Anyways, it struck me as odd that I don't write more about music than I used to even though I said I would. Just a little awhile ago I got to finally ripping YeYe's demo CD onto my computer and listening to it again and I felt the urge to vent some of my opinions on it.
YeYe(grandfather in Chinese is the intended meaning) is Natsuko Hashiguchi (橋口なつこ), vocalist/bassist of concentrate on popping who participated in the 2009 Senkou Riot competition. YeYe is the moniker she uses for he solo works outside of concentrate on popping of which she plays all the instruments for and does the composing.
As I wrote before, I got a chance to see Natsuko perform as YeYe in April while I was in Osaka. It was an all acoustic set, much like a lot of the videos you can find if you run a search on her name in youtube.
So I was surprised when I popped in the three song demo CD I got from the show and heard the intro track, Namida, with a whole bunch of instruments to go with it. It was such a huge step up from the demo CD I received from concentrate on popping, namely the recording quality was so much better and didn't have the droned out, demo sound to it. It sounded pretty professional.
Probably my favorite of the tracks is the last one, "you are singing always". It's really amazing how the song can paint such a beautiful picture using music. It gives me this perfect imagery of a sunset, that time when the sun is going down and the sky is completely orange in hue, just as the night is about to fall and the day is slowly sinking beneath. This lazy, laid back, feeling. The bossa nova beat is just irresistible especially with the given touch of the piano...or whatever it is the make the song even more enticing and sweet. It's so perfect.
The other two tracks are nothing short of great, too. Namida, the opener, is a really slow paced song and does a great job of representing what YeYe's music is, really mellow, acoustic pop. The imagery here...I think it reminds me of a very slow passing night, looking out the window on to the town. PotsuPotsu is at a faster pace number that I don't think works nearly as well as the other songs, but it's a welcome departure from the usual pace of the other two tracks.
Thankfully, a couple of tracks, including two on this demo CD, have been uploaded to YeYe's myspace in their entirely, so you can get a good idea of what I'm talking about. On youtube, there is also a beautifully filmed video of "you are singing always" from this CD with just her and an acoustic guitar:
You can check out YeYe on the following sites to listen to more of her music and read up on her:
[Official Website] [Myspace] [concentrate on popping]
Happy listening!
~hideki~
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