I find a lot of blog discussion by westerners about Japanese electro to lack any level of comprehension of the music as anything other than an imperialist export that’s merely emulated by some cargo cult-esque fanbase. I’m not very good at writing from an “educational perspective” about music, but here’s a couple recent favorites that I doubt you’ll see very many other places (although I’d love to be wrong).
80kidz are a band who’ve been mostly over-promoted for a handful of remixes done for American and European acts, but I’m posting them here for a reason: half of their output (and some of their best work) has been remixes for Japanese acts that people never bother to track down. This remix is pretty much my favorite thing they’ve ever done, made all the better for its adaptation of an otherwise lukewarm alternative pop track by the utterly mediocre (and incongruously English proficient) Bennie Becca.
Clazziquai Project - Kiss Kiss Kiss (Yasutaka Nakata Remix)This brand new remix by Yasutaka Nakata (more famously known for Capsule) of Clazziquai Project is another huge pop-leaning banger from a less unexpected source – he’s a well known pop producer in Japan, working with the likes of model Kate Sakai (as Coltemonikha), MEG, Ami Suzuki, and a teen pop group I’m somewhat embarassed to be such a huge fan of, Perfume.
AMWE - Friction Between The Lovers
AMWE - Red Fascination
AMWE is pretty new to me and I confess to not knowing a heck of a lot about her other than she’s fond of early 80s New York post-punk and showed up on Heartsrevolution‘s somewhat recent Hearts Nippon EP remixing “Dance Till Dawn.” Her own material is a little broader than that association might lead you to believe, and the above are my two favorite tracks from her debut EP I AM AMWE. She’s actually more focused on an international product than some of her contemporaries, with a single out on Pure Groove and more focused on her association with Kitsune than on being a traditional idol singer.
immi - Alice
immi - Ups And Downs (The Samos Remix)
immi - Local Train -Canon TV-CM Song- (JETBIKINI Mix)
I have a feeling this one’s going to get me a lot of yawns via email from the readers of this blog, but immi is a pretty good example of outward-looking pop music that does some interesting synthesis with influences like Kylie, Daft Punk, and such. Its worth noting that JETBIKINI, featured above, is one of her two producers and is primarily known for working with her.
Hey, this blog entry couldn’t be more right! There’s so many mind-blowing Japanese acts that are under the radar in the West because people are either too lazy or too blinkered to look them up. It’s your loss if you neglet bands like Shiina Ringo, Supercar, Immi, Aira Mitsuki, The Pillows, Boom Boom Satellites, Puffy, School Food Punishment ect.
I’m totally in love with Supercar, for sure, but I’m not sure I can get behind you on Aira Mitsuki. Terukado’s production is so poor and derivative on half her songs, to the point of even half-assedly nicking Daft Punk and Justice songs nearly whole cloth. Justice especially, he even named the song after them. The good ones don’t quite make up for the bad yet.
I’ll post the one Aira song I DO really like in my next post, however.