The Last Rose in J-pop

an unofficial Nav Katze discography


[ English | Japanese ]

Welcome! Nav Katze is the name of a Japanese music group whose style ranges from mellow acoustic pop to electro-rock to ambient techno. Anime fans may know Nav Katze from the Video Girl Ai soundtrack, and techno fans may have heard the Never mind the distortion remixes by Aphex Twin, Global Communication, Black Dog, and others. This page was created to provide more information about this wonderful group.

The members of Nav Katze are Miwako Yamaguchi and Naoko Iimura. More information about the group can be found on the official Nav Katze homepage, which happens to be mostly in English! Unfortunately, it does not have many details about their CD releases, particularly the older ones, so the discography below fills in some blanks. If you can read Japanese, there is another comprehensive discography online by a Japanese fan. It includes some older releases before Nav Katze signed with Victor Japan. Those albums are not listed here yet, since I don't know anything more about them. (I am collecting some links with more information about the group and their older releases, and that information will be added to this site eventually.)

By the way, Nav Katze means "nervous cat" in somewhat fractured German.

(This page is still under construction. I hope to add cover scans and some short song samples in the future. Thanks to kazuya-kun for all his help, especially with the Japanese page.)

Albums

Kanki (Delight)

VICL-145, 1991-4-21, ¥2913
9 tracks, 39:57
Victor Musical Industries, Inc.

1. Hoshi no PAREEDO (Parade of Stars) - 5:05
2. Kowareta Sekai (Broken World) - 3:05
3. Hitomi wa Daisy (Pupil is a Daisy) - 6:18
4. Kanata (The Other Side) - 3:27
5. Isu (Chair) - 4:22
6. Yami to Asoba nai de (No Playing or Disorder) - 3:37
7. Pure Days - 4:28
8. Voices -Koe- - 4:52
9. Taiyou no Omoide (Solar Memories) - 4:30

Notes:
Shino Furutate was also officially a member on this album, playing percussion.

Shingetsu (Crescent Moon)

VICL-255, 1991-11-21, ¥2913
11 tracks, 44:33
Victor Musical Industries, Inc.

1. Green Eye - 3:06
2. Hitoribotchi no Sora (Lonely Sky) - 3:08
3. PURITI RITORU ZERANIUMU (Pretty Little Geranium) - 3:14
4. Niji no yurikago (Cradle of the Rainbow) - 4:11
5. BIRU no Naka de Asondetara Hi ga Kurenakatta - 4:52
6. Manatsu (Midsummer) - 3:43
7. Kusa no Kioku (Memory of Grass) - 5:58
8. Nanatsu no Yoru, Nanatsu no Yume (Seventh Night, Seventh Dream) - 4:11
9. Umi no Yuri (Sea Lily) - 5:07
10. Mizu no Naka no Tsuki (Moon in the Water) - 4:13
11. Haruka naru Cross (Far Off Cross) - 2:50

The Last Rose in Summer

VICL-334, 1992-9-23, ¥2913
10 tracks, 37:30
Victor Musical Industries, Inc.

1. Umi (Ocean) - 2:38
   ~rose in heaven~
2. Frozen Flower - 3:38
   ~rose in a picture~
3. MARIRIN (Marilyn) - 4:42
   ~rose on the beach~
4. Fukigen (Displeasure) - 3:37
   ~rose in the mirror~
5. ARUKADIA (Arcadia) - 3:35
   ~rose in the wind~
6. Kodomo no Namae (Child's Name) - 2:44
   ~rose in Joe's garden~
7. Hikari no Wa (Ring of Light) - 4:45
   ~rose in memories~
8. Kirakira (Sparkle) - 3:31
   ~rose in the twinkle eyes~
9. Aoi Yami (Blue Darkness) - 4:06
   ~rose in the dark~
10. Nagori no Bara (Remains of the Rose) - 4:14
    ~last rose in summer~

OUT

VICL-2129, 1994-3-24, ¥1942
5 tracks, 19:21
Victor Entertainment, Inc.

1. CRAZY DREAM - 3:51
2. CRUSTY Song - 3:27
3. ARABIA no Yoru (Night in Arabia) - 4:29
4. Topaz - 3:49
5. Velvet - 3:45

Notes:
J-rock band LUNA SEA appears on track 3, and Ryuichi of LUNA SEA and Maki Fujii of Soft Ballet appear on track 1.

Uwa no Sora (Nobody Home)

VICL-527, 1994-5-21, ¥2913
12 tracks, 48:16
Victor Entertainment, Inc.

