New single Konya wa Boogie Back

Source.

Halcali's next single will be a collaborative effort with Tokyo No.1 Soul Set on a cover of the 1994 Kenji Osawa/Schadaraparr single Konya wa Boogie Back, which was featured recently on a Nissan TV commercial (video below).

The Halcali version was first released as a downloadable chaku uta version for cellphones, and after it debuted at number 3, it was decided it should be released as a single.

The single will be released on September 23rd, and will be backed with two rerecorded versions of old Soul Set songs, Rising Sun and Innocent Love. Even if Halcali are featured on these b sides too, this is somewhat of a disappointment.

Although it will be nice to see Halcali back in the shops in some form, I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer for a 'proper' Halcali single.



Thanks, as always, to amj!

Real life taking its toll!

No one likes to read these "sorry for the lack of updates" posts, but here is one anyway.

I haven't, and will never abandon this blog, I've just been so busy, mostly with my work as a theatre director, that Halcali has had to take a back seat until next month.

Any new album, single, anything information you have about everyone's all time favourite Japanese band, please let us know!

According to an anonymous poster below, the album has been pushed back to autumn...any sources on that?

Halcali on new Scha Dara Parr album!

Info from Chipple

Awesome! Halcali will appear as guest singers on old friends Scha Dara Parr's (of Halcali Sensation! fame) new album 11, due out on the 25th.

Their last album Con10po, and that collaboration they did with Denki Groove were both a lot of fun, and adding Halcali into the mix makes this a definite purchase.

Thanks to Patrick!

Halcali on Judy and Mary tribute album

Halcali appearing on this album has been news for a few weeks now, but what's interesting here is the amount of exposure this release, and of course our girls, is looking likely to get. To give you some idea about this, according to Bark, when these songs were released as chaku uta downloads after a promotion spot on Music Station on the 27th of February, six of the chaku uta top 10 downloads for that week were tracks from this tribute album.

Judy and Mary 15th Anniversary Tribute Album will be released 18th of March.

Here's the original version of Lucky Pool that Halcali will cover

Valentine Gig Report

Take a look at this thread over at Halcali Sensation, and gilgameHEARTS report of Halcali's invite only Valentine's Day gig.

Scroll a bit further for the setlist. Their sets are still as impressive as ever, with a good mix of singles, b-sides and album tracks thrown together. It certainly shows the appreciation they have for their own music, and also an interesting willingness to take risks in playing those songs that not everyone will be familiar with.

To top it all off, they closed with Continued!


Then there is, of course, this

HALCALIの2人は現在ニューアルバムを制作中。

The Halcali girls are currently at work on their new album

I can't deny it, I'm excited :)

If you haven't heard their Valentine song Giri Chocolate, have a click back through the day by day archives here to find an live mp3 of it.

Reviews (11) Re: Yasashi Kimochii

Maybe "harmless elevator music" was a bit harsh.

Listening to it 5 times in a row (as I just have), does allow some of its charm to peep through, even if I can't escape the thought that, if this wasn't Halcali, I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought, let alone listen.

Yet, as has been pointed out by fans of the song both here and over at Halcali Sensation, the sound does seem to have matured. I think this gets to the heart of what I have been struggling with for a while though. While no one expects, wants or needs them to keep making Halcali Bacons their entire career, I think they have been 'matured' on to a point where many of the rough edges that gave them a lot of their earlier charm have been ironed rather flat.

Multiple listens show that there is nothing wrong with this song at all, but there's nothing really interesting about it either, just another airy middle of the road pop ballad sitting just the right side of average. Just right for a bit of mid-album or mid-set filler perhaps. And if you're wondering why the b-side (Orange Sunset) is so forgettable, look no further than its composer, Yusuke Tanaka, who graced us with Halcali's career worst releases Tip Taps Tip and LOOK.

I know that the chances of them getting another regular producer seem a bit slim, so I'll take my schizophrenic Halcali, faults and all. I'll do this because I know, I absolutely know, that their next killer tune might be just one single away.

Yasashi Kimochi is, well....

Here it is.

Like I said last month, this steady flow of releases is great. This song feels like 5 steps back after the excellent TLKG though.

This is exactly the kind of harmless elevator music I was hoping they left behind. Are there any audible traces of Halcali in this tune at all? To remain positive- what with the Chara sampling etc., perhaps a decent chart position lies in wait for this single. A bit more exposure would be something at least.

HALCALI - Re：やさしい気持ち
by mugen-pv

Listening to this song is certainly frustrating.

One of the distinctive things about following this band though, is that they are so unpredictable. Largely due to it being rather a free for all in terms of what producers they get to work with, you literally never know what's around the corner for these guys, both in terms of style and quality.

I think it must be the prospect that maybe the next one will grab me, maybe the next one will be another unique slice of pop genius, maybe the next one will be a song I can't wait to put onto that compilation I'm making for a friend's birthday etc. that keeps me hooked on Halcali.

Thanks to julia and Mr. Anonymous for the link!

New Single Out February 11th

Now this is more like it! Two new singles 3 months apart, its how the pop charts are meant to be tackled.

Re: Yasashi Kimochi (b/w Orange Sunset) will be released on February 11th.

Your guess is as good as mine about this song "inspired" by (meaning heavily sampling) the Chara tune (scroll down for the YT video), but I like this steady flow of releases!

To help with promotion, the single will also be the 'image song' for the 34st charity radio broadcast Radio Musicthon which will be broadcast for 24 hours from 24th-25th of December.