SONG OF THE DAY (#246)

'star guitar,' by shinichi osawa f. au revoir simone

i picked up this album on whim because it looked cool, there was a cover of the chemical bros.' class 'star guitar,' and i'm a sucker for a electropop song. my faith was rewarded, as this is a great album!

shinichi osawa first made a name for himself in 1989 when he released his debut under his nom de rock, mondo grosso. since then he's help defined the current tokyo club sound. he's done production work for loads of bands, too. i don't know about you all, but i love finding these gems. i really do. it's so great to find something you never knew existed, especially when it rocks as hard as this does.

'star guitar' is a seminal chemical brothers track and shinichi osawa and au revoir simone do a bang up job covering it. in fact, i think i prefer this version to the original because the vocals are front in center instead of buried in the ambiance. there's nothing inherently wrong with burying the vocals, but it's such a strong melody that you wonder why the chem bros didn't spotlight the vocals more. but hey, that's the beauty of a cover. and when you can get vocals as pristine as the gals au revoir simone, all the better. you can check out shinichi osawa's website and myspace pages for more info. and you can check out au revoir simone's here and here.

→ shinichi osawa: star guitar [vocals by au revoir simone]
→ shinichi osawa: state of permission [vocals and co-production by freeform five]
→ the chemical brothers: star guitar [single version]