Sakanaction’s new single “Rookie” features everything you’d expect a popular, young J-Rock group to cram into a song: guitars, bass, drums, vocals, all the usual suspects that make mainstream rock music in this country oftentimes cookie-cutter and bland. Yet Sakanaction have already proven they are ahead of the curve, and “Rookie” hurls all of those elements into a really blinky wormhole. This is the band’s “electronica” moment, the number where an Underworld comparison becomes mandatory, for a good reason. “Rookie” certainly isn’t a Friendly-Fires-like “rock meets dance” creature, dance-punk’s nerdy cousin tacking on bright electronics over what could have been a regular rock number. The majority of this single depends on the looping blasts of electronics rising constantly, and hey check out those instances where it’s nothing but charging, big beat drums. Pretty much writes the “Born Slippy” reference sentence by itself (though here ya go anyway). Yet despite all the dance-music flourishes “Rookie” certainly wouldn’t be posting up at the club bar, because the whole thing is a bit too weird for the floor. This track opens with only those electro loops and vocals that trip over themselves into eternity before those relentless beats take command and…everything just blooms. I don’t even know what to make of the part late featuring what might be seagulls. “Rookie” is adventurous stuff from a J-Rock crew like Sakanaction, and a signal of depth from the group. More J-Rock artists who actually get on TV…be like this.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdWX0IDhbCU”]
(Thanks to SparkPlugged for posting this)