Walking back home near midnight after a long day at work twenty years ago in July meant a ten-minute stroll from Minami-Gyotoku Station in humid 26-degree-Celsius weather to my apartment deep in the suburbs of Ichikawa City. The two vending machines just some metres away from the staircase up to my place were my welcoming guardians like dragons at a gate of a temple as they plied me with well-needed drinks for my parched mouth. The shower was well needed after peeling off my clothing and then I drank down the cans and rested for some minutes before hitting bed. Nope, summer wasn't my favourite season in Japan but I always enjoyed the walk home in my suburban environment.
The memories were activated by the first and title track from "Town Pop", a 2021 release by a singer-songwriter and musician called takezoo. I couldn't find much of anything by this fellow except for the fact that he had been born in Hiroshima but currently resides in Kanagawa Prefecture and that he has put out a lot of music over the past several years. Strangely enough, before finding the album on YouTube, I'd discovered this on an Internet archive.
"Town Pop" is indeed a technopop song but as I listened to the four minutes and change of that title track, I also got quite a bit more in terms of musical influences. Starting and ending with a twinkly keyboard which struck me as being so reminiscent of early American television variety show signoff music, "Town Pop" bounces into a funky pop melody describing a couple making their way to a new town and a new home, presumably a fair bit into the future. And along the way, I get Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, chip tune, a taste of a waltz and even a spot of Fashion Music greeting me like some really great neighbours. I wouldn't mind a suburb like this!
