As we near the mid-year point, our Best of ’15 list begins to take shape…
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Patrick St. Michel: The story goes: Gesu no Kiwami Otome formed as a way for four friends in different bands to have fun and experiment away from their main gigs, which leaned towards more commercially predictable J-rock. The end result was music full of jazzy interludes, piano solos, machine-gun vocal delivery and a lighthearted tone. And they got big, racking up YouTube hits and critical praise while also winning over the elusive teen/young adult demographic in Japan. Now they are a constant on TV and have government spokespeople singing their songs at press conferences. “Watashi Igai Watashi Ja Nai no” is their most commercially-aware song yet, but despite cutting jusssssst a little bit back, it still highlights all their charms. Lead singer Enon Kawatani still sing-speaks, the music still plays out tightly (while making space for a few twists… keyboard interlude, bass showcase!), making them one of the few Japanese bands to take cues from Sotaisei Riron without messing it up. It’s a pretty piece of pop (those backing vocals!) that is a very welcome addition to the mainstream Japanese landscape.
[8]
Thomas Inskeep: If Ben Folds Five had been good, they might’ve sounded like this superb power-pop single. Chunky piano riffs anchor “Watashi,” which shouts summer, and happiness, and chicken-scratchy guitar, and cherry blossoms in the breeze. This may end up being my summer jam of 2015.
[10]
Iain Mew: Busy and complex, the song proceeds like a magic trick where Gesu no Kiwami Otome keep pulling absurd objects from their sleeves with a poker-faced flourish. Maybe a touch too clever for its own good, but charming with it.
[7]
Brad Shoup: It’s a fun. song, only more… enjoyable. The prog-pop pace is pretty frantic — during the chorus, the drummer dumps out the hi-hat to compensate. The solo is handsome but eager to preen — toss in the nonstop piano riffage and you have the portrait of someone who needs to tell everyone why he’s gotta be alone.
[6]
Sonia Yang: Enon Kawatani is an interesting guy. He rocks a Beatles bowl cut like no other and sometimes dresses like he could guest star in a Kyary Pamyu Pamyu music video. He got his start playing in a local Fujifabric cover band, and has written a song for rising idol group Team Syachihoko. Kawatani also fronts two bands and they’re vastly different creative outlets. His main band, Indigo la End, plays the kind of nostalgic rock that pervades a lot of mainstream Japanese music. Gesu no Kiwami Otome is a different beast altogether, with showy hip-hop and jazz/funk-influenced songs. The bassist, keyboardist, and drummer are virtuosos in their own right — and Kawatani himself is no slouch on the guitar. While in the past their songs might have dialed the instrumental complexity up a notch too high, by their first studio album Miryoku ga Sugoi yo they’ve realized how to properly write and arrange a pop/rock song with the vocals as the centerpiece. Interestingly enough, “Watashi Igai Watashi Janai No” comes across as a perfect mix of Indigo la End and Gesu no Kiwami Otome. The heart of the song is Kawatani’s emoting, but the quirky touches — a guitar lick here, a keyboard interlude here — keep things aurally colorful. They also seem to take cues from other popular bands at the moment; the melody dovetailing with female backup vocals is highly reminiscent of Sakanaction whereas the music video seems like something Passepied would make.
[8]
Alfred Soto: Those guitar runs at the beginning? Early Yes or nineties Stereolab. Kawatani leads this band through chord changes pulled off by an excellent rhythm section. Fresh and fun.
[9]
Micha Cavaseno: The mathiness is there, but thankly it never seems too unnecessary; more like peppering fizzes of excess contained in an already eager to please song. Surprised at how a band so tight and so professionally minded in the way they craft their tunes can avoid getting too slick.
[7]
Juana Giaimo: Have the colors turned brighter? Are those flowers growing in my room and birds singing around while a rainbow crosses from one window to the other? But it isn’t exactly a natural feeling; there is also the speed of running across the streets of a big city when everything is going fast around us while the celestial piano notes are tinkling joining the emotionally raw vocals in a perfect harmony. Beautiful; maybe that’s what I simply wanted to say: this is beautiful.
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Will Adams: Each successive second sounds like it’ll be the one where the song just careens off the rails and into a ditch, making merely listening a captivating experience. Listening deeper, though, is worth the repeat spins; you’ll get backing vocals flaked like fish, sumptuous piano runs, and drum kits flying everywhere. This is musical embroidery.
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