Category Archives: Translations

Lamp “Hachigatsu no Shijou” interviews (2010)

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Hachigatsu no Shijou, a limited edition summer-themed album, was released by Lamp in mid-2010. Below you’ll find three interviews all pertaining to this great release — one of my personal favorites from the group (though who am I kidding: they’re all great.)

Original interview & text: mFound (original interview)
English translation: Henkka
Lamp online: website, label, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, Instagram

You can buy Lamp’s music directly from the band, both physically and digitally, on Bandcamp.

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Lamp released their latest limited edition EP, Hachigatsu no Shijou, on August 4th. Always dedicated to producing uncompromising sounds and showing us the world of Lamp in all its forms — an obsession perhaps a result of the band hailing from the field of independent music. We caught up with the group to talk to them about their music at the beginning of spring, back when it was still too chilly outside to put away the outer jackets.

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Shinkawa Tadashi “Paintings of Lights” interview (2015)

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OTOTOY conducted an interview with Tadashi Shinkawa regarding his third album, Paintings of Lights, that was just released on January 11 through Lamp’s record label Botanical House — the label’s first release. Fans of Lamp will have already heard Shinkawa on their 2014 album, Yume, singing on the track “Tameiki no Yukue.” Below is a full translation of the interview.

Original text: Jin’ichiro Iida (original interview)
English translation: Henkka
Tadashi Shinkawa on the web: official blog, Twitter, SoundCloud, Botanical House

Note: You can buy Paintings of Lights at OTOTOY (digital copy, alac/flac/wav/mp3, overseas credit cards accepted) or CDJapan (physical copy, PayPal accepted.)

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Tadashi Shinkawa — a singer-songwriter who works completely alone, having recorded all of his albums thus far all by himself. His 2003 release, sweet hereafter, was a work that mesmerized listeners with its blend of mondo, exotica, and his characteristic, aesthetical sense of melody. On Christy, released two years later, he further made known his abundant musicianship by bringing to the surface more traditional elements like folk and rock, while also featuring a very “Tadashi Shinkawa” home recording sound.

Ten years later, he’s releasing Paintings of Lights. This work, with its Western art motifs and 80s synth sounds, is a pop album full of romantic and poetic sentiments. It’s being released through Botanical House, an independent record label started by close friends of Shinkawa — as well as fellow creators of high-quality pop — Lamp.

When buying the album through OTOTOY, you will receive a bonus exclusive 15-minute interview video with Shinkawa. Please enjoy the text and video interviews with this usually very secretive artist, along with his highly detailed and brilliant, and yet, transient style of 80s pop.

Personally, I was label mates with Tadashi Shinkawa on a label called MEMORY LAB. I first met him around 10 years ago; we both liked the same kind of back-to-the-roots music, but our ways of expressing it are completely different. That’s why when I heard his earlier album, sweet hereafter, I actually felt deeply jealous of his musicianship. He was later discovered by the equally wonderful musicians of Lamp, and he’s now releasing his first album in 10 years. Honestly, I thought I’d never get to hear another new album from him again.

I hereby give you my word: this release is truly nothing short of a marvelous record.

Interview & text: Jin’ichiro Iida

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Lamp “Tokyo Utopia Tsuushin” column (2011)

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Back in February 2011, Taiyo Someya wrote a four-part column for HMV ONLINE to commemorate the release of Tokyo Utopia Tsuushin. In it, he details the early history of Lamp and their journey towards the release of what was at the time their latest album.

Original text: Taiyo Someya (parts one, two, three & four)
English translation: Henkka
Lamp online: website, label, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, Instagram

You can buy Lamp’s music directly from the band, both physically and digitally, on Bandcamp.

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tokyoutopiatsuushinWith Lamp’s previous album, Lamp Gensou, they quite literally to its name gave us an album full of fleeting, illusional beauty; a sound world drawing a line between music you’d normally expect to hear in this day and age; an innovative masterpiece in modern pop music. Hachigatsu no Shijou, a limited edition EP released in mid-2010, had summer as its theme, and on it they once again portrayed the fleetingness of the seasons in its lyrics, along with sound imagery that made for a perfect companion to the words. It showed us the world of Lamp richer than ever before, opening new possibilities for them as a band.

