Kikuuiki

Kikuuiki
Two intersecting blue circles of different shades, with the intersection of the two circles colored darker
Studio album by Sakanaction
Released March 17, 2010
(see release history)
Recorded 2009-2010
Genre Dance rock, dub, ambient[1][2][3]
Length 51:27
Language Japanese
Label Victor Entertainment
Producer Sakanaction
Sakanaction chronology

"Fish Alive" 30min., 1 Sequence by 6 Songs Sakanaquarium 2009 @ Sapporo
(2009)		 Kikuuiki
(2010)		 Documentaly
(2011)
Singles from Kikuuiki
  1. "Aruku Around"
    Released: January 6, 2010

Kikuuiki ("Mixing Airspace", stylized as "kikUUiki") is the fourth studio album by Japanese band Sakanaction. It was released on March 17, 2010 through Victor Entertainment.[4] The album was preceded in January by the single "Aruku Around", which was met with the greatest commercial success for the band since their debut, reaching number three on Oricon's singles chart.

Sakanaction spent most of 2009 experimenting on the album's single "Aruku Around", followed by two months of album recording in January and February 2010. Much of the final recording stages were spent on the album's leading promotional song, "Me ga Aku Aiiro", a seven minute rock opera. The album saw a new recording approach for the band, where the members worked more spontaneously, with a higher degree of synchronicity between them. The album was influenced by the commercial success of "Aruku Around", and was written as a response to this song.

The album was nominated as one of the finalists for the CD Shop Awards, and was lauded by critics for its cohesive, fusion sound and literary lyrics. It became their most commercially successful release since their debut, reaching number three on Oricon's albums chart.

Background and development

After releasing two studio albums based in Sapporo, the band moved to Tokyo in Spring 2009 to further their musical potential.[5] Their first album produced in Tokyo, Shin-shiro (2010), saw a new approach for the band, where band vocalist Ichiro Yamaguchi asked the other members of Sakanaction to produce songs individually, instead of together as a group.[6] Led by the singles "Sen to Rei" and "Native Dancer", the album became their most commercially successful in their career to date, peaking at number eight on Oricon's album chart.[7] Despite this, Yamaguchi was disappointed with the sales, and was not sure why the album stalled at 30,000 copies sold.[8]

After the release of the album in January 2010, Sakanaction performed a two-month long tour of Japan, Sakanaquarium 2009: Shinshiro.[9] This was followed by the band making appearances at many summer music festivals, including Sweet Love Shower, Nano-Mugen Fes, Rock in Japan and Rising Sun Rock Festival.[10][11] On June 13, 2009, Sakanaction performed at Version 21.1, a newly created rock event set up by Sakanaction and the rock bands Ogre You Asshole and the Telephones to showcase rock music of the 2010s.[12] On October 10, Sakanaction performed their first overseas concert, the Gentra X Ssamzie Sound Festival in Paju, South Korea.[13]

Yamaguchi had already started creating ideas for Kikuuiki in February 2009, less than a month after the release of Shin-shiro.[14] The band spent most of 2009 experimenting on the song "Aruku Around", and performed the song at their summer festival appearances at Rock in Japan and Rising Sun Rock Festival, in order to test the song to see how the audience would react to different changes.[15][16] After "Aruku Around" was released as a single in January 2010, it became a popular and critical success; reaching number three on Oricon's single charts, praised for its strong arrangement and Yamaguchi's poetic lyrics.[17][18] The single's success surprised the band, who never considered it could become as popular as it did.[19]

Writing and production

The album was primarily recorded in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in January and February 2010.

