Mai Yamane


Mai Yamane is a Japanese singer, known for her work on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack with Yoko Kanno and for her 1980 classic Tasogare.
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Early life and solo career

Her career started in 1979 when she participated and won the prize in Yamaha Music Foundation's Cocky Pop, a contest for young singers in Japan. Leading from that she debuted in 1979 with the single Gozen Reiji, written and composed by Yoko Shibata. A year later she released her first album, Tasogare. She followed with albums like The Day Before Yesterday, Flying Elephants, Embassy, Woman Tone and 1958. She also collaborated with many artists, e.g. in 1993 she worked on project Yamane Mai Kubota Haruo Unit with Haruo Kubota. The same year she began working with Yoko Kanno on anime soundtracks. In 1997 she moved from Tokyo to near Mount Fuji and became an independent musician.

Later career

In 1995 she started playing with New Archaic Smile, a Japanese band where Mai Yamane was a vocalist. The rest of the band was Mai's sister Eiko Yamane, brother Satoru Yamane and the Sano brothers Satoshi and Atsushi. In 1997 the Futsuu no Uta single was born in collaboration with June Chiki Chikuma. Yamane recorded 3 more albums with New Archaic Smile: Kin no Himo in 2001, Yasashii kimochi in 2003 and Yakitori no uta in 2004.
Yamane has continuously held concerts, such as in 2000 at the Inochi no Matsuri in Nagano, a 2002 Paris concert, at a Global Village event during Expo 2005 in Aichi, and in 2007 at Seoul as a member of the Yoko Kanno team. In 2001 she changed her name from 山根 麻wikt:衣#Japanese to 山根 麻wikt:以#Japanese. In 2011 she adopted the artist name a-sha and began hosting sessions for workshops and healing.
In 2017, her song "Tasogare" gained attention as the city pop genre got renewed interest, even leading to sampling of it in genres like future funk. In 2019, producer Pierre Bourne and hip hop artists Young Nudy and Playboi Carti used a sample of the song on their unreleased track "Pissy Pamper". A leaked version of the song topped the Spotify US Viral 50 chart before being taken down.

Discography

Singles

  • "Gozen Reiji"
  • "Last Night"
  • "Foolin My Self"
  • "The 21' "
  • "Kibun Wa Fairness"
  • "Little Child"
  • "Tasogare Ni Sayonara "
  • "Yuuwaku sarete coup d'etat"
  • "Beating"
  • "Suna Ni Kieta Namida"
  • "Invisible Love"

Albums

  • Tasogare
  • Sorry
  • Will
  • The Day Before Yesterday
  • 月光浴
  • Flying Elephants
  • Embassy
  • Best
  • Woman Tone
  • 1958
  • Mai Yamane and Haruo Kubota Unit
  • Mai Yamane with New Archaic Smile
  • Kin no Himo
  • Yasashi kimochi ''w/New Archaic Smile
  • Mai Yamane the Celebrations, Inori no uta
  • Mai Yamane and Visions, Bird of Paradise
  • Kimi-wo-aishiteru Kagayaki-no-oto
  • A-sha Freedoms''

Vocals (anime)

Cowboy Bebop OST:
  • "Want It All Back"
  • "Pushing The Sky"
  • "Rain"
  • "Don't Bother None"
  • "See You Space Cowboy"
  • "Mushroom Hunting"
  • "Blue"
  • "The Real Folk Blues"
  • "Gotta Knock a Little Harder"
Black Jack OST:
  • "Invisible Love"
Mirage of Blaze OST:
  • "Vision of Flames "
  • "Tears of Indigo"
  • "Blaze"
  • "Pearly Gate"
  • "Insanity"
  • "Chikai ~ Book of the Days"
  • "Lamentation"
Macross Plus OST:
Vision of Escaflowne OST:
  • "If You"
Darker Than BLACK OST:
  • "ScatCat"
  • "No One's Home"
Cowboy Bebop (2021 TV series) OST:
  • "Cat Attack "