Now, Lamp are releasing their long-awaited new album, Tokyo Utopia Tsuushin, recorded alongside the Hachigatsu no Shijou EP with about a year and half of work behind it. It’s something that needs to be called the “rebirth” of Lamp; a condensation of tighter rhythm arrangements and even more of the characteristics that make up the “Lamp sound.” It features their usual brand of beautiful lyrics that capture places in time: the cold and the warmth of winter; nostalgic sensations we’ve all once experienced; a man and a woman in an imaginary place, in an imaginary town. Those lyrics are placed on top of a new sound, making for an 8-song masterpiece of the highest order. The sounds on it show an exceedingly distinctive brilliance among the current music scene; a kind of originality that — even looking back — is something only Lamp could’ve produced. It’s something on a whole new level altogether. —HMV

No matter how you slice it,
they’re a band just brimming with the
freshness of someone who does their own thing.
And that’s regardless of the maturity that’s
instantly audible in their musicianship.
There aren’t many people like that out there.
That’s what makes them so great.

Tomita Lab (Keiichi Tomita)

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Lamp “Yume” interview (2014)

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Here’s an awesome, in-depth interview with Lamp mainly concerning their 2014 album Yume, including track-by-track commentary by the members. Must-read for all fans of the band.

This interview was published at HMV ONLINE.

Original interview & text: Toshiya Sekine (parts one & two)
English translation: Henkka
Lamp online: website, label, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, Instagram

You can buy Lamp’s music directly from the band, both physically and digitally, on Bandcamp.

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Lamp was formed in 2000 by Taiyo Someya, Yusuke Nagai and Kaori Sakakibara. Three years since their monumental, pop music masterpiece, Tokyo Utopia Tsuushin, this winter on February 5, 2014, Lamp are releasing their seventh original album, Yume.

Beautiful melodies that sway to and fro like the waves of the sea, unconventional chord progressions, increasingly uninhibited time signature changes and complex arrangements, lyrics showing the beauty of the Japanese language, and harmony vocals that somehow manage to sound both earthly and heavenly at the same time.

A rare breed of pop music creators, Lamp have garnered much praise with each successive album. However, their newest release shows even further evolution, and it is a masterpiece that could even be considered historical. Especially the album opener “Symphony” and the closer “Sachiko” are both miraculously beautiful and chock-full of emotion, and with them it could be argued that they’ve shown us how pop music, at its best, can truly be considered a form of art.

A wonderful mix of styles, drawing from genres like city pop, AOR, Brazilian music, new soul, psychedelic, SSW and harmony pop, and lyrics that paint pictures of the days of youth to which one may never return.

It’s a work that goes far beyond the times or their genre of music. Indeed, with this release, the band has managed to create a landmark album of perfection.

In this long interview, the band talks mainly about their new album Yume, but also the past and the future of Lamp as they chronicle their personal histories in regards to their stances and feelings towards music. I hope that this interview will offer you a glimpse not only into their wonderful music, but also to the inner mysteries of the band itself.

(Interview & text: Toshiya Sekine)

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Lamp – Symphony (English Lyrics)

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シンフォニー
Symphony

Shadows of the night strike against the window
Filling this city covered in stardust
To return by your side
I begin to doze off

Rainbow-colored neon lights; a town parade
Two lovers waiting for a love that would never return
As if in search for a continuation of their dream
They silently close their eyes

A pleasant dizziness
The lights shivering
Writing down a near-forgotten melody
And its abstract lyrics

Shadows of the night strike against the window
Filling this city covered in stardust
In complete stillness
A single fragment of a solitary cloud separates from the rest

Sitting down on a chair that feels like a memory
Through my fingers I look up at the indigo blue sky
When a flower quietly swaying by the waterside
Suddenly blooms as if in a dream

Sounds of bossa nova leaking out
The distant roar of the sea
Ah, the night is so thick
It hides you within the seasons

A hundred miles of moonlight
Throwing off the hands of my watch
“Nostalgia”

Like mist on the surface of a broken street light
You begin to fade away
As serenity descends upon my shoulders