10 Japanese acts that would have been way way better choices than AKB48 for the Wreck-It Ralph soundtrack

I just saw that the super-creepy Japanese pop act AKB48 is on the soundtrack for the video game themed animated film Wreck-It Ralph*. While I suppose it should come as no surprise that such factory processed mega-sleaze could manage to shlerm its way onto the soundtrack (we are talking about Disney here after all), it does send this fanboy into something of a tailspin. Because for God's sake, there are exactly ONE ZILLION better Japanese acts to choose from for this sort of fun, nostalgic, vibrant love letter to video games. (I'm assuming most of that. Haven't seen it.)

So I took two seconds and wrote a list of the first ten acts I could think of. HERE IT IS, in order of relevance and everything, just in case you get bored of listening to incredibly awesome music halfway through like a moron who deserves total junk like AKB48 forced into your slack jaws and down your bloated food-chute.

*Looking up the correct punctuation is the beginning and ending of the research I did for this post.

#1 Sexy Synthesizer



If you get 15 seconds into this and don't know why it's number one then stop reading and smash your damn fool face into a brick wall until it's nap time. COME ON. Sexy Synthesizer is amazing and uses a handful of Namco arcade game sounds in just about every song he writes. Including Galaga which is the best game ever made. Disagree? See above advice.

You can hear his entire ROCK album below.



#2 Plugnet



THIS IS THE COOLEST CHIPTUNE ALBUM EVER CREATED. Why? LISTEN TO THE RAPPING OH MY GOD. Oh, and it should be obvious unless you're a dummy but Sexy Synthesizer had a hand in its creation. GOT MORE SPICES.

#3 Omodaka



OK, so we've been pretty spastic right out of the gate. Maybe what you'd expect. And then BOOOOM. Omodaka. That's right, funk-tastic chip driven funky funk courtesy of a Stevie Wonder bass line and some wickedly weird traditional folk singing layered over the top. If Disney really wanted to blow people's minds, THIS would be playing through Wreck-It (I'm too busy to bother with the Ralph and more) non-stop.

#4 YMCK



"Y! M! C! K! Let's go! Let's go! *clap clap* Y! M! C! K! Let's go! Let's go! *clap clap* Y! M! C! K! Let's go! Let's go! *clap clap* Y! M! C! K! Waaaaaaaa!"

I rest my case. (They also built their own chiptune software.)

#5 Perfume



I mean come on, it's called "Electro World" for crying out loud. And Perfume is HUUUGE. And waaay less creepy than those dead-eyed AKB slaves. Much more family-friendly and all that. And the bass line rules my soul.

#6 The Aprils



Alright, if the over-the-top commercialism is getting to you, then The Aprils are here to wash it away with a blissful wave of super duper cute synthpop. Absolutely non-ironic and just plain happy. All in a way only Japan can pull off. This should be the ending theme to every happy animated film, in my totally factual analysis.

#7 Halcali



Remember when people made good, clever videos? This is one of them! And it has blurred out Super Mario Bros in it! And it's an amazing song! COME ON GUYS JEEEZUS! AKB48? Really? When THIS IS A THING THAT EXISTS???

#8 Capsule



Screw Tron. THIS is what living in a video game from the 2000s would sound like.

#9 Floppy



Sorry if I fell off the chiptune tip for a second there. Back on track! Floppy brings a more rock/punk/weirdo vibe to their tunes. A nice foil to all the happy crappy girls, am I right? Look, we can all get along because chiptunes!

#10 Polysics



BECAUSE I WILL NOT REST UNTIL POLYSICS RULES THE ENTIRE WORLD. Because reasons, that's why.

So there you go. Take your stupid factory-pre-set J-pop and CHOKE.

MEG

I was just about to post this entry on MEG, thinking she was just another re-packaged version of Capsule, Perfume, Coltemonikha and others, all produced by the seemingly inexhaustible Nakata Yasutaka. Then I looked a little deeper into her history (hey, it's what I do here, after all) and found that it was only recently that she seemed to suffer a mild case of schizophrenia.

Prior to her working relationship with Yasutaka, MEG seemed to be your typical pop singer working in the realm of lighter dance tunes and soft ballads. She also started her own clothing line, Carolina Glaser by Cheryl. Then in 2006, she changed her name from "meg" to "MEG." She also changed her musical focus to club-land. Enter Nakata Yasutaka.

In the grand scheme of Yasutaka's portfolio, MEG falls somewhere between Perfume's young innocence and Capsule's more mature sophistication. Meg herself sounds a bit like the playful Yuki from Judy and Mary, but for the most part she fits exactly into the typical Yasutaka mold, namely slightly lifeless and a bit bland. Perhaps that's why his singers are always slathered in effects and vocoders. Then again, maybe the lifelessness is a result of the over-production stripping away any sense of individuality from the singer?

Nevertheless, fans of Yasutaka's razor-sharp production and pounding beats will find a lot to love with the new MEG. The songs are the usual upbeat dance tracks with the vocals very much in the forefront, surrounded by twinkling pianos and ear splitting synth-bass carrying it all along. It may just be more of the same, but when it sounds good, why try harder?

Check out the videos for a look into MEGs gradual transformation.

BUY MEG RELEASES HERE

Precious




Official Site

Major Releases
ROOM GIRL - 2003/07/09
Dithyrambos - 2006/11/22
Aquaberry - 2007/4/11
Beam - 2007/12/05
Step - 2008/6/18

OK


Magic

Coltemonikha

Coltemonikha is yet another electro project from producer Nakata Yasutaka, the man behind Capsule and Perfume, among others. This time he brings along vocalist Sakai Kate to add the sugary frosting to the Daft Punk-like beats and Pizzacato Five sense of style. Coltemonikha is almost an exact replica of the aforementioned bands. In a blind taste test I would be very hard-pressed to tell the difference between songs like Coltemonikha's "Sora Tobu Hikari," Capsule's "Sugarless Girl" and Perfume's "Computer City." They are essentially the same song. Not that there's anything wrong with that. A good pop/dance/electro song is a good pop/dance/electro song is a good op/dance/electro song, and Nakata Yasutaka has the formula down to a science.




Official Site

Members
Sakai Kate (vocals)
Nakata Yasutaka (everything else)

Major Releases
COLTEMONIKHA (2006.05.17)
COLTEMONIKHA 2 (2007.09.26)

After you watch the Coltemonikha video above, check out the perfume and Capsule videos below to see what I'm talking about.

Capsule

Nakata Yasutaka, a producer, musician and DJ, is the man behind the scenes in many different electro-tinged projects, including Perfume, Coltemonikha and, most notably, Capsule. Along with Toshiko Koshijima on vocals, Capsule began as a Pizzacato 5 clone in 2001. Over the years, Yasutaka has morphed their sound from lounge/bossa-nova to hard-hitting electro/disco ala Daft Punk. In fact, some of the tracks on their latest album Sugarless Girl could very well be mistaken for cast-off tracks from the French band. Not that that is a bad thing. Of course, the same could be said for Perfume, a group that also sounds just like the new Capsule. Perhaps it's time for Yasutaka to take a break? Of note: Capsule made three videos (or a single short film when viewed all at once) with Studio Ghibli.

BUY CAPSULE RELEASES HERE