HOME





Shibuya-kei
is a microgenre of pop music or a general aesthetic that flourished in Japan in the mid-to-late 1990s. The music genre is distinguished by a "cut-and-paste" approach that was inspired by the kitsch, fusion, and artifice from certain music styles of the past. The most common reference points were 1960s culture and Western pop music, especially the work of Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, and Serge Gainsbourg. Shibuya-kei first emerged as retail music from the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Flipper's Guitar, a duo led by Kenji Ozawa and Keigo Oyamada (Cornelius), formed the bedrock of the genre and influenced all of its groups, but the most prominent Shibuya-kei band was Pizzicato Five, who fused mainstream J-pop with a mix of jazz, soul, and lounge influences. Shibuya-kei peaked in the late 1990s and declined after its principal players began moving into other music styles. Overseas, fans of Shibuya-kei were typically indie pop enthusiasts, partly because many Shibu ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Akishibu-kei
is a loosely defined trend from the 2000s that involved an increase of Shibuya-kei influence in anime soundtracks. The term is a portmanteau of "Shibuya-kei" and " Akiba-kei". Both were 1990s cultural movements associated with musical and otaku interests, respectively, and Akishibu-kei was thought to have represented a merging of the two. Overview From the mid-1990s, anime music was diversified due to composers like Yoko Kanno who mastered idioms from many genres such as classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ..., jazz and ethnic music. In 2002, Shibuya-kei band Round Table invited female singer Nino as the guest vocal and offered the song "Let Me Be With You" for anime '' Chobits''. The soundtrack of Chobits was composed by Keitaro Takanami, the for ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sunshine Pop
Sunshine pop, originally called soft pop and soft rock, is a loosely defined form of pop music that was first associated with early soft rock producers and songwriters based in Los Angeles, California, during the mid-to late 1960s. Its recording studio as an instrument, studio-centric sound was primarily rooted in folk rock and easy listening, typically featuring rich harmony vocals and progressive music, progressive elements, while lyrics combined idyllic imagery with a subtle awareness of societal change, melancholic undertones, and counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural themes. The movement initially straddled multiple styles among many groups who existed briefly while adapting to evolving music trends, resulting in much crossover with bubblegum music, bubblegum, folk-pop, garage rock, baroque pop, and psychedelic music, psychedelia. Branching from the nascent California sound, its name refers to the area's regularly sundrenched weather. Many of the defining sunshine pop ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Chamber Pop
Chamber pop (also called baroque pop and sometimes conflated with orchestral pop or symphonic pop) is a music genre that combines rock music with the intricate use of strings, horns, piano, and vocal harmonies, and other components drawn from the orchestral and lounge pop of the 1960s, with an emphasis on melody and texture. During chamber pop's initial emergence in the 1960s, producers such as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Burt Bacharach, Lee Hazlewood, and the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson served as formative artists of the genre. Wilson's productions of the Beach Boys' albums ''Pet Sounds'' and ''Smile'' are cited as particularly influential to the genre. From the early 1970s to early 1990s, most chamber pop acts saw little to no mainstream success. The genre's decline was attributed to costly touring and recording logistics and a reluctance among record labels to finance instruments like strings, horns, and keyboards on artists' albums. In the mid-1990s, chamber pop developed a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Indie Pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, Independent record label, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of ''indie pop'' has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop. Development and characteristics Origins and etymology Both ''indie'' and ''indie pop'' had originally referred to the same thing during the late 1970s, originally abbreviations for ''Independent music, independent'' and ''Popular music, popular''. Inspired more by punk rock's DIY ethos than its style, guitar bands were formed on the then-novel prem ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Lounge Music
Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The range of lounge music encompasses beautiful music–influenced instrumentals, modern electronica (with chillout and downtempo influences), while remaining thematically focused on its retro–space age cultural elements. The earliest type of lounge music appeared during the 1920s and 1930s, and was known as light music. Retrospective usage Exotica, space age pop, and some forms of easy listening music popular during the 1950s and 1960s are now broadly termed "lounge". The term "lounge" does not appear in textual documentation of the period, such as '' Billboard'' magazine or long playing album covers, but has been retroactively applied. While rock and roll was generally influenced by blues and country, lounge music was derived from jaz ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Kenji Ozawa
Kenji Ozawa (小沢 健二, ''Ozawa Kenji'') is a Japanese musician, designer and writer. Ozawa was a member of the pop duo Flipper's Guitar, and said to be one of the musicians that found and influenced so-called Shibuya-kei music style. He graduated from the University of Tokyo. His uncle, Seiji Ozawa, was a noted conductor. Personal history Ozawa was born on April 14, 1968, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa. His father Toshio Ozawa is a professor (German Literature) and his mother Makiko Ozawa is a clinical psychologist. Ozawa's first claim to fame was as a member of the pop duo Flipper's Guitar. After the disband of the group, he debuted as a solo musician in 1993. "''Konya wa Boogie Back''" (BOOGIE BACK), Ozawa's 3rd single released in 1994, which was a collaboration with Japanese Hip-Hop group Scha Dara Parr became a smash hit. The album "''LIFE''" was highly evaluated; it was voted #1 Album of 1990's J-pop/rock albums in a "Music Magazine". After releasing several works, Ozawa s ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Flipper's Guitar
