Tokyo's Coolest Sound

Hideki Kaji, who this year celebrated the 30th anniversary of his solo debut, has just released a new 3-song EP. The new songs take inspiration from the "neo-acoustic" genre (a.k.a. "neo-aco", Japanese name that was used to describe bands such as Aztec Camera, The Smiths, The Pastels, Prefab Sprout, etc.) and shoegaze. All three songs are sung in English.

Featured musicians are Hirohisa Horie on keyboards (who also co-produced the EP), Hideki "Gen" Hara on drums, and Matsue Jun on guitar. Mixing was done by Jin Yoshida (Salon Music) (for the title song) and T.Mori (of hammerlabel fame) (for the two others).

The EP is available digitally, but also on CD from Hideki Kaji's online shop (shipping within Japan only). An article with photos and more information about the release (in Japanese) can be found here.

On December 13, Hideki Kaji and Mayumi Ikemizu (Three Berry Icecream) (who both were members of the band Bridge before Kaji's solo career) will perform together as "Futari Bridge" (which roughly translates to "two people Bridge"), along with back musicians. There will be two sets, from 12:30 and 18:00, which which tickets are sold separately (details). A 7" of Futari Bridge (of two Bridge self-covers) will also be released for Record Day on November 3.

Hideki Kaji "Smashing Time"
(Japanese title: カジヒデき 「Smashing Time」)

1. Smashing Time
2. Our Love Remains The Same ~ Old Blue Suspenders
3. Music Is Here

Blue Boys Club / AWDR/LR2 BBC022
Out now (10/21)
Stream/buy: , Spotify, YouTube Music, OTOTOY

"Smashing Time" lyric video