Capsule (band)

Music

Capsule formed in November 1997, after Nakata Yasutaka and Koshijima Toshiko met at the Teens' Music Festival in the Hokuriku area convention when they were 17 years old. Their first single was "Sakura", released in March 2001 on Yamaha Music Communications. Their first album, High Collar Girl, was significantly different from their later works in that it did not involve nearly as much use of synthesizers or contain futuristic/electronic sounds.

Capsule's style in albums up to L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer (2005) was frequently referred to as "neo-Shibuya-kei" due to their stylistic similarities, both aesthetically and musically, to acts from the Shibuya-kei movement of the 1990s, most notably Pizzicato Five. It contained elements of bossa nova, lounge and breakbeat. From Fruits Clipper (2006) on their style was increasingly electro house.

Capsule is known for frequently licensing their music for use on television programs in Japan, such as Utawara Hot Hit 10, Hello! Morning, and Nankai Paradise. Yugo Nakamura's studio, Tha of Japan, used Capsule's music for promotional TV and web advertisements for KDDI. Their song Portable Airport (remix) is featured in promos for The Comedy Channel on Australian pay TV. The album More! More! More! ranked 6th in its first week on the Oricon weekly album chart, and ranked 3rd on the daily chart, marking their first time in the top 10.

On January 19, 2010, Capsule released "Love or Lies" which was used as an insert song for the show Liar Game Season 2 and the movie Liar Game: The Final Stage. It was included on their album, Player, which was released on March 3, 2010.

Their twelfth studio album, initially titled KILLER WAVE, was originally slated for a March 23, 2011 release. But following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the album title was changed to World of Fantasy and its release was postponed to May 25, 2011.

The band's fourteenth album, Caps Lock, was released on October 23, 2013.

Maxi singles

1. [2001.03.28] "Sakura" (さくら)
2. [2001.07.04] "Hanabi" (花火)
3. [2001.10.17] "Tokyo Kissa" (東京喫茶)
4. [2002.08.21] "Music Controller"
5. [2002.11.20] "Plastic Girl" (プラスチックガール)
6. [2003.05.21] "Candy Cutie" (キャンディー キューティー)
7. [2004.02.04] "Retro Memory" (レトロメモリー)

12" analog singles

1. [2003.02.20] "Cutie Cinema Pre-Play"
2. [2003.05.21] "Tone Cooking"
3. [2003.09.17] "Idol Fancy"
4. [2004.05.21] "Portable Airport"
5. [2005.02.02] "Space Station No.9"
6. [2005.08.06] "Aeropolis"
7. [2006.04.19] "Jelly"
8. [2006.12.13] "Starry Sky"
9. [2007.09.05] "Capsule rmx EP"
10. [2007.11.07] "Musixxx / I'm Feeling You"
11. [2008.10.08] "Jumper"

Albums

1. [2001.10.21] High Collar Girl
2. [2003.03.19] Cutie Cinema Replay (2,106 copies sold)
3. [2003.11.19] phony phonic (3,501 copies sold)
4. [2004.06.09] S.F. sound furniture (12,172 copies sold)
5. [2005.02.09] Nexus-2060 (9,024 copies sold)
6. [2005.09.21] L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer (10,707 copies sold)
7. [2006.05.10] Fruits Clipper (12,275 copies sold)
8. [2007.02.21] Sugarless Girl (23,324 copies sold)
9. [2007.12.05] Flash Back (37,915 copies sold)
10. [2008.11.19] More! More! More! (67,309 copies sold)
11. [2010.03.03] Player (47,853 copies sold)
12. [2011.05.25] World of Fantasy (previously Killer Wave; 25,000 copies sold)
13. [2012.03.07] Stereo Worxxx (24,000 copies sold)
14. [2013.10.23] Caps Lock (17,000 copies sold)
15. [2015.02.18] Wave Runner

Compilations

1. [2009.08.26] Flash Best (34,578 copies sold)
2. [2013.03.06] Rewind Best-1 (2012→2006) (6,000 copies sold)
3. [2013.03.06] Rewind Best-2 (2005→2001) (5,000 copies sold)

Remix albums

1. [2007.10.10] Capsule rmx (11,112 copies sold)