"E" is the sixth solo album from Tamio Okuda, a singer-songwriter formerly of the 80s rock band Unicorn. Musically, he is all American rock and roll with a fine sensibility for catchy melodies and guitar hooks. You can hear the Western influences everywhere — the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf and the Knack (His quotations are a lot more straightforward and extroverted compared to Cornelius, but there's definitely a common thread here). He records in the US periodically, working with guest musicians such as Jellyfish veteran Andy Sturmer.

On top of this rock and roll sound, he imbues a good portion of bluesy Japanese pathos, again borrowing from various influences in Japanese music tradition, such as Southern All Stars, the Moonriders and Yosui Inoue (with whom he has co-written many songs). All this mashes up into a strangely relaxing, calmly invigorating listen. I like listening to him at night, when I am winding down from the day's activities.

He is also known for his quirky lyrics. In the song "E", whose guitar-driven mid-tempo sound uncannily recalls the "Revolver"-era Beatles, he sings (I know it's long, but bear with me; English translations follow each line):

Bee-toh-roo-zoo wo undano wa UK?
The Beatles were born in the UK?
"When I was twenty-four" — Hatsu-on wa OK?
"When I was 24" — Did I pronounce it OK?
Okiruno wa AM
Get up in the AM
Neruno wa zz
Go to bed, zz

Haro, Haro, Aisatsu no kotoba
Hello, Hello! Greeting words
Haro, Haro Aisatsu no atowa ...
Hello, Hello! After the greetings ...
Utaeba 'E'
you can sing, and that's 'E' (good)