Cocteau Twins - Little Spacey (kawaii vibration). A spectacular VICTORIALA...

Baroque dancing or Japanese wrestling? Blend 6 of my imaginary VICTORIALAND remix LP is a (little) stunner!

Get some (Pea)nuts!

Emi and Yumi Ito were in a way the first Japanese Pop-sensation to make an international impact. Born in 1941 they would start their showbiz career in the mid-1950s in Nagoya as the Ito Sisters.

A new manager brought them to Tokyo and named them The Peanuts in 1958. They became presenters for one of the first Japanese teenpop TV program and soon recorded one hit record after another.
In Germany they would appear with Caterina Valente on her TV-show and in the USA they were invited by Ed Sullivan and Danny Kaye.


In 1975 the twins decided to leave showbusiness for good and gave a farewell performance on Japanese TV.

But forget the numerous hits they had! The Peanuts are famous and beloved by filmnerds around the world for their appearance in three Toho Mothra monster movies!

As miniature fairies, they are somehow mentally connected to the giant moth and express this by flying around in a golden coach and singing the Mothra theme-song.
You know, this one:

Mothra Song


As grown-ups they had some fine hits which are somehow a cross between contemporary pop, traditional Japanese ballads and Serge Gainsbourg.
Check this 8-minute medley of three of their songs.
"Koin No Fuga" was a big hit and is occasionally covererd until this day. Their dance -routine is especially great here.
The second one is a bit of a drag, but make sure to stay for the third song.
"Kawaii Hana" was their first big hit. Its a beautiful song, but the colour-video that is shown here is especially haunting. It is exactly how I always expected flower-shops in Tokyo to look like (had I ever thought about it.)

Koi No Fuga/Aie No Inori/Kawaii Hana

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.