サマー・ホリデー
Summer Holiday
Here at last, it’s summer holiday
Let’s go out, just the two of us
Wind so alluring — Lovers on a Beach
Holiday of my dreams
Setting up the parasol, I turned around to look
You were so dazzling, I had to close my eyes
Embraced by a feeling of pure happiness
Watching you playing in the waves
Here at last, it’s summer holiday
Let’s go out, just the two of us
Play the cassette — Dreamin’ on the Beach
Holiday of my dreams
Yesterday, it was announced that this man—one of my favorite songwriters—has passed away.
I had been working on this interview about his most well-known single, “Ai wa Katsu,” and my intention had been to post it today. I’m going to go ahead and publish the interview as scheduled, but please allow me first to express a couple of thoughts.
I just want to say that I absolutely adored this guy. Everything about him. I loved his voice. I loved his singing. I loved his piano playing. I loved his sense of humor; how he had seemingly dedicated his entire adult life to never ever being serious when he spoke. Even his lyrics were silly and comical more often than not. Humor was his life philosophy, and deservedly so. After all, what point is there to life if you can’t even have a wink and a laugh about it?
Most of all, however, I loved his sense of melody.
We all have our “sweet spots” when it comes to music, and for me the things he did as a songwriter often hit those sweet spots exactly on the mark. Anyone could tell he was a real musician’s musician, always wearing his influences—Beatles, Billy, Stevie, et al—on his sleeve. I’m going to miss this guy so much, and I’m going to continue singing praises of his work forever.
I wish I had something more meaningful to say. I feel like there has to be a better set of words I could string together to express how I feel about him. But this is the best I can do for now.
I love you, KAN. Thank you for the music. ❤️
Is KAN‘s 1990 hit single “Ai wa Katsu” your favorite goddamn song of all time? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Here, you see, is an entire 5000-word interview dedicated to that very tune.
This interview was originally published in the 1992 book Boketsu Bari Hori.
Text: Morita Kyoko
English translation: Henkka
KAN links: Website, Twitter, YouTube
Note: You can buy KAN’s physical releases on CDJapan.
Here are the liner notes for every song on KAN‘s 4th, 5th, and 6th studio albums, written by the artist himself. The albums featured here are HAPPY TITLE (1989), Yakyuu Senshu ga Yume Datta (1990), and Yukkuri Furo ni Tsukaritai (1991).
These liner notes were originally published in the 1992 book Boketsu Bari Hori.
Text: KAN
English translation: Henkka
KAN links: Website, Twitter, YouTube
Note: You can buy KAN’s physical releases on CDJapan.
Here are the liner notes for every song on KAN‘s first three full-length studio albums, written by the artist himself. The albums featured here are TV no Naka ni (1987), NO-NO-YESMAN (1987), and GIRL TO LOVE (1988).
These liner notes were originally published in the 1992 book Boketsu Bari Hori.
Text: KAN
English translation: Henkka
KAN links: Website, Twitter, YouTube
Note: You can buy KAN’s physical releases on CDJapan.
Here is an interview with MONO NO AWARE members Tamaoki Shukei and Kato Seijun. The interview focuses on how the pair first met, as well as on the band’s sophomore album. Enjoy!
Interview & text: Miyake Shoichi (Japanese text)
English translation: Henkka
MONO NO AWARE links: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Note: You can buy AHA on CDJapan.
MONO NO AWARE
(L-R) Takeda Ayako, Tamaoki Shukei, Kato Seijun, Yanagisawa Yutaka
MONO NO AWARE have just completed their second album, AHA.
Ever since the band’s beginnings, there has been no one else like them when it comes to musical expression. “This part is rock, this part is pop“—there are no such borderlines in their music. And yet, their musical imagery carries with it a contemporaneity which organically reminds the listener of all kinds of different cultures, along with a synchronicity which makes it feel like you’re tripping between reality and some parallel world.
Those aspects of the band’s music become even more vivid on this work, with the evolution in their sound production and songwriting making one’s earliest childhood memories rise to the surface.
Having accompanied the band for the filming of their music video for this album’s lead song, “Tokyo,” we then conducted an interview with their songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Tamaoki Shukei and guitarist Kato Seijun.
We visited their hometown of Hachijojima, Tokyo—a 55-minute direct flight from Haneda Airport. While the town is actually still a part of Tokyo, that sense of travel I got from going down there and standing in that environment, surrounded by nature, it gave me flashbacks of that peculiar feeling one experiences when listening to MONO NO AWARE—a sense of, “It’s my first time here, and yet somehow it’s like I know this place.”
