This song, held down by two six-year-old kids and a talking dog, sold more singles than a few AKB48 and Girls’ Generation songs…and neither of those groups had a quiet 2011. This tune went double platinum in ringtone sales, introduced the world to a Macarena-aping dance and now holds the record for longest charting single…released…
10. Avec Avec “Kuzuha No Sunday” I’ve been told the Kansai region of Japan has always had an electronic music scene. Yet 2011 felt like a beginning, or at the very least a boom, for forward-thinking electronic sounds. Gravitating around several labels and events, artists like Madegg, Seiho and And Vice Versa started flooding SoundClound…
20. The Brixton Academy “Two Shadows United” The Brixton Academy have always played the role of overly earnest nightclub crawlers, guys who love evenings out on the town but also aren’t good at bottling up all those icky emotions, prone to letting them shoot out like just-uncorked champagne. Whereas Kido Yoji distracts from his ennui…
30. Michiyo Honda “Paradise Lost” J-Pop remains an easy punching bag in 2011 because most of the criticism lobbed at Japanese mainstream music ring true. A large chunk of acts crowding the upper reaches of the Oricon chart are 90’s holdovers with appropriately bland tunes. Labels seem to be in an arms race to see…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv4gUdn6Lcc”] The fact this didn’t go even more viral is a sign society needs to be reset and we should all start over. Amazing on at least four levels.