I was very, very excited to make this post! Halcali was probably one of the things that got me SUPERRRR into shibuya-kei so I really do adore it! It was 2002 and Haruka (Halca) and Yukari (Yucali) noticed a flier to become a female hip hop unit and… they were chosen (obviously)!

By 2003, HALCALI had released their debut single, “Tandem”, which entered the Oricon chart!

Now here comes the part I was REALLY excited about… HALCALI BACON (2003) is literally one of the coolest albums I’ve ever heard. HALCALI decided to leave behind mainstream J-pop and made a unique mix of rap and pop (also called bubblegum rap). It reached #5 on the Oricon chart, which made HALCALI the first female hiphop group to be in the top 10 in Japanese history! It has a total of 12 tracks:

1. Intro. Halcali Bacon

2. タンデム

3. ギリギリ • サーフライダー

4. 鳴呼ハルカリセンセーション

5. おつかれSUMMER

6. ハルカリズム "CANDY HEARTS"

7. Conversation of a Mystery

8. Peek-A-Boo

9. Hello,Hello,Alone

10.スタイリースタイリー

11. エレクトリック先生

12. 続 • 真夜中のグランド

This album was a big advancement in shibuya-kei, in my opinion. It was one the things that kickstarted the sort of hip-hop sound that you can find in many shibuya-kei tracks!

Many of these songs were produced by legendary shibuya-kei and rap artists which of course includes FPM (come on, we've already gone over this LOL)! I PERSONALLY think this is their best album, but of course that is up to the audience! HOWEVER, if you're going to listen to any of their albums, I think this would be the best pick of all!! I don't think any other of their albums convey the same mood that HALCALI BACON mastered, which is very sad :(

The albums to come weren't bad but they were just distant to what halcali had laid out with their debut album. They released a couple more albums, singles, etc before disbanding in 2013.

My top pick is…

I CAN'T choose a favourite song! I literally can't! Instead, I decided I will tell you about a song I believe deserves more attention: “Kono Sekai ni, Kono Ryote ni”, from the single “Strawberry Chips” (does this technically count as christmas music? LOL!) Of course, I also super mega recommend you to listen to HALCALI BACON!!! It's literally phenomenal!

P.S. I really didn’t know where to include this but the name HALCALI comes from mixing Halca (Haruka) and Yucali (Yukari)!!

Another bonus is that there is actually a tumblr blog dedicated to HALCALI! I totes recommend you check it out if you're interested! The user is @fuckyeahhalcali :)))

Baby Giraffes - Chemically Burnt