Figured Me Out: LISTEN UP’s “小さな汽車と花」”春の声”

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2E3lvgZ7WA”]

Heads up – this blog might be converted into a site devoted to avant Hungarian jazz sometime in the coming week just to throw you all off my trail.

Background – Neaux recently tweeted about the band LISTEN UP’s new single, saying it sounds like the sort of indie J-Pop I’d be into. And…he’s completely right! “小さな汽車と花」”春の声” does, in fact, do everything skinny-ass indie music needs to do to get me writing and feeling slightly whimsical about life. Which is to say – lay down a really simple guitar-driven melody and sprinkle some bloopity-bloop electronic noises over it to add some spice. Bam, welcome to my WordPress dashboard! The single’s biggest weakness is just plain genericness – this easily could be another easy-going bit of toothless rock from the latest magazine-ready J-Rock outfit with a few minor tweaks. Yet LISTEN UP deserve credit for doing a few tricks the mainstream types wouldn’t be keen to sell…did I mention the bloopity-bloops?….and crafting an overall nice, sweet bit of indie pop. Definitely fits nicely around these parts.

That is, until we become the NEW destination for all your frat rap needs.