Shiina Ringo is celebrating 15 years as a solo recording artist with the release of several live CDs/DVDs this week and a special collaboration album. We’ve seen her videos with Towa Tei and Soil and “Pimp” Sessions earlier this year, but her collaboration with producer Yasutaka Nakata was one of her most anticipated tracks on this album.
“Netsuai Hakkakuchu” features a lot of the same EDM tricks Nakata has been playing with recently with J-pop idols Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, including the random dubstep drop he’s included in every single he’s produced this year. However, it’s Ringo’s classic shibuya-kei vocals that make this song stand out. Plus you get to see her be a major bad ass in this video.
Ukina is available now at CD Japan and also includes collaborations with J-Rock favorites Mo’some Tonebender and Zazen Boys.
Seeing as I took this week off of work, I figured I should probably get going on those best of 2011 posts. J-Pop Moment was supposed to be an irregular feature, but it looks like I only got around to posting one in 2011. Since that’s just not cool I decided I should put together a J-Pop wrap up for the year.
Towa Tei with Yukihiro Takahashi & Kiko Mizuhara- “The Burning Plain”
As an avid DVD collector, Towa Tei had me at “you just set up the DVD I’ve waited to see.” And then model Kiko Mizuhara chimes in with the chorus and it’s LOVE. I haven’t seen The Burning Plain (I hear Charlize Theron is naked in it) but I’ll pick it up when I see it in the bargain bins. (CD Japan/Play-Asia)
The togo wearing Salyu has had her tasers set to “impress” these past few months. First her triumphant return to Lily Chou-Chou in December and now her forthcoming Cornelius produced album s(o)un(d)beams. On ただのともだち (Just A Friend), Salyu sheds her J-Pop princess persona for something a little more mature (with handclaps!). I guess that’s why she’s releasing this album under the name Salyu x Salyu and not Salyu.
s(o)un(d)beams will be released March 23. Pre-order at CD Japan. Another interesting footnote, this album was co-written by Shintaro Sakamoto of the psychedelic rock band Yura Yura Teikoku. All this talent! If the above video wasn’t enough, there’s three more versions below.
Over the past week, I’ve had a certain J-Pop song stuck in my head. I couldn’t remember the name, but I remembered it had a cutesy chorus and ultra fast verses. So I stayed up late last night sorting through my J-Pop collection and finally found it.
Usually it takes me a few weeks to catch up on the latest Seth Macfarlane shows, but I found myself watching Sunday’s American Dad late last night. It was going swimmingly mediocre until Future Stan breaks out some “Japanese Funk.” Yes, Perfume makes their American debut on a Fox animated sitcom. I knew the song sounded familiar but couldn’t put my finger on it. Luckily Japanator already pointed out who it was.
Perfume is of a course the J-Pop trio produced by Yasutaka Nakata of capsule. The song is cute and the beat is catchy, even if it’s very reminiscent of a certain Supercar song. It’s a nice mixture of techno-pop and shibuya-kei.
In honor of my 23rd birthday, J-Pop Moment is highlighting “Birthday” by Abe Fuyumi. Unfortunately, the full length video I favorited on YouTube months ago was deleted so here’s the abridged version. But I assure you the rest of the video is more of her walking in the snow.
“Birthday” is taken from Abe’s mini-album Birthday whichwas released last December. This song fits in the “beautiful but depressing” genre. Of course it doesn’t help that the entire video is Abe walking around in complete darkness with the occasional snow flake falling. It makes me sad dammit. And the same goes for the other songs on this mini-album. Abe lists Sarah Mclachlan as in influence, which is no surprise to me as she very much sounds like a Japanese version of Sarah Mclachlan.
It’s been a year since we last heard a new single from the HALCALI girls. I hate to say that the girls matured, but “Endless Night” is backed by a dark, brooding beat that puts me in a nice depressed mood. Of course that mood was somewhat offset watching Haruka and Yukari’s goofy dance moves in this video. It’s quite polarizing.
J-Rock Explosion 