Metafive

Metafive was a Japanese band that consisted of Yukihiro Takahashi, Keigo Oyamada, Yoshinori Sunahara, Towa Tei, Tomohiko Gondo, and Leo Imai.^[1]

Metafive
Also known as	Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive
Origin	Japan
Years active	2014–2021
Labels	Warner Music Japan
Members	Yukihiro Takahashi Towa Tei Keigo Oyamada Yoshinori Sunahara Tomohiko Gondo Leo Imai

History

Yukihiro Takahashi originally assembled Keigo Oyamada, Yoshinori Sunahara, Towa Tei, Tomohiko Gondo, and Leo Imai to serve as the backing band on his 2014 concert tour, for which they were billed as Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive.^[2] In 2015, the band changed their name to Metafive.^[3]

Takahashi has said that the name Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive was a flippant reference to the band Hiroshi Uchiyamada & Cool Five.^[4]

The band played live at the 2014, 2015, and 2016 World Happiness Festivals, with British drummer Steve Jansen performing with the band in 2016.^[5]

Metafive's recordings charted in Japan, with their first studio album Meta (2016) reaching number 13 in the Oricon Albums Chart,^[6] and their EP Metahalf (2016) reached number 12 in the same chart.^[7]

4 years after their debut album release, on July 24, 2020, Metafive released a single available for streaming and download, entitled "Kankyo to Shinri / Environmental".

On May 17, 2021, Metafive announced that their second studio album METAATEM would be released on 11 August 2021.^[8] However, after controversy arose surrounding Oyamada's past history of bullying (resulting in his resignation from the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony committee), the band cancelled the "METALIVE 2021" concert event that they had scheduled for 26 July 2021 at KT Zepp Yokohama, which would have been their first live performance in over 4 years. The band then announced on 28 July 2021—just two weeks before the scheduled release date for METAATEM—that the album release had been cancelled.^[9]

Metafive performed at Fuji Rock Festival '21 on 20 August 2021 with an alternate lineup consisting of Imai and Sunahara backed by "support" musicians Seiichi Nagai of Sōtaisei Riron and Kenichi Shirane of Great 3 and Imai's solo backing band. Metafive revealed on November 4 that they would stream a pre-recorded concert video entitled "METALIVE 2021" on November 20, and that people who purchase tickets to watch this stream would receive a CD or vinyl copy of the cancelled METAATEM album in the mail. The streamed concert video footage was recorded on July 26 at KT Zepp Yokohama with no live audience and a lineup consisting of Oyamada, Sunahara, Tei, Gondo, Imai, and Shirane (Takahashi announced on August 5 that he was taking a break from all musical activities to recover from brain surgery that he had undergone in the previous year).^[10] Customers who purchased tickets for the "METALIVE 2021" video stream received copies of the METAATEM album at the end of 2021. As the album was released exclusively to ticket-holders for the "METALIVE 2021" stream, copies were sold for high prices on secondhand marketplace websites such as Mercari and Yahoo! Auctions due to their scarcity.

It was announced that the Fuji Rock Festival '21 lineup of Metafive (Imai, Sunahara, Nagai and Shirane) would perform again at the OTODAMA'22 music festival in May 2022 under the name "METAATEM". The lineup subsequently revealed that they had changed their name to "TESTSET" and would continue to perform live under this name, beginning with a concert at Ebisu Liquidroom on April 14 with THE SPELLBOUND. At this concert, TESTSET performed a new song entitled "Carrion".

On 19 July 2022, Metafive announced that the METAATEM album would finally receive a wide release on September 14. However, the same announcement also referred to METAATEM as the band's "last album", confirming that they had broken up in the previous year.^[11] On 12 August 2022, TESTSET released their debut EP EP1 TSTST with no prior announcement.

Takahashi died in January 2023 at the age of 70, following a case of pneumonia resulting from the preexisting health issues that kept him away from activities with Metafive.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Members

• Yukihiro Takahashi (of Yellow Magic Orchestra)
• Keigo Oyamada (a.k.a. Cornelius)
• Yoshinori Sunahara (formerly of Denki Groove)
• Towa Tei (formerly of Deee-Lite)
• Tomohiko Gondo
• Leo Imai

Discography

Studio albums

• Meta (2016)
• Metaatem (2021)

Live albums

• Techno Recital as Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive (2014)
• Metalive (2016)

EPs

• Metahalf (2016)

Singles

• "Split Spirit" as Yukihiro Takahashi & Metafive (2014)
• "Environmental" (2020)
• "The Paramedics" (2021)

References

1. METAFIVE「META」インタビュー (page 1 of 4). Natalie (in Japanese). 12 January 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
2. "Supergroup METAFIVE to release their First Full Album in January". Arama! Japan. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
3. 躊躇なく、いろんな世代と新しい音楽を 高橋幸宏（後編）. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). 19 January 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
4. Hadfield, James (15 July 2014). "YMO's Yukihiro Takahashi recruits Towa Tei, Cornelius, Yoshinori Sunahara, Tomohiko Gondo and Leo Imai for an impressive supergroup". The Japan Times. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
5. ワールドハピネスのMETAFIVEのステージにスティーブ・ジャンセンの参加が急遽決定. NME Japan (in Japanese). 25 August 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
6. META | METAFIVE(高橋幸宏×小山田圭吾×砂原良徳×TOWA TEI×ゴンドウトモヒコ×LEO今井). Oricon News (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 April 2018.
7. METAHALF | METAFIVE(高橋幸宏×小山田圭吾×砂原良徳×TOWA TEI×ゴンドウトモヒコ×LEO今井). Oricon News (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 April 2018.
8. @metafive_news (May 17, 2021). "【RELEASE】2nd ALBUM「METAATEM」2021年08月11日発売決定(CD / 2LP)" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 May 2021 – via Twitter.
9. 2nd ALBUM "METAATEM" discontinued. Warner Music Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 July 2021.
10. @yukihiro_info (5 August 2021). "【高橋幸宏からのお知らせ】手術からほぼ1年。この間、治療を続けながら音楽制作活動を行って参りましたが、ライブのための充分な体力の回復にもう少しだけ時間がかかりそうです。しばらくライブはお休みとさせていただき、治療に専念して参りま…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
11. "【METAATEM】ラストアルバム「METAATEM」9月14日(水)に発売決定 Deluxe Editionには「WINTER LIVE 2016」Zepp DiverCity公演を収録したBDが付属". Twitter.com. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
12. "YMO高橋幸宏さん死去 70歳 20年脳腫瘍摘出 懸命リハビリも". Yahoo! News. 11 January 2023. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
13. "YMO 高橋幸宏さん死去 70歳 「ライディーン」の作曲手がける". NHK. 15 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
14. Corcoran, Nina (2023-01-15). "Yellow Magic Orchestra Drummer Yukihiro Takahashi Dies at 70". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
15. Legaspi, Althea; Kreps, Daniel (2023-01-15). "Yukihiro Takahashi, Drummer and Lead Vocalist of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Dead at 70". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-01-15.

External links

• Metafive discography at Discogs