Matsutoya Yumi 'Ushuu Toshokan' (Cosmic Library) discussion?

[orbitalaspect]

So, once again a former superstar of Japanese music has released new music that receives critical acclaim for the first time in years, sometimes decades. Matsutoya Yumi, the second best-selling female singer of all time in Japan, has released her 38th album, and scored a first in Oricon history by becoming the oldest female artist to have an album debut at #1. 'Ushuu' sold 60,000 copies over the last week.

I really want to talk about this album. If you haven't heard it, there are download links everywhere. Here is a MEGA link of .m4a high-quality for those of you who are fine with that: https://mega.nz/#!P5AQjJRQ!ADFvhABEo...ZsAVfddRzHZOZA

Here is the short PV for Uchuutoshokan:


Now, my thoughts: This song is so memorable. In fact, the album is stuffed to the brim with songs that are odd but enjoyable, even if you don't remember them all. It's so odd, but so nostalgic. Yumi said in a letter on her web site that she intended this album to be about stopping for a moment, to remember each individual moment for the complexity involved in its creation, existence, and death. And this really makes me stop what I'm doing to listen and just enjoy it for a moment.

Her fashion style reminds me of MISIA's ULTRAMAN work, and some of her outfits around JUST BALLADE. It's funny, but my first thought upon hearing Uchuutoshokan was how much I miss Otsuka Ai's songs like Planetarium, Kingyo Hanabi, and Cherish. How much I miss the odd songs like Cooking 3 Minute Ramen, Kurage, Nagareboshi, and 360. How laid back songs like Ayumi's CAROLS and Daybreak "HAL's Mix 2002", MIKA NAKASHIMA's ORION, Nagareboshi, LEGEND, and Oborozukiyo ~Inori showcase a side of Japanese Pop that I haven't heard in pop music anywhere else in the world.

In the last year or so, Nakamori Akina, Matsuda Seiko, and now Matsutoya Yumi have released the most interesting and genuinely lovable music. Nakamori Akina released one of the most incredible electronic records I've heard in years, with an air of maturity idols like Ayumi and Namie couldn't infuse an album with. Seiko just released Bara no Youni... and its PV, which had people in awe on national television, and gave her her first top 10 single in almost 20 years. And now Matsutoya Yumi, a woman I've certainly heard of but never found all that interesting, has practically brought tears to my eyes by doing what Japanese singers do best: Be different.

Three women whose careers were over 20 or 30 years ago are the light shining through this dark shadow cast by AKB48 and K-Pop on everything. Sure, we've had Utada and Miliyah Kato, and Namie, and we even had a decent Ayumi album this year. But there's an indescribable homesickness to what Akina, Seiko, and Yumi have created in the last year that takes me back 10 years to me struggling to figure out which Japanese artist I wanted to play when my alarm went off, and how after I would spend an hour just trying to decide of two or three songs, which one I wanted to set as my alarm.

I miss this, when artists were excited to put out their 38th album of songs from every damn genre under the sun because people really liked being their fan.