Mayumi Kojima | Blues de Cecile

Reupped by popular demand here.

While Blues de Cecile lacks the sophistication and musical intricacies of Kojima's later work, it's pure Shibuya-kei rockin' fun. Rarely listed among other Shibuya-kei stalwarts like Flipper's Guitar and Kahimi Karie, there's no question that Kojima draws from similar roots: namely 50s and 60s music from the Americas and Europe. When she was 18 years old, while still in high school, high on 50s American pop, she recorded her first demo, securing a contract soon after. Though she's recorded some of the most thrilling pop music to have come out of Tokyo in the last 15-odd years, the well-meaning folks at Pitchfork have apparently been too busy following every mutton-chop-sporting, three-word-named band from Sacramento to Eugene, to have noticed. 

Not that it's entirely their fault. Now 40, Kojima hasn't put out a record in more than two years, not since 2010's Blue Rondo. I was fortunate enough to have stumbled onto tonight's record in 2010 in Tokyo--in a cramped but well-stocked used CD store in, you guessed it, Shibuya.

And now you can say you were fortunate enough to have stumbled upon it here.