1. TV Wakusei (TV Planet) - 2:45
2. Uwa no sora -Nobody Home- - 3:44
3. Cherry - 3:45
4. Glitter Love - 4:06
5. More than a feeling - 4:17
6. Ziggy - 4:42
7. Wild Horse - 4:08
8. Mabataki -blinking- - 3:58
9. Polyester - 3:55
10. Spy - 4:49
11. Never Not - 4:10
12. Change - 3:57

Notes:
"Uwa no sora" literally means "above the sky", and it implies absent-mindedness or that "nobody's home". The track "More than a feeling" is a cover of a song by BOSTON. Roxy Music members Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera apppear on several tracks, INORAN of LUNA SEA appears on track 4, and Soft Ballet member Ryouichi Endo appears on track 12.

Never mind the distortion

VICL-568, 1996-9-20, ¥2913
7 tracks, 53:40
Victor Entertainment, Inc.
European release: SSR 154, SSR Records Crammed Discs, Belgium (more)

1. Nobody Home (Ultramarine Mix) - 6:41
   Remixed by Ultramarine
2. Ziggy (Aphex Twin Mix#1) - 6:03
   Remixed by Aphex Twin
3. Never Not (Black Dog Mix#1) - 7:06
   Remixed by Black Dog Productions
4. Crazy Dream (Retro 313 Future Memory Mix) - 7:48
   Remixed by Reload
5. Change (Aphex Twin Mix#2) - 4:15
   Remixed by Aphex Twin
6. More than a feeling (Black Dog Mix#2) - 6:31
   Remixed by Black Dog Productions
7. Wild Horse (Global Mix Communication) - 15:16
   Remixed by Global Communication

Gentle & Elegance

VICL-746, 1996-5-22, ¥2913
11 tracks, 60:37
Victor Entertainment, Inc.

1. ready to go - 4:12
2. lilac moon light - 4:30
3. tiny cog - 3:50
4. happy - 4:21
5. happy? (qunk mix by autechre) - 7:28
6. tightrope - 4:27
7. heaven electric - 5:26
8. heaven - disjecta - electric (seefeel mix) - 6:08
9. border - 4:51
10. borderless (sun electric mix) - 8:24
11. gentle & elegance - 7:00

Never mind the distortion II

VICL-60025, 1997-5-21, ¥2310
8 tracks, 54:28
Victor Entertainment, Inc.

1. Ready to go - 7:39
   remixed by The Gentle People
2. Lilac moon light - 5:22
   remixed by Disjecta
3. Tightrope - 6:14
   remixed by Disjecta
4. Borderless #2 - 6:31
   remixed by Sun Electric
5. Tiny cog - 6:07
   remixed by Disjecta
6. Happier... - 5:01
   remixed by Seefeel
7. Happy! - 7:18
   remixed by μ-Ziq
8. Happy?-qunk mix Dub - 10:16
   remixed by Autechre

Videos

Never mind the distortion

VIVL-133, 1994-9-21, 34 min., ¥4854
VHS (NTSC), Color, Hi-Fi Stereo

1. Nobody Home (Ultramarine mix)
2. Ziggy (Aphex Twin mix #1)
3. Change (Aphex Twin mix #2)
4. More than a feeling (Black Dog mix #2)
5. Wild Horse (Global Mix Communication)
   
   
6. TV Wakusei (TV Planet)

Other CD Appearances

Video Girl Ai Original Soundtrack

VICL-281, 1992-3-27, ¥2913
10 tracks, 39:55
Victor Musical Industries, Inc.

4. Message (Nav Katze) - 4:56

Notes:
This is an original song which does not appear on any of the albums above.

Video Girl Ai Second Memories Image Soundtrack

VICL-316, 1992-7-22, ¥2913
17 tracks, 46:24
Victor Musical Industries, Inc.

12. Frozen Flower (Nav Katze) - 3:37

Global Communication / Remotion

DED CD21, 1995-9
7 tracks, 71:16
Dedicated (more)

7. Nav Katze - Wild Horses - 15:11

DJ Kicks: Carl Craig

k7042, 199x
16 tracks
Stud!o k7 (more)

3. Nav Katze - Crazy Dream (Reload Remix)

Drop 5 (various)

90077, 1998-5-5
74:36
Materiali

3. Nav Katze - Nobody Home (Ultramarine Mix)

Notes

• Romanized Japanese names are given with the given name followed by the family name, since this is the style used by Nav Katze themselves.
• All English translations appear in (italic text).
• Some song titles (Kanki track 8, Uwa no Sora track 8) contain Japanese and English words with the same meaning, so no translation is given.
• Yen prices listed here do not include Japanese sales tax.

Links

Here are some other Nav Katze fan pages. As you might guess, nearly all of them are in Japanese.

discography with 1986-1987 re-release compilation CD
another simple discography including the 86-87 CD
Video Girl Ai page with English lyrics to Frozen Flower
German interview with Ken Ishii that mentions Nav Katze
"omnibus albums of Techno Pop and New Wave artists"
Video Girl Ai song lyrics
70's J-Rock Data Book entry (good info on early Switch releases)