You see, I haven't picked up my guitar for like three or four months, Well I haven't got time to browse some new tunes let alone let some sink in my head, but then some unexplained urges (no, I'm not exaggerating) lead me to browse some more Zard song,
Who? Zard was a Japanese... one man... sorry, I mean one woman band: vocalist, songwriter, and lyricist Izumi Sakai, was? Yes, Sakai passed away some four years ago, Zard golden age was in 90s where their (well at that time there's five more person in there) songs takes away the japanese crowds, Zard also wrote songs for animes (most on Detective Conan/Case Closed and Dragonball GT), they're also famous for being mysterious, only got two LIVE concert yet spawned numerous high-selling records, and yet again: almost zero videoclips (Damn, they made Pearl Jam looks small, sorry Mr. Vedder)
For me Zard was a band that defined J-pop, influenced by the New Wave movement from international music all of Sakai's song has a harmonious feels in it, here's the thing: I never put my finger in why the hell all of her songs always got this old animes feeling in it, let alone always fits with animes. The fast paced songs brings the feelings of power and spirit, the slower ones has smooth and shiny lovey-dovey thing, the beats, the distortion guitar, the synth, even the monotonous bass always had a nostalgic feelings in it, on top of it: Sakai's voice are one-of-a-kind thing that flow together with the instruments, it's more like her voice was the thing that completes the songs, like the songs can't be sung by anyone else but her. I know it's the mixing that do most of the work but when I listened their only real live album the feelings stays the same, Sakai's voice and Zard's music really combined into something I never heard before, and until this moment I DON'T RECALL I never heard something like that been done by other than Zard
Call it nostalgia, call it past New Wave cravings, and yeah maybe a "stuck-in-time-can't-let-got otaku's QQ" might closer to the spot, but I first listened to Zard almost ten years ago and at that time all of their songs already feels coming from another time in a dreamy picture of a town's beach outskirt, Sakai's death probably put an end to Zard's journey and we're doomed never heard anymore of those songs and voices again, but looks like technology saved us a bit since Zard lives once again in form of a double album called Best Request: Beautiful Memories, This is a retouch of all their hits but also contains live versions of some of their songs, played by musician Sakai's had work with (twenty of them) combined with recordings of Sakai's voice
So I picked up my guitar and work over Makenaide's bass tab once again, just like ten years ago, but now I knew that this song will be immortalized in my mind, thank you Miss Izumi Sakai for such a great work of art
Selected Works:
- Makenaide (24 hours-TV official song)
- Too hi no Nostalgia
- Unmei no Roulette Mawashite (OST Detective Conan)
- Don't you see (OST Dragonball GT)
- Iki Mo Dekinai
- My Friend (OST Slam Dunk)
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