She's a Magical Girl

What do you get when you have an unusual thirst for light, happy driving fare? 12 years of light jrock, it seems. In a world and genre where it's easy to be inane and uninspired, how do you stand out with simple and fun? Answer: You borrow heavily from the pillows, probably.

...and now you think this post is going to be about the pillows, the prolific band I've finally given in and owned up to liking. You probably think it'll include some bitching about how a band that's been around for 15 years is known in the states solely for the FLCL soundtrack, or how their new and/or old albums are great, and you probably think I'm going to post a sample.

Your expectations are wrong, although I do recommend checking out their albums (especially "My Foot"). For today's sampling of music, we need to head back in time to the years 1997-2000. It was a different time musically in Japan; Shibuya-kei was in full bloom, with Pizzicato Five and Fantastic Plastic Machine peaking (though their later offerings were nothing to scoff at). Konami discovered a hit with Bemani games. The dance and rave scenes were at their peak in North America. In 1999, a younger Shiina Ringo released her second album. the pillows also released approximately 450 albums in this period, notable too because the three albums released in this period were raided for songs to use in FLCL, which would introduce the band to the US. Another strange new band called POLYSICS was re-exploring punk and nu-wave.

It's perhaps a bit understandable, with all these tiny fragments, that our Bands of Mention for today started out in such a climate. First up is GO!GO!7188 (go-go-nana-ichi-hachi-hachi), who come to me by way of Ska's apt introduction. Started in 1998 while fresh out of high school, their vocal stylings are a welcome discovery for anyone who loves early Shiina Ringo, but they don't end there. Their influences range from surf-rock to enka and I definitely suspect SR as well.

An early single from 2000, "Jet Ninjin" is a good example of everything stylistically the band does. James Bond, Shiina Ringo, traditional Japanese music, and the Beach Boys seem to come together in this song:

Now take GO!GO!, the pillows, and throw in a bit of POLYSICS for good measure, and you have the next band on the sampling block: Guitar Vader. You might know Guitar Vader if you own a Dreamcast; if you heard some catchy rock songs paired with nonsensical English lyrics while playing Jet Set Radio, you've heard them. Their tracks "Super Brothers" and "Magical Girl" graced the original Dreamcast version, while "I Love Love You" and "Baby-T" were featured in the X-Box's 2001 sequel Jet Set Radio: Future. (For the love of god, Sega, make a JSR sequel for the Wii!)

Now, you might say "Sure, Tommy, this band's music is great when it comes to grinding along the side of radio towers and spraypainting cops' faces, but why should I listen to it?" Paradoxically, you might absolutely hate this band if you had to listen to "Super Brothers" 50 times in a row on a stage you just couldn't pass. But if you display a little patience you'll find that some true gems lurk in their albums - catchy hooks, rockin' guitar, and awesome grooves. Their sound is deceptively diverse; some of thier songs have a POLYSICS feel (like the un-remixed version of I Love Love You, which also samples Yoko Kanno's SANTI-U), but tracks like "Heavy Metal Collector" and "The Time Slips Away" - a simple, clean rock track, are evocative of the pillows.

For your listening pleasure, I offer a track from their 2001 album, "From Dusk" - which is a bitch of an album to find. This track is called "Cutting Evil Smile," and it is a great sample blend of GV's penchant for simple verses, catchy hooks, and fun grooves - not to mention their signature male/female vocal doublings - a tactic Pizzicato Five was exploring in the same period, too. (Worth noting is that GV's music was chosen for JSR - a game set in and centered around Shibuya and its culture. Changing of the guard?) So, enjoy Cutting Evil Smile:

Until next time, enjoy!