Q.A.S.B. - Candy Dream

Combining light romantic feels with their classic hip shaking grooves, “Candy Dream” is Q.A.S.B.’s second album since the change of lead singer to a.yu.mi and adds more Japanese lyrics while retaining the funk and soul essence of the band’s history.

Although Q.A.S.B. are a live band at heart, the pandemic situation has meant they’ve had no live performances since December 2019 to develop or showcase new material to audiences. In spite of that, they’ve maintained a constant release schedule of 7-inch singles on their affiliated label Soul Garden Records, which has culminated in this album Candy Dream. And since this is a band that whose foundation lies in evergreen 70’s soul and funk with additional elements of R&B and pop, there’s quite a bit of variety on offer.

That includes the super funky “Shaky Shaky” complete with a flip of the sax solo on James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good) “, the acid jazz vibe of “VIVALAVA”, another cinematic instrumental perfect for secret agent movies in “Wolf” and a cover of Roy Ayers’ “Can’t You See Me” featuring regular collaborator Hiro-A-Key. This one is a bit more punchier than the original by omitting the inimitable vibraphone solo and replacing it with a modern spoken rap in the breakdown. It’s definitely more accessible for listeners today, but the lyrics are a bit silly - “sometimes words won’t make any sense, but it’s okay there are days like today”. Still, that’s nothing a live freestyle couldn’t change and the flow is spot on.

One of the things that has changed is the greater use of Japanese lyrics, which as it turns out, is a sign of the times. According to Q.A.S.B. keyboardist Masamichi Ishikawa, “In recent years, even in the club music scene, Japanese music such as city pop has become increasingly popular, whereas in the club scene 5 to 6 years ago, hearing songs in Japanese would have been something out of the ordinary. At the same time, Konishi Yasuharu of Pizzicato Five (who thought highly of our previous work) advised us to try doing songs with Japanese lyrics. That’s why we recorded Pizzicato Five's "Thank You" as a homage.”

Previously Q.A.S.B. songs tended to be in English for a more authentic funk rhythm, and while that helps international audiences, maybe it wasn’t always natural for the band when writing the lyrics. The unintended effect is that the sweeter soul tracks like “The Sun and Moon”, “Baby Soul” and “Candy Dream” do end up sounding a little like Pizzicato Five. That’s not to say these are derivative works, in fact, side by side with the original there’s definitely a difference in how Q.A.S.B. have interpreted the same classic sounds. Besides, you’re not going to get anything else this close to Shibuya-kei in 2021.

That’s kind of the thing, although Q.A.S.B. are also incorporating all these diverse influences from musical history, they’re not tied to a movement or subculture (or politics), so the sound will never get dated whether you’re listening in 5 or 10 years time. There’s a timeless, organic warmth to the sound which primarily comes from having a full band playing real instruments. That’s no mean feat given the ongoing changes in music trends (not to mention pandemic induced social distancing).

“Until around 2010, there were a few big bands around, but due to various factors such as the spread of DTM and reduction of music / album production budgets, band lineups became smaller (forming “units” rather than bands). This trend has become stronger since the pandemic in particular, and it seems to me that the form of a band in which musicians directly create music face-to-face has become obsolete” says Ishikawa. “Now, if you check out any records released recently, sure, there are many works with beautiful sounds made by digital programming, but alongside them, I want Q.A.S.B. to fill a valuable space as a band that plays sounds based on live instruments.”

It all comes together perfectly on “Escape”, written by a.yu.mi and arranged like it’s Dayton’s “The Sound of Music”. The instrumentation gives it scale, it’s funky and smooth without the post-disco vocoder, it’s familiar yet unique with the Japanese lyrics, and its eminently danceable. In essence, the sound of Q.A.S.B. today.

Also from Q.A.S.B.: Thinking Of You

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