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.
Once 2010s aidoru group Especia decided to call it a day and disbanded in 2017, a few of the members went into their own projects including Monari Wakita（脇田もなり）who seems to have become the most active of the graduates.
I realize through past postings of her solo work that Wakita has managed to keep up the Neo-City Pop but within her first solo album "I am Only" from July 2017, I have come across the track "Akai Skirt"(Red Skirt) which brings together some jazz and synthpop into a pleasant and catchy mix about going one's way (especially with that percussion). And it was a delight to discover that words and music were provided by Yuko Iizumi（飯泉裕子）and Seiki Sato（佐藤清喜）respectively. Those two just happen to be the duo microstar and they've made their own beautiful music.
Well, it's been over five years since I gave my two pennies on microstar's July 2016 album"She got the blues". Before and since that article, I've additionally given some individual attention to other tracks on this fun release: "Yuugure Girl"（夕暮れガール）, "Tiny Spark", and "Tomodachi ni Narou"（友達になろう）, and I think that it's time to finish everything here with the remaining four tracks that I had yet to cover. Just as a reminder, vocalist Yuko Iizumi（飯泉裕子）took care of the lyrics for all of the tracks while producer Seiki Sato（佐藤清喜）composed them.
"Tsuki no Palace"（月のパレス...Moon Palace） is a rollicking 1970s R&B/pop number about the exhilaration and joy of falling in love. The synths are obvious here but the arrangement and Iizumi's vocals are so cheerful that they cover over any wonders about what could have been if real brass had been implemented.
The arrangement behind "My Baby" is very reminiscent of 1970s Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）when he was in New York City. From what I could get of the lyrics, it seems that a girlfriend has perhaps teasingly accused her guy of being a rather empty fellow but he counters that not only is she an empty vessel as well but that it's great to be in such a state if only that they can be filled up with wonderful things going forward. The horns do come in here only for "My Baby" to suddenly finish up at only two minutes and forty-five seconds.
Speaking of rollicking, that is some percussion rolling consistently and persistently throughout "Watashi-tachi wa Koi wo Suru"（私たちは恋をする...We are Going to Make Love）, a 70s soul number. I've heard that rolling thunder in other songs, Japanese and American, and would like to know whether there is a specific name for the drumming technique. It is quite propulsive as Iizumi's lyrics relate the story of a couple in love who will most likely consider the edges of their bed the borders of their world for the next several hours.
The final track is "Oyasumi"（おやすみ...Good Night） and it really does feel like something to wrap up "She got the blues". With the lush arrangement including those trumpeting French horns, Sato couldn't get more Burt Bacharach than this. It's a fine tribute to the master who left this mortal coil in February.
I would recommend microstar's "She got the blues" for those who want to get that sensation of an overall tribute to the urban contemporary as Japanese music saw it over the past several decades. As far as I know, there has yet to be a follow-up album but wouldn't it be nice if Sato and Iizumi could come up with one?
A nice late afternoon view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building out to the west. Unfortunately, couldn't quite get Mt. Fuji into frame, though.
Speaking of which, apparently a few times a year, there is this phenomenon in which the sun either rises or sets virtually in perfect alignment with the peak of Mt. Fuji. Called the Diamond Fuji, if skies are in good condition, even folks in Tokyo can see it (never got the opportunity myself), with TV stations' news broadcasts making note of the effect as a lot of photographers rush out to the perfect place in the megalopolis to take their shots. Supposedly, there is one street in Tokyo that's absolutely the best site since it seems to go in a straight line due west to the mountain. I can only imagine what that must be like for the residents in the neighbourhood.
It's Diamond Fuji that comes to mind when I hear this lovely song by the duo microstar which I fell for early last year. I ended up getting their most recent album "She got the blues" (2016) on the strength and variety of their tracks, and now I'm considering tracking down their 3rd album"microstar album" which came out in May 2008 just on this particular song, "Tokyo no Sora kara"(From the Tokyo Sky).
"Tokyo no Sora kara" just seems perfectly fit for the Diamond Fuji scene whether it be at sunrise or sunset (I prefer the sunset myself), and it sounds so much of an optimistic and reassuring tune. In fact, I bet that it would be the ideal song for the satisfying end of a tough adventure. The two members of microstar, Seiki Sato and Yuko Iizumi（佐藤清喜・飯泉裕子）were responsible for this one. That refrain especially when the music bursts out like a cloud of diamond dust really does a heart good.
