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.
Earlier this year, I gave my first write-up on singer-songwriter Kazuko Ishibashi（石橋和子） through one bouncy track "I-Yo-"（イーヨー）on her 1981 debut album"Nice to Meet You", and I mentioned that she didn't just cover City Pop but also other genres such as blues and jazz.
Well, I guess she also explored the Latin side, too, since "Happiest" from the B-side of the original LP has got some pleasant samba going for it. Written and composed by Ishibashi, I gather that this can be a Resort Pop song but to reflect that she has apparently gone for the gamut of genre experiences, I have categorized "Happiest" in the Latin and Pop genres. Anyways, the whole song matches the title quite nicely. Jun Sato（佐藤準）arranged it as he did all of the songs on the B-side.
Not surprisingly, "Nice to Meet You" is not exactly the easiest album to find still on sale on the various sites but I did find Discogs selling the original LP for a little over $85 Canadian. May the best fan win!
Last night, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was back on the air as they have been for the past few months, but this time, the show was back with something that we hadn't seen in several months...an audience. Mind you, the usual social distancing restrictions were in effect and the lucky people who were allowed to attend were all up on the higher levels instead of the main floor so there were fewer people that I had expected but that's OK for a first time. Baby steps, y'know.
One of the guests was singer Taro Yamada（山田太郎）. That name is fairly common (kinda like a Tom Jones) so I saw quite a few Taro Yamadas through J-Wiki, and this singer Taro Yamada from Tokyo is also an actor and a horse owner. However, he was actually born Ken Nishikawa（西川賢）in 1948.
Yamada debuted as a singer in 1963 with "Kiyorakana Seishun"（清らかな青春...Pure Youth）, but his claim to fame came a couple of years later in 1965 with "Shinbun Shonen"(The Newspaper Boy), written by Fujio Hattan（八反ふじを）and composed by Nobuo Shimazu（島津伸男）. Not sure whether to classify it as an enka or as a kayo but it sure is genki as it describes a stout-hearted lad doing his best for the neighbourhood by delivering the papers.
I'd probably even it call it a march to make any mother proud. In any case, Yamada performed it alongside enka singer Hiroshi Miyama（三山ひろし）on the show last night. When it first premiered in 1965, it became a hit and earned the singer his first of three consecutive invitations to the Kohaku Utagassen later that year. If the Oricon charts had existed then, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had hit the top spot.
My anime buddy and I were talking the other night and he marveled at the fact that 5 years have gone by since the second season of that show of moe and coffee and rabbits had ended its run. Yes, indeed. I am talking about the franchise "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）. At one point, I thought that everything was all done with Cocoa, Chino and the rest of the characters but a couple of specials in the intervening years kept hope alive, and sure enough, last year, it was announced that a Season 3 called "Bloom" would be heading out the gates in October...which it has.
I've been able to see the first two episodes of "Bloom" via YouTube and not through the auspices of my friend's giant TV screen this time around, but that's cool. The show has been fine and what better series to keep spirits nice and light like a well-made croissant during these times? It looks like the Japanese equivalent of Colmar, France is still going through summer, and I've gotten to see the girls and Tippy handle a flea market and the adventures of Lapin.
Of course, we gotta think about the themes and although the actual release of the singles will probably be some weeks down the line, at least, we can have a listen through the credits. The opening theme is "Tenkuu Cafeteria" (Heaven Cafeteria) by Petits Rabbit's (i.e. the main five seiyuu as listed at the bottom) as usual. Written by Aki Hata（畑亜貴）and composed/arranged by Kaoru Okubo（大久保薫）, the same duo behind Season 1's"Daydream Café" and Season 2's"No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）, "Tenkuu Cafeteria" has the bounciness of the former and the tempo of the latter to basically create the melodic equivalent of...well, a rabbit.
In terms of the ending credits, Season 1 had that spinning wheel and the adorable and sedate "Poppin' Jump"（ぽっぴんジャンプ）to accompany it. Then Season 2 had viewers go into diabetic shock in terms of the visuals and the ending song "Tokimeki Poporon"（ときめきポポロン♪）, and the FBI in the United States was probably wondering why their offices got inundated with phone calls.
Well, this time around, the ending credits and song have their cuteness but quite a bit more toned down compared to Season 2. Going mostly with an "Alice in Wonderland" motif, Chimame Tai（チマメ隊）consisting of seiyuu Inori Minase（水瀬いのり）, Sora Tokui（徳井青空）and Rie Murakami（村川梨衣）sing, as they did for the above two enders, and go a bit jazzier with "Nakayoshi! Maru! Nakayoshi!" (Buddies! Circle! Buddies!). Although I like both the new opening and ending themes, I am even more curious about how the full version of "Nakayoshi! Maru! Nakayoshi!" will sound since I would like to hear the jazz band get even more into the riff during the instrumental bridge. Hata was again providing the lyrics while Tomotaka Ohsumi（大隅知宇）took care of music and arrangement. It's nice and catchy and this time, I don't think the FBI will need to hire more operators.
