GBI (German Bold Italic)

"GBI (German Bold Italic)" is a 1997 song by Japanese-American music producer Towa Tei, featuring vocals from Australian singer Kylie Minogue, Japanese musician Haruomi Hosono, and co-written by Tei and Minogue. It is the lead single from Tei's second studio album, ''Sound Museum'' (1997), released by Arthrob in the United Kingdom. The song is a "minimalist" house-techno track with lyrics portrayed Minogue as a typeface called "German Bold Italic", with her vocals performed in a tongue-in-cheek style.

Many critics praise the song for its distinctiveness within Minogue's catalogue, while others consider the track to be one of the important artistic moves that define her musical career. Commercially, the song was one of Minogue's least successful track on the charts. It peaked at number 50 in Australia and failed to reach top 50 in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 63. However, it was said to be a minor hit in Tei's home country, Japan.

The song's music video was directed by French director Stéphane Sednaoui and inspired by a mutual appreciation of Japanese culture between him and Minogue. It features scenes of Minogue dressed as a geisha walking through New York City streets.

The song was later added to Tei's first greatest hits album ''Best'' (2001), and also appears on his 11th studio album ''EMO'' (2017).

Background and production

Following an injury from falling on stage, Japanese record producer Towa Tei left the New York-based music group Deee-Lite in 1994. He returned to Tokyo and did production work for various artists, including music groups A Tribe Called Quest and Yellow Magic Orchestra. He released his debut solo studio album '' Future Listening!'' (1994), a mix of bossa nova and electronica tunes, under For Life Music. The album was well-received and helped Tei become a celebrity in Japan. That year, Australian singer Kylie Minogue released her self-titled album to moderate commercial success. The R&B-influenced album was her first offering with the independent label Deconstruction Records, following her split with PWL two years earlier.

Shortly after releasing the album, Minogue began a romantic relationship with French photographer Stéphane Sednaoui and went on a series of worldwide trips with him to gain inspiration for her upcoming record. Tei, who was into lounge music after finishing ''Future Listening!'', wanted to return to his dance roots on his next record. In 1996, Tei received a hand-written fax from Minogue at his studio in Sangenjaya.; He recalled the fax had a picture on it, with a message: "Music with you! Kylie. Call Me". The producer was interested in working with her, whom he called "the ideal icon that appeals to both Japanese and Western people." He was also aware of Minogue's intention to break away from the previous Eurobeat material with PWL, and her impact on the club scene, particularly among the gay community. Minogue came to Sangenjaya to write and record songs for her album with Tei, one of them was "GBI (German Bold Italic)". The track was ultimately left out of ''Impossible Princess'' (1997), Minogue's sixth studio album. Tei then saved the track for his second studio album ''Sound Museum'' (1997).

Composition

The song is about a typeface named "German Bold Italic", with Minogue playing the part of the typeface, singing such lyrics as "My name is German Bold Italic. I am a typeface which you have never heard of before."

Minogue can be heard talking and giggling over a "minimalist" house-techno track. Tei then shared that her vocal contributions were one of the things he enjoyed the most about the album.

The song opens with a sample from the introduction track of the album ''The Art of Belly Dancing'' by Bel-Sha-Zaar, Tommy Genapopoluis and The Grecian Knights, a sample that was also used on "Groove Is in the Heart", Tei's previous collaboration with his group Deee-Lite.

Release

The song was said to be a "minor" hit in Tei's native Japan.

Meanwhile, Minogue herself was going through a difficult point in her career, with critics praising her musical ventures on Deconstruction Records, but the public were failing to warm to it, particularly the ''Impossible Princess'' album.

The UK release was scheduled on 5 October by Coalition Records.

The CD single also features bonus CD-ROM programming including a screen saver, the German Bold Italic font and sound bites from the song.

The Krust remix, alongside another remix called "GBI (Latin Narrow Light)" by Uwe Schmidt (credited under his alias "Lisa Carbon"), made their appearances on Tei's Japanese remix album ''Stupid Fresh'' (1997). This album was later released as the second disc to ''Sound Museum'' in Europe. The song was later added to Tei's first greatest hits album ''Best'' (2001).

Reception

''The Independent'' Fiona Sturges got the feeling that Minogue made use of Tei's "far-reaching" reputation, rather than the other way around. However, she also noticed a "significantly more exotic flavour" than Tei's "customary club anthems". Writing in his book ''Playlisted: Everything You Need to Know About Australian Music Right Now'', Australian music journalist Craig Mathieson claimed that before Minogue's transformation to "Can't Get You Out of My Head", "there's a fascinating precursor, a glimpse of what's to come" in the track. He also commented that "such definite specifications f "GBI"suited her." Sean Smith, the writer of Minogue's biography ''Kylie'', said the track is arguably her "weirdest song" but pointed out that by the time of the single's release, Minogue had "moved on artistically". Mayer Nissim from '' Digital Spy'' called the collaboration a "completely barmy hook-up" and listed as one of Minogue's career-defining moments. The song was said to be the most "avant-garde" and "obscure" single in her catalogue. Robbie Daw from ''Idolator'' called the track one of Minogue's most "quirky" collaborations. ''NME'' Priya Elan called it one of her fan-favourite collaborative works that are lesser known. Johannes Schardt from Germany design studio Precious listed the track at number 2 in his top 7 songs with typographic references in 2008. DJ Calvin Harris told UK music website Popjustice the song was his favorite track from Minogue, calling it "fucking hilarious" and claiming: "It's why I love Kylie, because she does exactly what she wants to do."

