When I was diving into non-mainstream Japanese rock back in 2000, I was surprised by the number of exceptional bands and solo artists were signed to major labels. If it weren’t for Utada Hikaru, Toshiba-EMI almost looked like an indie farm label with some of the artists at one time signed to its roster — Number Girl, Bleach, bloodthirsty butchers, Missile Girl Scoot, Shiina Ringo, PE’Z.
But as time went on, I learned the label system in Japan is as volatile as in the US. Of the musicians on that previous list, only Shiina Ringo remains at Toshiba-EMI.
Bugy Craxone started its career on Victor Entertainment. The band released four albums, then went the indie route with a label of their own. It’s a career move no different from bands around the world who do time with the majors and don’t find a suitable fit.
Bugy Craxone didn’t garner much name recognition, and while signed to Victor, they didn’t move many units. The only release to crack the Oricon chart was an EP, This is New Sunrise, and it peaked at 93.
I like Bugy Craxone, and I like how they take risks with their sound. The band started out as straight-forward alternative rock band, but by the time the trio recorded Northern Hymns, they were full-on garage band.
"Fuck the Melancholy" is the opening track of Northern Hymns, and the aggressive title captures the essence of the song perfectly.
I need to come out of the closet about this one: I do not like Shonen Knife. I do not understand their appeal, and I do not like their music. I credit their success to dumb luck and timing.
But Shonen Knife opened the back door to American success. While Sony was too busy using trying to strong arm Matsuda Seiko through the mainstream radio gate, Shonen Knife dug a tunnel to the underground and caught the attention of one Kurt Cobain. I appreciate Shonen Knife for at least presenting an alternate perception of Japanese music — one that didn’t involve "Sukiyaki" or Pink Lady & Jeff.
I just don’t have to listen to them.
For a little while, Shonen Knife begat an A&R goldrush for the next quirky Japanese band to sign with an American label. Matador staked out Pizzicato Five, while the Beastie Boys’ Grande Royal snatched up Buffalo Daughter. The cynic in me dismissed Buffalo Daughter as just another weird pop confection riding the Shonen Knife coattails.
Over time, Buffalo Daughter has revealed itself as a band with no regard for an aesthetic map. The trio really loves to make it up as they go along.
So while 2001’s I is a straight-forward indie rock album, 2002’s Pshychic is a prolonged jam session. 2005’s Euphorica, meanwhile, is an unsettling marriage between the Sugarcubes and Polysics.
New Rock, released in 1998, was at one point available in the US. It went out of print with Grande Royal’s demise at the turn of the century.
"Socks, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll" symbolizes that gold rush of yore. It is, indeed, a quirky tune with a lot of humor. And it’s cute. Not Shonen Knife cute, but certainly cute on its own terms.
When I first moved to Austin, I tried to be cool and listen to all the popular stuff attracting local audiences at the time. I bought up Asylum Street Spankers, 8 1/2 Souvenirs, the Damnations TX, Fastball, the Golden Arm Trio — in short, I was trying to figure out what I really liked.
The Austin bands I listen to now pretty much fall in the indie rock sector: … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Explosions in the Sky, Black Lipstick.
During that "discovery" phase, I bought albums by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison, the famed husband-and-wife team with distinct solo careers. Willis’ What I Deserve was flying off the shelves, and curiosity won out. Verdict: Wow, was that boring.
That was not the case with Robison’s Wrapped. I spun that album multiple times, and while I haven’t managed to warm up to any of his other work, I do keep that album.
The title track is a stunner. Although Robison performs it as a straight country tune, a slight tweak could turn it into a mainstream adult contemporary pop song. Heck, it could even go adult alternative pop.
His collaborations with brother Charlie and Monte Warden are other highlights of the album, and the smooth production by Lloyd Maines (father of Dixie Chick Natalie) certainly helps.
Wrapped is a terrific album by a songwriter who’s penned hits for the Dixie Chicks and that other husband-wife team, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. I haven’t heard the McGraw/Hill version of "Angry All the Time", but Robison’s duet with Willis on Wrapped has a rough quality I suspect is far more satisfying.
Chuck D’s appearance on Sonic Youth’s Goo sounds really after-the-fact. Rock writers seem to want to blow that collaboration out of proportion, but when you actually hear him on "Kool Thing", he sounds … lost.
Contrast that with his work on Boom Boom Satellites’ "Your Reality’s a Fantasy but Your Fantasy Is Killing Me". Here, he doesn’t play second fiddle. At the same time, he’s not in Public Enemy’s world — he’s in Boom Boom Satellites’ world.
And the duo does a damn good job providing a canvas on which Chuck can paint his yarn.
