Well, my computer just crashed after I had this pretty nice post about Miho Hatori written up. This is because we have an IT guy here at “the day-job” who refuses to update a computer when it’s not absolutely necessary (and only works from home), which means any time I accidentally load a page that has QuickTime, I can expect my computer to crash and erase a couple pages about the mid-90s hip-hop hipster scene (back before “hipster” was such a dirty word).

I’ll try to remember what I’d said now, but I’m sure enough of you know the “FUCKING COMPUTER JUST ERASED WHAT I WAS WRITING” feeling, and how much it bums you out trying to retype what you just wrote. But it goes like this:

You remember Miho Hatori, right? Half of the original duo of Cibo Matto? I suppose anyone who hit up the hipster clubs back in the 90s (or, uh, snuck in because they’re a few years younger than the other PCS writers) has to have shaken ass to “Birthday Cake” at some point. Maybe the new blood out there remembers the song from the Jet Set Radio Future soundtrack on Xbox (a horribly mixed version, I have to say, no matter how much I loved the song). Or know her from her work with Gorillaz (you know, the vocals that sound like a small Asian girl — I think “Noodle” was her name?). Maybe others remember her work with the Beastie Boys, or Smokey Hormel, Russell Simins (the former drummer of John Spencer Blue Explosion and solo artist, not the rap-mogul’s name misspelled), Sean Lennon, Blackalicious, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Japanese hip-hop group Kimidori, or any of the many other projects she’s worked on.

Her solo album, Ecdysis, dropped in Japan in 2005, and despite her being a New Yorker for well over a decade now, the North American and European release was pushed back to ‘06. And here it is in 2007, where it sets a good tone for someone who’s been fighting a cold for about a week now, and just had his computer erase his entire post. It’s pretty relaxing like that. I’ve noticed a lot of those old Grand Royal people (Jill Cuniff, I’m looking your way) have been getting tropical lately. I don’t mind it. Lord knows, I’m from Miami and I love me some Brazilian tunes, even when they’re actually by New Yorkers working with the inspiration.

Anyway, sick days mean a lot of YouTube for me, and I found this nice live video of Miho and friends performing “A Song For Kids” off of Ecdysis for Indie 103.1 FM (a station I’ve never listened to, but they’ve got some nice videos up on YouTube — +2 points for Pigeon John and Money Mark). It’s a pretty version of the song, and I’ve always admitted I have a real soft-spot for pretty music. Love those vocals. One of the few times you hear her sing entirely in Japanese, and it really serves the song well. And as my good friend minusbaby says, “She dances nice.”

And since I’d never give you a live version or a cover if I didn’t have the original on hand (that’s a lie, I did that a few weeks ago with the Isabelle Antena song), here’s the album version of “A Song For Kids”. Different style from the rather straight-forward live version, definitely more of the Miho sound you’d come to expect.

MihoHatori-ASongForKids.mp3
(download Miho Hatori’s “A Song For Kids”)

But let’s keep this rolling. Recently, Japanese artist/animator Ishiura Masaru put together a video for the first single off Ecdysis, “Barracuda”, and the internets have gotten a hold of this as well.

There’s a higher-res QuickTime version up (and available to download) at www.mihohatori.com, if you like the video and have the kind of computer that won’t crash and erase everything you’re writing if you try to view it.

And to close this out, yes, we will take it back to the classic that started it off (for me, anyway)… a live version of “Birthday Cake”. As my roommate said last night when he saw it, “Holy shit that’s punk rock!”

Yes, Bosko. Yes it is.

So punk rock.