Orangeade -- Watashi wo Hanasanaide（わたしを離さないで）

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I've written about singer-songwriter Minami Kitasono（北園みなみ）a handful of times already on the blog, and I've enjoyed his works because of his style of bringing together a number of styles whether it be City Pop, Shibuya-kei and even Fashion Music. It's his own style since like a really desperate and fidgety little mouse, I can't manage to hold it down to one category. But that has been a good thing and it's been enough for me to get his 2014 album "Promenade" . The last time I wrote about him was back around Xmas 2020 for his "Hisan na Christmas"（ひさんなクリスマス）.

Little did I know that Minami Kitasono was a stage name for Kentaro Ohsawa（大沢建太郎）. During his time in the 2010s coming up with his own eclectic discography as Kitasono, he had a brief dalliance with Yosuke Kurosawa（黒澤鷹輔）and Nozomu Sato（佐藤望）of the duo caméra-stylo（カメラ＝万年筆）within a trio called Orangeade. The band lasted under that name from early 2018 to late 2019 after which it changed its name to conte with a new musical style.

During its Orangeade phase, Ohsawa and company released four singles. The first from February 2018 was a self-titled one that was only available online and at concerts, but the following has been considered to be their bona fide first one called "Watashi wo Hanasanaide" (Never Let Me Go) from later that September. It's an interesting title since Ohsawa/Kitasono released a December 2015 mini-album called "Never Let Me Go" although there was no title track.

Written and composed by Ohsawa, "Watashi wo Hanasanaide" is a smooth and happy-go-lucky tune with a certain UK 1960s pop feeling. I could almost say that it's like a Flipper's Guitar ditty without the overt Shibuya-kei influences. The site Spincoaster has even compared the group's work to that of Sugar Babe（シュガー・ベイブ）, Kirinji（キリンジ）and Happy End（はっぴいえんど）. Fine company, indeed.

Jun Shibata -- Ame（雨）

 

The following song was something that I first heard on the "Weather Music" segment that's become part of the Japan "Weathernews" broadcasts, and apparently the commenters under the YouTube video have echoed the same sentiment.

Pop singer-songwriter Jun Shibata（柴田淳）is someone that I have written about before when she recorded a cover of Hi-Fi Set's（ハイ・ファイ・セット）"Sky Restaurant"（スカイレストラン）for her 2012 compilation album "Cover '70s". There isn't a lot of information on her J-Wiki file aside from her discography (and that she's been called The Diva of the Blogs due to her positive writings online) but her website has been more forthcoming. Born and raised in Tokyo in 1976, she studied piano when she was three years old and got interested in J-Pop while in high school with her debut in 2001.

Well, that song that got featured on "Weathernews" was "Ame" (Rain) which actually came out on her 7th album from November 2009, "Ghostwriter"（ゴーストライター）. A non-single track, it probably slipped under the radar of anyone who hadn't already been a Shibata fan, but now that it's gotten its second look on a weather forecast, it seems to have gained some new fans. Starting off with an indies pop vibe, "Ame" involves a man who is walking in the rain, presumably without any umbrella as a way to punish himself over losing the love of his life. It's a laidback tune which is beautifully sung by Shibata and is definitely something to be heard while sipping some chamomile tea against a window spattered by the titular precipitation. "Ghostwriter" hit No. 9 on Oricon.

Hitomi Nishiyama -- Fuyu Hotel（冬ホテル）

 

My anime buddy and I had our usual talk earlier tonight, and once again we touched upon the topic of Ginzan Onsen located in Yamagata Prefecture. He and a couple of his friends had the opportunity to stay there a few years ago before the pandemic. Their timing was very good since they did go in the winter which is apparently quite the ideal time to visit. It's seen as prestige hot spring accommodations which are not easy to access so naturally folks are even more intrigued to visit.

I've been out most of today so I'm only able to put up the one article and so why not go with "Fuyu Hotel" (Winter Hotel) by enka singer Hitomi Nishiyama（西山ひとみ）. Written by Mami Takubo（田久保真見）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）, the arrangement of electric guitar and strings creates the atmosphere of a windy and wintry snowscape where this titular hotel is supposedly located. Over there, a woman waiting for her gentleman friend to check in wonders how much longer their brief bubble of sin will last before it bursts.

"Fuyu Hotel" was the coupling song for Nishiyama's 2019 single, "Uragiri no Hana"（裏切りの花...Flowers of Betrayal）. According to her profile, she was born Hitomi Fujiki（藤木妃都美）in Kumamoto Prefecture, the daughter of a master rokyoku singer and began her career in the mid-1990s. 

ano -- Smile Agenai（スマイルあげない）

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Last night, I was watching an NHK variety show "Ariyoshi no O-kane Hakken Totsugeki! Kaneo-kun"（有吉のお金発見 突撃!カネオくん...Ariyoshi's Money Discovery Attack! Kaneo-kun） which apparently centres on the whole thing about money and how to save or earn it. It was one of their specials so they had a few more guests than usual including the one that you see above in the video thumbnail. Her name is ano（あの）and she's a singer (former aidoru with the alternative idol group You'll Melt More!), TV personality, model and musician. What struck me about her was that squeaky voice of hers and the way that she very calmly and stoically expresses herself, but I figure that if seiyuu TARAKO ever decided to finally retire from voicing Chibi Maruko-chan, I'd know who would be in the wings to replace her.

