Happy Birthday to DSK!

Rumania Montevideo - Still for your Love & 恋するベティー

Genre: alternative
Song style: girl alternative

This post is in honor of my friend, who's celebrating a birthday today! While it's already over by now in Japan, there's still an hour to go here in America. We were talking about songs from our childhoods that inspired our current music tastes, and this song came up. This is a very unique band that sadly had a short life - they were only active for three years (1999 - 2002). It's also pretty amazing to see a female drummer also be the main vocalist! While my friend has moved onto much heavier music (which I promise will be up here soon!), it's nice to reminisce on one's childhood every once in a while. How much has changed since this band was popular - it's been 11 years now. And imagine 11 years from now too, where will we all be...

Happy birthday, my dear friend! :-)

Let's go home!

斉藤和義 - 歩いて帰ろう

Genre: pop-rock
Song style: a happy guy with his guitar

Possibly one of the first Japanese "rock" songs I ever heard, this song became the theme song for Ponkiki, a Japanese Sesame Street-like show my sister and I would watch fondly as kids. Sometimes it is nice to return to one's childhood and relive things even if they aren't 100% top notch compared to today's standards. Luckily I think this sweet tune by Saito Kazuyoshi is just as nice, listening to it today. He's still a very active musician, having released a live album March 24th and set for a new single soon. I look forward to see how he's changed in the past eighteen years!

Oldies: The Japanese Nirvana

The Yellow Monkey - 球根

Genre: hard rock
Song style: pretty depressing, builds up to a strong and heavy climax

Okay, so I know the video is really 90s and has iguanas for no reason, but please listen through the whole song. This band really lasts through the ages - even though it was the mainstay for highschoolers about two decades ago (the band operated from 1989 - 2001), the songs are still catchy and relevant to listeners today. This band has had an incredible impact on the Japanese music industry and is in some ways reminiscent of America's Nirvana (both in sound and impact). This would have to be one of my favorite Japanese bands. My sister discovered them first, randomly buying a discounted CD in a Book-Off in Tokyo. Many years later, I was wandering through a Kyoto thrift shop and heard a song that I liked so much that I jotted down the lyrics on my cellphone to look up later. It turned out to be The Yellow Monkey's old single "Morality Slave", a slight twist off the Phantom of the Opera theme. My sister and I compared notes, and realized we had this random band overlapping on our playlists. Ever since, The Yellow Monkey has become a mainstay in our karaoke repertoire (hehe).

They recently had a tribute album released on December 8 2009, with covers from amazing bands including many covered here so far (9mm Parabellum Bullet, The Back Horn, Fujifabric, 椿屋四重奏) so if you get a chance please check it out. It's called "This is For You".