Syachihoko -- Ai no Chikyuusai (愛の地球祭)

Now, that’s what I call guilty pleasure… and it’s “Ai no Chikyuusai”, a single released by Team Syachihoko (チームしゃちほこ) in October 2013.

The thing about “Ai no Chikyuusai” is how it sounds like a quirky Techno Kayo song with all the blips and retro electronic features. It’s also a very catchy tune with some nice melodic shifts, such as the hyper-speedy and cute chorus, as opposed to the more jingle-like verses. Well, that’s not an uncommon thing in J-Pop, but I’m always surprised to see how they care for the melody, even in this type of shallow aidoru tune.

After so many years, it’s nice to have three of Team Syachihoko’s songs staying strong in my general playlist, one being “Ai no Chikyuusai”, the other being the already covered “Iikurashi” (いいくらし) and, finally, “Shampoo Hat” (シャンプーハット) – a song about, you guessed right, shampoo hats (well, I think it’s not REALLY about shampoo hats… it can’t be, right?).

“Ai no Chikyuusai” reached #5 on the Oricon chart. Lyrics were written by Kouji Miyashita (宮下浩司), while music and arrangement were done by Minoru Komorita (コモリタミノル).

Source: https://www.suruga-ya.jp/database/pics/game/220172121.jpg

Team Syachihoko -- Iikurashi (いいくらし)

As Momoiro Clover Z’s (ももいろクローバーZ) youngest sister group, Team Syachihoko (チームしゃちほこ) delivers what must aidoru fans learned to expect from a group promoted by Stardust Promotion Agency’s 3B Junior section: quirky and over the top songs with dubious vocals.

That’s the case with “Iikurashi”, an interesting attempt that mixes aidoru pop with late 80s/early 90s style of house music (something in the lines of Madonna’s hit single “Vogue”, Black Box’s classic “Ride On Time”, or, staying in J-Pop’s domains, Perfume’s “GLITTER”). The result is an edgy song that still sounds cute. Let’s say that while the vocal lines during the verses are cute and strangely hypnotic (Team Syachihoko is good in this department, as we can see in "Ai no Chikyuusai" [愛の地球祭], their previous single, which was released in late 2013), the background arrangement just goes along between steady beats and dynamic synths.

Based on the pop music standards, “Iikurashi” is a fairly long song with its six and a half minutes, something that made me remember of the extended and 12’’ singles that were around mostly during the mid-to-late 70s, 80s and early 90s. In “Iikurashi’s” case, it’s never a boring or very linear song, thanks to a cute rap interlude and some instrumental buildups. The vocals can be considered a weak point, but an aidoru listener is more than used to rough and endless out of tone notes.

To finish, I found quite educational to post this amazing video of SynthMania, an YouTube channel that I like very much. In this video, he shows how a typical Italo house song of the early 90s was created. Enjoy!

“Iikurashi” was released in May 2014 and reached #2 on the Oricon charts, selling 34,830 copies in its first week. Lyrics were written by Mochiishiriri (もちいしりり), while music and arrangement were done by Tetsuto Yoshida (吉田哲人).