Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Charan-Po-Rantan -- Karimono Kyousou(借りもの協奏)


I didn't set out to write about an entire Charan-Po-Rantan(チャラン・ポ・ランタン)album, especially when I have yet to buy anything by sisters Momo and Koharu Matsunaga(松永もも・松永小春). Through one commenter's tip a few years back, I first listened to them and found their brand of accordion pop and jazz refreshing in an era of aidoru-dominated pop on the Oricon charts.


It's just that I discovered this cover of "Koi to Machine Gun"(恋とマシンガン)originally by Shibuya-kei duo Flipper's Guitar and found it perfect for Charan-Po-Rantan, only to find out that the video is an abbreviated version. Kinda too bad since it looks like the Matsunaga sisters were having some fun going through the trendier areas of Tokyo.

"Koi to Machine Gun" is a track from their special September 2016 album "Karimono Kyousou" (Concerto of Borrowed Things), a release of covers of English and Japanese songs. Since the video for "Koi to Machine Gun" was so short, I felt that I needed to compensate with at least one more of their singles. However, I realized that it was part of this album and then saw that there were other tracks up on YouTube, so I decided that I would feature some of those entries.


For example, "Shangri-La" originally by techno group Denki Groove(電気グルーヴ). Not a bad cover all things considered but I think "Koi to Machine Gun" is still in the lead. The video for "Shangri-La" is even shorter. However, we get to see the Shibuya for old folks, Sugamo.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Then, there is the sisters' cover of "Saudade"(サウダージ)by Pornograffiti which is here in its full glory and which I think fits the bill better in terms of transition. It's too bad, though, that none of their covers of English-language tunes are up since personally I would love to hear their version of The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star".

(excerpts only)

Ah, but I did find the album on the iTunes site!

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