[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Or658kO8eI”]
Headline says everything, nothing else needed.
Via the Perfume City Twitter feed.
Category Archives: J-Pop
New Salyu: “青空”
Call me cynical, but this sounds like the label-mandated “hit” Salyu probably would have to release following the staggering experimentation of her Salyu X Salyu project with Cornelius. Whereas that album remains one of 2011’s better surprises, this new song finds Salyu returning to her singular past, a near ballad full of strings and shuffling noises that makes me think of Christmas despite the fact my calendar screams “July.” It’s a return to form for Salyu, this sounding like all the non-soaring singles she released prior to her Bjork moment.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Rh8GQrM4A”]
Which means the song would come off like just another waste of Salyu’s potential back in 2010. Yet here, in the summer of 2011, “青空” especially clanks because it has the unfortunate shift of following up Salyu X Salyu. Whereas two years ago this would just be boring, her new single sounds absolutely pathetic after an album where Cornelius sliced her voice up like molecules under a microscope and poked them into ear-bending patterns. “青空” is the equivalent of looking at a rock with a magnifying glass. The biggest let-down post S(o)un(d)beams seems to be Salyu’s voice. Usually her pipes could save an otherwise mediocre J-Pop number but here they sound tethered down, no longer free to take off. Again, this stinks of corporate-minded money making, a “safe” song bound to inspire some mom driving her kid to juku to…I guess buy multiple copies of it? Musically though, this is the worst sort of return to form.
Station To Station: Music Station For June 24 Featuring KARA, L’Arc～en～Ciel And Atsuko Maeda
Before we jump into this week’s platter of pop, a few more thoughts on perfume444. Earlier this week, dude met Perfume and basically had all his dreams come true. I blathered on about how he stood out as a beacon of honesty in an online world of shitty shitty irony, but I did a thought exercise the other day and realized if he was, say, akb444 I almost certainly wouldn’t feel the same way. Rather, I’d probably be like “hey, look at the weirdo super fan!” I think I don’t do that with perfume444 probably because I really really like Perfume at an unhealthy level for a 23-year-old dude. Heck, the past two weeks of my life have been lame as concrete brownies and I’ve been listening to a lot of Perfume to cheer myself up. Basically, I could be perfume444. Still kinda touching though!
KARA “Go Go Summer!”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-BsDMuRjxg”]
Already talked about this obvious attempt at SUMMER JAM 2011 last week, and seven days leaves me feeling the same as before – a few interesting ideas get touched upon, but this eventually turns into a surprisingly middle-of-the-road K-Pop joint (note the K, not J). As much as I don’t want to embrace this song, though, I hate to admit that as the weather has turned from rainy to full-on hot that chorus has sometimes gotten lodged in my head while taking a stroll around town. Curse you lovely weather!
The one new addition is a proper video, and this is where KARA really rises above Girls’ Generation in my book. KARA just has the better…albeit goofier at times…clips and “Go Go Summer!” sure has some silly bits. The premise is…KARA don’t want to sit around the house staring at fans all day, so they decide to go to the sea. Cue magical sea shell that grows really big and teleports them…and a really cute dog who should be featured a bit more…to a beach where the group can run around in cut-off jeans and play with bubble wands. They also sit in front of a pool shaped like the band’s name which doesn’t look very good for swimming! Just watch it, I got a kick out of it.
Nishino Kana “Alright”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDeEypWCqU0″]
Sorry, only a slight taste of this one. When somebody tells you “everything will be alright,” doesn’t that just make you feel even worse about everything? Like, I know you are trying to make me feel upbeat but with such a vague statement why even bother saying anything? It just isn’t all that sincere. Nishino Kana’s latest feels like the aural equivalent of that limp-wristed pick-me-up, trying to touch on past glory but just not having the same punch. Nishino has always been one of the sneakier sirens of modern-day J-Pop, managing to skirt the line between lifeless ballad and popping R&B excellently, but “Alright” is a bit of a stumble. It’s aiming to be a “don’t worry, be happy” kinda track, but feels lifeless for an artist usually good at pumping energy into her music. Next time take them to Jamba Juice or something.