The album was primarily recorded at Freedom Studio in Shinjuku, Tokyo, with secondary recording sessions held at Sound Arts, Avaco Creative Studio and Galva Studio, all in Tokyo, as well as Studio Wakefield in Tama-ku, Kawasaki.[20] Recording sessions for "Aruku Around" were held in 2009, while the bulk of the album was recorded in January and February 2010.[21][22] The album recording sessions were finished on February 16, a month before the album's release date.[23] The writing and idea creating process took so long that the band had to postpone the album four times from their intended finishing date, mostly due to the complexities of recording the seven minute long song "Me ga Aku Aiiro".[24][25]

The Kikuuiki album sessions were influenced by the commercial success of "Aruku Around", where the band considered what sorts of songs they wanted to make,[22] and what sort of music they should present to their new audience for the audience to understand what songs Sakanaction create other than "Aruku Around"-style ones.[26][19] The band did not want to make an album full of songs identical to "Aruku Around", and instead wanted to express to their listeners the breadth of musical inspirations that they could mix together.[19] Yamaguchi felt that it was important to not release a second similar song immediately after "Aruku Around" in the digital era, as everybody in the 2010s could act as a music reviewer on their Mixi or Twitter accounts, no needed to show these people different aspects of the band.[27] He felt this was important for growing Sakanaction as a band, to break the cycle of a musical act becoming popular, then continuing to release the same style of music that made them popular until people grew tired of them.[27] Even before the single's success, however, the band planned to feature songs on the album that would go against listeners expectations of what Sakanaction was as a band.[28] On the other hand, the band attempted to keep a commercial sound as was the aim of Shin-shiro, or else they felt that their efforts would have been wasted.[19] This led the band to try to create pop art music, which blended art with commercialism.[29]

The creation process for Kikuuiki was different to that of Shin-shiro, where each member worked alongside Yamaguchi in a two person meeting, then later working on the songs together as a band.[19] For Kikuuiki, Yamaguchi recorded each song's basic demo, then in a meeting the band would discuss the song's feel and emotions, listing everything on a white board.[21] Yamaguchi would then leave the other four band members to work on the song together, while he worked on their next song.[21] Afterwards would return to the studio and make suggestions on their progress on the first song.[24][19] This meant that Yamaguchi had much less input on Kikuuiki than on the band's previous albums, which made him feel more like the band's producer.[21] The lesser input made Yamaguchi feel that he had come to trust each member's musical abilities much more than before.[19] On previous albums, the members needed to compromise or give up on ideas that they had, however on Kikuuiki they found that they understood each other much better. This led to the members expressing themselves much more, such as drummer Keiichi Ejima, who expressed his taste in rock music strongly in the sounds he created for the album.[30] Many songs were still being created when they were recording, unlike previous albums where songs were entirely finished before recording the final take. This led to many spontaneous ideas on the album, such as when the band wanted a chorus of people singing lalala, they collected together all the people who happened to be in the studio at the time, including their musical director.[21] The spontaneous process led to the song "Klee", written about the paintings of Swiss-German painter Paul Klee, to be recorded in a single take.[31][32] Instead of featuring repeating sounds on the album, Sakanaction decided to carefully consider how each sound-effect effected the song, and included very few repeating sounds.[21]

The album's title Kikuuiki (汽空域 Kikūiki) is a word coined by the band. It is related to the term kisui'iki (汽水域), a term describing the brackish water around river heads, where fresh water and salt water mix together, however in the title refers to air, not water.[26] This phrase is used to represent the theme of the album, mixing the unmixable.[33] This idea related to how each member had completely different music tastes, but somehow were able to create music together.[33] Similarly, it related to the idea of how Sakanaction as a band mixed rock, club and folk music, but were able to blend different tastes together to find an equilibrium that a wide range of people would like.[26][21] The band created the song "Me ga Aku Aiiro" as a song that would represent the album's entire theme in a single song.[34] The album's introduction, a mix of recordings taken by Yamaguchi on his iPhone at the recording studio, was similarly a song created to match the theme.[21]

