Music Corner Week 64: Awesome City Club

Awesome City Club is a three-piece band consisting of two men and a woman. Awesome City Club first started out in 2013 by Matsuza Katakumi who had the concept of the group. He started by inviting Hiroshi Ataka, also known as atagi, who worked in the same music studio as Katakumi. Afterward, Katakumi scouted Yukie Oshiro, who goes by Yukie, to be the drummer for the group. At the same time, Yukie joined the group, Koji Morishima, also known as Morishi, wanted to join the band and was accepted. Originally Katakumi wanted a foreigner to be the lead singer but ultimately atagi took up the position as lead vocalist. In April of 2014, Katakumi invited Miho Toshida, also known as PORIN, who was working as a part-timer at the studio, to be in the music video for their song “Children.” Later, PORIN was invited to formally join the band, bringing the number to five but shortly after, Katakumi left the group. Awesome City Club dropped their first single, titled “Lesson,” on January 16 of 2015. Awesome City Club has gone on to release two albums and four collections of their early works. In August of this year, Yukie decided to step away from the group bringing the total to three members. Since Yukie stepped down, the group has put out their song “ceremony” showing they have no intentions of slowing down.

Awesome City Club’s music is a fusion of city pop, funk, and R&B. This gives them an interesting and unique song composition that really pulls the listener in. The blend of synthesizers and guitar really makes their music pop with a fun sound. While not originally intended to be the singer, atagi has awesome vocals and he delivers in every song with an outstanding performance. PORIN and Morishi also provide vocals, which all of them do a fantastic job with, especially PORIN who frequently has a solo part in songs. In their song, “ceremony,” you really hear how each member works together, the harmonization in this song is done really well and has one heck of a catchy tune to boot. 

Awesome City Club stays active on their Twitter for everyone who wants to stay up to date on all their latest news, along with their official website. Be sure to check out their song “ceremony” posted in the video below. 

Members

atagi ( vocals, guitar )

PORIN (Vocal Synthesizer )

Morishi (Guitar Synthesizer Vocal)