🎧 SS Sounds #37 - The Sushi Platter - Lamp

Comfy sweater? ✅ Hot tea? ✅ Warm musical hug? ✅

Author

Josh Pittman
November 17, 2024

Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds

Ride the shinkansen over to this week’s issue of Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds!

Thanks everyone for the long wait! This is a band who’s discography has a lot to digest and I wanted to make sure I took time to give them justice.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you love Aja by Steely Dan? If your answer is 7 or above, you’re in the right place. We’re talking about the kings and queen of Japanese Yacht Rock Revival, the one and only Lamp!

📖 History and Influence 📖 

Lamp are a Japanese Pop/Rock band who formed in 2000. The band consists of the same 3 members since their inception; Taiyo Someya on guitar and various instruments, Yusuke Nagai on bass, vocals, and various instruments, and Kaori Sakakibara on vocals, flute and various instruments. If you do a thorough analysis of that last sentence, you may have noticed that the words “various” and “instruments” were used at least 3 times, so it is safe to say that all 3 of them are *pulls down cowboy hat “what we like to call ‘multi-instrumentalists’ round these parts”.

While they have remained mostly underground in their home country of Japan, it appears that they were selling out rather large venues in their most recent North American tour. Maybe they blew up on TikTok? I’m not sure what happened but one thing I can tell you as a long time fan is that they deserve it.

Lamp remain to be one of the few bands that are the perfect culmination of the 90’s Shibuya-kei era and what they call AOR in Japan, basically what we Americans would call Yacht Rock. While bands like Steely Dan have aged well, a lot of those bands only had a couple of slick singles, and faded with time. Of course Japan has their fair share of those kinds of bands like Bread & Butter, but I believe Lamp has and will continue to stand above the originators of this sound. I think it’s their willingness to experiment and try new ideas throughout the years that have kept them fresh and influential.

While Lamp at their core have not changed over the 20+ years they’ve been together, they have one of the most consistent discographies that’s out there. Let’s dive into it together 4 eva ♥️

📈 Rankings 📈 

Bonus: Kaede - Stardust in Blue

This would be in my top 4 or so releases on this list, but it’s not technically a Lamp album. This is a solo mini-album from Kaede, a member of the idol group Negicco. However, it was produced by Someya as well as Hirohide Kadoya, a member of Uwanosora (another group I will talk about some point in the future). It features all the Lamp members on instruments and their presence is felt throughout the whole release. Not an official Lamp album, but most definitely worth listening to.

8. 彼女の時計 (Kanojo no Tokei) (2018)

And we start this list off with an album that has perplexed me since it’s release. This is the biggest change in sound they made in their career so far. This is goofy 80’s ballad/pop worship, and I have mixed feelings about it. Even though this is my least favorite Lamp album, you have to admit, the production on this is so cheesy it’s amazing.

I respect the fact that they attempted to create an arrangement of soft City Pop hits, but it falls short and becomes very dull by the end of the album. However, I will still defend “1998” as a banger, and this is definitely worth skipping around for a few songs. But let’s be honest, this album is definitely the black sheep in their discography.

7. Dusk to Dawn (2023)

The most recent album in the Lamp ethos, it feels like a return to form after Kanojo no Tokei… mostly. The warm, older sounding production of the previous album is still present, however the cheesy balladry is gone. In it’s place is a slightly subdued version of their classic sound, capturing the night-like mood that the album is aiming for.

While this is number 7 on this list, I believe this album has some of my favorite tones, sounds, and melody lines of their entire discography. Since I loved the retro sounding production on their last album, it should be no surprise that this album might have my favorite overall production in their whole discography. I guess I’m a sucker for hard left bass panning sometimes tee hee.

I believe the inconsistency of the tracks keeps this album low on the list, but if you took all the best tracks, I think this could even be a contender for a top 5 Lamp album.

6. 木洩陽通りにて (Komorebi doori ni te) (2005)

How do you follow up the most successful album of your career so far? That’s tough for any artist to figure out and I believe this album was their way of trying to solve this problem. It feels like trying to recreate what made their last album special, but it feels just that, a recreation.

While those last couple of sentences might make this sound like a bad album, it’s far from that, but it’s an album whose identity is really tough to pinpoint. With that being said, the songwriting and melody-crafting are all still here, with some songs stay in your head for weeks. Tracks like 1 (今夜も君にテレフォンコール) and 4 (紙魚だらけの唄) stand tall with the rest of the best, reminding you that this is still the first era of Lamp.

5. ゆめ (Yume) (2014)

This album is a mixed bag. I think some tracks are up there with my favorite songs they’ve ever made, but the overall production on this album holds it back. Compare it to the album before it side by side and you’ll see what I mean, it just feels… flat.

