I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
That is one mighty happy young photographer flying about in zero gravity on either the ISS or a space shuttle. If it were me, I would most likely be heaving all over the place.
Anyways, my final article tonight deals with the laidback sounds by Uwanosora（ウワノソラ）. "Mujuuryoku no Photographer"(Photographer in Zero Gravity) initially launches with some fairly happy piano-driven AOR that is reminiscent of the Doobie Bros before the speed ratchets down slightly to something more relaxing The song first appeared on the band's August 2020 2nd maxi-single"Kurage"（くらげ...Jellyfish） but also popped up as the coupling song to "Heart no Tekagami"（ハートの手鏡) from October 2021.
It's also nice that "Mujuuryoku no Photographer" and "Heart no Tekagami" share space on the same disc for comparison. There is the cafe-worthy former paired with the Seizo Watase（わたせせいぞう）City Pop of the latter.
Ohhh...still digesting my meal from last night. All that roast beef, roast turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes have continued to keep me fairly sleepy, so typing on the keyboard has taken on some rather hilarious tendencies. However, the show must go on as I complete the final 2025 day for Urban Contemporary on KKP.
And there's nothing better than a fine emulation of the old days of music. As soon as I heard the opening notes of Uwanosora's（ウワノソラ）"Heart no Tekagami"(Hand Mirror of Heart Shape) from October 2021, I immediately thought Sakanaction's（サカナクション）"Wasurerarenaino"（忘れられないの）and felt that both bands were plucking from the optimistic synthpop songbook of the 1980s.
"Heart no Tekagami", which was written and composed by Uwanosora's leader Hirohide Kadoya（角谷博栄）, is definitely pulling one page out of the "Heart Cocktail" book by that design on the CD cover. The use of those particular keyboards (and the melody they spell out) is thrilling to hear as an old City Pop fan, and vocalist Megumi Iemoto's（いえもとめぐみ）singing style reminds me of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）in the late 1970s when she took on a peppier approach to her music once she got married. It contrasts quite nicely with the previous Uwanosora song I posted, "Autumn Ballad" , from 2023.
I can't say that I have seen this in Hollywood movies recently but once upon a time, if a high-concept blockbuster premiered on the big screen, a similar movie using the same concept would appear. That was the case in 1998 while I was living in Japan. We had the asteroid/comet disaster movies "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" arrive within a couple of months of each other that year. I did see the former at the theatre but never bothered with the latter (despite Seiko Matsuda having a very brief cameo in "Armageddon") although I did catch it on DVD a few years later.
Strangely enough, I came across this mellow tune by the band Uwanosora（ウワノソラ）a few months ago called "Inseki no Love Song"(Meteorite Love Song). A track on their June 2019 3rd album"Yogiri"（夜霧...Night Fog）, I had first thought that the song was a ballad about a couple seeing shooting stars in the night sky. However, going through band guitarist Hirohide Kadoya's（角谷博栄）lyrics (he also provided the melody and arrangement), it's actually quite the romantic apocalyptic number about a couple trying to keep things light and lovey-dovey before a gigantic meteorite crashes onto Earth, most likely killing everyone. The music is indeed very calming and reassuring (no real hint of City Pop)...just the tonic before that first disintegrating blast wave hits.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any City Pop tunes today that are explicitly Valentine's Day-themed in particular that I haven't already covered. However, I think this song might fit the bill well enough.
It's been many months since I covered a song by the contemporary band Uwanosora（ウワノソラ）but I have found their "Umibe no Futari"(The Two of Us by the Sea) which is a track from their 2014 debut album"Uwanosora". Heck, if it's possible, why not spend February 14th on a beach near the equator or in the Southern Hemisphere?
As I mentioned in my very first article on Uwanosora, the band has plenty of influences: 1960s~1980s pop, AOR, City Pop, soul and Música popular brasileira. With "Umibe no Futari", I can pick up on light 1970s New Music, samba and AOR thanks to the songwriting by guitarist Hirohide Kadoya（角谷博栄）. It's all very nostalgic and fresh at the same time.
The above is a shot of the World Porters mall in Yokohama. Why? Because the following is a Yokohama-based tune.
One thing that I've mentioned time and again on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is that autumn has often been the season representing the death of romance when it comes to kayo kyoku from the late Showa era. Well, it appears that the trope has been applied to something very Neo-City Pop in the Reiwa era.
I haven't talked about the multi-genre band Uwanosora（ウワノソラ）since 2021 when I noted their "Mujuuryoku no Photographer"（無重力のフォトグラファー）which came out in the summer of 2020. Well, Hirohide Kadoya（角谷博栄）and his band have shown that they like covering 1960s~1980s pop, AOR, City Pop, soul and Música popular brasileira, and I think their "Autumn Ballad", which is due to be released as a digital song anytime as of this writing according to the video explanation, fulfills the City Pop side of things.
