Formed in 2014 by members of university music club, Lucky Kilimanjaro infuses their inherently likeable, youthful lyrics with a heavy dose of synth and disco-inspired danceable beats. In fact, there has hardly been a “Rakkiri” album without a reference to life as unending, joyous dance, which creates an inherent accessibility and universality to the upbeat, hopeful feeling their music inspires. Here are my five selections from Lucky Kilimanjaro’s catalog.
1. Burning Friday Night (2015)
This song represents the band’s first major hit and an ode to nights at the end of the week when music and alcohol dissolve any responsibility you may feel to another moment than the present.
2. Sweet Supermarket (2018)
Through the story of a brand new couple’s first time shopping and cooking together at home, “Sweet Supermarket” illustrates the uniquely scintillating first taste of domesticity with the a new partner, the tension of being at home together for the first time, and the quiet wish that it might last a long, long time.
3. 太陽 (Taiyou - “Sun”) (2020)
LK’s 2021 Daily Bop is a concept album of a daily routine from starting the day right (Superfine Morning Routine) to falling soundly asleep after soaking in music at a club. Taiyou is placed in the morning, a tribal chant to the big ball in the sky watching over as you step out of the house to dance your way around the city. This album is my personal favorite, and I cannot recommend it enough.
4. 踊りの合図 (Odori no aizu - “Cue to Dance”) (2021)
This single was one of their first released after Daily Bop, so it also hit my regular rotation around that time in summer 2021. Similar to Taiyou, the chorus features rhythmic chanting as the synthesizer and drums drive the song forward.
5. またね (Mata ne - “See Ya”) (2023)
This bop off of Kimochy Season, released in the spring 2023, features a heavy club beat in the chorus to punctuate the narrator’s determined declaration: “I’ll keep dancing, and how about you?”
Playlists
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