MOG

Chocolat is a pop artist in Japan.  She released this second album Hamster in 1999 on Sony Records Japan.  She seems to be a bit of star from what I've read.  She was born in 1978 and is the oldest of her twin sister.  Her friends called her "Chocolat" in high school and the name stuck.  She married her husband Akito Kayatose in Maui in 1998.  He was in the band GREAT3.  They have now teamed together and have released two albums as Chocolat & Akito.  There's a lot of YouTube videos of them together.  Their newer work is more subdued and adult sounding.  Chocolat's earlier work leans more towards your typical J-Pop except she's got a really nice voice, which most music factory industry girl-bots tend to not have.  This album was produced by Spanova and Kirinji.  It also features a pretty huge cast of characters that helped on the songs.  The track I'm posting "Fooringu ando raviingu" is made by Hideki Kaji.  Superstar Shibuya-Kei bassist Hitoshi Watanabe is on quite a few of the tracks.  The one song I don't like on this album (and I'm really quite disappointed) is a cover of Janis Ian's "At Seventeen".  It's made by Yoshinori Sunahara (whom I love) but I really don't think they pulled it off.  It's boring.  There are a ton of music producers and musicians on the album who have worked with artists like Pizzicato Five, Cornelius, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Kahimi Karie, and various others.  It's a pretty swell album.  Very upbeat.  I like her voice a lot.  I'm not sure if I'll get her newer work but I'm might try to get her first album.  You can check her out on her and her husband's MySpace and on her own site.

http://www.myspace.com/chocolatakito

http://www.chocolat.ne.jp/index.html