Double Famous - Double Famous (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

August 15, 2008 by Dennis Amith

“The reggae duo from Fukuoka are back with their fourth mini-album ‘Treasure’ featuring a balance of cool reggae, a reggae cover of Fujii Fumiya’s ‘TRUE LOVE’ and multiple collaborations.”

GROUP: Double Famous

ALBUM: Double Famous

LABEL: rhythm zone

CATALOG #: RZCD-45997

DURATION: 53:14

RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2008

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Tu Mera Main Teri Duniya Jale to Jale
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Me & Bobby McGee
Hot House of Omagarashid
Shame and Scandal in the Family
A Woman is a Sometime Thing
Lovely Honeymoon
Whirr
Waltz on Tuesday
Bikini
DF
Drum Samba
Fire, Fire

Jazz band Double Famous returns with their fifth self-titled album in 2008 moving from Victor Entertainment Japan to Rhythm Zone, a sub-label of Avex Entertainment known for its urban R&B music, who seem to have been aggressively pursuing Japanese jazz or musical, not-so-mainstream type of artists or groups lately.

Double Famous is a band from Tokyo which consists of 10 musicians playing ukelele, guitar, bass, drums, percussion, horn session and vocals.

Known for their jazz music or possibly better yet “nu world music” which incorporates afro, jazz, Latin, rock, traditional Japanese and other forms of music and creating and performing their own original compositions and incorporating elements from various genres into their acoustic styles.

Double Famous consists of:

Kuribayashi Satoshi - Ukulele (Ka Lani Banjo Ukelele, Ka Lani 5th String Tenor Ukulele, Ka Lani Resonator Ukulele), Kazoo and splash.

Aoyagi Takuji (aka Aina Kama) - from Little Creatures - Accordion, Electric and Steel Guitar, Piano, Zabumba, Shaker, Taisho Harp, Xylophone, Tambourine, Maracas and Bicycle Bell

Kurihara Tsutom - from Little Creatures - Drums, Caixa and Zabumba

Sakaguchi Shuichiro - Trumpet, Valve Trombone, Whistle and Tambourine

Okada “Kaya” Mayumi - Alto sax, Flute, Piccolo, Alto Flute, Kazoo, Cow Bell, Andes and fife

Hosokubo Yousuke - Bongo, Dumbek, Wood Block Floor Tom, Calxa, Castanet, Agogo, Tamourine

Fujita Bungo - Tenor Sax, Clarinet, Kazoo and Triangle

Hirokawa Tamie - Conga, Cow Bell, Maracas, Caxixi, Clave, Guiro, Agogo

Takagi Jiro - Bass

Hatakeyama Miyuki - Vocals, Scat, Cup Bell, Splash, Caxixi and Tambourine

The group was organized back in 1993 and have performed in a variety of rock festivals and events with artists such as Calexico, Ozomatli, Arto Lindsey and Gilles Peterson.

With their latest album “Double Famous”, you get a a bit of everything in terms of music showcasing the talents of each musician.

For example, the first track “Tu Mera Main Teri Duniya Jale to Jale” has a 50’s style of musical feel. A bit of that surf rock guitar and by the time you reach 3:28 of the song, the kazoo starts to come into prominence. Rarely do you hear the kazoo in an actual track. So, I was a bit surprised by that. But all in all, a cool diddly. Music was originally by Shankar Jaikishen.

Track 2 titled “Also Sprach Zarathustra” has a 60’s vibe and features music by Richard Strauss. Despite the title, this is not the “2010: A Space Odyssey” theme by Strauss that many people are familiar with.

Track 3 titled “Me & Bobby McGee” which was done by Kris Kristofferson. A very jazzified cover of the Country/rock Kristofferson original and overall a well done track.

Track 4 titled “Hot House of Omagarashid” is originally by Jeff Beck, Keith Relf, Chris Dreja, Paula Samwell-Smith and Jim McCarthy featured in the 1966 film “The Yardbirds”. The song employs congo and electric guitar. An interesting note that the lyrics are pretty much “ya ya ya…ya ya ya” and took the original creators three weeks to come up with those lyrics. But all in all, a nice homage to the 60’s track.

Track 5 titled “O-papa ~Shame and Scandal in the family” which is a jazzified version of the Johnny Chester and Jigsaw 1972 song. This slower pace, percussion and guitar track is sung in Japanese and a cool cover.

Track 6 titled “A Woman is a Sometime Thing” is a whimsical cover version of the George Gershwin song. This song is driven by a sax, bass, ukulele, xylophone, Taisho harp and electric guitar. Very dreamy!

Track 7 titled “Aishi no Honeymoon: or “Lovely Honeymoon” is an original track written by Okada Mayumi and music by both Okada and Hatakeyama Miyuki. A piano, maracas and congo driven with the additional brass arrangement.

Track 8 titled “Whirr” is an original track by Kuribayashi Satoshi. Another track that has a tropical feel to it and very relaxing with the use of acoustic guitar and ukulele.

Track 9 titled “Waltz on Tuesday” is another jazz track written by Hatekayama Miyuki. An original track with cool bass, electric guitar and percussion.

Track 10 titled “Bikini” is a jazz track where the bass, brass and tambourine are the key instruments. Another original instrumental track Music is by Takagi Jiro.

Track 11 titled “DF” is an instrumental track by Aoyagi Takuji and another track where the brass is more pronounced and featured the most.

Track 12 titled “Drum Samba” is a short track featuring only the drums. The track is a quick minute of a full-on percussion go crazy jam.

Track 13 titled “Fire Fire” is a traditional Japanese song sung in English. A jazzified track with a New Orleans big bang style.

The CD insert features lyrics and production credits with a few artistic illustrations. And a mini-flyer promoting rhythm zone artist releases for July.

Double Famous is a band that is well-known in the Japanese jazz scene, especially for its incorporation of many instruments for each song.

With their fifth self-titled album, there are a good number of covers but if anything, the covers gives a new dimension and overall feel to the songs compared to their groovy 50s through early 70s originals.

All in all, a pretty solid album featuring very good music and vocals as well. I would imagine that a live concert featuring Double Famous would indeed be exciting to watch.

Interested in jazz music or in their words “nu world” music, give Double Famous a try!