However, the songwriting and performances are still top-tier. The more I reflect on it, the instrumentation and performances on this album might be some of my favorite, it’s the production and the occasionally less memorable songwriting that keeps this album from being higher on the list. For example, take the delicate and beautiful synth and keyboard playing on track 6 (渚アラモード), or the gliding bass lines on track 10 (さち子). But still, being number 5 on a Lamp album ranking list is impressive on it’s own.

This album is the perfect combination of the 2 albums before it, Lamp Genso and Tokyo Utopia Tsushin. You have the somber super melancholic tracks, as well as the more uplifting, upbeat tracks. I think that contributes to one of the problems with this album, like the last one on this list, it has a little bit of an identity crisis. It’s definitely not bad, but there’s not much that causes this album to stand out.

4. 東京ユウトピア通信 (Tokyo Utopia Tsushin) (2011)

Here’s where the A tier albums begins. All 4 of these are essential listens if you plan on investing hours into exploring the complex yet comfy world of Lamp.

While the drums on previous Lamp records wouldn’t be considered simple, the ones on this record go hard. I’m not sure if there is a different studio musician or something (I couldn’t find any information about it), but the drums are wild on this album.

To me, this album feels like the more exciting sibling of the previous album “Lamp Genso”. The sound and themes didn’t change so much, but the songs here are all pretty high-energy. Also this album goes full JAZZ. GIMME JAZZ JAZZ JAZZ. There’s more solos here than other albums, and I love it. Also, this album has longer “epic feeling” tracks compared to their other albums.

If you’ve never heard Lamp before, I could see you starting with this album or number 1 on this list.

3. そよ風アパートメント201 (Soyo kaze apartment 201) (2003)

Is this a mini-album? Is this an EP? According to streaming services this is actually an EP, but despite resembling a small collection of vignettes, the ideas are full and complete. Whether that means it’s an EP or a “mini-album”, which as far as I know is a mostly Japanese concept, it’s undeniably their first release and extremely essential to their discography, so it gets a rating here. If you don’t think it’s a mini-album or you don’t think it’s fair to rate it, just pretend all the numbers before this one were one number less 😉

I really have a soft spot for the early era of Lamp where they still felt like the torch-bearers of the Shibuya-kei scene that had began to fade a few years before this release came out. The songwriting is simpler, yet there is more passion and youth-like energy. Yet, there is still a familiar charm, still containing all of the instrumentation and arrangements they are known for on, well all of their releases.

I feel like this release is criminally underrated, so give it another shot if you haven’t in a while.

2. ランプ幻想 (Lamp Genso) (2008)

This album is extremely somber. There are very few tracks here that have passages one would dare call “thrilling” or “exciting”. All you thrill-seekers turn the other way, this ain’t your party.

I’m not sure if this is a hot take or not, but I don’t know if this album has a song in my top 5 Lamp songs, yet it gets the number 2 spot for pure consistency. Every track is great and silky smooth, the most chill they ever got throughout their career.

Although this came out before Tokyo Utopia Tsushin, this is the first album in their discography where the Beatles influence became apparent. Both the double taked vocals and swelling strings on track 9 (冬の影は哀しみ), or the guitar playing on track 6 (白昼夢) sound very Lennon-esque.

While I’m not 100% sure, this album feels like a “breakup album”. Of course there’s some moments here and there that don’t sound too depressing, but there’s a sense of loneliness in both sound and lyrics here that doesn’t exist as much on their other albums. Instead of the exciting young love embraced on Koibito e, there’s a feeling of helplessness here.

Speaking of…

1. 恋人へ (Koibito e) (2004)

Imagine the first release but even better. The youthful energy paired with masterful songwriting, this is it. I remember being the only person I knew who loved this album since I first heard it around 2015, but it’s become a cult classic that deserves all the praise it receives. I mean let’s be honest, if it wasn’t for this album, Lamp would have potentially faded into obscurity, a Japanese group with huge ambitions, yet not able to find a market.

I’m going to get a little personal here. I was in a long distance relationship for over a year, and this was the album that helped me get through that era of my life the most. It was when I got so into learning Japanese and with time, I started piecing together that these songs were about longing to be together with a lover. While that relationship came and gone, my love for this album never went away.

I think this is the Lamp mission statement, containing all the traits they’ve become known for. It’s got the fun tracks like the banger track 3 (最終列車は25時), as well as the so lonesome it’ll make you cry album closer (恋は月の蔭に). This is one of my few 10/10 albums so what are you doing… just listen to it!

📊 Tier List and Playlist 📊 

The “gimme the best tracks of each album” playlist:

❤️‍🔥 Thank you! ❤️‍🔥 

As always, thank you thank you sooooo much for reading this issue of Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds! 🥹

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Also!
I’m a freelance Japanese to English Translator with about a year and a half of experience scattered around various projects. If the ChatGPT version looks sketchy and you’re interested in having a human translate any interviews or articles let me know. I’ll give any follower a hefty discount 😉

See ya next time! Breakfast is ready.

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