空中キャンプ

General information
Romanized Title	Kuchu Camp
English Title	Aerial Camp (official translation: Something in the Air)
Release Type	Studio Album
Release Date	February 1, 1996
Recorded	1995
Genre	Dream Pop • Neo-Psychedelia • Dub • Downtempo
Length	45:42
Label	Polydor
Producer(s)	ZAK

空中キャンプ (romanized: Kūchū Camp, literal English: Aerial Camp, official translation: Something in the Air) is the fifth studio album by Fishmans. Being the first album the band would release after transitioning labels away from Media Remoras to Polydor, Kuchu Camp represents a myriad of change for Fishmans. These changes included a more atmospheric, dreamier and psychedelic approach to their music than previous albums, continuing the musical themes found on their previous single ナイトクルージング (which went on to begin this album's second half). This would be the first of the band's records to be released as the band comprised of a trio, and the first to include frequent collaborators Honzi and Shinya Kogure. The album is their most beloved and acclaimed work in Fishmans' home country of Japan. After Kuchu Camp was released, single Baby Blue followed, further boosting the record's popularity.

In reference to 空中キャンプ on Fishmans' website, the following is written:

Untranslated Japanese
ポリドール移籍第一弾アルバム。プライベートスタジオ「ワイキキビーチ／ハワイスタジオ」で制作された永遠のマスターピース。日常にある小さな輝きをすくいとる佐藤伸治のリリック、のびやかでどこか切ないヴォーカル、茂木欣一と柏原譲の生み出すグルーヴ、エンジニアZAKのストイックなミックスが奇跡的に融合した作品。今作をフィッシュマンズの最高傑作とする者も少なくない。

English Auto-translated Using DeepL Translate, Edited for Comprehension

The first album after transferring to Polydor. Produced at the private Waikiki Beach/Hawaii Studio, this is an everlasting masterpiece. It is a miraculous fusion of Shinji Sato's lyrics that capture the small glimmers of everyday life, the spontaneous and somewhat sad vocals, the groove created by Kin-Ichi Motegi and Yuzuru Kashiwabara, and the stoic mixing by engineer ZAK. Many consider this album to be Fishmans' masterpiece.

After completing the album, band members held a discussion where, in praise of their work on 新しい人, wished for an album-length song similar to the song. Being sarcastically referred to as a bonus track only available in Japanese copies (there are only Japanese copies of this album), Fishmans might have collectively considered the song too long-winded for people to enjoy as they would the catchier, happier songs on Kuchu Camp. Wanting a dedicated experience to this sound, they set out to record a much longer song. While they initially practiced the earliest versions of バックビートにのっかって with this in mind, the band eventually settled on giving this treatment to Season, later becoming Long Season, their next album. In this sense, Long Season wouldn't have existed without the band's work on 空中キャンプ, and so too were the initial seeds sown for what would become the band's final album, 宇宙 日本 世田谷. Further, this means the remainder of Fishmans' output up until Shinji Sato's passing were directly inspired from the sessions which first birthed this album.

This, Long Season and Uchu Nippon Setagaya would later be christened the Setagaya Trilogy by band producer ZAK to denote which albums were recorded in the band's short-lived studio, Waikiki Beach. Kuchu Camp would be the first of the trilogy.

Track listing

1. "ずっと前" (4:58)
2. "Baby Blue" (6:07)
3. "Slow Days" (4:40)
4. "Sunny Blue" (5:53)
5. "ナイトクルージング" (6:00)
6. "幸せ者" (4:36)
7. "すばらしくてNice Choice" (6:45)
8. "新しい人" (6:43)

Artwork/Packaging

Scans are from original CD release POCH-1550.

CD.

Booklet page.

Booklet page.

Obi strip.

Insert folded out.

Insert folded out, other side.

Personnel

Band Members

• Shinji Sato (vocals, guitar, lyrics, composition)
• Kin-Ichi Motegi (drums, chorus)
• Yuzuru Kashiwabara (bass, chorus)

Other Musicians

• Honzi (keyboards, violin, chorus)
• Shinya Kogure (guitar, chorus)
• Tadashi Ueda (piano [track 7])
• Sugar Yoshinaga (guitar [track 3])

Other Personnel

• ZAK (producer, mixing engineer, recording engineer, programming)
• Tak (recording engineer)
• Phonic (design, art direction)
• Mariko Yamamoto (design, art direction)
• Moog Yamamoto (design, art direction, photography)
• Tohru Kotetsu (cutting engineer)
• Tsutomo Okada (assistant engineer)
• Kazuo Saimoto (assistant engineer)
• Yuka Koizumi (mastering engineer)
• Toshiya Sano (A&R)
• Masaki Morimoto (A&R)
• Naoko Nozawa (artist promotion)
• Shuji Kudoh (artist promotion)
• Ichiro Asatsuma (executive producer)
• Yoshiyuki Okuda (executive producer)
• Tadataka Watanabe (executive producer)
• Kokoro Moriguchi (management staff)
• Akiko Ueta (management staff)
• Mitsuteru Takasugi (equipment)
• Takeshi Umezawa (equipment)
• Pardon Kimura (interior coordination of Hawaii Studio)
• Ayako Mogi (photography)
• Keiji Ito (graffiti)
• Friends (photography)

Special Thanks

• Kikou Uehara
• Minoru Yokoo
• Mizuo Sekiguchi
• Yuichiro Tsuji
• Noriko Yamamoto
• Ryoichi Fukumoto
• Yuka Shirono
• Buffalo Daughter
• Yuuji Inoue
• Think Sync Integral Co., Ltd.
• Studio Farm
• Neri
• Yasuhiko Haseda
• Nobumasa Uchida
• Kenichi Iwasaki
• Nobuo Uesaka
• ...and all the people who contribute to establishing Waikiki Beach

Issues

• 1996 - POCH-1550 (CD, Polydor, Japan)
• 1996 - POJH-1001/2 (Limited 12" Vinyl, Polydor, Japan)

  

This release was printed with new cover artwork (shown to the right) and transparent blue vinyl. This would be the only time 空中キャンプ would be printed on vinyl until 2016, and the only time any Fishmans product has been printed on colored/otherwise special vinyl.

• 2009 - UMCC-9011 (Limited CD, Universal Music Japan, Japan)
• 2012 - UPCY-9230 (Limited CD, Universal Music Japan, Japan)
• 2016 - UPJY-9031/2 (12" Vinyl, Polydor/Universal Music Japan, Japan) - Part of reissue series Fishmans 25 - Silver Anniversary! 2016.
• 2016 - UPCY-7174 (CD, Polydor/Universal Music Japan, Japan) - Part of reissue series Fishmans 25 - Silver Anniversary! 2016.