Flipper's Guitar (フリッパーズ・ギター) was a Tokyo-based rock band led by (and later a duo of) Keigo Oyamada and Kenji Ozawa. The band was influenced by the chirpy sound of British 80s pop and post-punk groups like Haircut 100, Exhibit B, Orange Juice, The Style Council and Aztec Camera, as well as the fashionably eclectic sounds of early 90s Britain, from alternative dance to acid jazz. The group was an important part of the Tokyo Shibuya-kei scene in the late 1980s to early 1990s, and Oyamada went on to produce work for Pizzicato Five and his close friend Kahimi Karie. The band wears their influence on their sleeves, their song titles often citing their British artists' influence — ''Goodbye Our Pastels Badges'', '' Haircut One Hundred'', '' The Colourfield.'' Following the demise of the band in 1991, the two members pursued solo careers. Ozawa released the album ''The Dogs Bark But The Caravan Moves On'' under his own name, and Oyamada began re ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Shibuya
is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in Tokyo, Japan. A major commercial center, Shibuya houses one of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shibuya Station. As of January 1, 2024, Shibuya Ward has an estimated population of 230,609 in 142,443 households and a population density of . The total area is . Notable neighborhoods and districts of Shibuya include Harajuku, Ebisu, Shibuya, Ebisu, Omotesandō, Yoyogi and Sendagaya. Shibuya came into the possession of the Shibuya clan in the early 1160s, after which the area was named. The branch of the clan that ruled this area was defeated by the Later Hōjō clan on January 13, 1524, during the Sengoku period, and the area then came under their control. During the Edo period, Shibuya, particularly Maruyamachō, Shibuya, Maruyamachō on Dōgenzaka, prospered as a town on Oyama Road (present-day Japan National Route 246, Route 246), and in the Meiji era, as a Hanamachi. Shibuya emerged as a railway terminus during the expan ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Yé-yé
''Yé-yé'' () or ''yeyé'' () was a style of pop music that emerged in Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The French term ''yé-yé'' was derived from the English "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as the Beatles. The style expanded worldwide as the result of the success of figures such as French singer-songwriters Sylvie Vartan, Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy. Yé-yé was a particular form of counterculture that derived most of its inspiration from British and American rock and roll. Additional stylistic elements of ''yé-yé'' song composition include baroque, exotica, pop, jazz and the French ''chanson.'' Origin The movement had its origins in the radio program (loosely translated as "Hello, mates" or "Hello, pals"), created by Jean Frydman and hosted by Daniel Filipacchi and Frank Ténot, which first aired in December 1959. The phrase "''Salut les copains''" dates back to the title of a 1957 song by Gilbert Béca ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition and mastery of recording techniques, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and significant songwriters of the 20th century. His best-known work is distinguished for its high production values, complex harmonies and orchestrations, vocal harmony, vocal layering, and introspective or ingenuous themes. He was also known for his versatile head voice and ''falsetto'', which degraded after the 1970s. Wilson's formative influences included George Gershwin, the Four Freshmen, Phil Spector, and Burt Bacharach. In 1961, he began his professional career as a member of the Beach Boys, serving as the band's songwriter, producer, co-lead vocalist, bassist, keyboardist, and ''de facto'' leader. After signing with Capitol Records in 19 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Shibuya, Tokyo
is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. A major commercial center, Shibuya houses one of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shibuya Station. As of January 1, 2024, Shibuya Ward has an estimated population of 230,609 in 142,443 households and a population density of . The total area is . Notable neighborhoods and districts of Shibuya include Harajuku, Ebisu, Omotesandō, Yoyogi and Sendagaya. Shibuya came into the possession of the Shibuya clan in the early 1160s, after which the area was named. The branch of the clan that ruled this area was defeated by the Later Hōjō clan on January 13, 1524, during the Sengoku period, and the area then came under their control. During the Edo period, Shibuya, particularly Maruyamachō on Dōgenzaka, prospered as a town on Oyama Road (present-day Route 246), and in the Meiji era, as a Hanamachi. Shibuya emerged as a railway terminus during the expansion of the railway network beginning in the 19th century, and was incorporat ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Burt Bacharach
Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Starting in the 1950s, he composed hundreds of pop songs, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. Bacharach's music is characterized by unusual chord progressions and time signature changes, influenced by his background in jazz, and uncommon selections of instruments for small orchestras. He arranged, conducted, and produced much of his recorded output. More than 1,000 different artists have recorded Bacharach's songs. From 1961 to 1972, most of Bacharach and David's hits were written specifically for and performed by Dionne Warwick, but earlier associations (from 1957 to 1963) saw the composing duo work with Marty Robbins, Perry Como, Gene McDaniels, and Jerry Butler. Following the initial success of these collaborations, Bacharach w ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]