Kylie said to Towa: German Bold Italic

Now if this isn´t high-concept...Japanese producer meets Australian "in limbo" popstar and they make a record about a typeface! Yes, a typeface! A non existing typeface!

Towa Tei, went back to Tokyo after leaving Deee-Lite and became a hipster phenomenon with his first solo album "Future listening" in 1995. Along with fellow japanese pop-stars Pizzicato Five he brought back Bossa Nova with a distinct hi-tech-twist to western metropolitans.

In 1997 Kylie Minogue was drying off after her success with Nick Cave and was about to re-establish herself as a sort of indie-brit-camp-pop-superstar, or something to that effect.
We all know it would take another three years and some wardrobe which was about to malfunction at any moment before that plan would work out.

I have no idea about the impact this collaboration made on the worldwide charts, but I think it was not exactly a smash. (O.K. it was a moderate hit in Japan).

Quite unfair, it should have been big! And here is why:

- Great, bouncy electro-house with big production
- Lyrics that mostly consist of the words "German", "bold" and "gut, ja?"
- Kylie as a demented Geisha (only Björk, Madonna and Aneka would have this idea!)
- Quirky Japanese who looks like Andy Warhol as a japanese mannequin and moves like a robot from Düsseldorf.
- Having Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra saying the words "German bold italic" and leading Kylie on a leash (sound cable), which is in itself a nod to YMO´s first album-cover.
- Video intro spoofs TV-sex ads and is done by The Gentle People.
- It uses bits of "Groove is in the Heart".
- It´s a song about a typeface!

So why wasn´t this a hit again???
Watch it and decide:



I could watch this over and over again and it sounds massive as a proper recording.
Anyway, they must have had so much fun that they came back for another colaboration "Sometimes Samurai" in 2005, which again samples YMO.

More on Towa Tei and colleagues coming soon.