2nd self-cover album announced

Exactly one year after Yoeko's comeback album, she announced via Twitter/X that a sequel will be released on her 48th birthday.

Similarly to the first edition, "New Yoeko 2: Rhapsody"will feature one newly-written track along with self-covers from the Kurahashi era. This time, the tracklist is mostly centered in her Warner Music releases (2000˜2003).

The album cover features an illustration by Miyo Tsuchiya.

Yoeko "New Yoeko 2: Rhapsody"
(ヨエコ「ニューヨエコII～ラプソディ～)

Release date: September 20, 2024
Media: CD
Catalog number: NWYK-0002
Price: 3000 JPY
Label: Craques Onze
Distribution: PCI MUSIC

Yoeko Official Shop: pre-orders start TBA, comes with a "rare" bonus TBA

Tower Records: pre-orders started, comes with postcard and sticker
Other stores: pre-orders started, comes with a postcard

-
Tracklist:
01 music (new song)
02 kanshateki seikatsu (from AL rei, 2000)
03 mamagoto (from AL omoutsubo, 2001)
04 torarekei (from AL fujin'you, 2002)
05 ningen yametemo (from SG ningen yametemo, 2002)

06 ryuusei (from AL modern girl, 2003)

07 radio (from AL modern girl, 2003)

08 music (piano ver.) (new song)
*Includes a serial code to stream a making of video*

She has mentioned on a Instagram live that there is an official music video for the new track "music", but it's unclear whether this video will also be available with the serial code.

To celebrate the release, Yoeko will perform a mini-live at the Tower Records Shinjuku store on Sep 22. The last time she has performed in that store was nearly 19 years ago to promote the release of album Tadaima.

New AL tracklist announced!

Yoeko's staff Twitter announced yesterday that the new official website is finally online! Besides that, the new album cover and tracklist were also made public.

As mentioned before, similarly to 2006's Ochuugen, the tracklist consists of self-covers and a new song.
The album cover features the same drawing from the promotional picture, by Miyo Tsuchiya.

Yoeko mentions that all tracks were arranged by Bin Sugawara, from Re-Trick (a Japanese band self-described as an "aggressive jazz trio"), and that depending on the album demand/purchases she would be planning a "New Yoeko Part II".

The online store shall open in 5 days with the album pre-order and some other goods (T-shirt, keychain, ecobag and more) produced by Andorinha. 

Yoeko "New Yoeko"
(ヨエコ「ニューヨエコ」)

Pre-order starts: July 20
Release date: September 20
Media: CD
Catalog number: NWYK-0001
Price: 3000 JPY
Label: Craques Onze
Distribution: PCI MUSIC
-
Tracklist:
01 tomodachi no uta (4 beat version)
(from AL kaitai piano, 2008)
02 yona yona yona
(from AL fujinyou, 2002)
03 tamagotoji
(from AL tadaima, 2005)
04 hiru no tsuki
(from AL tadaima, 2005)
05 kyou mo ame
(from AL iroiro, 2006)
06 dopamine
(new song)
07 tate
(from AL tadaima, 2005)
*Includes a special making of video, not specified in which media format*

I think it's a good sign to see songs from her Warner and Victor era being covered in this album. For me it means that, first of all, there are no legal restrictions in regards to her old material. Except for... her "lost" First Aid Network album Tokyo Piano, which was the only one that never got reissued and is the only one still missing from streaming platforms.

That also shows that, from an artistic point of view, this new Yoeko is ready to re-visit her Kurahashi days. <3

Total random fact, I'm specially happy to see some words from my native language featured in this post... Andorinha (goods maker) is Portuguese for swallow bird, and Craques Onze (record label) could be translated to... Soccer star (jersey number) eleven. :-)

Source: [Official Twitter] [Official Website] [Online Store]

EDIT: I'm not even sure if anyone still visits this, but I forgot to mention that I'm preparing a new website layout to celebrate this new era! It's meant to feature some more up-to-date web elements and this should make it easier to navigate via web and mobile browsers. Yes it will be just as ugly as this one or even more!

New album release

Promotional picture, drawn by Miyo Tsuchiya

Yoeko has announced via Twitter that a new album is in the works!

"New Yoeko" (possibly a wordplay with "New York") will feature a mix of self-covers and new songs.

Pre-orders start on July 20th, exactly 15 years after her last concert at Tokyo Kinema Club, and release date is set to September 20th, her birthday. 

A teaser video was published on Yoeko's YouTube channel featuring a new version of Tomodachi no uta.

Pre-orders will be available from her official store and more information will be posted on her official Twitter soon.

Source: Natalie.Mu
[Official Twitter] [Staff Twitter] [Official Website] [Online Store]

Yoeko "New Yoeko"
(ヨエコ「ニューヨエコ」)

Pre-order starts: July 20
Release date: September 20
Media: CD
Catalog number: NWYK-0001
Price: 3000 JPY
Label: Craques Onze
Distribution: PCI MUSIC
-
Tracklist: TBA; tomodachi no uta '4bit version' and more (self-covers and new songs).