The album was influenced by the changing mediums people listen to music on in the 2000s and 2010s: how people used their cellphones or YouTube to discover new music.[29] Yamaguchi wanted to create songs that were difficult to evaluate by listening to just a sample of the song.[29][35] The seven minute long "Me ga Aku Aiiro" in particular was written with such music consumers in mind.[19] The band also felt influenced by the city of Tokyo, after living in the city for a year and a half and deciding to call it their permanent home.[36] After recording Shin-shiro, the band had many more opportunities to meet other bands that performed similar music to them, because they were now based in Tokyo.[30] In particular, Yamaguchi felt influenced by Yūsuke Koide of Base Ball Bear, impressed that Koide's lyrics managed to express himself as himself, despite their fictional nature. Yamaguchi wrote his first fiction song because of this, "Omotesandō Nijūroku-ji", as a challenge for himself, and to match the mixing theme of Kikuuiki.[21] The song "Ushio" was one of the first compositions written for the album. Yamaguchi decided to place it as the first song on the album, as they felt it was similar to the material found on Shin-shiro, as a way to show off what sort of band Sakanaction were up until the release of "Aruku Around".[30][21] The song mixed a heavy lyrical theme of whether personal philosophies arise from a person's community or from within themselves, with a psychedelic, avant garde pop sound.[21]

In a retrospective interview with Rockin' On Japan in 2011, Yamaguchi felt that the people who became fans during this period became Sakaction's core fanbase. Because of this, many of Sakanaction's concert set-lists continue to feature songs from Kikuuiki for these fans.[8]

Cover artwork

An aiiro (indigo)-colored Japanese quilt
Tokyo Tower in twilight
The blue colors of the album artwork were inspired by synthetic aiiro dye (left) and the pre-dawn sky (right).

The album's artwork was produced by Kamikene and Daisuke Ishizaka of Hatos.[20] It features two overlapping circles colored deep blue and bright blue, which mix to create aiiro (藍色), a color close to indigo.[21] The bright aiiro color was chosen as it was a man-made ink that regularly occurred in Japanese printing, while the deep blue color was taken from a photo of the sky just before dawn.[21][37] The center of the artwork features the Kikuuiki typography, as well as a logo of two overlapping circles.[37] The mixing of natural and artificial blue circles were used to represent Kikuuiki's theme of mixing points.[21][37]

Promotion and release

Kikuuiki was first announced in mid-January 2010, just after the release of the single "Aruku Around".[38] On March 10, the song "Me ga Aku Aiiro" was released as a digital download to cellphones in Japan, as well as ringtones of all of the tracks on the standard edition of the album.[39] The song acted as the leading promotional track on the album, and received enough radio airplay to reach number 92 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart.[40][29]

To promote the album, the band made the album's songs available for listening on their website between February 24 and 28. The songs were only available from 4:00-5:30am Japan Standard Time, during what they dubbed "kikuuiki" time. Each listener could listen to only between four and five songs at random.[41] The whole album was made available for listening on March 1.[41] The band held a listening party was held at Liquid Loft in Shibuya, Tokyo on March 13, which was simulcast on the video streaming website Ustream.[42] The album was released in two editions, limited and standard. The limited edition features a bonus track, "Paradise of Sunny", which is a dub remix of the song "Yes No", remixed by recording engineer Sachio "Sunny" Sasaki."Paradise of Sunny" is a dub remix of "Yes No".[43][20]

The band performed a thirteen-date national tour of Japan in April and May, Sakanaquarium 2010 Kikuuiki.[37] The final two dates were held at the 2,000 capacity Zepp Sapporo concert hall on May 8, followed by the 2,400 capacity Shinkiba Studio Coast in Koto, Tokyo.[37] Footage of seven songs performed at Shinkiba Studio Coast on May 15 were made available as iTunes downloads in August 2010.[44] The band followed up this tour with their first concert at the Nippon Budokan stadium.[45] Both the Shinkiba Studio Coast and Nippon Budokan concerts were released to DVD in 2011.[46]

The album was re-released on March 25 2015, as a lossless digital download.[47]

Reception

Commercial reception

On Oricon's physical albums charts, the album debuted at number three with 29,000 copies sold, underneath One Piece Memorial Best, an album compiling theme songs from the anime One Piece, and pop/jazz singer Juju's third album Juju.[48] Rival sales tracking agency SoundScan Japan found that the vast majority of copies sold were of the album's limited edition version, with 27,000 copies sold in the first week.[49] The album spent an additional three weeks in the top 50, and left the top 300 after thirteen weeks.[48] After the release of the band's "Identity" single in August, the album charted for an additional six weeks.[48] In 2011, the album had two additional chart runs in the top 300: one in April after the release of their single "Rookie", and one in August after the release of "Bach no Senritsu o Yoru ni Kiita Sei Desu.".[48] These four chart runs resulted in the album selling a total of 59,000 copies over two years.[48] Despite the album being the band's most successful release in their career, Yamaguchi was disappointed in the album sales, as he expected it to sell over 100,000 copies.[8]

Critical reception

"Aruku Around"
Critics praised the synths, melody and beat of "Aruku Around".
"Yes No"
The introduction of dub influences in songs such as "Yes No" were praised by critics.
Problems playing these files? See media help.

