Spoozys -- Plastic Planet

 

I noticed that I hadn't enriched the Spoozys file since I posted their 2003 "So Human" onto KKP. Too bad since the song is pretty catchy. Must rectify.

Well, I found this earlier single by guitarist and songwriter Jun Matsue（松江潤）and company titled "Plastic Planet" from June 1999 which may have been the band's debut outing. Lots of anarchic raucousness to be enjoyed here and for music lovers of a certain generation, and that includes me, this brand of bloopy synths and slightly growly surf guitars had me thinking the New Wave band Plastics and the other techno rock outfit POLYSICS. The verses even reminded me a bit of "Nice Age" by Yellow Magic Orchestra. The single also got onto Spoozys' debut album "Astro 99" which was released later in October that year.

J-Canuck's Canadian Tourist Destinations in Winter

 

Just for the record, the above YouTube video comes from the channel Going Awesome Places with Will Tang and he's showing off some of the wonderful things to do in Alberta's Banff and Lake Louise, a place that I got to visit all the way back in 1990.

I mentioned in a recent Xmas-based article on KKP that not all Canadians want to celebrate the Holidays in their own country. Perhaps it's something about the fact that walking daily in a winter wonderland with the temperature at a slightly cool -280 degrees and the winds coming in at a breezy Mach 2 might not be the most enjoyable environment. 🧊🥶 

I know that folks do like to head down south for days, weeks and even months at a time but I wanted to sate my curiosity about where Canadians like to go during winter once and for all. And I was surprised to find out that at least some of my fellow countrymen do like to keep things within the Great White North while others do desire something more tropical. As such, possessing that whimsical nature which often powers my Author's Picks, I've come up with five destinations while providing the appropriate songs to accompany them.

(1967) Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets -- Blue Chateau（ブルー・シャトウ）

(1967) Yukio Hashi -- Koi no Mexican Rock （恋のメキシカン・ロック）

(1981) Akira Terao -- Habana Express

(1983) Hiromi Iwasaki -- Niagara

(1983) Seiko Matsuda -- Miami Gozen Go-ji （マイアミ午前5時）

Chiaki Watanabe -- Purple Memory（パープル・メモリー）

 

Almost six years ago, I posted an article regarding aidoru Chiaki Watanabe（渡辺千秋）and her debut single "Natsu ni Refresh"（夏にリフレッシュ）from April 1984. It was notable in that the composer was the tough-as-nails folk-rock singer Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi（長渕剛）although the song was the typical teenybopper tune with some AOR feeling.

Well, this is her sophomore outing, "Purple Memory" which came out in September that year. I'd probably say that this is a more conventional aidoru tune with an enjoyably jangly melody by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）and arrangement by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）with some of those early 1980s shimmering strings. The lyrics were provided by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）. 

The song was used for a candy commercial by House Foods. I mentioned in the previous Watanabe post that once she had finished her showbiz career, she got married and returned to her native Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1993. Well, since then, she took over the management of the family restaurant in her hometown of Nagato, finally earned her high school diploma through correspondence, and then in April 2021, she was elected as a city council executive.

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".

Miho Nakayama -- Arukinasai!（あるきなさい。）

 

There is a sad but grateful anniversary today in the Japanese music world. It was a year ago today that singer-actress Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）passed away at the age of 54, and I'm sure that many of her fans have been paying some tribute to the former 80s aidoru-turned-pop diva. They may be listening to her discography or watching her movies and TV shows. Hers was an untimely departure but she left us a grand number of singles and albums stretching for a few decades.

From me, I've decided to post an article about Miporin and one of her more obscure songs. I've written about her single and title track "Mellow" from her 1992 album. Well, this is the second track following that title track which starts it all off, "Arukinasai!" (Walk, Dammit!).

Written by Nakayama without going to her songwriting pseudonym of Issaku（一咲）and composed by Yusuke Asada（浅田祐介）, this is a rather weirdly put-together mash of a few genres and perhaps befitting of its lyrical and overall tone. Miporin's story seems to revolve around a flighty and footloose-and-fancy-free woman who might annoy the heck out of everyone around her, so perhaps the title is their collective admonition to her. At the same time, it could also be the lady's own inner voice to get out there and see the world. Melodically, it's a pop song grafted with some R&B dance elements and a spaced-out middle. Even the singer happily gets into the funk with her delivery.

Kiyotaka Sugiyama -- This Song's for You

 

Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）is a singer that I usually associate with his old band Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ） through such City Pop classics as "Summer Suspicion". In fact, I could only see a few entries on KKP where his name was the only one on the byline...one example is his contribution to Christmas, "Saigo no Holy Night"（最後のHoly Night) from 1986.

Maybe it's not fair for me to say so, but I have assumed that Sugiyama and his contemporaries at the time have been doing more in the realm of nostalgia tours or popping up on the odd kayo kyoku TV show to perform their old classics. However, I think now at least a few of them including Sugiyama are still putting out the fresh stuff, and that is indeed the case with the former Omega Tribe leader. Back in May 2018, he released his 26th solo album "My Song My Soul" with one of the tracks being "This Song's For You".

If this song is indeed for me, then I'm honoured. In comparison to his summery and silky songs from those 1980s, "This Song's For You" has him going sophisticated jazz/pop as if he were not traveling alongside the Pacific Coast of Japan but booming through the skyscrapers within West Shinjuku one night. Sugiyama's no longer walking on the beach in an Aloha shirt and flip-flops but is tripping the light fantastic in a bespoke suit as a middle-aged gentleman.

Mariko Tone -- Setsunai Yoru（せつない夜）

 

When I think of singer Mariko Tone（刀根麻理子）, I usually think of her as a 1980s artist but she was releasing singles into the 1990s. In fact, I encountered this single which is her third-last entry to date from November 1993.

"Setsunai Yoru" (Restless Nights) is a pretty sultry song which was written by Sakiko Masano（政野早希子）of the funk-rock band JAGATARA and composed by the late Hiroshi Narumi（鳴海寛）of the City Pop duo Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）. I probably would have preferred a real piano behind the bossa nova melody rather than the keyboard here, but I love the percussion and it's still a good nighttime listen. Plus, I'm assuming that it's Narumi behind the guitar noodling there.

I've often come across the word setsunai when it comes to Japanese song titles and strangely enough, the definitions that I've seen on Jisho.org include tough adjectives such as oppressive, miserable and painful as if the person in the song is going through one of the worst attacks of gastrointestinal gas in human history. I don't think the song with that title quite reflects anything that visceral which is why I've settled for restless. But we can see what people think.