Synthesizer

So this particular post has a broadly Japanese theme, although not one I expect to stick to with any kind of rigour.

I can't remember which blog recently brought Tommy February6 to my attention, but I'm fairly happy they did. TF6 is the alter-ego of Japanese singer Tomoko Kawase, who created the character in order to... well, I'm not really sure, it's probably some obscure Japanese reason. Tommy hijacks an 80's synth pop sound and wields it like a bright pink disco sword, and her videos and lyrics both ridicule and glorify the genre: revealing its formulaic style and the false innocence of it's stars, but embracing both at the same time. Which means its OK to listen to her brand of super-fun-teenage-sugary-love-pop because it's sort of like a political statement, innit? 'KISS ONE MORE TIME' (it's all in capital letters, because thats how young people like to live) is an upbeat, synthtastic pop romp. The lyrics (half-English/half-Japanese) make no sense, but they sound fairly good. You can kind of hum along. Anyway, if you secretly like Britney Spears and her ilk, I imagine you'll like TF6.

Perfume are pretty much exactly the same as Tommy February6, but they take it a bit more seriously, and they use Japanese more. The band is made up of three attractive girls from Hiroshima, and their production wizard, who hides in the background and makes their songs sound good. 'パーフェクトスター・パーフェクトスタイル' (Perfect Star/Perfect Style - you can hear them chanting it) is the happiest song EVER and is perfect for the summer, which is now here, whether the weather wants to admit it or not. It actually sounds like a bag full of brightly coloured sweets. And I highly reccomend it.

Their other stuff... not so great.

So... I ran out of Japanese pop groups, but I felt like I had to save the theme. 'Love Letter To Japan' is a track by The Bird and The Bee, who most people will know. I'm still not sure how I feel about The Bird, mostly because I'm not sure exactly what they are, or what they want to be. They are described as jazz-influenced electro-pop, which i suppose is fairly accurate, but it's a description that looks horribly avant-garde written down. Whatever...anyway, 'Love Letter To Japan' is a song that got realeased a while back, and which has a few more upbeat, electronic bits and bobs than their usual stuff. I'm not really sure how well Inara George's voice works on the track, it's a bit too airy and light for the chorus, but the song has some good moments - particularly the drop, which is cool. Check out 'Man' or 'Fucking Boyfriend' for some tracks that work a bit better, but which (unfortunately) don't have 'Japan' in the title.

Last up, someone I've posted about before - Neo Tokyo! Neo Tokyo is awesome. He isn't from Japan, unfortunately, but he hails from Wales, which is close enough. And he's obviously influenced by Japanese culture, considering the name. For those who are familiar with the whole Neo Tokyo movement in Japan, just think of Neo Tokyo's music sounding like that. For those of you who haven't, like me, just googled it - NT sounds like the future. He makes grimey electro bangers, which remind me a lot of Bag Raiders, but with more intensity. (Seeing as I compare everyone to Bag Raiders, that's probably not much help - but you can hit up his myspace for some free downloads of some of his mixes. They are very cool.) Cheers to the OhhCrapp blog for posting about NT originally.

Perfume - パーフェクトスター・パーフェクトスタイル Buy
Tommy February6 - KISS ONE MORE TIME Buy
The Bird and The Bee - Love Letter To Japan Buy
The Robot Disaster - Guitars Are Overrated (Neo Tokyo Remix) Buy NT*


*Links removed - for those who didn't get them, check out the myspaces and whatnots.