The album was well received by Japanese music critics, and was chosen as one of the eleven finalists for the 2011 CD Shop Awards.[50][51] Skream!s Toshitomo Doumei named the album his third favorite of 2011, feeling that the album had simultaneously created new genres of alternative rock music and pop music. He felt the album's music was catchy, and that its success was natural due to its high quality.[52] Yuji Tanaka of CDJournal felt the album was much more cohesive than their previous works, praising the band's skill progression and Yamaguchi's lyrics, which he described as "literary-style" and "cynical".[53] He was struck by the "heroic march" after the album's introduction in the song "Ushio", which made him feel "suddenly intoxicated...like being in the ocean".[53] Takayuki Endoh of Skream! similarly believed the album showed growth in the band. Despite their previous releases always incorporating dance and rock music, Endoh felt that the music on Kikuuiki had struck a better harmony between the two, and had simultaneously become more rock and more dance.[1] He praised the album's "poppy floating feeling, highly literary lyrics, and romantic electro sound", feeling that the band was unique in the music industry.[1]

Koji Dejima of Bounce felt that the album was ingenious in the way that it created a feeling of being out of place due to the album's arrangement, melodies and lyrical sense. He praised the album's varied sound, and the fact that the band always "spoke with their own words" despite this variety of sound. He noted "Aruku Around"'s strong dance music sound, and likened "Klee" to the songs of The Police, and "Omotesandō Nijūroku-ji" to the music of the 1970s American band Television.[2] Rolling Stone Japan gave the album four stars out of five, praising the Yamaguchi's "literary and original" lyrics, and how human the music sounded despite its electronic sound.[54] Kaori Komatsu of Rockin' On Japan felt that Yamaguchi's lyrics created an "interesting feeling of unease" and had a "deep flavor".[3] She noted that Yamaguchi's lyrics often described everyday life and his mental space, layered on top of each other in impressionist scenes.[3] She felt that the band's sound had become more ambitious in their genre crossovers, especially the inclusions of ambient music and dub elements, and that the songs had a "sense of city", much stronger since they had moved to Tokyo.[3] Tanaka of CDJournal noted similar qualities in the songs "Yes No" and "Ashita kara", which to him expressed the loneliness of city life.[53]

The album's preceding single "Aruku Around" was received well by music critics. CDJournal reviewers gave the single its star of recommendation, calling it a "killer tune" where the "pleasure of living in the moment" and "prudence" is balanced.[55] They noted the song's retro sound, like nostalgic dance music, and felt that the band's decision to move to Tokyo two years prior showed in the song.[55] Kenji Sasaki of Skream! felt that the song had a "gentle electronica feel", praising the 1980s-style synths, aggressive band sound and "unique poetic sentiment" of Yamaguchi's.[56] He further praised the emotions the song gave him, mixing both painfulness and exhilaration.[56] Tomoki Takahashi of Rockin' On Japan felt the greatest strength of the song was how its lyrical content jarred with its "high-spirited words" and "explosive hybrid beat".[57] He noted that instead of talking about the pleasures of the dance floor, Yamaguchi's lyrics were introspective, discussing loneliness, pain and longing. Takahashi praised the brave fanfare-like synth based leading melody, and the "tight" and "earth-shaking" four on the floor beat.[57]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Ichiro Yamaguchi. 

