Bonnie Pink has been around since the 90s. Her 2001 Just a Girl album has this heartbreakingly beautiful song full of piano and pedal steel guitar. Bonnie Pink - Are You Sure?
Maki Nomiya has the perfect breezy jet set style voice for the upbeat Shibuya Kei style music her band Pizzicato Five was famous for. The title’s literal translation is “Tokyo at 7 at Night” and the first time I travelled to Japan, I had this on my iPod. The train from Haneda pulled into Ueda station in downtown Tokyo at exactly 7:00 p.m. while I was listening to this song. It was a perfect musical moment. Pizzicato Five - "The Night Is Still Young" (東京は夜の七時)
The Indigo put out an impressive 14 albums between 2000 and 2010. Miki Taoka was the vocalist, with a smooth, confident delivery. Yuichi Ishikawa was, well, everything else in the band. Songwriter, musician, arranger. They probably delivered more near perfect pop songs than any other band not named The Beatles. The Indigo - Limiter
