Apologies, I couldn’t think of a relevant/wacky photo to put at the top of this week’s edition. Based on the lineup facing us this week, I was leaning towards some sort of terrified face or a video of Hank Hill screaming “bwahhhh” on loop. Instead, we go with the boring option.
Hey! Say! JUMP “Super Delicate”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7fy2AoTxmY”]
Nearly every week, some Johnny’s group occupies at least one spot on this feature and I am forced to become a typing loop. Save for the rare instance where one of these outfits stumble across something OK to listen, I usually spend my time talking about how terrible KAT-TUN or Kanjani8 or Sexy Zone or whatever the hell else collection of relatively non-threatening males the Johnny’s folks assembled this year. I am more than a broken record at this point – I am record who has had multiple hammers smashed onto its surface before having a jug of gasoline poured on it and being lit ablaze.
Which is why, starting with this bad Hey! Say! JUMP song with a ridiculous name (“Super Delicate” sums up this group pretty well, though), I am instituting a new rule to Station To Station: unless the Johnny’s act in question this week has a good song or is doing something interesting or is newsworthy, I will simply write “this is bad” and then share one Japanese artists who isn’t bad because there are only so many ways to say “this company blows>.” Plus, maybe some stray SMAP fans will stumble across the post, click the music I provide and be won over!
So, how about that “Super Delicate?” This is bad.
Know what isn’t bad? The new Psychic Feelings EP from Occult You, which dropped for free two days ago and has been rocking my world ever since. Get it here.
Porno Graffitti “2012 Spark”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5T7tHohBXQ”]
The obnoxious intro hints at a possible switch-up in sound for Porno Graffitti, but then that big chuggin’ guitar rips in and everything is back to normal with these guys. The verses have a nice sway to them, but the chorus is typical overblown J-Rock fare. Porno Graffitti aren’t even content with that decadence – they add a string section to the song later, and it’s so ridiculous it almost comes back around to being good. Almost.
Miwa “Kataomoi”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKNu7fmaPnc”]
Miwa’s sudden rise to the top of the Oricon charts last year made for a great story when combined with her back story. Cliffnotes version – schoolgirl works part-time jobs to save up enough scratch to buy a guitar, even though her school doesn’t allow them. She does this anyway and at the age of 20 she releases a debut album that makes history by reaching the pinnacle of the charts, making Miwa the first Heisei-born singer to do that. In 2011, she was the underdog even jerks like me could root for because her first album had a handful of good songs.
Now in 2012 she’s not a Cinderella story, but rather firmly entrenched in the world of J-Pop, so now her story can’t score brownie points. New single “Kataomoi” translates to “Unrequited Love” and I am pretty sure it states in the Japanese constitution that J-Pop songs with melancholy titles have to be ballads full of Disney-apeing sparkle sounds. Miwa actually starts OK, the first verse being a relatively sparse (well, until the violin creeps in) build that leads to a nice pre-chorus vocal flex. Then come the sparkles, which signal this is about to enter bad territory. And it does, but Miwa pulls a nifty trick near the end of the chorus, suddenly raising her voice up for a couple lines in a way that I didn’t see coming and was surprised how much I liked. From there, it’s pretty standard balladry…and like most mainstream ballads in Japan, one that goes on too long…but Miwa does just enough to avoid being a bore. She’s not quite as plucky now, but I am still rooting for her.
YUKI “Joy”
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlqF3EilesI”]
YUKI put out a best of album recently, which explains why she’s appearing on Music Station for the second-straight week to perform an old song. “Joy” takes us back to the year 2005, though it sounds a lot like 2007 single “Wonder Line” which popped up last week. Not a bad thing – both songs are skippy numbers that aren’t terribly complex but catchy without ever being grating.
L’Arc～en～Ciel Special Medley
Ehhhhh not this week.
Winner Of The Week – Miwa.