bridge -- christmas jam

 

I have heard of egg nog, hot buttered rum and After Eights as seasonal favourites but I have to admit that Christmas jam is a new thing for me.

And this "christmas jam" is a new thing for me as well. The band bridge is a group that I've known for only the past couple of years and they've struck me as this somewhat Shibuya-kei and indies pop unit that lasted between 1989 and 1995 with a brief reappearance in 2017. They came up with "christmas jam" for a compilation album of Xmas songs titled "The World in Winter" which was released in 1999. I couldn't find any sign of the song on any of bridge's past singles or albums, so I can only assume that vocalist Mami Otomo（大友真美）and the gang got back together for this one tune.

It's quite the jingly tune as well. I don't think that there is much in the way of the usual Shibuya-kei, but there is quite a lot of indies pop-rock feeling along the lines of Go-Bang's. And I also couldn't help but feel there is a similarity between "christmas jam" and Princess Princess' big hit "Diamonds".

bridge -- Pool Side Music

Wikimedia Commons

Can't quite believe that it's approaching two years since I posted anything up by the genteel Shibuya-kei band bridge. So, just on that point, I'm more than willing to put up another article about one of their tunes, but also, the YouTube powers-that-be have also taken down one of their early songs "He She & I" and I couldn't find any other videos featuring it so I've had to put that article back into Draft mothballs.

Having to put an article back into mothballs doesn't sit well with me so I usually look for another song of the artist as a bit of counterattack, and happily, I was able to find this sunny song by bridge recently. Their second and final single, "Pool Side Music"  from June 1994, was released as an advance single from their sophomore album "Preppy Kicks", and it's got that happy-go-lucky 60s pop feel. Band guitarist Nobuyuki Ohashi（大橋伸行）was responsible for words and music with Mami Otomo（大友真美）handling the vocals.

bridge -- Windy Afternoon

 

It's been a fascinating ride so far since I first discovered this wide-ranging early 90s band called bridge back in the summer. They were able to do Shibuya-kei, generally sunny pop and even some City Pop from their 1994 album "Preppy Kicks". 

Well, I've been listening to their 1993 maxi-single "Windy Afternoon". Plenty of energy here too but this time, the genre label will be different. I can pick up some country here, a lot of folk and jazz there (perhaps some zydeco) and maybe music that takes things closer to the melodies of Jitterin' Jinn. Written in English by vocalist Mami Otomo（大友真美）with help from Bryan Burton Lewis and composed by keyboardist Mayumi Ikemizu（池水真由美）, the story has it that someone was going through a really windy afternoon until that special character arrived to break open the clouds and tamp down the gale. Maybe some romance ensued. 

bridge -- Preppy Kicks

 

I only found out about this album within the last few weeks and after listening to a few of the tracks, I thought it was worth mentioning, especially for those who are dabbling into Shibuya-kei or generally very sunny pop. The band known as bridge has a small J-Wiki article, and it was first formed in 1989 and in its initial run up to 1995, it was categorized as a Shibuya-kei and Neo-Acoustic group consisting of vocalist Mami Otomo（大友真美）, keyboardist Mayumi Ikemizu（池水真由美）, guitarist/vocalist Hirotaka Shimizu（清水弘貴）, bassist Hideki Kaji（加地秀基）, drummers Hiroko Kurosawa（黒澤宏子）and Mitsunori Sasaki（佐々木光紀）, and guitarist Nobuyuki Ohashi（大橋伸行）. During that run, they released four albums, a couple of singles and four maxi-singles.

Their second album from July 1994 is "Preppy Kicks" which for some reason really hits me as being Shibuya-kei along with the cover with a supremely happy young lady and red balloons. The "90's City Pop Record Book" website reviewed it and stated that this is a masterpiece of the Neo-Acoustic genre with that feeling of old-fashioned American pop. Along with that, the site also recommended "Preppy Kicks" for those who have been microstar fans.

Bassist Kaji was writer and composer for the first track "Soft Cream Whistle" that you can hear above. Otomo's sing-songy and child-like intro had me first thinking whether the song was on NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）series but then the music launches and I'm surrounded by happy Sunday afternoon thoughts expressed through the melody. The rhythm has that Shibuya-kei trot while the solo horn that enters the first bridge (no pun intended) verges on ska. "Soft Cream Whistle" sounds so upbeat and bouncy that I wouldn't be surprised if it had been used as an opening theme for a slice-of-life anime back in those 1990s.

"90's City Pop Record Book" admitted that "Preppy Kicks" isn't really a City Pop album but they emphasized that an exception can be made for Track 7, "Mellow Moon Light" which was written and composed by guitarist Ohashi. Referring to it as the killer track, the site also says that the song fits the title perfectly with its medium mellow arrangement. There's indeed something very late 70s/early 80s light and mellow about "Mellow Moon Light" albeit with that sheen of 1990s. That flute can take things even further back.

I'll just put in one more track here although the entire album is available up on YouTube (and I hope that it stays up there...not sure how available it is for purchase these days). "Magic (They Believed In)", once again by Ohashi, is pure blissful sunshine pop with that happy-go-lucky guitar and the band chiming in as the chorus. As the uploader says, it's indeed the perfect song to enjoy your summer.

Although bridge had ended its span in the mid-1990s, they did get together again for some concerts in 2017 before truly calling it a day. Their first show was at the Club Que in Shimo-Kitazawa which I thought was the perfect neighbourhood for this band.