Cloudy Cloud Calculator

Cloudy Cloud Calculator is the third studio album by Japanese musician Takako Minekawa. It was released on December 10, 1997 by Polystar.[3] The album was released in the United States on November 17, 1998 by Emperor Norton Records.[4] Minekawa played almost every instrument on the album and wrote, produced and arranged nearly all its songs.[5]

Cloudy Cloud Calculator
Studio album by Takako Minekawa
Released	December 10, 1997
Studio	Omega Sound (Osaka) Phonobaloon Laundry
Genre	Shibuya-kei[1] electropop[2]
Length	37:57
Label	Polystar
Producer	Takako Minekawa Seiichi Yamamoto Sugar Yoshinaga
Takako Minekawa chronology
Athletica (1997) Cloudy Cloud Calculator (1997) Recubed (1998)

Minekawa toured in the United States to support the album. The EP Ximer... C.C.C. Remix, released on September 23, 1998 by Polystar,[6] features remixes of tracks from Cloudy Cloud Calculator by various artists.[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Pitchfork	6.7/10[5]

Heather Phares of AllMusic described Cloudy Cloud Calculator as one of Minekawa's "finest and most unusual moments" and "highly inventive, restrained pop".[8] Christian Bruno, writing in Metro, referred to the album's songs as "wonderfully cute, all-synthesizer musings".[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Takako Minekawa, except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Micro Mini Cool"		2:53
2.	"Milk Rock"		3:45
3.	"Phonobaloon Song"		2:32
4.	"Cat House"		3:41
5.	"Cloud Chips"	Minekawa Sugar Yoshinaga	2:10
6.	"Kraftpark (Micro Trip Edit)"		2:58
7.	"Kangaroo Pocket Calculator"		3:45
8.	"Black Forest"	Minekawa Silvie TV Game	3:41
9.	"International Velvet"		3:20
10.	"Cloud Cuckoo Land"	Minekawa Plain Vanilla	4:59
11.	"Telstar"	Joe Meek	4:13
Total length:			37:57

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[10]

Musicians Takako Minekawa – vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, drums, electric guitar, electronic drums (Yamaha DD-7, E-mu SP-1200), güiro, recorder, synthesizer (Boss SYB-3, Casio SA-1, Casio VA-10, Minimoog Voyager, Moog Prodigy, Roland CR-5000, Six-Trak), vocoder, arrangement Yuko Aiso – violin Yumiko Ohno – bass, maracas, synthesizer (Minimoog), theremin Atsushi Tsuyama – drums Mooog Yamamoto – turntables, "bird call" Seiichi Yamamoto – acoustic guitar, electric bass, electric guitar, electronic drums, synthesizer (Roland JP-8000), arrangement Masaaki Yoshida – synthesizer Sugar Yoshinaga – arrangement

Production Takako Minekawa – production Tetsuya Kotani – engineering Masao Nakazato – mastering Seiichi Yamamoto – mixing, production Sugar Yoshinaga – production Design Sheila Sachs – design Chikashi Suzuki – photography Mariko Yamamoto – art direction, design Mooog Yamamoto – art direction, design

References

1. Daley, David (August 1998). "Japan's Shibuya-Kei Scene Invades America". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 60. pp. 16–17. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
2. Phares, Heather. "Takako Minekawa". AllMusic. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
3. "CLOUDY CLOUD CALCULATOR | 嶺川貴子" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
4. "Cloudy Cloud Calculator (CD – Emperor Norton #7010) – Takako Minekawa". AllMusic. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
5. Richard-San, Mark. "Takako Minekawa: Cloudy Cloud Calculator". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on January 18, 2000. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
6. "ザイマー…C.C.C.remix | 嶺川貴子" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
7. Phares, Heather. "Ximer – Takako Minekawa". AllMusic. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
8. Phares, Heather. "Cloudy Cloud Calculator – Takako Minekawa". AllMusic. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
9. Bruno, Christian (February 24 – March 1, 2000). "Sugar Sacked". Metro. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
10. Cloudy Cloud Calculator (liner notes). Takako Minekawa. Polystar. 1997. PSCR-5658.CS1 maint: others (link)

External links

• Cloudy Cloud Calculator at Discogs (list of releases)