No. TitleMusic Length
1. "Intro = Kikuuiki" (汽空域, "Mixing Airspace")Sakanaction 0:53
2. "Ushio" (潮, "Tides")Yamaguchi, Motoharu Iwadera 5:20
3. "Yes No"  Yamaguchi 3:57
4. "Aruku Around" (アルクアラウンド Aruku Araundo, "Walk Around")Yamaguchi 4:23
5. "Klee"  Yamaguchi 4:16
6. "21.1" (Tuentī Wan Dotto Wan)Sakanaction 4:04
7. "Under" (アンダー Andā)Yamaguchi 4:35
8. "Coelacanth to Boku" (シーラカンスと僕 Shīrakansu to Boku, "The Coelacanth and I")Yamaguchi 5:10
9. "Ashita kara" (明日から, "From Tomorrow")Yamaguchi 4:02
10. "Omotesandō Nijūroku-ji" (表参道26時, "Omotesandō 2:00am")Yamaguchi 4:16
11. "Kabe" (壁, "Wall")Yamaguchi 3:36
12. "Me ga Aku Aiiro" (目が明く藍色, "Eye-opening Indigo")Yamaguchi 6:55
Total length:
 51:27
Limited edition bonus track
No. Title Length
13. "Paradise of Sunny"   6:17
Total length:
 57:44

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from Kikuuiki's liner notes booklet.[20]

Sakanaction

  • All members – arrangement, production, composition (#1, #6, #13)
  • Keiichi Ejima – drums
  • Motoharu Iwadera – guitar, composition (#2)
  • Ami Kusakari – bass guitar
  • Emi Okazaki – keyboards
  • Ichiro Yamaguchi – vocals, guitar, lyrics, composition (#3-5, #7-12)

Personnel and imagery

  • Takeshi Akiba – assistant engineer for Galva Studio
  • Kiyoka Hasegawa – viola (#12)
  • Fumiki Imaizumi – cello (#12)
  • Daisuke Ishizaka – photography
  • Tomoki Iwanaga – cello (#12)
  • Naoko Kakutani – viola (#12)
  • Yoshinori Kashiwagura – assistant engineer for Avaco Creative Studio
  • Satoshi Kamata – executive producer (Victor Records)
  • Kamikene – artwork design
  • Miwa Katayama – 1st violin (#12)
  • Nami Katsuno – management desk (Hip Land Music Corporation)
  • Rinko Kishi – 2nd violin (#12)
  • Mikio Koike – coordination
  • Yuka Koizumi – mastering
  • Yusuke Maeda – assistant engineer for Freedom Studio
  • Junko Makiyama – 1st violin (#12)
  • Junko Makiyama Strings – strings (#12)
  • Hiroyuki Makimoto – executive producer (Victor Records)
  • Yujiro Mitsugi – manager
  • Yuki Nanjo – 2nd violin (#12)
  • Tatsuya Nomura – A&R producer (Hip Land Music Corporation)
  • Sokkun Oh – assistant engineer for LSD Engineering (#13)
  • Mika Oi – 2nd violin (#12)
  • Takako Ota – 2nd violin (#12)
  • Tomoko Sato – management desk (Victor Entertainment)
  • Kazuo Saito – assistant engineer for Sound Arts
  • Sachio "Sunny" Sasaki – dub remix (#13)
  • Akira Sekiguchi – A&R director
  • Miho Shimokawa – 1st violin (#12)
  • Shiho Suzuki – merchandiser
  • Bin Tajima – executive producer (Hip Land Music Corporation)
  • Masahiro Tamoto – assistant engineer for Sound Arts
  • Toshiya Tatebe – sales promoter
  • Yuzuru Tomita – cooperative keyboard arrangement (#4, #9), string arrangement (#12)
  • Masashi Uramoto – mixing, recording
  • Tomoko Watanabe – 1st violin (#12)
  • Wataru Woka – sales promoter
  • Satoshi Yamagami – A&R promoter
  • Daisuke Yamamoto – assistant engineer for Freedom Studio
  • Satoshi Yoneda – assistant engineer for Avaco Creative Studio

Charts

Charts (2010) Peak
position
Japan Oricon daily albums[58] 2
Japan Oricon weekly albums[59] 3

