Takashi Matsumoto Announces First Round of Artists for Tribute Album!

First Participation Artist for Takashi Matsumoto Tribute Album

To celebrate his historic run in the Japanese music industry, lyricist Takashi Matsumoto announced that he will be releasing a tribute album in his honor on July 14th. Currently untitled, Matsumoto's 50th anniversary project started at the end of 2019, and the release of the tribute album was originally announced in December last year. Elaiza Ikeda, GLIM SPANKY, Daoko, Daichi Miura, and Hiroji Miyamoto have been selected as the first participating artists in this work. Each artist is nominated by Seiji Kameda, the producer of the album. Of these, Elaiza Ikeda was also revealed to cover Hiroko Yakushimaru's "Woman ‘W no Higeki Yori’”. Ikeda has released footage from her studio recording on Nippon Columbia’s YouTube channel. 

As we look forward to this memorable tribute album, be sure to check out Ikeda’s preview for "Woman ‘W no Higeki Yori’” below!

Ken's Ongaku Go for August 2020!

Another month down from 2020 and we at Ongaku to You would like our readers to know what was filling our ears for the past month. Each track is available across all digital music streaming platforms with Apple Music being featured on this site.

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“Blueberry” by Daichi Yamamoto

Missing that western R&B/ Rap music I get during my morning work, in-d was the initial step to Daichi Yamamoto. He had a lot of impressive tracks off of his latest EP Elephant in My Room but “Blueberry” scratched that itch that I needed for western style. It’s beautiful yet haunting composition is something that needs to be heard. Yamamoto’s rap skill is nothing to sneeze at and goes above Music Corner alum Sorane’s skill and I put him high in that regard in the Japanese music industry.  Yamamoto left a great first impression on his style and cadence from this track and I can’t wait to dive into the rest of his discography.

Check out “Blueberry” here along with the music video below!

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“Free” by Polkadot Stingray

While released back in July, I didn’t get a chance to listen to it during our whole ordeal with Kenshi, however, I had high expectations for this song due to their previous track “Stinging Spica” already being in the race for song of the year. While not reaching the top parse, it reaches that bite size goodness a solid pop-rock band needs to be. That one simple act will always make me go back to tracks like this all too often. 

Check out “Free” here along with its music video below!

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“Your Love” by SIRUP

Continuing from my R&B/ Hip-Hop trance that I was put into this month, SIRUP was an artist that I kept going back to. From my rotation last month, “Your Love” was always that second pick from his discography. The craft and skill SIRUP has shown in this song was just absolutely fantastic and shows that he’s enjoying every bit of it. From the high energy and simplistic composition to going above and beyond with his vocal range, it’s a track that needs to be heard.

Check out the music video for “Your Love” along with the track here!

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“Blue” by LUCKY TAPES feat. Kojikoji

I was absolutely ecstatic about this collaboration as I’ve been high on LUCKY TAPES for years since starting the podcast. Kojikoji was an up-and-coming vocalist that I’ve been keeping my eye on since the abundant of collaborations that she as already done with similar artists. One of the things that I just love about this track is that the vocalist Kai doesn’t do anything dance while the track keeps the composition simple and not overbearing. From that one simple act, it puts both his and Kojikoji’s vocals into the forefront and entices you to keep listening. The track had gone above and beyond my expectations and was the main reason I did a Music Corner about them in the first place. 

Check out the track here along with the lyric video below!

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 “Fireworks” by Daoko and Kenshi Yonezu

Due to our podcast doing an Artist Spotlight about Yonezu last month, one of his tracks was going to bleed over into my heavy rotation. “Fireworks” was one of the first songs I honestly fell in love with from Yonezu that I didn’t know it was from him originally. Its beautiful composition brings out the best of both vocalists. While the solo versions of the song were just ok, the original duet version is absolutely fantastic and in my opinion the best work that both Daoko and Yonezu have done.

Check out the music video along with the song here!

DAOKO Comes Home With Latest Music Video!

To celebrate the digital release of her album anima, vocalist DAOKO released the music video for her track “帰りたい！” (“Kaeritai!”) on her YouTube channel. Released digitally back in June and physically on July 29 (as previously reported), this will be the latest album released by the artist since her DAOKO X Dragalia Lost album back in October of last year and is her fourth album overall. Produced by Kei Terayama and Shinichi Kuwabara, the music video brings her persona to full blast with the mixture of 8-bit animation with DAOKO’s own zany style.

Check out the music video in question along with the digital streaming links for anima here along with the physical pre-order for the album below!

Standard edition 

Limited edition 

DAOKO「anima」

01. VOICE

02. anima

03. アキレス腱

04. 愛のロス

05. 御伽の街

06. ハイセンスパイセン 

07. ZukiZuki

08. Sorry Sorry

09. 海中憂泳

10. ストロベリームーン

11. 帰りたい！

12. おちゃらけたよ

Limited Edition DVD

DAOKO 二〇二〇 御伽の三都市 tour @ 恵比寿リキッドルーム 2020.02.10

01. かけてあげる

02. さみしいかみさま

03. Fog

04. 7日間創造

05. ゆめうつつ

06. そつぎょう

07. Ututu

08. 真夏のサイダー

09. 水星

10. Cinderella Step

DAOKO Returns With Upcoming Album!

Vocalist DAOKO announced that she will be releasing a brand new album, anima, July 29. This will be the latest physical release by the artist since her DAOKO X Dragalia Lost album back in October of last year. She will be teaming up with Akito Katayose of GREAT3 fame once again as he will be taking on sound production for the album. The album will drop with twelve tracks and be made available early across all digital music streaming platforms June 24. However, for fans of the physical release it will be available via two editions: a standard CD-only edition and a CD + DVD limited edition. The DVD will include footage from DAOKO’s 2020 御伽の三都市 (Otogi no Mitoshi) tour that took place at Tokyo’s Ebitsu LIQUIDROOM in February. Pre-order both editions of anima and watch the music video for her track “おちゃらけたよ” (“Ocharaketayo”) below!

Standard edition 

Limited edition 

DAOKO「anima」

01. VOICE

02. anima

03. アキレス腱

04. 愛のロス

05. 御伽の街

06. ハイセンスパイセン 

07. ZukiZuki

08. Sorry Sorry

09. 海中憂泳

10. ストロベリームーン

11. 帰りたい！

12. おちゃらけたよ

Limited Edition DVD

DAOKO 2020 Otogi no Mitoshi tour @ Ebisu LIQUIDROOM 2020.02.10

01. かけてあげる

02. さみしいかみさま

03. Fog

04. 7日間創造

05. ゆめうつつ

06. そつぎょう

07. Ututu

08. 真夏のサイダー

09. 水星

10. Cinderella Step