Tag: music

  • [The JukeBox] #82 – Casiopea – Galactic Funk

    [The JukeBox] #82 – Casiopea – Galactic Funk

    Within specific genres of music, there are those ‘staple’ songs. A set of pieces that capture the essence of a genre. Within the City pop genre, you would find some staples, Plastic Love, Dress Down, Stay with Me, and Flyday Chinatown.
    Jazz Fusion sensation, Casiopea would be a staple band for the genre.

    Still going today as Casiopea-P4, (Their 4th iteration) has been around since 1976 and became very popular in the 80’s even having a world tour. With almost 60 albums since its inception, the band focuses on instrumental music with high-energy and high-tempo music.

    Over the years, they have had 13 different members come and go with the guitarist Issei Noro being the only member who has been in the band the entire time. The band even disbanded from 2006 until 2012 due to exhaustion.

    For more about the history of Casiopea, I would highly recommend checking out T2norway’s video on the band which was uploaded in 2021.

    Arguably, the band’s most popular song, Galatic Funk became a staple for City pop fans.

    Galactic Funk originally was on the band’s 6th album Cross Point released in 1981 but has been re-arranged and re-recorded over the years.

    Live

    Studio

    For me, this band and their live performances remind me of the Miami Sound Machine with Gloria Estefan with their high-energy, high-tempo music.

  • [The JukeBox] #81 – The Beautiful South – Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)

    [The JukeBox] #81 – The Beautiful South – Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)

    Recently on Spotify, I was playing a 90’s / 00’s pop mix and rediscovered this fantastic song by The Beautiful South.

    It was released in September of 1996 and ready Number 5 in the UK Singles Charts and Number 11 in Ireland and was part of their 5th Album, “Blue is the colour”

    With its catchy lyrics and beat, it’s something to go back to and enjoy once more.

    Lyrics:

    And the women tug their hair
    Like they’re trying to prove it won’t fall out
    And all the men are gargoyles
    Dipped long in Irish stout

    The whole place is pickled
    The people are pickles for sure
    And no one knows if they’ve done more here
    Than they ever would do in a jar

    This could be Rotterdam or anywhere
    Liverpool or Rome
    ‘Cause Rotterdam is anywhere
    Anywhere alone
    Anywhere alone

    And everyone is blonde
    And everyone is beautiful
    And when blondes and beautiful are multiple
    They become so dull and dutiful

    And when faced with dull and dutiful
    They fire red warning flares
    Battle khaki personality
    With red underwear

    This could be Rotterdam or anywhere
    Liverpool or Rome
    ‘Cause Rotterdam is anywhere
    Anywhere alone
    Anywhere alone

    The whole place is pickled
    The people are pickles for sure
    And no one knows if they’ve done more here
    Than they ever would do in a jar

    This could be Rotterdam or anywhere
    Liverpool or Rome
    ‘Cause Rotterdam is anywhere
    Anywhere alone

    This could be Rotterdam or anywhere
    Liverpool or Rome
    ‘Cause Rotterdam is anywhere
    Anywhere alone
    Anywhere alone
    Anywhere alone
    Anywhere alone
    Anywhere alone, alone, alone

    Ooh this could be Rotterdam or anywhere
    Liverpool or Rome
    ‘Cause Rotterdam is anywhere alone
    Alone, alone

  • [The JukeBox] #80 – Perfume – Love the World

    [The JukeBox] #80 – Perfume – Love the World

    Nocchi, KASHIYIKA and a-chan make up the Japanese pop girl group sensation, Perfume.

    Formed in 2000, the trio have been a staple in the Japanese pop scene since they were signed to Amuse, Inc in 2003. They would stay with them for 9 years before signing with Universal Music Group in 2012 and have been there ever since.

    Perfume has been a guilty pleasure of mine for years and every so often, I go back to listen to the album that got me hooked on them.

    Their newer music is just as good as the ‘old’ and still a great listening experience.