From the pattern of release, microstar seems to put out albums only once a decade (although the year in that decade isn't fixed), so I can only hope that Sato and Iizumi can get their 5th one out shortly into the next decade around the Olympics.
Less than a day after putting up the article for Michiru Hoshino's（星野みちる）"Koi no Funfair"（恋のファンフェアー）which was composed by microstar's Seiki Sato（佐藤清喜）, in popped "Tomodachi ni Narou" (We'll Be Friends) on YouTube today.
A song from microstar's 2016 album"She Got The Blues", "Tomodachi ni Narou" stands out from its trackmates, the jazzy "Yuugure Girl"（夕暮れガール）and the disco "Tiny Spark" in that it sounds like a contemporary and bouncy Shibuya-kei entry which could adorn any Japanese romantic comedy soundtrack. Written and composed by Sato and vocalist Yuko Iizumi（飯泉裕子）, the lyrics are a cheerful reassurance that no one needs to be alone and a blossoming friendship is just around the corner if both parties are willing.
Certainly it's one of those songs that can keep the rain at bay. We here in Toronto could definitely use some shielding right now since we're due for some of the heavy stuff later tonight.
Fellow collaborator JTM just came back from a trip to Japan last week, so he was kind enough to allow me to show some photos of Tokyo. Here's one from the bayside Odaiba district with the famous Ferris wheel next to VenusFort.
So I assumed that this would be the ideal time and place to show off Michiru Hoshino's（星野みちる）"Koi no Funfair" (Funfair of Love) which was released as her 6th single from June 2014. At first, I had thought that it was "Koi no Fanfare" but the word fanfare is actually written in katakana as 「ファンファーレ」and not 「ファンフェアー」as in the title. Scuttlebutt says that a funfair is the British equivalent of a circus or carnival over here.
In any case, don't expect any of that organ carnival music here. "Koi no Fun Fair" seems to be a melodically loving tribute to good ol' disco. It would make for some fine background music while traipsing through the aforementioned Odaiba or even the famous amusement park Fuji-Q Highland in Yamanashi Prefecture. The music gets even more epic as "Koi no Fun Fair" goes along when the "Whoo~" backup vocals come sliding in. They give the song a further spacier feeling that makes me fantasize whether this could have been an ideal addition to a "Guardians of the Galaxy" soundtrack.
Speaking of the music, I've been associating the former AKB48 member with the groovy AOR duo of Blue Peppers（ブルー・ペパーズ）because of her contribution to their album "Retroactive". However, with "Koi no Fun Fair", the music was provided by Seiki Sato（佐藤清喜）who is one-half of microstar (lyrics provided by Hajimu Hase/はせはじむ), and if you've heard his "Tiny Spark", he knows a thing or two of the dance music of the 1970s. So I'm happy to say that Hoshino has connections with a couple of fine bands that I was able to first discover last year.
"Koi no Funfair" was also placed on Hoshino's 2nd album from July of that year, "E・I・E・N VOYAGE" (Eternal Voyage). It didn't rank too highly, only getting up to No. 240 on the Oricon weeklies but just from listening to this one particular song, I'd be interested enough to give the album a listen.
Following talking about the charms of microstar's jazzy "Yuugure Girl"（夕暮れガール）and the disco "Tiny Spark", I decided to get the duo's 4th album"She got the blues" from July 2016. I couldn't quite believe that this was released some 20 years after their debut "birth of microstar" in December 1996. Anyways, I got "She got the blues" in the same CD Japan package as "Retroactive" by Blue Peppers（ブルー・ペパーズ）, another new band for me.
Seiki Sato and Yuko Iizumi（佐藤清喜・飯泉裕子）, who wrote and composed all of the tracks, get to work with "Chocolate Baby", a bouncy soulful number that had me thinking of some of those pop stylings of years past in the United States, and even the energy displayed by Japanese singers like Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）and Senri Oe（大江千里）. From the lyrics, it sounds like they are about a woman who was going to give some chocolate to a guy she likes but cancelled the project at the last minute with some disappointment.
Another wonderful track on "She got the blues" is "Yakan Hiko"（夜間飛行....Night Flight）. With a hint of technopop beats, the melody does sound like going on a trip from Haneda or Narita Airport into the heavens. But there is still a grounding in that old-fashioned music of yesteryear. Not sure if the designer of the photo meant it to be so, but whenever I see the lady above, I keep thinking that's an Engineering officer on the USS Enterprise looking out a porthole.