Incessant beats, driving bass, stuttering effects — when Chuck came up with the title of the song, he understood full well the musical environs in which he inhabited.
It makes me wonder whether Chuck D fans (do people still listen to Public Enemy?) would have appreciated this pairing. Seems like this kind of collaboration could have played well Stateside. Then again, I’m not a very good judge of that kind of thing.
I’m just of the opinion that Chuck D’s collaboration with Boom Boom Satellites is far more fun to listen to than his work with Sonic Youth.
I was skeptical of Even So when it was released in 2004.
The time Bonnie Pink took to make Present felt appropriate, and the quality of the work showed. With Even So following 13 months later, I wondered if the same scattershot approach to Just a Girl would mire Even So.
But Bonnie was smart. Even So felt different without having to stray far from the introspective bread and butter of her songwriting. She trades in the usual intimate song here and there, but at other times, she’s actually rocking out.
The crunchy guitars on "Private Laughter" are nothing next to the wailing guitars on Cocco or Shiina Ringo albums. But for Bonnie Pink, they’re a display of muscle.
Like Present, Even So managed to stay focused. "1-2-3" might have been the only the clunker on the album, but the rest of it felt cohesive.
"Losing Myself" is not my favorite song off of Bonnie Pink’s album, Present. That distinction would go to "April Shower ~Yo-gatsu no Arashi~".
But I’ve pimped "April Shower" to a lot of people over the years, and I feel doing so again is just, well, lazy. So I’m picking another track to feature.
Thing is, just about any track from this album would be suitable for the spotlight. Present is one of the strongest albums from Bonnie Pink’s major label career. (I won’t go so far to say her entire career, since I’m not at all acquainted with her Pony Canyon phase.)
Present was the follow-up to the scattershot Just a Girl. Bonnie is a prolific recording artist, and sometimes, the fast turnaround of her albums leaves me concerned.
But after the release of Just a Girl in 2001, Bonnie took a different creative route the following year, collaborating with R&B artists such as Verbal from m-flo. When she returned in 2003 with Present, her folk-rock songs made a little more room for some dance floor influence.
"Losing Myself" establishes the aesthetic for the album, a nice balance of singer-songwriter introspection and pop appeal.
"Kako to Genjitsu" was the first song I listened to from Bonnie Pink. When I was researching Japanese music back in 2000, I read some tenuous comparisons between Bonnie Pink and Cocco. Essentially, neither of them were pop idols, and both of them wrote their own songs.
So I jumped onto the Evil Sharing Networks and acquired "Kako to Genjitsu". The smooth beat and Bonnie’s cool voice got my attention right away, and before I knew it, I was the owner of her major label debut, Let Go.
I burned a copy for my brother, and he told me he liked what he heard. I didn’t realize how much till I went home to Hawaiʻi one year.
He had two DVDs, as well as a number of albums and singles. He even introduced Bonnie Pink to the owner of a local Japanese bookstore.
I rather like that kind of ripple effect.
For me, Bonnie Pink isn’t an infallible artist. Some of her creative choices have baffled me, and others left me speechless. But she’s always willing to take chances, and that willingness to try keeps me interested in her work.
I knew when I bought Bonkin’ Clapper’s Bonkanesia from the Japan Nite merchandise table it would be a future cutout.
Not that Bonkin’ Clapper didn’t put on a good showcase. Nor was Bonkanesia a bad mini album.
But for the kind of rap-rock the group performed, it was going to be a hard sell in a world where Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit were showing their age. Besides, what could Bonkin’ Clapper provide that wasn’t already supplied by RIZE and Missile Girl Scoot?
If I played a game of word association with you, what would be the first thing you think of when I say "Colombia"?
The unfortunate answer would be "cocaine". The answer it should be is "music".
When I was exploring rock en Español in the late ’90s, a good number of the artists I encountered were from Colombia — Aterciopelados, Juanes, Shakira, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Soraya. The country has produced some of the most vital artists in Latin music.
Bloque also came from Colombia, and the band recorded a very high-profile album for David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label.
It took a while before the addition of Tabuchi Hisako to the bloodthirsty butchers’ line-up had a noticeable impact in the studio. 2004’s birdy was the first studio album on which the former Number Girl guitarist served as a full-time member.
Unlike Number Girl, bloodthirsty butchers doesn’t give much room for guitar solos, an area where Tabuchi excels. Also, the band’s writing isn’t designed with a twin approach in mind.
But on 2005’s banging the drum, Tabuchi’s guitar became a potent force in the butchers’ sound. And Yoshimura Hideki put Tabuchi in a role she didn’t have in Number Girl — backing vocals.