Should someone tell them that the lyrics to 'Alouette' (a very cruel song about plucking a lark) are not 'gentil plumerais' but 'je te plumerai' ('I will pluck you')? But that would be making the mistake of thinking 'content' as we know it matters here, and it doesn't. This is conceptual, silly, funny performance art. However, I have to say I think Phirip does this much better because she's more experimental and less saccharine:

http://www.imomus.com/phiripshout.avi

There's some genuine strangeness in Phirip's performance, especially in the juxtaposition of her bad girl shouts with the traditional tea house setting, whereas Kiiiiii's majorette march is just a mildly kitsch reference to the 'cute fascism' of the high school parade ground.

"No, everyone, watch the crazy Japanese girl music on MY website!!! This art-school girl act is even weirder and therefore better! You see everyone in the room not enjoying it? That means it's better and more arty!" - Momus.

i'm not so sure that "better" can really apply here.
is a green apple better then a red apple?
is family market better then lawsons?
is melon-pan better then melon!?
ok, i just wanted to type melon-pan. i love that stuff! when i think of kiiiiii, i think of melon-pan.
at the end of the day, i'm bias though. i know kiiiiiii. don't know phirip.

Well, now you're all being very Japanese here, you can't say much because you're connected to the band... like the Japanese prime minister is to his 'band'. I just find it a bit ironic that the accusations about Japanese 'lack of content' have all disappeared when it comes to Kiiiiii and their misreading of 'Aloutte', although the general anti-Japanese tone continues in the line about 'will this change the future bureaucracy?' This is the Achilles heel of the Marxy argument -- in the end the Japanese culture you're endorsing is a lot weaker than the Japanese culture you're attacking. It's a bit like Alex Kerr with his attacks on postmodern Japanese cities -- he then builds this traditional Japanese showhouse on some island, and it's a dump.

No, Momus. I just thought your comment was ridiculous and childish because you are judging Kiiiiiii even though you've never seen a whole performance. I know I'll never have the same earthshaking good taste and keen eye for art as you, but I'm not going to start laying down a definitive opinion on Phirip from the 10 secs of that video.

I am connected to Kiiiiiii because I like Kiiiiiii.

I think Kiiiiiii has content, but I don't know if "Alouette" is exactly the shining example. There's a whole story to their performance act, and it is a lot deeper than just singing silly songs. But why should you think about things like this when you can just judge the band from across the globe from a 40 sec clip of one song!

Also, is it "anti-Japanese" to note that Tokyo University is the primary source of all government bureaucrats? I think that is called "a fact," not a slander. (Also, find me a Japanese person who still thinks the bureaucracy does a good job!)

You are the world's most confusing philospher.

One more thing:

This is the Achilles heel of the Marxy argument -- in the end the Japanese culture you're endorsing is a lot weaker than the Japanese culture you're attacking.

I will go to my grave thinking that Shugo Tokumaru, Kiiiiiii. and Plus-Tech Squeeze Box are a lot better pop acts than Glay, Shaka Labbits, and Morning Musume. I also find Tanaka Yasuo a more reasonable politician than Ishihara Shintaro. I don't particularly pick on experimental people like Phirip, because I think they have the right to exist. I do criticize the Jpop machine, because it has been better in the past.

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