There's a song by the band Kouku-Densi which has entirely enchanted me lately.
This band are a picopico-New Wave band. Really fun music, plus their theme is avionics, which is... curious. Not in a bad way, however the fact that they want to be aeroplane engineers is nothing but entertaining.
Maybe it's a good goal. Nobody wants a real job these days. Dressing up as if you actually have one while simultaneously having people pay you for music might do the world just a little bit of good.
I kid, of course, because now these are all middle-aged men with real jobs in real life. They're just having some fun on their off days and their music brings me much joy.
This isn't a page about the band specifically. In that case, it would be sitting on my other network, picopico.org. This page is an expression of love, but not in the "comprehensive fan site" way, so I figured it could go on my main domain instead.
This page's subject is track 06 on the 2008 album AFTER BURNER, titled Mirai no Bokura; a fun title which translates to something along the lines of The Future Us.
I'd heard it in a live recording before, but when this sort of music has a studio recording, you get such lovely things as vocoders and autotune sprucing up the vocals, making them sound distant and robotic and dreamy at once, and everyone else is at their best, and oh is it a good song!
Admittedly, my Japanese is rustier than that nail X JAPAN were talking about, so I can't get a grasp on all the lyrics... but I like it anyway. Here's my definitely inaccurate transcription and translation of them:
網の目に絡ませた 錆びた金のストライプ
Tangled in a mesh striped with rusty-gold
巻き取った紙テープを バレないように忍ばせた
I wound up the paper tape and hid it where nobody could see
それから！
And then!
住んどった記憶を 貼り合わせた
I took my lived memories and glued them all together
揺さぶった心臓には 可愛いリボンを結んだ
On my shaking heart I tied a cute ribbon
だけど反対の正面から わびさびのない獣たち
But from across beasts with no grace showed up
そしたら！
And so!
現在の枠を ミシン通せた
I ran the present frame through the sewing machine
何をやってたんだろう？ 何を待ってたんだろう？
What were we doing? What were we waiting for?
何を切ってたんだろう？ 何を欲しがったんだろう？
What were we cutting off? What were we even wanting?
さよなら、未来の僕ら さよなら、未来の僕ら
Goodbye, our future selves Goodbye, our future selves
さよなら、未来の僕ら ありがとう、これまでの僕ら
Goodbye, our future selves Thank you, our past selves
少し触れたのは
What little we touched was—
何をやってたんだろう？ 何を待ってたんだろう？
What were we doing? What were we waiting for?
何を切ってたんだろう？ 何を欲しがったんだろう？
What were we cutting off? What were we even wanting?
さよなら、未来の僕ら さよなら、未来の僕ら
Goodbye, our future selves Goodbye, our future selves
さよなら、未来の僕ら ありがとう、これまでの僕ら
Goodbye, our future selves Thank you, our past selves
少し触れたのは ざわついた心
What little we touched was that restless heart
とおく 抱く あった お前
Far away, I embraced and there… you were…!
何をやってたんだろう？ 何を待ってたんだろう？
What were we doing? What were we waiting for?
何を切ってたんだろう？ 何を欲しがったんだろう？
What were we cutting off? What were we even wanting?
さよなら、未来の僕ら さよなら、未来の僕ら
Goodbye, our future selves Goodbye, our future selves
さよなら、未来の僕ら ありがとう、これまでの僕ら
Goodbye, our future selves Thank you, our past selves
少し触れたのは
What little we touched was—
I don't even fully get what story Norihiko Tada, the guitarist who wrote and composed this song, is trying to tell here. Either way, it's affected me! I don't know what to say!
Please take a listen to this song. It's definitely the best track on the album... it's just too good.