a post-blog
in 1973, having survived the national tragedies of vietnam, race riots, drug-crazed counterculture and other affronts to the decent silent majority, there was nothing that America wanted to see more than an ode to the simpler times of the early 1960s, "american graffiti".
when people praise the "simplicity" and "innocence" of that era, they subconsciously long for a time when there was the luxury of no choice. there was only one of everything. one social code to explain all teenage culture. one axis ranging from greaser on the left (Milner/the Farrows) to square on the right (Toad) with the good kids (Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfuss) in the middle. there was one radio station (with one DJ, Wolfman Jack), one race (white [don't tell anyone that Dreyfuss is Jewish...]), one burger joint where everyone meets, one hobby (cars), one drug (alcohol), and one chord progression (I-vi-IV-V).
this was great and easy, and while there was a whole host of problems bubbling under the veneer, there is no era more lionized and glorified in the American collective unconscious than 1955-1964. we must remember that Marty McFly could have gone anywhere in the past in "Back to the Future" but he turns up in late 50s California.
because suddenly, there were black people (oh jeepers, that's one more race to deal with! thanks a lot!) and surfers (the Beach Boys ruined rock'n'roll claims the hotroddin' Milner), and then soon after that, long-haired hippies, a brutal war in Vietnam with greater involvement each passing year, a multitude of choices for substance abuse that grew darker and darker, and a whole host of things to "dig" (like flower power, Leftist politics, and gnarly motorcycle gangs). even the music started braking out of the pre-fab mold of fast-dance Blues-structure or slow-dance "Blue Moon" chords - it started blowing minds.
See original pictures here.
 S/T The Electronic Tomato S.H.A.D.O. |
The Electronic Tomato is Macdonald Duck Eclair working with people from S.H.A.D.O Records in Italy, but between me and you, there isn't much reason to listen to the tracks that the Italians did. Macdonald Duck Eclair are sadly one of Japan's most underrated bands, and this album shows that if they wanted to drop the sugary pop and go head to head with the too-cool-for-school aging hipsters at Escalator Records in the battle for ass-kicking Electropunk, they would win 6-4, 7-5, 6-0. My only fear is that this essentially electroclash album is two years too late, but I like that Toyomu and crew at mdde are hip to the trends outside of Japan - which is becoming a real rarity here these days. Capsule, he-na-choco, Aprils, and even Plus-tech Squeeze Box all grew up in an age when Japanese music was too good to ignore, and all a big chunk of this generation have stopped looking over the horizon for inspiration. Just as well: there are enough Rapture and Strokes copy bands in the West alone. But there is something refreshing about MDDE - the underdogs - making this record and beating the Escalator guys at their own game. Everyone who wants Cubismo Grafico to stop doing FOGA and go back to making Mini-era songs raise your hands. Yeah, that's what i thought... |
 Pan-da! Aprils Softly! | In the same vein as he-na-choco, the formerly Usagi-Chang Records flagship-band Aprils are back with an album-long tribute to the Japanese music of their childhood. Band leader Imai's still got one foot in the world of "all Nord Lead, all the time" electro spacepop, but the new songs "net surf rock" and (the mighty) "Pan-da" are both the closest things to new Flipper's Guitar songs we are ever going to get. And for those who may have complained that this current Shibuya-kei revival only recalls Oyamada/Ozawa, the Aprils threw on a "Pan-da Reprise" which includes some nice Pizzicato Five pastiche PLUS Imai doing a deadpan rap pakuri of Bikke from Tokyo No. 1 Soulset. The songs on this Aprils album almost make me rethink my current revisionist idea that 90s Jpop WASN'T good... in other words, maybe 90s Jpop WAS good, and so bring on more revival. I don't think this album is going to win over the "I was at the Maximum Joy closing party and now my picture is in Relax" set, but fuck 'em. Their role in the world is to go make boring free jazz and things that sound good, but aren't good. Let's leave the sugar sweet pop to the youngsters. The Aprils enlisted popular graphic artist Mori Chack to do the cover and the video graphics for "Pan-da", which rumor has it, will be on the giant jumbotron screen overlooking Shibuya in the near future. It would only be a better world if the people down below were listening to Aprils instead ofnobodyknows+ and their ilk. |
 bewitched! Hazel Nuts Chocolate Trolly Bus | Well, he-na-choco have finally put out their debut album, ending their long reign as Japanese indie's most famous young musicians with no recorded music (Kiiiiiii, you have now won this title). This album certainly is good enough to have justified all the Marquee appearances and special VJ sets at random twee events around the city. While the liner notes give credit to Yuppa for about everything on the album, this more cyncical listener can't help but think that behind the ultra-fancy production is the Wizard of Oz himself - Tomonari Hayashibe of Plus-Tech Squeeze Box. It's not as wild and anarchic as PSB's Cartoom! but boasts the same musical variety and lo-fi vs. hi-fi sensibilties. A release on Osaka's Trolley Bus is worth heavy gold bars of indie cred here in Japan (where the only people who value indie cred are Westerners into the scene), but the album recalls less "neo-shibuya-kei" and more "neo-90s Jpop." but the 90s was when jpop was good and if anyone wants to bring back the rococo melodic savant of Judy and Mary, that's totally fine with me. A Japanese music reviewer with a soft spot for this scene ran into me the other day and asked, "Have you heard the Hazel Nuts album?? It's so cute that I felt a little weird listening to it as a man over 30." I applaud henachoco's over the top henachoco infantilized pop, but surely this is indies for the Pooka set. This album makes me want to have kids, so I can feel okay about listening to it repeatedly. |