    Today, we look at ‘Love the World’, released in 2008 and was the first ‘technopop’ song to reach Number 1 on the Oricon charts (Basically the Japanese version of the IRMA Single Chart or the UK Top 40.)

    This would become one of the singles released ahead of the 2009 release of their 2nd studio album Triangle (⊿) album. (In Japan, the singles are released ahead of the release of the album)

    YouTube/Spotify

    Lyrics

    Kossori himitsu wo ageru wa zutto suki ni shite ii no yo
    Kitto kimi mo ki ni iru yo futari dake no tokutouseki

    Choppiri unmei mitai na
    Kyara ni mo nai you na koto mo
    Kanjitatte ii janai no
    Dareka kaita shinario?

    Mada kono saki ga mienai
    Ichibanboshi sagasu te ga furuetemo

    Akiramenai de taisetsu na
    Sukoshi no iji to kimi yo daarin
    Shigekiteki hora suteki
    Mieru sekai ga kirameku wa
    Tesaguri no atashi ni mo
    Sukoshi wakaru ki ga shiterun da
    Yawaraka na kimi no taimingu
    Zurui desho chuchuchu
    Love love the world

    Yappari chansu wo ageru wa yatto mieta kimi no sukima
    Kitto hitori de nayande oshiete kurete iin da yo

    Choppiri hanse mitai na
    Kyara ni mo nai you na koto mo
    Tama ni wa ii janai no
    Dare ka kaita shinario?

    Mada kono saki ga mienai
    Ichibanboshi sagasu te ga furuetemo

    Akiramenai de taisetsu na
    Sukoshi no iji to kimi yo daarin
    Shigekiteki hora suteki
    Mieru sekai ga kirameku wa
    Tesaguri no atashi ni mo
    Sukoshi wakaru ki ga shiterun da
    Yawaraka na kimi no taimingu
    Zurui desho chuchuchu
    Love love the world

    Have a nice day!
    Be in a good mood yeh!
    In all the world
    Love the world

    Yorokobi no naka mada kono saki ga mienai
    Ichiban boshi sagasu te ga furuetemo

    Akiramenai de taisetsu na
    Sukoshi no iji to kimi yo daarin
    Shigekiteki hora suteki
    Mieru sekai ga kirameku wa
    Tesaguri no atashi ni mo
    Sukoshi wakaru ki ga shiterun da
    Yawaraka na kimi no taimingu
    Zurui desho chuchuchu
    Love love the world

    Have a nice day!
    Be in a good mood yeh!
    In all the world
    Love the world

  • [The JukeBox] #78 – Coco Star – Toca Miracle

    [The JukeBox] #78 – Coco Star – Toca Miracle

    I could have sworn that I have already covered Fragma’s – Toca’s Miracle from 2001 but it looks like I didn’t.

    While searching, I noticed that there has been a re-release of the song at the start of July 2022 by Coco Star who created the lyrics back in 1996 for ‘I need a miracle’.

    The song was released as a track on Fragma’s album Toca in 2001 with the instrumental Toca Me also included on the album.,

    The song was released on the Spinnin’ Records label.

    Lyrics:

    If you’re gonna save the day
    And you’re hearin’ what I say
    I feel your touch
    Your kiss, it’s not enough
    And if you believe in me
    Don’t think my love’s not for real
    I won’t take nothin’ less then a deeper love

    Let me tell you, you know
    Aah, I need a miracle
    I need a miracle
    It’s more than physical
    What I need to feel from you
    Let me tell you, you know
    Aah, I need a miracle
    I need a miracle
    It’s more than physical
    What I need to get me through

    Tell me that you understand
    And you’ll take me as I am
    You’ll always be the one to give me everything
    Just when I thought no one cared
    You’re the answer to my prayer
    You lift my spirits high
    Come on and rescue me

    Let me tell you, you know
    Aah, I need a miracle
    I need a miracle
    It’s more than physical
    What I need to feel from you
    Let me tell you, you know
    Aah, I need a miracle
    I need a miracle
    It’s more than physical
    What I need to get me through

    Let me tell you, you know
    Aah, I need a miracle
    I need a miracle
    It’s more than physical
    What I need to feel from you
    Let me tell you, you know
    Aah, I need a miracle
    I need a miracle
    It’s more than physical
    What I need to get me through

  • Follow-up – Choosing my next music streaming service

    Follow-up – Choosing my next music streaming service

    Back in January, I looked at each of Spotify’s competitors to see what could potentially become the next streaming service that I was going to subscribe to.