Sales

Chart Amount
Oricon physical sales[48] 59,000

Release history

Region Date Format Distributing Label Catalogue codes
Japan March 17, 2010[4][60] CD, limited edition CD, digital download Victor Entertainment VICL-63556, VICL-63557
South Korea March 23, 2010[61] digital download Neowiz Internet
Taiwan April 9, 2010[62] CD Rock Records GUT2307
Japan March 18, 2015[47] lossless digital download Victor Entertainment

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Takayuki Endoh (2010). "DISC REVIEW サカナクション『kikUUiki』" (in Japanese). Skream!. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Koji Dejima. "【CD】kikUUiki＜初回盤＞" (in Japanese). Tower Records Japan. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Kaori Komatsu (March 15, 2010). "出世魚のごとく" (in Japanese). Rockin' On Japan. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "【CD】kikUUiki＜初回盤＞" (in Japanese). Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  5. ↑ Masaki Mugikura (January 1, 2009). "サカナクション インタビュー" (in Japanese). Excite. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  6. ↑ Tetsuo Hiraga (January 21, 2009). "『サカナクション』 SPECIAL INTERVIEW" (in Japanese). Hot Express. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ "サカナクション、『kissmark』CMソングでデイリー2位の好発進" (in Japanese). Oricon. January 13, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Shinji Hyogo (2011). "特集　サカナクション" (in Japanese). Rockin' On Japan. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  9. ↑ "ブレイクに期待、オリコン初登場8位のサカナクション" (in Japanese). Barks. January 29, 2009. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Live" (in Japanese). Hip Land Music Corporation. Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ "ライジングサン第2弾でユニコーン、ユアソンら4組追加" (in Japanese). Natalie. May 11, 2009. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  12. ↑ Tomoko Ariizumi (2009). "version 21.1" (in Japanese). Natalie. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  13. ↑ "サカナクション、韓国のオーディエンスを熱くさせた初の海外公演" (in Japanese). Barks. October 16, 2009. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  14. ↑ "未来を作る人格。" (in Japanese). Ichiro Yamaguchi. February 3, 2009. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  15. ↑ Tomoyuki Mori (2010). "特集｜注目アーティスト：サカナクション" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  16. ↑ "サカナクション インタビュー" (in Japanese). Excite Japan. January 15, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  17. ↑ "アルクアラウンド(初回限定盤)". Oricon. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  18. ↑ Kenji Sasaki. "NEW DISCS サカナクション『アルクアラウンド』" (in Japanese). Geki-Rock Entertainment Inc. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7 Nachi Ebisawa (March 18, 2015). クローズアップ サカナクション (in Japanese). Excite. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Kikuuiki (Media notes) (in Japanese). Sakanaction. Tokyo, Japan: Victor Entertainment. 2010.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 21.7 21.8 21.9 21.10 21.11 21.12 21.13 Yoshiaki Takebe (March 17, 2010). サカナクション インタビュー (in Japanese). Kinyosha Printing. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Ichiro Yamaguchi (December 12, 2012). "レクリエーション" (in Japanese). Tokyo FM. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  23. ↑ "未来を作る人格。" (in Japanese). Ichiro Yamaguchi. February 16, 2009. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Kazuhiro "Scao" Ikeda (March 17, 2010). サカナクション Special Interview (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  25. ↑ "サカナクション、構想9年・7分に迫る大作「目が明く藍色」を含むアルバムレコーディング終了" (in Japanese). Barks. February 19, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Nachi Ebisawa. kikUUiki＝汽空域、その意味とは? (in Japanese). KDDI Corportation. Archived from the original on December 7, 2010. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Tetsuo Hiraga (March 17, 2010). サカナクション 『kikUUiki』 インタビュー (in Japanese). Plantech. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  28. ↑ Tetsuo Hiraga (January 13, 2010). "サカナクション インタビュー" (in Japanese). Hot Express. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Tetsuo Hiraga (March 17, 2010). サカナクション 『kikUUiki』 インタビュー (in Japanese). Plantech. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Tetsuo Hiraga (March 17, 2010). サカナクション 『kikUUiki』 インタビュー (in Japanese). Plantech. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  31. ↑ Nachi Ebisawa (March 18, 2015). クローズアップ サカナクション (in Japanese). Excite. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  32. ↑ Takuya Ohyama (2010). サカナクション (3/5) - 音楽ナタリー Power Push (in Japanese). Natalie. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Tetsuo Hiraga (March 17, 2010). サカナクション 『kikUUiki』 インタビュー (in Japanese). Plantech. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  34. ↑ Takuya Ohyama (2010). サカナクション (2/5) - 音楽ナタリー Power Push (in Japanese). Natalie. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  35. ↑ Takuya Ohyama (2010). サカナクション (1/5) - 音楽ナタリー Power Push (in Japanese). Natalie. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  36. ↑ "サカナクション インタビュー" (in Japanese). Excite Japan. January 15, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 "サカナクション、相容れないものが混ざり合う作品？" (in Japanese). Rockin' On Japan. February 11, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  38. ↑ "サカナクション、1年2ヶ月ぶりのニュー・アルバムを3月にリリース" (in Japanese). Rockin' On Japan. January 14, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  39. ↑ "「　kikUUiki　」　全曲、レコチョクにて着うた配信開始" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. March 10, 2010. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  40. ↑ "Japan Billboard Hot 100". Billboard (in Japanese). March 24, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 "サカナクション、汽空域タイムに『kikUUiki』試聴" (in Japanese). Barks. February 22, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  42. ↑ "サカナクション『kikUUiki』爆音試聴ＰＡＲＴＹ いよいよ3/13(土）深夜２５時よりUSTREAMにて生中継！" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  43. ↑ "「kikUUiki」　オンライン購入方法のご案内" (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. March 20, 2010. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  44. ↑ "サカナクション、＜『kikUUiki』ツアー＞のライヴ映像がiTunesで追加配信" (in Japanese). Barks. August 26, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  45. ↑ "サカナクションの初武道館公演に、1万1000人は歓喜の嵐" (in Japanese). Rockin' On Japan. October 9, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  46. ↑ Sakanaquarium (B)(C)(D) (Media notes) (in Japanese). Sakanaction. Tokyo, Japan: Victor Entertainment. 2011.
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 "kikUUiki" (in Japanese). Onkyo & Pioneer Innovations Corporation. March 18, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 48.4 48.5 "オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree']. Oricon. Retrieved October 3, 2014. (subscription required (help)).
  49. ↑ "アルバム ランキング TOP20 2010年3月15日～2010年3月21日 調査分". SoundScan Japan (in Japanese). Ongen Publising Co., ltd. March 31, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  50. ↑ "「CDショップ大賞」入賞作品にandymori、サカナ、かまってちゃん、世界の終わり、The Mirrazら" (in Japanese). Rockin' On Japan. December 2, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  51. ↑ "第3回（2011）CDショップ大賞結果 全日本CDショップ店員組合" (in Japanese). All-Japan CD Shop Clerks Union. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  52. ↑ Toshitomo Doumei (2011). "2010年 Skream!年間ベスト・アルバム" (in Japanese). Skream!. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 Yuji Tanaka (2010). "New Discs レビュー" (in Japanese). CDJournal. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  54. ↑ Poem Hoshi. "サカナクション『kikUUiki』" (in Japanese). Rolling Stone Japan. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 "サカナクション / アルクアラウンド" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 Kenji Sasaki. "NEW DISCS サカナクション『アルクアラウンド』" (in Japanese). Geki-Rock Entertainment Inc. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 Tomoki Takahashi (January 11, 2010). "我歩く、故に我在り" (in Japanese). Rockin' On Holdings. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  58. ↑ "サカナクションのニュー・アルバム『kikUUiki』がオリコン2位！" (in Japanese). Rockin' On Japan. March 18, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  59. ↑ "kikUUiki(初回限定盤)". Oricon. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  60. ↑ "【CD】kikUUiki＜通常盤＞" (in Japanese). Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  61. ↑ "Kikuuiki (기공역)" (in Korean). Bugs. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  62. ↑ "sakanaction 魚韻 / kikUUiki 汽空域" (in Chinese). Books.com.tw. Retrieved March 8, 2015.