Welcome back

I never really thought I would be writing about this, but Yoeko just announced on Twitter that she will resume her activities under the name "Yoeko" (no Kurahashi) after exactly 15 years since she announced her retirement. The announcement was made on Twitter. 

[Twitter] [Website] [YouTube] [Online Shop]

(click to download PDF version) 

This website was first published (also) exactly 13 years ago (July 2010), and a lot has happened during this time... For me, listening to and making a website about Yoeko is one of those teenage hobbies that we lose touch with as we mature. Yes, I still listen to the music I did back when I was that age... some because I still enjoy it, and some because it gives me that feeling of going back to a very specific cherished time in the past.

After learning from a person close to her about some of the reasons why she retired, it made me sad to the point where it has been hard to enjoy her music again ever since.

This announcement makes me glad on a different level than just the "I'm really looking forward to listening to new songs from this artist" level. I'm genuinely happy that this person who brought so much joy to my teenage self is comfortable with showing her art again.

I feel like there is a point in life where the music we love is not as interesting anymore, the friends we made are not as reachable as they used to be, and that makes us end up losing a little bit of ourselves along the way - maybe that's what getting old means. These news kind of brought back a small piece of me from that time. Welcome back :) 

Country Color

Two days ago I received an email from someone using the contact form of this website. The first one in five years which was not a spam. It was from a girl living less than 100km from me thanking me for keeping the website up and mentioning it has been a reference place for her as a fan of Yoeko. That alone would have made my day, but she also mentioned machi (same person mentioned in my previous blog post -from 5 years ago-) wrote the theme song for a Chinese documentary series.

wo zhuzai zheli de liyou is a documentary series
on YouTube about Chinese living abroad.

The “wo zhuzai zheli de liyou” (The reason why I live here) series has COUNTRY COLOR by machi as theme song since early 2017. A package containing the song (+instrumental version +PDF file with lyrics) is available for purchase at this website, unfortunately payment can only be done using a Chinese bank account.

Not only machi’s singing voice is absurdly identical to Yoeko’s, the instrumental part resembles a lot songs like 卵とじ(tamagotoji) or ラブレター(love letter).

Although I am convinced she is back under this new pseudonym, I’m torn between adding the work with SasaNishiKa+Country Color to the website and waiting for an official-ish announcement connecting Yoeko and machi (that might never happen).

Parts of the song can be heard below, starting 2m48s.

 

WO ZHUZAI ZHELI DE LIYOU
theme song Country Color
music/lyrics/vocal machi
performance SasaNishiKa

Many thanks to the above-referenced Ms. Maria Tavares who was the reason why I finally updated this website after long five years :-)))))))))))))))))))))))

SasaNishiKa

Hi! Happy new year!! Being busy and the lack of news about Yoeko made me take long to update the website again :( 

SasaNishiKa's debut album "※".

A few weeks ago some rumours spread online on discussion boards like 2ch forums and mixi.jp communities about a voice very similar to Kurahashi's being featured in some tracks of the recently debuted band SasaNishiKa.

The tracks are included in their debut album "※" (reference mark), which was released the past December 20th. 

The record's liner notes lists Shinjiro Yamato and machi as guest vocals. Shinjiro Yamato is a Gunma prefecture born vocalist from The Funderfuls band. As for machi, there isn't any kind of information anywhere! I, myself, asked the band's staff for more information about her and they said they are not able to give out details on artists not attached to their record label… :(

Previews for the tracks "machi" is featured can be heard below. ;)

01 wabi-sabi 

02 parade 

08 curtain call 

Could "machi" be a new Yoeko Kurahashi's pseudonym? :3

Is she coming back from retirement?

SasaNishiKa's line-up consists of former Gymnopedie (a japanese jazz band, 2001-2008) members: Ayako Kawasaki (drums), Saori Sasazawa (piano) and Hiroki Nishi (guitar).

The album can be purchased at Studio Leda CD Shop. For international (outside Japan) orders, please use their contact form.

Lyrics - koi no airport

オヒサシブリ！Thank you for all the visits on Yoeko Live DB! It's now up for 2 months, please keep adding info up :)
A new link called "セトリ不明" (unknown setlist) was added for easier reference on which pages need further contribution. Please have it a check.

Now back to updates! I have added lyrics to "KOI NO AIRPORT". According to "KAIZOKU PIANO" booklet, this was the first version of "KOI NO DAISOUSA", the track included in this album had the vocals taken from some early recording and mixed with the arrangement of the version present on "MODERN GIRL" album.

lyrics - koi no airport 

koi no koi no koi no koi no eapoooooooto!~♬