Hey! Say! JUMP “OVER”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2NjEoFhoBM”]
Arrrrrghhhhh wrote about this before and it still blows so much. When will these bastards hit puberty and get gangly and unpopular?
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2LNcBn5dFg”]
Atsuko Maeda “Flower”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-H45ZAV6N4″]
So let’s not spend much time on back story…AKB48 member Atsuko Maeda won the annual election deciding who the most popular member of this should-be sonic terrorist organization the other week and oh my goodness I can’t type anymore. I mean, I’d be OK if the AKB48 elections were like, I don’t know, the Kid’s Choice Awards, a harmless diversion for 11-year-old humans who just want to see Jim Carey win for Best Fart. Yet this sham of democracy actually got real legitimate media attention in Japan and oh my goodness humanity why. Anyway, Maeda’s prize for winning this most likely staged election is the privilege of releasing an insipid single upon the world all her own.
“Flower” moves at a very un-AKB pace, and to be honest it sounds a lot better than the last proper AKB48 single…yet something something lesser of two evils something something. Still, it’s a languid almost-ballad, moving as slow as a Southern summer with absolutely no destination in mind. The video hints at this being a big ‘ol melancholic hug-about but it just sounds lazy. All “Flower” proves is that…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrtLjWb0Fmo”]
L’Arc～en～Ciel “GOOD LUCK MY WAY”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO6QBwjU1zo”]
Whoa! Those strings opening up this song actually sound really cool. Like, I could just listen to them for ten minutes and probably be really happy. Unfortunately, they only last so long before a so-so chugging rock song interrupts the prettiness. Those lovely strings try to push through later, but get mostly drowned out by howling. Wasted opportunity, I do say.
Winner Of The Week – Man, I don’t even like it that much but has to be KARA, the competition is too weak.
Controlled Karaoke: Perfume Meets perfume444
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj0LPfbwdrw”]
Remember perfume444? For a split second a few months ago, the dude who recorded videos of himself geeking out about Japan’s premier techno-pop Pixie Sticks Perfume became a slight meme for a “creepy” video he did. This resulted in a series of videos that, honestly, oozed with a type of earnestness that barely exists in the badlands of the Internet. Seriously…I understand why people would make fun of the guy but I’m also drawn to his total lack of irony amidst a digital sea of cheap humor often bordering on the mean spirited (hell, half the time I don’t even know if what I write on Twitter is what I believe in).
Well, in what serves as a rare happy ending, perfume444 says he managed to meet Perfume at the Cars 2 premier in Hollywood and he made a video about it. Yes, you do have to turn off your lolz sensors for this, but at the heart of it is a guy actually achieving one of his dreams and being pretty ecstatic about it. Watch it below.
Station To Station: Music Station For June 17 Featuring KARA, KinKi Kids and Miwa
Vancouver Canucks fans appear to be the AKB48 geeks of the hockey world, caring about something that isn’t really all that important to an insane degree. I’d love to see the otaku turn Akihabara into a smoldering apocalypse. Anyway, before we dive into this week’s feature, spend some time with Ian Martin‘s and James Hadfield‘s reviews of the new AKB48 album. Great reads, although if you are anything like me they sorta just make me want to hear the damn thing MORE than before. Maybe I’m broken though.
KARA “Go Go Summer!”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bqeLrWfPTs”]
Now this one is really tricky to decode. KARA open their latest single – one unabashedly aiming to be THE SUMMER JAM OF JAPAN 2011 EDITION – with a slowly unfolding singing bit hiding a telephone conversation (or 911 dispatch?) before exploding into color. “Go Go Summer!” transforms into a Euro-pop club headache, four-on-the-floor beats grinding against glowstick synths. It’s the sort of song that would be easy to rally behind as an example of Western pop trumping Japan’s version – until the song goes a bit deeper in and everything sort of blends together into what one could call typical J-Pop if they felt daring. They even shoehorn a dumb guitar solo. What could have been a nice albeit unmemorable bit of pop gets turned into sonic gruel.
