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Tag Archives: twee as fuck

What’s Indie-Popping: Juvenile Juvenile, Swahili Words And Radio Friends

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“In all honesty, its about time the rock kids got their forward-looking tear-it-up moment: the indie world of the past decade has been far too content to strum its way comfortably along, going nowhere. But one side deserves the other, and there’s every chance that during the next few years we’ll need more of that homespun pop– not professional bedwetters like the Decemberists, but more of that proud, decentralized underground. If you’re young and starry-eyed, here’s your chance to get in ahead of the game: Grab a cheap guitar or a cheap keyboard, a four-track or a boombox, and make what you can. Someone, somewhere, will love you for it.”

– Nitsuh Abebe, “Twee As Fuck”

Looks like a bunch of Japanese kids took Abebe’s advice. This year is shaping up to be the year indie-pop music sprung up all over Japan, from Tokyo to Osaka with all sorts of home-sprung twee projects popping up every week. This last week, I’ve stumbled across three, with a little help from Gay Vegan Vinyl Cassette. Osaka’s Juvenile Juvenile further confirms what fellow Osaka outfit Wallflower kicked off – that The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart might be one of the most important bands in terms of getting this new wave of indie-pop rolling. “The Picture” darts ahead on the same feedback-glazed guitars The Pains rely on, while the singing sound like someone studied every vocal detail of The Pains’ debut. A little better is the afternoon sunburn of “Wish You Were My Song,” which moves a little slower and with a little more twee-appropriate mope. And peep that guitar solo!

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/42724093″ iframe=”true” /]

Osaka seems to be the center of this twee revival, as the dreamier Swahilli Words also call that place home. “You Came Back Again” lacks the sunny-day bop found even in Juvenile Juvenile’s sadder song, instead opting for frowny-face looking back soundtracked by a gentle beat, some sparse guitar and some keyboard plinking. For those who want to look out a dew-stained window and think about women you’ve never talked to.

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Last, Radio Friends from Niigata. Of these three bands, they bend closest to the strand of 80’s UK twee that set the stage for the American indie-pop scene of the early 90’s. Which is to say, Radio Friends could have been on that fabled C86 tape that set everything in motion with a jaunty number like “Sometimes.”

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/42881520″ iframe=”true” /]

New Lilacs: “Walk The Path I’ve Laid”

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Over at the Make Believe Tumblr, I put together a bit of an intro to Japanese indie-pop in 2012. Seems like twee-tinged music has been having a bit of moment this year, with more artists popping up online every week and new digital labels sneaking into the picture. Why this is happening I don’t know – does everyone have an unrequited crush at the moment?…but it has been nice. Aichi’s Lilacs join in on this jangly trend with “Walk The Path I’ve Laid,” a pollen-covered piece of late-afternoon pop just waiting to soundtrack your next melancholic walk through the park on a Monday afternoon. Listen below, or click here.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/42331918″ iframe=”true” /]

Feel It: BOYISH And Daisyblue’s Gentle Breeze EP

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Indie-pop artists aren’t necessarily expected to grow in their careers, at least not the ones adhering to the style first introduced in the mid 80s. Twee music, after all, is the domain of everlasting youth, a place where the troubles of the adult world get ignored for Indian summers and days spent thinking about crushes. It also helps that most indie-pop bands tend to not stick along very long.

BOYISH, up until now, had one pretty good song in “Cupid” and a handful of rougher demos that didn’t show much promise beyond being another bedroom-based songwriter in a country overflowing with them. Yet BOYISH shows tremendous growth on the recently released Gentle Breeze EP, a split work alongside another indie-popper named Daisyblue. His older recordings seemed like fragile sketches, the sort of skinny music that would be lost forever to a mild gust of wind. Opener “Waiting In Summer,” though, introduces a more thought-out BOYISH, one still clinging to the basic principles of twee (easy-peasy guitar strumming and basic beat) but now a bit braver when it comes to actual song construction. “Waiting In Summer” plays more with tempo and sounds fuller than anything that came before it. The other new BOYISH song here, “Sunshot,” runs much briefer but highlights BOYISH’s pop sensibility well. It’s not perfect – the vocals remain clouded by everything else, the Bandcamp tag saying “dream pop” but the effect shows a lack of confidence in singing – but is such a step up that BOYISH now deserves to have an eye trained on him.

Daisyblue, meanwhile, makes better use of the “dreamy” tag, the singing on the two songs from them on Gentle Breeze being light enough to melt away unlike BOYISH’s gruffer tone. “Framing” would be a very pleasant bit of pop if it ran two minutes, but wears out its welcome at six, making it the only obvious misfire on the EP. “Summery Film,” though, is pure prettiness. Daisyblue introduces a melted-popsicle synth and a violin to his swirly pop, and it lends the song a touch of psych-rock that makes it fun to get caught up in. Plus, it knows when to bow out. Listen to the EP below, or download it here.

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The Pains Of Being Like The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart: Wallflower’s “Cure Your Heart”

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Late last week, American indie-pop outfit The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart tweeted about “Cure Your Heart,” a new song from Osaka outfit Wallflower. Makes sense for a couple reasons, most prominently being that Wallflower opened for the Slumberland group during their recent Japanese tour. Yet Wallflower also chase after the same hazy Polaroid influences The Pains have over their career, devoutly playing sounds straight from the Sarah Records offices of the mid 80’s. “Cure Your Heart,” then, presents an interesting study in influences – The Pains have been knocked/celebrated for being so faithful to their twee origins. Wallflower, relatively new to the scene, seemingly channels The Pains (the vocal similarities, for one), making this a copy of a copy of a pastel cardigan. Feel weird?

There is a good discussion buried somewhere in this situation, but it would be like bringing up politics at an outing to a water park. “Cure Your Heart” is a bouncy bit of indie-pop that is tough to frown at while it’s playing, all warm guitar and fuzzy vocals filtered through a shoegaze gauze. Coupled with a perfect release time – spring is finally starting to bloom in Japan – and Wallflower have made an enjoyable piece of pop. Listen below.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/41203674″ iframe=”true” /]

New TalkingCity1994: “My Jenifer”

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TalkingCity1994’s I Can Feel Your Soul was a constantly chugging affair. That’s not to imply it was 20 minutes of non-stop aggression, but even the lighter moments, moving forward on old-arcade-machine synths, moved with intent. The band’s latest track, “My Jenifer,” isn’t an about-face into ambient music, but it finds TalkingCity1994 moving a lot slower than anything on I Can Feel Your Soul, and sounding very sweet. The keyboards go a long way to establishing this mood, more subtly used than on most of the EP’s songs. If anything, “My Jenifer” has less in common with the home-made pop of John Maus and feels more indebted to nostalgic indie-pop, the only thing really making you think twice about that tag is the electronics smeared over this. Listen below.

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