So let’s cover the obvious angle on this first…“Bach No Senritsu Wo Yoru Ni Kiita Sei Desu” serves as the latest testament to Sakanaction’s continual mastery of dance-music elements. They’ve been sneaking in things on singles and songs well before 2010, but last year’s “Identity” seemed like a bit of a breakthrough, the band’s best melding of J-Rock sales smarts with dancefloor bits. Then Sakanaction pretty much hit a career high with this year’s “Rookie,” a track I feel like I didn’t really celebrate right the first time. Nabbing a few ideas from Underworld, Sakanaction created their biggest single to date, a frenetic ball of pulses that manages to sound like very very little else in the contemporary J-Rock world that still manages to be something I heard booming from a giant soundsystem at a huge flea market in Osaka. “Bach” doesn’t quite reach the peaks of “Rookie,” but it’s still damn catchy – four-on-the-floor beat covered in laser lights that turns into a great chorus then that morphs into this strange little electric strut vibe. Great little song, which isn’t shocking considering on the winning streak these guys are on.
Something that might get lost in the conversation…how funny this track is. This comes across most obviously via the video, a clip that despite dealing with the same heavy themes found in the “Rookie” vid (self-identity, confusion), features a bunch of goofy dummies and some Vaudeville-esque dance routines. The actual music of “Bach” also seems a little more loose…whereas “Rookie” wants to be huge, this song has flair, Sakanaction deciding to have some fun around the house on a weekend and dance around. Yet the best part ends up being the little nods to the titular classical composer – the way the piano just appears at time, even for just a second, before the regular song kicks back in. Slightly surreal. Watch below.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZbXHt3xPr8″]