Anyways, I looked her up on her YouTube channel and found that she had her latest digital single out in June 2023. "Smile Agenai" (I Won't Smile For You) is her 5th single as a major performer but considering what I've observed of her personality, I would think that this was her introductory song. Written and composed by both ano and Hidefumi Kenmochi（ケンモチヒデフミ）from Suiyoubi no Campanella（水曜日のカンパネラ）fame, the singer puts her foot down and states that she won't give out smiles all that easily simply because that's not in her style and she's not all that adept at socializing. The irony is that the music video has her as a McDonalds staffer which demands social skills and that zero yen smile, and I did get the complete story from a friend of mine who's a veteran flight attendant but was once a McDonalds manager in West Shinjuku.

Sing Like Talking -- Ai wo Tomerarenai（愛を止められない）

 

There is a brief comment by Unknown underneath the article for Sing Like Talking's "Kaze ni Dakarete"（風に抱かれて）which I posted back in 2015 and also an exchange between former contributor nikala and myself. Happily, it was a complimentary one about how they had never heard the dulcet tones of Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）and the cool grooves of SLT before and they were now glad they had. Sato and company can have that effect on people. 😍

"Kaze ni Dakarete" was Sing Like Talking's 17th single from August 1994 which I inexplicably and shamefully didn't mention in the original article, except to say that it was included as a track on the band's album "Togetherness" from the same year. Well, the single did have its coupling tracks including "Ai wo Tomerarenai" (Can't Stop Love), and once again we have another winner. Whereas "Kaze ni Dakarete" traverses that line between Doobie Bros. AOR and R&B, "Ai wo Tomerarenai" is a late 80s or early 90s funky strut (New Jack Swing?) that was designed by vocalist Sato and SLT's Chiaki Fujita（藤田千章）. Unfortunately, the video gets cut off abruptly but at least we get most of the song. 

Pandaful-House -- Kaze Gurashi（風ぐらし）

 

The first time that I heard this song, I thought I could hear a bit of Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park" (I will definitely have to cover that as a ROY sometime soon) in there. "Kaze Gurashi" (Living Like the Wind) is not only new to my ears but the originating band is also a first-timer for me.

Pandaful-House（パンダフルハウス）sounds like a children's fashion brand but it was actually a folk trio led by Tsuguto "Panda" Yamada（山田嗣人）who used to be the bassist of the far more well-known folk group Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）in the early 1970s. It had a short life, just between 1977 and 1980, but managed to release seven singles and a couple of albums. "Kaze Gurashi" just happened to be their third single from April 1979 and it's an artfully whimsical folk/New Music tune led by some good ol' country strings. Written by Kaguyahime member Makoto Kitajo（喜多條忠）and composed by Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）which indeed caught my ears, the song was also arranged by bassist Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）. 

As I mentioned above, there's something about "Kaze Gurashi" that reminded me of "MacArthur Park" but instead of reminiscing over a past love, Pandaful-House's tune is about a Harajuku-based love that never was. A young man sighs over his unrequited crush on a force of nature who has since left the neighbourhood; realizing that there was no way that he could ever win over her affections, the lad just hopes that she's doing OK wherever she may be now. "Kaze Gurashi" was also a track on the band's 2nd album "Settle Down" released in June 1979.

In addition to Panda Yamada（山田パンダ）, there were also Keiko Yoshino（吉野恵子）and Yamada's younger brother Toshihide Yamada（山田智秀）. There had been another member by the name of Osamu Uchiyama（内山修）who was with folk groups The Ligannies（ザ・リガニーズ）and Neko（猫）in the 1970s.

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Go-Bang's -- Kakkoii Darling（かっこイイダーリン）

 

Welcome to October! We're seasonally warmer than usual with plenty of sun and no precipitation. Let's see how we go by Halloween. 

After knowing about the appealingly quirky trio Go-Bang's for thirty years or so, I finally got about to listening to some of their very early material including their debut single, "Zamaa Kankan Girl"（ざまぁカンカン娘）from April 1988. That particular song had that familiar vibe of their big 1989 hit "Ai ni Kite I Need You"（あいにきて I Need You) with the fun country twang.

Their second single, "Kakkoii Darling" (You're Cool, Darling) was released later in 1988 in October and although the song was created as usual by vocalist Kaori Moriwaka（森若香織）, this time it eschewed the country for a bit of old-fashioned rock-n'-roll starting with Mitsuko Saito's（斉藤光子）rockabilly drumming. In fact, I'd say that the catchy "Kakkoii Darling" is a mix between aidoru and some of the music that The Go-Gos made (I'd once theorized that the trio was named by mixing the legendary California girl band's name with that of The Bangles).

A story of still loving a guy who is thickly putting on the looks and airs of a playboy when he really isn't, Moriwaka's kittenish vocals come across as both truly loving and condescending at the same time. The music video above also has the three members including bassist Misa Tanishima（谷島美砂）going into sex kitten mode with a splash of that Go-Gos humour.