Megumi Iemoto（いえもとめぐみ）has been the vocalist for the Uwanosora songs that I've covered so far, but this time, Kadoya hasn't only provided words and music but has also gone behind the mike, sounding a lot like AOR crooner Michael Franks. A song based in Yokohama according to the throw out of the neighbourhood of Honmoku, "Autumn Ballad" is about an imminent breakup between two people with the protagonist not feeling quite ready to do the deed. For the Uwanosora songs I've posted thus far, I've thought of them as being AOR but "Autumn Ballad" is about as close to City Pop as I've heard them.
Frigid as all heck out there but I can't complain about the sunshine over every place today. It's good to get that Vitamin D.
Seeing that it is a sunny Sunday, and also for the fact that it is Valentine's Day, I think something apropos is in order. Therefore, here is "Mujuuryoku no Photographer" (Photographer in Zero Gravity) from the pop/rock band Uwanosora（ウワノソラ）. The song is a part of the band's 2nd single "Kurage"（くらげ...Jellyfish） which was released in August 2020.
Although Uwanosora has been categorized in J-Wiki as a pop/rock unit, the music that I've heard so far from them such as "Umbrella Walking" seems to take them more into AOR or even a new version of Sunshine Pop. The opening piano and underlying rhythms for "Mujuuryoku no Photographer" even pay some tribute to those West Coast AOR sounds, and the whole effect is simply to drink in the weekend relaxation with a cup of chamomile tea. I think the video spells it out quite succinctly.
Back last June, I wrote about this pop band that had one foot in contemporary smooth pop with the other in the 1960s pop sounds of Phil Spector and The Beach Boys. Uwanosora's（ウワノソラ）"Natsu no Kyakusen"（夏の客船）was quite a nice refreshing breeze in terms of J-Pop of the 2010s.
"Umbrella Walking" is another one of those pleasant and skippy tunes whose video of a happy road trip by the band was originally released back in 2013 but apparently, according to their website, didn't get onto a release until Uwanosora's 2nd album"Hidamari"（陽だまり）in 2017 (correct me, if I'm wrong, of course).
When I was writing about "Natsu no Kyakusen", it was at a time when I was learning about some of these new sunny pop groups such as Lamp and Blue Peppers, and one other blog even mentioned Ryusenkei（流線形）and Apple Pye（あっぷるぱい）when referring to Uwanosora. There is definitely that new and shiny feeling with Uwanosora via "Umbrella Walking" as well, but I also pick upSugar Babe (in the chorus especially) and some of the mellower urban contemporary stuff from the early 2000s in Japan. Maybe even a bit of Original Love.
Listening to "Umbrella Walking", I can only hope that winter will soon be over in the next few weeks.
As much as I've loved the kayo of the past, there's been a goodly amount of contemporary music that I've come to enjoy in the past few years, thanks to the blog. Bands such as microstar and Lamp have garnered their followings although I think they can stand to get some more love.
I found another group that pleasantly tickles the ears just so in the form of Uwanosora（ウワノソラ）. The band first came into being in 2012 through the meeting of guitarist/songwriter Hirohide Kadoya（角谷博栄）, lead vocalist/lyricist Megumi Iemoto（いえもとめぐみ）and Tomomichi Oketa（桶田知道）at a university in Osaka. And according to the music site WebVANDA via J-Wiki, Uwanosora has been influenced by pop spanning the 1960s~1980s, AOR, City Pop, soul and Música popular brasileira, a form of Brazilian fusion.
Oketa left the group in July 2017, but the remaining duo has come up with their 2nd album, released in October titled "Hidamari"（陽だまり...Sunny Spot）. One track is the supremely mellow "Natsu no Kyakusen" (Summer Passenger Liner) which fits the season well, especially on a sunny afternoon in a beach chair. I especially like Iemoto's voice here.
Interestingly, Uwanosora created another persona for itself called Uwanosora '67（ウワノソラ’67）. This incarnation has the same lineup but the music here has a much narrower focus, being inspired by the works of Phil Spector, The Beach Boys and the late singer-songwriter Eiichi Ohtaki（大瀧詠一）. Uwanosora '67's first single"Shelley ni Kubittake" (Head Over Heels for Shelley) from April 2016 is a breezy number that got me thinking of both Spector and Ohtaki, especially with that brass. Plus, the music video looks like it came out of an episode of either "American Bandstand" or "Shindig".
Uwanosora has released 2 albums and a single while Uwanosora '67 has an album and a single under that incarnation. Will be interested in looking at some of their other creations in the days to come.