Yet, this still sounds a whole lot better than much of the really popular stuff in Japan today? I’m with Hadfield in blaming AKB48 for turning Japanese pop music into something babyish and, above all else, extra shitty. Hell, even Perfume tried to be AKB and dear god why? KARA’s newest single isn’t anything spectacular, but compared to everything else floating around…well, count me in.
KinKi Kids “Time”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyC0gN-DaBs”]
For a split second this sounded like Gil Mantera’s Party Dream, but then didn’t.
I…don’t get this at all. I’ll give KinKi Kids credit for trying out a clanky digital beat, but sometimes experimentation alone isn’t enough to save a song. On “Time,” they treat the stuttering beat like anything else some guy would hand over to them and sing over it super boringly, soaking their voices in some Auto-tune and cramming some strings on top of everything because that equals emotion. Somewhere within this mess lies an interesting idea, but KinKi Kids ultimately take what could have been an interesting twist and acted like a couple of junior-high-school students messing around with I Am T-Pain.
湘南乃風 “睡蓮花”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjz6mvxsZv4″]
Wait, this is kinda old? Whatever.
Oh man, the first minute of this track sounds so good. These guys embrace “Asian” sounds and let them play out like it’s the Tokugawa Period on iPod, with a little rap-shouting eventually bubbling over the top. It’s slow and inviting, a weird curveball of noise that’s probably making me look like an Edward Said case study. Then – they drop pretty much all of that to bounce around and wave towels. Vaguely reggae shouting masks mostly muckheaded energy, and geez some of these dudes shout obnoxiously loudly. I’ll give these bros credit, they fill all seven minutes with music, including a slow section that quickly changes its mind and lunges for the towel one more time for a final manic blast. This song basically attempts to condense an entire summer into a few minutes, and they manage to sneak a few nifty sounds across, but like the actual summer itself the track is marred by the sonic equivalent of sunburn and that headache you get when you eat ice cream too fast.
Superfly “タマシイレボリューション”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2tedgbqJJs”]
Somewhere, the owner of a Gold’s Gym wanders through the dim halls of his establishment, head hung low. For years he’s been sliding either a Kelly Clarkson album or maybe the new CD from Jet into the gym’s audio system everyday, the assortment of roided-up goons and wrinkly retired people getting a little extra motivational push to do just one more bicep curl courtesy of such vaguely energetic and/or inspiring pop. Yet recently they’ve been coming to the owner – “geez man, I’ve heard ‘Extraordinary‘ 20 times in the past week, ya need some new tunes.” He wipes his brow – all he has are these The Fray albums. Those won’t last.
Then…a discovery. While Googling for “generic pump up music to play in a gym,” he finds a Japanese artist with what might be the perfect bit of feel-good pop to soundtrack some housewife at the rowing station. Thanks Superfly, you’ve made the people blasting music into gyms sleep a little easier tonight.
Miwa “441”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjIJ2-WqJKI”]
Go to the ten-minute mark to get the song.
Miwa’s only a few degrees from being the subject of that weird gym story I wrote above, and her music hardly comes off as groundbreaking despite solid sales. Yet despite coming close to falling into all sorts of pop traps, I have to admit I kinda have a soft spot for her music. Yes, “441” will one day serve as the opening music for a dumb drama or melodramatic teen movie, but the thing just bounces along sweetly, Miwa milking the youthfulness of her voice for all it’s worth. Despite being a college student, she’s really figured out how to do this upbeat pop-rock “aunthenticness” thing well.
Winner Of The Week – Gonna go with Miwa over KARA.