    For a couple of months, I had been using Deezer almost exclusively but now I seem to be back on Spotify with absolutely no reason for me to use it over the other.

    The track selection has been good, the UI is neat but how and never, I always feel drawn back to Spotify. The high fidelity audio option is a really nice touch and worth it on it’s own.

    Discoverability is somewhat lacking. Deezer seems to have a look at it’s close circle of artists that you listen to and gives a small list of artists outside before roping you back to square one.

    Most of the artists that I would be listening to are from Japan and they would be putting their music on Spotify over Deezer and any promotions either point them to Spotify, YouTube or LINE (LINE is only available within Japan)

    I seem to be at a crossroads when it comes to finding city pop / future funk music. So my attention turned to Bandcamp and this opened a massive can of worms.

    Bandcamp doesn’t have an official desktop client. There is a 3rd party one that is literally just the website in PWA with keyboard shortcuts. The music discoverability appears to be better on the one hand and the fact that I can subscribe to a LABEL rather than just the artist is very nice.

    Bandcamp’s search is good too as it’s able to show new music in a particular genre or by a label.

    I wasn’t sure if this was the best way to ‘support’ or ‘listen’ to an artist or whether something like Spotify/SoundCloud/YouTube was the way to go:

    One thing I do like about Bandcamp is the ability to support artists by buying their album or a set price or you can contribute more.

    Some artists/labels have the ability to purchase full discographies which you can download and listen to offline is a really nice touch.

    (Source: https://music.businesscasual.biz/ – I have already purchased this for $5 but it’s nice that their entire collection can be bought for just $1! )

    Overall, I have decided to go back to Spotify for most of my listening but from time-to-time, Bandcamp.

    I expect big things to come from Bandcamp in the future as the platform was acquired back in March by Epic Games.

  • [The JukeBox] #74 – Ann Lee – 2 Times

    [The JukeBox] #74 – Ann Lee – 2 Times

    A simpler time, back in 1999, we had some classic hits like Mysterious Times (#52), Missing (#18) and It feels so good (Coming in )

    2 Times by Ann Lee has always been a bop in nightclubs across UK, Ireland and beyond.

    The YouTube video has the following about Ann Lee:

    Ann Lee is a British Eurodance singer and songwriter who rose to fame in the late 1990s. She is known solely for her 1999 hit single “2 Times”.

    Having moved to live in Italy in the late 1980s, Lee was talent-scouted, and was used as the lead singer on a series of Eurodance singles, issued under various aliases. These have included Charme, Anne, Ally & Jo, DJ Space’C, Lolita, A Kay BJ, Alex, Wienna and TH Express.[citation needed] She also released a few Eurobeat solo singles on the Italian label A.Beat-C. under the names Annerley Gordon and Annalise. Gordon is credited with contributing to the composition of “Rhythm of the Night”, released in Italy in December 1993 on the DWA record label, by the Eurodance project Corona.

    Her first solo single under the name “Ann Lee” was “2 Times”, originally released in 1998. It was re-released in early 1999 and became a Top 10 hit in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Norway, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. It also hit number 2 in her native United Kingdom, and reached number one in Flanders and Denmark. In Canada it reached number 14 on the singles chart. “2 Times” was featured in the 2001 film Head Over Heels as the movie’s theme song.

    YouTube

    2 Times
    Ann Lee – song – 2013
    Deezer