Capsule (カプセル, Kapuseru, stylized in all caps since autumn 2013[1] and previously in all lowercase) is a Japanese
electronica band consisting of producer
Yasutaka Nakata and vocalist
Toshiko Koshijima.
Career
Capsule formed in November 1997, after Yasutaka Nakata and Toshiko Koshijima met at the Teens' Music Festival in the Hokuriku area convention when they were both 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.[2] 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.[3]
The band's fourteenth album, Caps Lock, was released on October 23, 2013.[4] Their fifteenth album, Wave Runner, was released on Feb 18, 2015.[5]
Capsule's first new song in six years, Hikari no Disco, was teased in April 2021[6] and was released on June 3, 2021.[7]
On 25 October 2022 Capsule announced their 16th studio album, titled Metro Pulse, which was released on 14 December 2022.[8]