One of the events that we had during the early 90s with our Japanese club, the JCSA, at the University of Toronto was something called Coffee Night. It was an event that I concocted on Thursday nights between 7 and 10 at the International Student Centre just to provide another excuse for folks in the club to get together and perhaps for people who didn't know much about the club to come in and get to know us. Mind you, in those days, the JCSA schedule was already fairly packed with activities during the week with our English-instructing and Japanese-instructing events through video and then the language exchange on Saturdays. But I had wanted to create a somewhat more relaxed "Cheers"-like atmosphere in the Riddell Room at ISC.
It worked to a certain extent for the few years that I was back in Toronto. We had newbies and semi-regulars come in and out while we had our own coffeemaker and cups and I even brought in my Discman to hook up to some cheap speakers while bringing in some CDs. It was simply another opportunity to enhance our little community.
When I was reading the J-Wiki and Wikipedia articles on this Japanese collective called Jazztronik, I was reminded of my little own Thursday-night kaffeeklatsch within the club since Tokyo DJ, producer and pianist Ryota Nozaki（野崎良太）has been handling this project of his since 1998 without any fixed members. Musicians have been coming in and out for years to jam in on his musical mix of speakeasy jazz, lounge and house.
I've been writing about the 1980s brand of techno-jazz for some time now on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with acts such as Kazuhiro Nishimatsu（西松一博）, Harumi Ohzora（大空はるみ）and most recently, Breakfast Club. I guess with Jazztronik, Nozaki's music is the 21st-century equivalent of this combination of jazz and contemporary dance club. Case in point, there is Jazztronik's 2011 album"Dig, Dig, Dig" and one track is "Today" featuring the silky yet nimble vocals of Giovanca. Hearing this, I can imagine the turntables and hip young DJ with the back-turned cap but with the addition of women in flapper dresses doing the Charleston.
Mind you, in comparison to the 1980s techno-jazz, the synths aren't as heavy and insistent here. It's a little more Fantastic Plastic Machine, more focused on the jazz with some dance beats added. In fact, I'd probably say Jazztronik's material, at least from what I've heard through "Today", is more on that Electro Swing kick that was the thing in Japan in the early 2010s with my favourite example being Café Des Belugas ode to "Puttin' On The Ritz".
(Sorry but the video has been taken down)
Also from listening to "Today", I was also reminded of another NHK vignette program that appears on TV Japan sandwiched between two other shows on Wednesday nights called "Ukiyoe EDO LIFE"（浮世絵 EDO-LIFE） which focuses on a lighthearted analysis of famous Japanese paintings. A number of the YouTube videos have had comments inquiring about who is behind the BGM, and I have been curious as well since it seems to a funkified/jazzed-up take on some classical music. Plus, I'm wondering if the lady performing the rap/scat sometimes is indeed Giovanca which also made me wonder then if Jazztronik was in on this, too. As it turns out, though, the music is provided by someone named U-Key, who is Yuki Kanesaka, also a DJ/producer as well as a professor.
Let's see...I just downed an entire baked potato with batajoyu along with some fish and other foodstuffs. I had been feeling rather tired after lunch and a translation assignment, and now look at me. I was about ready to melt into my armchair like spilled hot chocolate but I'm back in my room with the fan on behind me and my computer in front of me. Anything to keep me awake...plus, there's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）in about 40 minutes.
This helps, too. I get to hear some tantalizing uptempo dance-worthy material for a Tuesday night, thanks to the wonders of DJ, producer and musician Mondo Grosso. Other singers have worked with him such as BoA and Bird; this time, it's Brazilian piano player, singer and composer Tania Maria collaborating with him on "MG4BB", a track from his 4th album"MG4" released in July 2000.
Frankly the title reads like a license plate for a sports car but "MG4BB" runs like a well-oiled one roving on the highway by the ocean. Composed by Mondo Grosso, this Latin jazz cocktail has some dance beats in there and wonderful opportunities for Maria to add some of her lovely vocal qualities to really enhance that feeling to get onto the dance floor and knock off some calories...which I really need to do. Not that I'm doing so now but I am shifting back and forth in my chair quite nicely. I've decided that I will melt into my armchair a little later.
Ground through another assignment and yep, I'm feeling a little more tired than usual. Usually, I would watch the famous "Portals" scene from "Avengers: Endgame" on YouTube to pep me up, but this time I've taken a different tack.
Instead, I'm going with this song by Shibuya-kei unit capsule, "Sweet Time Replay". But apparently this time around, it isn't Toshiko Koshijima（こしじまとしこ）on vocals but a singer named Dahlia who may be the same person behind the song "I'll Be Your Love" which came out in October 2003 as her debut single.
