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.

FLOPPY

FLOPPY is a chiptune/8-bit/electro project from Sharaku Kobayashi of Metronome and Hiromu Toda of Shinjuku Gewalt. Since 2004, they've been producing some of the best and craziest chip-fueled electro mayhem around. Their somewhat retro-futurist sound is highlighted by their goofy no-budget sci-fi costumes and the music's dreamy yet chaotic atmosphere.

Their songs are mostly made up of fast beats and stuttering lo-bit bleeps, burbling with video game blasts and arpeggiated bass-lines. FLOPPY has always put a little extra effort into their programing, never relying too heavily on loops and factory pre-set sounds. This serves to give their songs a more organic feel, though it can be hard to hear through all the electronic cross-talk. They are able to restrain themselves at times, occasionally achieving something along the lines of a grand Susumu Hirasawa epic. Most often though, they stick to their usual cartoon cat chasing a cartoon mouse sort of vibe. Stompy, silly and fun. Of course thought it all Sharaku Kobayashi's voice adds another level of geek-pop, what with his whiny pitch and pouty delivery.

FLOPPY managed to transcend the usual chip-tune stereotypes. They make genuinely good music using tools more often used to make much more trendy and obviously niche tunes. It proves its members are actually songwriters and musicians, rather than gamers who just happen to be able to mash a few notes together.

BUY FLOPPY RELEASES AT JAPANFILES, HEARJAPAN and CDJAPAN

"Everything"



Official Site

Members:
Sharaku Kobayashi - Vocals, Programming
Hiromu Toda - Programming

Albums:
PROTOSCIENCE - 2010
Deus Ex Machina - 2009
Sine Wave Orchestra - 2006

Videos of the Week 10/4/09

FLOPPY "Everything"


Starting off this week is this brand new video from chiptune masters FLOPPY. This video for "Everything" does indeed have everything any 8bit, chiptune, video game, electro-pop fan could want. Some Super Mario, some Casio keyboards, some LEGO...they manage to pack a lot in to this relatively simple video. Also, I think it might be their first official PV, but I could be wrong there. But I think I'm right.

Jump for more!



Detroit 7 "Cold Heat"


Here's the new one from Detroit 7. They've got a new album out called Black & White on the Daruma label. This video for "Cold Heat" is pretty basic, but I think it'll give you a pretty good idea of what the band is all about...namely rockin' hard!

China Chop "Jewel Story"


Here's one from China Cop, the band that would later become Molice. There's a lot going on in this one. Like, for instance, what is that rhino all about? I'm not sure, but it's a good song nevertheless.



Tsugumi from Pine AM recently made some music for a fashion show in Culver City, CA. The fashion show itself was, uh, pretty unique, and Tsugumi's awesome, arty electro soundtrack really turned it into something very cool. This is my favorite clip from the show. You can check out a few more on her blog.



And finally, you've probably heard of the Auto-Tune the News phenomenon buy now. Well, someone made what is probably going to be the high-water mark for zany Auto-Tune videos. They took some clips from Carl Sagan's Cosmos series, as well as a bit of Stephen Hawking, and created a really spin-tingly awesome song. Of course, it might help if you have a thing for Sagan's particular brand of poetic cosmology... "Not a sun rise, but a galaxy rise. A morning filled with four hundred billion suns."

Review: Floppy - Deus ex Machina

FLOPPY is a chiptune/8-bit/electro project from Sharaku Kobayashi of Metronome and Hiromu Toda of Shinjuku Gewalt. Since 2004, they've been producing some of the best and craziest chip-fueled electro mayhem around. Their somewhat retro-futurist sound is highlighted by their goofy no-budget sci-fi costumes and the music's dreamy yet chaotic atmosphere.

Their growing popularity is only highlighted by the fact the both JapanFiles and HearJapan are stocking up on the new album Deus Ex Machina, offering it up to fans around the world. You can get it right now on both sites.

If you're still on the fence, or are a newcomer to the FLOPPY world, check out the full Deus Ex Machina review at Japanator!