My final song here is the title track itself. It's here that I get these lovely feelings of some of the output of Swingout Sister, Burt Bacharach and Motown balladry, all reasons that I also thought that there is something rather Shibuya-kei as well. The lyrics tell of someone shutting out the sounds of the everyday while listening and waltzing to something romantic over the earphones on the way home. It's a lovely scene to be true, but let us be careful not to get carried away and end up getting hit by another pedestrian or a car. Public service announcement aside, it is a glorious track that I thought could have been placed as the final song on the album instead of being the 8th out of 10 tracks.
Perhaps it's titled "She got the blues" but I certainly don't with this album. Moreover, it makes for a nice comparison with Blue Peppers'"Retroactive". Whereas the latter release has more of the sunny Sunday AOR flavour, the former is also quite weekend-y but with more of that downtown City Pop taste. Both are good purchases for me.
April 22 2023: We're wrapping up the rest of the album here.
A bit late on getting my articles tonight but doing the semi-annual cleaning of the CD shelves and then having to make dinner can delay me some. Dinner is easy...
Anyways, how about a bit more microstar? I realize that I wrote their inaugural article a mere two weeks ago but I think Seiki Sato's（佐藤清喜）group is so catchy that I think one more so soon couldn't hurt.
My first microstar contribution was their jazzy "Yuugure Girl"（夕暮れガール）that brought images of a swanky night in New York at the Waldorf-Astoria. Well, that was back then. Off from their 2016 album"She got the blues", it looks like Sato and vocalist Yuko Iizumi（飯泉裕子）decided to head on down to Manhattan's Studio 54 in the 1970s through "Tiny Spark". Along with the disco, I couldn't help but be reminded of Pet Shop Boys' "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes off You)". I'm being complimentary here when I say that "Tiny Spark" deserves its place on an old-fashioned K-Tel record.
Gonna have to continue to keep an eye on microstar's discography.
Back in the 1980s, I was getting into all sorts of music whether it be New Wave, AOR and R&B along with the rest of the Billboard pop hits. However, although I wouldn't profess my interest in jazz until many years later during my second stint in Japan, I confess that there had always been some spark that was attracted to the genre that's pretty much a century old now. Part of it was due to growing up to those old records of standards and another reason was hearing those hits from The Manhattan Transfer such as "The Boy From New York City" and "Tuxedo Junction".
And then there was the above song that I used to hear on heavy rotation on both AM and FM radio. It was a one-hit wonder for the group with the memorable name of Elbow Bones and the Racketeers but man, did I like their "A Night in New York" from 1983.
I've got the same vibe with this snazzy number by a unit called microstar, "Yuugure Girl"(Sunset Girl) from September 2011. There's a bit more technology involved here when compared to the Big Band instruments from "A Night in New York", but there's no denying to me that it is one lovely tribute to that age of jazz. Still, I'm having some trouble categorizing it since although there is that obvious jazz edge to it, I'm also wondering if it can also be included in pop or even Shibuya-kei.
Putting on my music sommelier's hat right now, that snazzy description I used in the previous paragraph had me also thinking of "Yuugure Girl" as something reminiscent of EPO's "Doyou no Yoru wa Paradise"（土曜の夜はパラダイス）since EPO can also be said to quite snazzy in her songs and vocals. Plus, for some reason, I also hear "Who Are You?", the duet with Fujimal Yoshino and Haruko Kuwana（芳野藤丸・桑名晴子）. "Yuugure Girl" is a melodic reason to be happy about strutting down the city streets and painting the town red and flashing a lot of green.
Trying to look up what this microstar is all about, I eventually tracked things to the J-Wiki entry for Seiki Sato（佐藤清喜）, a music producer, composer and arranger from Iwate Prefecture who made his major debut for a band called nice music in 1993. In 1996, a bassist and vocalist Yuko Iizumi（飯泉裕子）who participated in nice music's concerts joined up with Sato to form microstar as a duo. They've released 5 singles up to 2016 with "Yuugure Girl" being their 3rd; there are also 4 albums to their name.
For the YouTube comments underneath "Yuugure Girl", I kept seeing references to Kanashii Android Apartment（悲しい ANDROID - APARTMENT...Sad Android Apartment）. Not knowing what this was all about, I found out that it was another unit or individual doing a bit of Japanese Future Funk/Vaporwave (not sure if that latter concept has become too dated) treatment to the song to form "Lonely Highways". Once again, thank you, Artzie Music. And of course, thank you microstar. I now have a theme song to which I can walk on the streets in Ginza and Akasaka to. I may not be able to enter most of the establishments there but I can certainly walk (or swing) proudly around them.
