Utada Hikaru is possibly the biggest pop idol in Japan today. With an estimated 50 million chart-topping albums sold worldwide, she certainly has the numbers to prove it.
Born in America to Japanese parents who were themselves steeped in music, Utada has a multifaceted appeal. While her American album releases have been a relative flop (Exodus selling only 55,000 albums and This is the One failing to chart well for the first time in 11 years) her Japanese fan base has remained rock solid. She isn't as traditionally Japanese sounding as some other R'n'B and pop acts. Her singing style, while not overly adventurous, has a deeper and more mature diva-like quality than, say, some of the more cutesy, pre-teen idols.
Her music contains much of the usual cardboard-box production heard in the pop world. (Is there really any reason that the biggest artist in Japan has to use fake strings and factory pre-set beats?) While her albums may disregard musical sophistication, they do a good job of focusing almost entirely on her stronger vocal skills. Her early releases have an R'n'B feel to them, but much of that seems to have changed as time went by. Today her production seems to conform to more traditional J-pop standards, leaning toward a darker, almost trip-hop feel at times, countered with dance beats, pretty twinkles and electro flourishes. Utada has occasionally experimented with slightly heavier rock sounds, but they feel a bit lifeless when compared to more experienced pop-rockers like Ayumi Hamasaki or even Mika Nakashima.
Despite struggling for an audience overseas, Utada Hikaru is an undeniable force. Still in her 20s, she has a lifetime to evolve as an artist and she's already well on her way in developing her own voice, both literally and figuratively. Whether or not she chooses to continue following that path, you can be sure she will have a million people in step close behind her.
Albums: Precious (1998) First Love (1999) Distance (2001) Deep River (2002) Exodus (2004) Ultra Blue (2006) Heart Station (2008) This Is the One (2009)
Jan 15-Feb12 Utada Hikaru Utada "In The Flesh" Tour 2010
01/15 - Honolulu, HI @ Pipeline Cafe 01/19 - Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues 01/21 - Seattle, WA @ The Showbox 01/24 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore 01/30 - Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues 02/02 - Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues 02/05 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club 02/08 - New York City, NY @ Irving Plaza
Starting off this week, here's a look at what you may have seen at the recent Japan Girls Live event on the west coast. Omodaka took the stage along with some of the girls from 6%DokiDoiki. This isn't from that exact event, this is from something previous to that. But still, it's pretty cool!
If you want to see something from the US show, hit the jump for more!
Omodaka and 6%DokiDoki Shop Girls
OK, now this is the intro to the show on August 17th in LA. Seeing this makes me pretty bummed that I missed out on it. Anyone reading this who managed to get out and see the show?
School Food Punishment "Futuristic Imagination"
Over on Twitter, @kurogane made a request to see this one from School Food Punishment this week, so here it is! SFP seem to be rockin' a little harder with each single they put out. I kind of like their softer stuff more, but this is certainly a catchy song and a prefect anime track!
Jemapur "Maledict Car"
Here's a slightly older one from Jemapur. It really reminds me of the stuff they showed on the old MTV series called Amp. Lots of old-school experimental techno and early glitch stuff. This one feels like a cross between Coldcut and Autechre. Kind of makes me want to dig out all of my old records and dust them off.
Kanye West vs Utada Hikaru "Love Lockdown (Passion Remix)"
This is one I posted over on Japanator a few days back. This is a mashup featuring both the audio and video from Kanye West and Utada Hikaru songs. It's done by flipb01tamidles. Pretty cool stuff! Flip has ton of other mashups, so check out the Japanator post for more links.
Quick, what do (deep breath) Perfume, Michael Jackson, Exile, Utada Hikaru, Ai Otsuka, Studio Ghibli, Southern All Stars, Juicy Fruits, Coldplay, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Led Zeppelin, Yellow Magic Orchestra and many more all have in common? (gasp)
Well, nothing really.
Until now!
Because now they can all be linked by the power of 8bit chiptune music! Ah yes, the glue that sometime seems to hold the very fabric of the universe together has spawned yet another compilation full of both incredible and very clever covers of some classic (and not-so-classic) songs.
The album Spicy Innovator vs Superior Marionette (see, isn't that clever, now?) was put together by a group going by the innocuous name of 8bit Project. This humble name actually obscures a rather intimidating trio consisting of Ito Toshiharu (of Mansfield), Matsutake Hideki (Logic System and the sound programmer and so-called fourth member of the highly influential 1970s-80s Japanese electro super-group Yellow Magic Orchestra) and Saito Hisahi (of YMO cover band Y Setsu O). Spicy Innovator is the group's second full release (they've also recently remixed Shoko Nakagawa). It seems to take the previous effort to a whole new level of insanity across twenty one tracks of pure 8bit overload. Sure, it may be over twenty tracks, but some of those tracks consist of five song medleys! This is, like, fifty songs, people!
If you're not already running over to HearJapan to download it or to CDJapan to get the CD (either of which I can assure you, without hesitation, is the right thing to do) then follow me after the jump to get a bit (ha ha) more background on what's going on here. Then go buy it.
There is far too much going on here to do any sort of play-by-play, so instead, the highlights.
[NOTE: All video clips are the original songs, not the 8bit covers. Just in case that wasn't screamingly obvious...]
