New Metoronori: Meteor

I’m writing up this post on a day where the Internet…or at least major pockets of it…went wild over a couple of big pop-music releases that hit the web today. First was the video for Ciara’s “Body Party” (which we can’t even watch in Japan) and then a new single by Janelle Monáe. And even more people are drooling at the promise of a new Beyoncé song coming sometime soon. It’s all a result of living in a post-poptimist world where chart-topping musicians who were once derided for simply being popular are now celebrated critically too. It’s a great development…and has allowed the likes of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Perfume and Momoiro Clover Z to grab a little Western attention…and mostly a net good.

Yet sometimes I feel the new emphasis on celebrating pop music means weirder stuff can get lost. Metoronori makes a very very different type of pop from what normally gets GIFed on Tumblr…this is homemade stuff practically put together with tape and paper clips, always seemingly one bend away from breaking apart. Meteor is this Tokyo-based makers second album of fragile, jittery pop, and it’s every bit as good as last month’s Mawari. Her music here is mostly minimalist electronic beats and synths, all while her lightly dusted voice sings over it, but in a way where she’s not trying to stand out but rather slide into the song away from view. On “すい- ブレン ドンク” words barely come out of her mouth. She also works in instrumentals like the tranquil “Okue.” It’s a stranger creature than, say, the latest will.i.am album, but every bit as interesting as anything on a major label (and I mean this in the best way possible). Get it here, or listen below.