"Sweet Time Replay" came out quite a bit earlier though in February of the same year as the first track of capsule's first 12-inch single"CUTIE CINEMA pre-PLAY" and then capsule's 2nd album"CUTIE CINEMA REPLAY" which was released a month later. I gather that those brash drum rolls are part and parcel of the Shibuya-kei experience and the overall melody by Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）brings to mind 60s swing and swiveling hips. Nakata's lyrics are all about reprising the joy of a kiss...sounds quite Parisian. The song also shares track space with "Music Controller", the first capsule song that I had ever heard and the first capsule song to make it onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus".
Well, this is my first album purchase of Sakanaction（サカナクション）which was prompted by my great attraction to a couple of songs that have ended up on the interestingly titled "834.194": the quirky "Shin-Takarajima"（新宝島）and the City Pop/Vaporwave-y"Wasurarenaino"（忘れられないの）. As for the derivation of that title, according to the J-Wiki article on the album, the number represents the exact distance in kilometres between Studio Bepop（スタジオ・ビーポップ）where the band used to practice during their days in their native Sapporo and Aobadai Studio（青葉台スタジオ）in Tokyo where they do their recording now. Officially, the title is read "Hachi-San-Yon-Ichi-Kyuu-Yon" but apparently the members like to read it as "Yamiyo Iku yo"（闇夜行くよ...Goes The Dark Night）.
For this article, I just want to go into the first of the two discs supplied on "834.194" since there are quite a few gems there. By the way, Disc 1 has the official title of "35 38 52 9000 / 139 41 39 3000" but because I don't want you folks to keep reading this like a lottery ticket number, I'll just stick with Disc 1 if I have to use a title.
"Wasurarenaino" starts Disc 1 off and then Track 2 is "Match to Peanuts"（マッチとピーナッツ...Match and Peanuts） which has vocalist and songwriter Ichiro Yamaguchi（山口一郎）singing about eating some goobers late at night. My envy goes to him since I'm a big roasted peanut fan myself but I really can no longer have them during the midnight hour. My GI tract isn't what it used to be. All kidding aside, after what sounds like a pretty hard techno beginning, "Match to Peanuts" has a fairly soaring and haunting guitar wailing away in an old-fashioned way as if it were hearkening back to those City Pop guitars of the early 1980s.
Ah, before I do forget, all of the songs were written and composed by Yamaguchi. The next track is "Kagero"（陽炎...Heat Haze）, a bouncy synthpop tune with the atmosphere of an Asian festival in the year 2050, and for some reason, I feel like this could have been a great tune to open up a TV anime series. Apparently a different arrangement of "Kagero" was supplied on Sakanaction's March 2018 greatest hits album"Sakanazukan"（魚図鑑...Book of Fishes）.
"Tabun, Kaze."（多分、風。...It's The Wind, Probably） was Sakanaction's 12th single released in October 2016 and though it has that synthpop beat in there, it also contains a slightly more rock edge. Looking at the seemingly psychoanalysis-friendly music video above, it does emulate what Yamaguchi put down in his lyrics. Plus, being a Marvel "X-Men" fan, I can't help but be reminded of Paige Guthrie, aka Husk while watching it. Incidentally, the mystery woman there is portrayed by fashion model Ruka（る鹿）. The single went Gold and was also used in a cosmetics commercial.
Not sure if this should have been called "Cocoon" instead of the official "Moss"（モス）considering the music video here, but it's another high-speed tune that strays a bit more away from the synthesizers. Lyrics-wise, it paints a fairly negative view of someone who feels the need to push away someone that he may still care about since he doesn't even know himself anymore. It was used as the theme song for the 2019 Fuji-TV adaptation of "Lupin no Musume"（ルパンの娘...Daughter of Lupin） which strangely enough is supposed to be premiering on TV Japan later this week. I kinda wonder whether the song reflects the personality of the main character.
I have to admit that of all the tracks on Disc 1, "Kikitakatta Dance Music, Liquid Room ni"（聴きたかったダンスミュージック、リキッドルームに...The Dance Music I Wanted to Hear at Liquid Room） is the one that has stuck to my brain like flypaper since it's got that groove. I mean, I've never been to the actual Liquid Room in Shibuya but I hear that it's more of a concert venue than a dance hall. However, when I listen to this track, I can't help but wonder if they do have their disco nights, and Yamaguchi describes in the song one heck of an overnight experience dancing with the girl of his dreams. Intriguingly enough, some of that rhythm reminds me of Steely Dan's"Peg"...another plus right there. This was also the coupling song in the "Shin-Takarajima" single.
There are a couple of more tracks on Disc 1 but I'll leave it here for now and cover those later. In addition, I also have to listen to Disc 2, but so far, Disc 1 has got its good share of Sakanaction goodness. The band on both the J-Wiki and Wikipedia articles have been categorized into a number of genres including alternative rock and electronica, and Wikipedia has stated that Yamaguchi and company are hard to pin down in terms of what they can perform. Of course, I think that's not a bad thing at all, although generally I tend to think of them with their synthesizer sound. Along with Kirinji, Sakanaction is another band that has been impressing me from the last decade. As for "834.194", it was released in June 2019 and hit No. 2 on the album charts, going Gold.
