2021 was another busy year for me. Well… 2022 has been busy as well. That’s why this post is so late. But anyway, this time, I decided to choose the albums that I listened to the most rather than exclusively choosing material that was released within the year. This list will include a mixture of the familiar, the new, and the obscure.
Eleven Plus Two/Twelve Plus One by Helsinki Lambda Club (2020)
Helsinki Lambda Club is a band that has been on my radar, but I had never given any of their albums a proper listen until Eleven Plus Two/Twelve Plus One.
This album is quite dynamic and ranges from energetic alt.rock tracks like Mitsubishi Macchiato to psychedelic and funky with tracks like IKEA. It’s a really fun listen.
Killing Pop by The Chewinggum Weekend (1998)
While I have always highly enjoyed this album, 2021 was the year that I’d finally track down my own copy to add to my physical collection. It’s quite rare and obscure, and The Chewinggum Weekend in general is a band that has slipped through the cracks over time.
The Chewinggum Weekend released only two albums during their short lifespan, with “Killing Pop” being their sophomore effort. Killing Pop takes a more experimental and rock direction compared to their first album, and is a joy to listen to all the way through.
More recently, vocalist Takashi Hashimoto has been performing with his new band called “theMADRAS”, Jun Suzuki started his own pub and venue in Tokyo, Koji Iwata has become something of a recluse, releasing music sporadically under the moniker “Hermit”, and Fumihisa Natsuaki has played as support drummer for many acts and is also a recording and mixing engineer.
Come Into The World / Omnibus (1993)
Here’s an interesting one. “Come Into The World” is an obscure omnibus album released in 1993. It was produced by Kenji Ueda, who around this time, had just left The Pillows.
The thing that intrigued me the most about this album was the inclusion of “Nine Miles”, the solo project of Yoshiaki Manabe (guitarist of The Pillows). As Nine Miles, or rather “Nine Mils” as he is credited on this album, Manabe provides two tracks to the album, and contributes guitar to the opening track.
These tracks are, to my current knowledge, the earliest commercial appearance of Nine Miles. Unlike his latter works, these tracks feature the vocals of someone who is credited as “Minnie” rather than his own. While the first Nine Miles track is more reminiscent of Manabe’s latter, reggae influenced works, the second track takes more of a new-age direction.
The other tracks on the album contain such instruments as sitar, bongoes, didgeridoo, wind-chimes, and violin, among others. From start to finish, this album is a trip.
The most well-known artist on this album are probably Dohatsuten, who continue to be active to this day. They provide three enjoyable tracks to the omnibus.
(Sample unavailable.)
Nine Miles (various albums, 2001, 2004, 2008)
The “Come Into The World” omnibus album resparked my interest in Nine Miles. Yoshiaki Manabe’s reggae solo project is a delightful listening experience.
Unlike his tracks on the Come Into The World omnibus, he provides his own vocals, albeit heavily vocoded, especially on the first two albums.
Listening to Nine Miles was a favorite of mine this year while taking long walks. Yoshiaki’s music has a calming quality that makes something nice to listen to when you want to relax. You can tell that he really put his soul into these albums.
For Once Deja vu by Sawao Yamanaka x NT Connection (2021)
“For Once Deja vu” is a collaboration album between veteran musicians Sawao Yamanaka and the band NT Connection. Previously, Sawao had worked together with NT Connection members Tatsuya Kashima and Tadashi Ueda in the early 90’s during the “second movement” era of the pillows. This collaboration is somewhat of a reunion.
The album combines Yamanaka’s melodic song writing with NT Connections signature chill, jazzy, funky sound.
Sadly, keyboardist Tadashi Ueda was diagnosed with ALS, and the symptoms have progressed to the point where he is no longer able to perform, likely making “For Once Deja vu” one of his final contributions.
No More Humor! by cafelon (2005)
My fascination with NT Connection led me to cafelon. While I was familiar with NT members like Kashima and Ueda, I was unfamiliar with their guitarist, Hikaru Ishizaki. A good friend of mine happens to also be friends with Ishizaki, and he introduced me to “cafelon”, Ishizaki’s former band.
“No More Humor!” is an enjoyable album of piano-driven pop/rock.
(Sample unavailable. This band barely has a presence online.)
Go back to yesterday! By The Predators (2021)
The Predators, which consists of Sawao Yamanaka (the pillows), Jiro (Glay), and Hirotaka Takahashi (Ellegarden), would make their return in 2021, with their first full album in around six years.
With the last several Predators’ albums, Jiro has taken more of a leadership role and has written the majority of the songs. While I prefer the songwriting of Sawao Yamanaka, Jiro has also proven himself to be a good composer, and “Go back to yesterday!” showcases some of his strongest tracks yet.
Picnic by ArtTheaterGuild (2021)
ArtTheaterGuild’s latest EP continues their trend of great melodies highlighted by Yusuke Kimura’s excellent guitar work.
Stico (various albums, 2020)
Near the beginning of the year, I was heavily listening to “Stico”, the brilliant solo project of Shiori Sekine (from the band Base Ball Bear). She has a unique style which focuses on her use of the Chapman Stick.
Smile & Thank you, my twilight by the pillows (2001 & 2002)
the pillows are my favorite band and their music is sure to be included in every year.
In 2021, they would continue their “Return to the Third Movement” series of tours which focussed on these two albums. I previously wrote a live report about my experience with the tour, so I won’t go into it too much here.
Both of these albums are excellent, and I spent a good amount of time diving deeply into them; learning the stories behind songs, analyzing the lyrics, etc. Although I have always loved these albums, I feel like I appreciated them even more than ever in 2021.
With the video release of the tour, they also included the concert audio on CD, which essentially serves as live versions of these albums; also an excellent listen.
Glasscat no Utakata by the giraffes (2021)
This is the first album from the band “the giraffes”, and it was produced by Sawao Yamanaka. They have a pretty good independent rock sound that I look for in an artist. I’m looking forward to their next works.
Futatsu no Kodou by Tomohiro Kondo (2008)
I have been a fan of Kondo’s works since his first band “Pealout”, but I’m not terribly familiar with his solo albums. “Futatsu no Kodou” landed on my radar when a friend mistakenly attributed one of the songs as being written by Sawao Yamanaka. He may have been wrong, but hearing Tomohiro Kondo’s music again reignited my interested and I have a good amount of catching up to do.
How about you? Did you listen to a lot of good music last year? We’ll continue to play our recommendations on the radio, so hopefully you’ll find something you enjoy.
Big love❤️
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