Kazuya Yoshii - 39108 4 October 2006
I think it’s fair to say that Kazuya Yoshii will always be most remembered for his role as the vocalist and guitarist of the Yellow Monkey. The band began in 1988 between Yoshii and bassist Youichi Hirose. By the end of 1989 the Yellow Monkey had brought in guitarist Hideaki Kikuchi and drummer Eiji Kikuchi, filing out the four members who would be the stable line-up until the band’s dissolution in 2004. The Yellow Monkey quickly gained popularity in the early 90’s with their first two albums, Bunched Birth 21 July 1991 and The Night Snails and Plastic Boogie 21 June 1992. Notable—as it pertains to this solo album anyways—was Kazuya Yoshii’s penchant for rock ballads and his careful, peculiar lyricism, which appears in its most extreme on the concept album Jaguar Hard Pain 1 March 1994.The Yellow Monkey announced an indefinite hiatus in January of 2001. They would not officially disband until 2004, but for all intents and purposes that was the end of the band. The members went off into their own solo careers, with Youichi Hirose and Kazuya Yoshii having the most success. For five years Yoshii released solo work under the name ‘Yoshii Lovinson’. And then in 2006 he dropped the moniker in favor of his own name, just as he released 39108. Personally, I think the album sounds dated for its time, although I do not mean that as a criticism. Much of 39108 plays like a throw-back to untempered sonority of Yoshii’s early work with the Yellow Monkey, while at the same time nodding towards his craftsmanship. For an album released in 2006, it’s not that difficult to hear the traces of the mid-90’s within.