The poorly-named outfit Bebecut.toca recently teamed up with often-robotized √thumm lead singer Lio to record a song both for their debut album and for a Hook Up Records compilation album. Now a cursory listen to Bebecut.toca’s music reveals a group sorta exploring the same indie techno-pop territory √thumm does, all gum-drop electronics owing a bit of a debt to club music. Yet whereas √thumm go all-in with their pop-obsession with glorious teeth-rotting results, Bebecut.toca mostly seem to open their songs with rushes of digital noise before sliding into ho-hum J-Rock territory. They refuse to become pop cyborgs, content to just let their cooky selection of keyboards act as musical accessories before they dive into good ol’ rock. Good ol’ boring rock.
Look, I’m writing about this because of Lio and √thumm. “チャーリー＆Bob’s” opens with Bebecut.toca’s best digi-flourishes and even has this bit where everything cuts out and this sweet little piano creeps in. Unfortunately, this nice touch leads to nothing exciting, just some generic singing. Lio’s role ends up being backing vocal, her vocodered voice adding a nice touch to otherwise generic stuff but also not being nearly enough to save this track. All this song makes me want is more √thumm. Listen here.