Music video

Production and release

The music video for "GBI (German Bold Italic)" was directed by Minogue's then-boyfriend, French director Stéphane Sednaoui. Before shooting the video, Minogue and Sednaoui often traveled to Japan and were very into anime. Inspired by a mutual appreciation of Japanese culture, they created a visual combination of "geisha and manga superheroine" for the photographs taken for Minogue's sixth album ''Impossible Princess'' and the video for the track also. The low-budget video was shot in New York City with a "small video camera". Minogue told German publication ''Die Welt'': "In Japan, all the kids ran with such cameras around the city. So we then did just the same in New York." The video has never been released commercially on any DVD.

The video opens with Minogue in a bathtub, wearing a red bikini with a geisha headdress, telling viewers "You will like my sense of style". It then follows her in geisha regalia and make-up throughout New York City streets. Towards the climax of the video, Minogue is leashed and led around by a Japanese man.

Wearing the geisha outfit was said by Minogue to be "insanely stressful", with her wig being called "a nightmare". "Everything was true to the original. Only the stylist came from China," she said.

Reception and analysis

The concept was similar to Sednaoui's previous directorial work on the video " Sly" from the English trip hop group Massive Attack in 1994, with a singer also appearing dressed as a geisha in the streets of New York in "Sly".

The video was considered to be one of Minogue's most "bizarre" music videos, although ''The Independent'' wrote that Minogue was "looking suitably sweet" in the video. Journalist Craig Mathieson claimed the video might be her greatest performance in "a career plagued by lackluster acting", and writer Sean Smith described the video was even more "surreal" than the track. "This was many years before Lady Gaga raided the dressing-up box and further proof of Kylie's groundbreaking work in the nineties."

Live performances

An excerpt of the track appeared during Minogue's medley performance at the 25th Anniversary Mushroom Records concert held on November 14, 1998, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. This performance later appeared on its live album called '' Mushroom 25 Live''. It was also included on her 2002 tour KylieFever2002 as a video interlude. A show in Manchester was filmed on May 4, 2002, and released on DVD titled '' KylieFever2002: Live in Manchester''. The song was later sampled on "Sometimes Samurai", a visual from her 2008 concert tour KylieX2008. A picture taken from the shooting of the visual was released earlier for the promotion of the tour.

Impact

Typeface

The font included as one of the bonus features on the CD single and the enhanced CD version of ''Sound Museum'', and can be seen on the single cover. It was designed by Tei's long-time collaborative design team, Tycoon Graphics for Graphickers. The font was available for download on Tei's and Minogue's official websites. In 2015, American artist Cory Arcangel used the font for a merchandising sweatshirt of the group Wet and claimed he had been "crazy" for the font since it came out. "It's a sick classic vector techno font, and super rare these days," he told ''The Fader''. He then used it several times for artworks, including some drawings at his 2011 exhibition at Whitney Museum of American Art. "I've always wanted to use it to make a shirt for a pop group... one pop group used to advertise the next."
Japanese graphic designer group Enlightenment, who created the icon illustration for the single cover, released a lyric video of the track in 2013.

Formats and track listings

*UK CD single #1
#"GBI" (Radio Edit) – 3:31
#"GBI" (The Sharp Boys Deee-Liteful Dub) – 8:58
#"Boldline" – 2:40

*UK CD single #2
#"GBI" (Radio Edit)– 3:31
#"GBI" ( Rekut) – 8:15
#"GBI" ( Ebony Boogie Down Mix) – 5:14

*UK cassette single
#"GBI" (Radio Edit) – 3:31
#"GBI (German Bold Italic)" – 6:58

*Australia and Japan CD single;
#"Intro" – 0:26
#"GBI" (Radio Edit) – 4:17
#"GBI" (Ebony Boogie Down Mix) – 5:14
#"BMT" (SP-1200 Remix) – 4:23
#"GBI" (Rekut) – 8:15
#"GBI" (German Bold Light Mix) – 2:49

* Japan double 12" single
#"GBI" (Radio Edit) – 4:17
#"GBI" (Kylie-pella) – 1:40
#"BMT" (SP-1200 Remix) – 4:23
#"Boldline" – 2:40
#"GBI" (Ebony Boogie Down Mix) – 5:14
#"GBI" (Rekut) – 8:15

Personnel

Credits adapted from the CD single liner notes:

* Towa Tei songwriting, production, arrangement, editor, drum and keyboard programing, art director
* Kylie Minogue vocals, songwriting
* Haruomi Hosono vocals
* Hideki Matsutake additional synthesizer manipulations

* Takeshi Fujii additional synthesizer manipulations
* Fernando Aponte mixing engineer
* Bobby Hata mastering engineer
* Tycoon Graphics for Graphickers art director, designer
* Hiro Sugiyama (Enlightenment) for Graphickers icon illustrator

Charts

Release history

Notes

References

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{{authority control

1997 singles
1997 songs
Kylie Minogue songs
Music videos directed by Stéphane Sednaoui
Songs written by Kylie Minogue
Songs written by Towa Tei
Towa Tei songs
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