Perfume "Polyrythm"
The album kicks off with two of the strongest tracks, both a Perfume medley and a Michael Jackson medley. The Perfume track consists of four of the singing-trio's most recent singles, “Polyrythm,” “Chocolate Disco,” “Baby Cruising Love” and “Love the World.” While none of these are really any sort of revelation when presented in 8bit form, (they are an electro/chiptune-ish band already) it will nevertheless instantly get you into the right frame of mind for the onslaught to follow. Much more shocking, and simply wonderful, is the Michael Jackson material that follows. “Bad,” “Beat It” and “Thriller” are an ascending scale of perfection (come on, a chip version of an Eddie VanHalen guitar solo?!), culminating with the album's coolest trick. When it's time for Vincent Price to give his monologue at the end of “Thriller,” 8bit Project chooses to instead use the default text-crawl blips sound heard in so many early 8 and 16 bit games. It's an obvious yet at the same time surprising gimmick, topped off with a very lo-bit laughing sample at the end that you won't be able to help but giggle at yourself. This track alone is worth the entire price of the album.
Utada Hikaru "Beautiful World"
Then there's the Utada Hikaru medley, complete with an overt Final Fantasy break and Galaga sound effects, the Ai Otsuka “Tsubomi” cover with its Metroid backdrop, and the classic pop song “Hajimete no Chu” with a ton of Kid Icarus callbacks. All of the myriad of classic game samples and homages are handled with subtly and class, so much so that you'll probably often find yourself wracking your brain to solve that “where the hell I have I heard this before?” feeling.
Yellow Magic Orchestra "Computer Games"
While some of the tracks on Spicy Innovator might leave non-Japanese music fans scratching their heads, there are also plenty of more “universal” hits for the rest of the world. The most obvious being Coldplay's “Viva La Vida,” followed by the main themes from Raiders of the Lost Ark and even a complete (though slightly compact) version of Led Zeppelin's “Stairway to Heaven.” The whole thing ends with an unsurprisingly brilliant medley of Yellow Magic Orchestra tracks. It's a perfect choice, since they are the ones who (unofficially) started the movement toward seeing video game music as something serious and something to love.
That's the real story here, too. Sure, some 8bit versions of “normal” songs can be the most tired and worn out hack move for shallow musicians to make. Anyone can run something though a modded NES and people will be there to blindly flock to their side. Here, it's the obvious love for the genre and the craft of making these songs that sends 8bit Project and Spicy Innovator vs Superior Marionette far beyond the also-rans. It's full of both silly fun and professional production. The sound of a few old-school electro masters playing around and relaxing with some of their favorite games and songs, and doing it better than anyone else. This is an album that any fan of the genre should buyright now, end of story.
May 12-16 Utada Hikaru US In-Store Appearances [UPDATE: Utada had postponed all US appearances. SOURCE: Japanator]
Tuesday, 5.12 @ 7:00 PM Best Buy 529 5th Ave New York, NY 10017-4608 For more info call: 212-808-0309
Wednesday, 5.13 @ 6:00 PM Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood & FYE 1000 Universal Studios Blvd Ste. 99 Universal City, CA 91608 For more info call 818.622.ROCK (7625) or 310.641.7170
Thursday, 5.14 @ 6:00 PM Best Buy 1717 Harrison San Francisco, CA 94103-4272 For more info call 415.626.9682
Friday, 5.15 @ 6:00 PM FYE @ Southcenter Mall 2636 Southcenter Mall Ste. 2110 Seattle, WA 98188-2823 For more info call 206.439.3636
Saturday, 5.16 @ 3:00 PM Sam Goody 1450 Ala Moana Blvd. Ste. 1049 Honolulu, HI 96814-4607 For more info call: 808.945.9027
J-Pop and J-Rock are only the beginning. The modern Japanese music scene is just as vibrant and varied as any other music scene in the world. I'm Zac Bentz, writer, musician, designer and all around Japanese music fanatic. Here I hope to share with you a comprehensive (!!) list of Japanese artists and bands (with a strong focus on underground and indie acts) that you may or may not have heard of, in the hopes of expanding our mutual awareness of Japanese music.
I don't mean to suggest that everything I listen to is great. Quite the contrary, I hope that you will take the time to recommend your own favorite artists in the comments so that we can all learn a bit more about the huge range of Japanese music that's out there.
"The best Japanese music blog in the world." - Door Slam "Definitely a must-visit for J-pop and J-rock fans!" -The Otaku "Zac Bentz loves music. A lot." -Japanator "Very cool!" -J-ENT "...one of the foremost blogs and information centers on all J-pop and J-rock...the top source for tour information on Japanese bands in the US..." -YankeeOtaku "Wer mehr darüber wissen will, der sollte sich mal hier umschauen, ein sehr gutes J-Music Blog übrigens." -CommandSheep "...very well-written, and there’s an excellent range of artists...a useful resource." -International Wota "не плохая энциклопедия японских исполнителей/групп" -Diary.ru "Great resource for Japanese music fans who want to explore today's J-rhythms beyond Johnny's Entertainment bishonen music and anime music. XD" -Kaishi "If you are a J-Rock fan, [ZB's A-Z] is a must see." -Crunchyroll community "Otaku USA magazine finally got wise and hired Zac Bentz as a J-music contributing editor."-Radicalpatriot "Reviews practically every Asian band that has ever created a recording."- Zallie "Gewährt spannende Einblicke in die japanische Musikszene." -Laut.de
