Quick Reviews: June

Made it to through the first half of the year! For this batch of reviews, I comment on some recent reviews, as well as two albums that showcase two different sides of the Shibuya-kei genre!

Serani Poji — One Room Survival (2002)

Formed as a unit meant to provide music for the SEGA videogame ROOMMANIA＃203, Serani Poji’s music leans towards the more electronic side of the Shibuya-kei genre, and their first effort after their partnership with SEGA doesn’t stray too far from that. Featuring lively melodies that often build upon choppy, glitchy vocals and colorful synths, One Room Survival is reminiscent of a fantasy racing game soundtrack and, along its 47-minute length, it manages to create a playful atmosphere that still leaves space for some pretty interesting ideas. An impeccable incorporation of concepts and aesthetics, One Room Survival manages to both outlive (heh) Serani Poji’s status as a fictional artist and to fully cement the unit’s own musical efforts and merits.

Hot Chip — A Bath Full Of Ecstasy (2019)

Follow-up to their 2015 effort Why Make Sense — and boasting one of the most unfortunate album covers I’ve seen recently — , Hot Chip’s latest full-length release manages to simultaneously be a testament of their sleek and stylish flavor of indie-pop, and a foray into a more mainstream-friendly sound. Along its nine tracks, the record seamlessly alternates between mid-tempo songs that are reminiscent of the band’s usual sound and tracks that wouldn’t feel out of place in an automatically generated playlist with words like “summer jams” on the title. Even if this might sound a bit odd when put into words, the combination of these two sounds just works, resulting in a record that is thoughtfully construed as it is fun. While Hot Chip has always had a clear electro-pop sound, and while they have always made — at least arguably — danceable music, Life Of Ecstasy is the probably the more club-friendly they band has felt in a while, a direction that injects some new life into the general sound of an already lively band.

Dempagumi.inc — Inochi no Yorokobi (2019)

(Technically) their first announced single since Nemu’s graduation, Inochi no Yorokobi finds the group chanting about their unbreakable resolve to keep moving forward, all this over a lively afro-funk melody that gradually builds into parade-like percussions, chorus chanting, and weirdly distorted operatic segments. As for the B-side, Keijijogakuteki, Mahou, it can be described as a contemporary, danceable jazz number that is complemented by the groups’ heavily autotuned and carefully layered vocals, which make the song feel pretty unique when compared to the group’s usual repertoire. All in all — and despite its… questionable cover art — Inochi no Yorokobi is both a nice single and another showcase of the way Dempagumi.inc has been trying (and mostly succeeding) to expand their sound as much as possible this year.

Yukari Fresh — Yukari’s Perfect (1997)

This month’s second Shibuya-kei review abandons the cartoonish, hyper-polished synths heard in One Room Survival in favor of a more organic and bubbly approach to the genre. Barely making up17 minutes of music, most of Yukari Fresh’s first album consists of ideas that have become a staple for the genre (like cutesy synths, melodic vocals, and orchestra samples that may or may not be filtered to give off the idea of the songs being played through an old radio). Besides this, the album’s most noteworthy aspect is the way it incorporates more organic sounds and instruments, to the point where some tracks, like Rockin’ Off, manage to pull off an almost-folk sound. An interesting and fun approach to a genre usually defined by its sleekness, Yukari’s Perfect! manages to incorporate more organic aspects in a way that doesn’t compromise any of the playfulness that characterizes Shibuya-kei as a genre.

GANG PARADE —THE MUSIC AND THE GAME CREATES MAGIC EP (2019)

GANG PARADE’s first exclusive digital release — as well as the first one with their newest member, Naruha World — features four new songs, three of which are built upon a more electro-leaning take on the more aggressive punk-pop sound that has become WACK’s (their management agency) musical trademark. Feeling like a callback both to their P.O.P and Take Themselves Higher eras, this release captures GANG PARADE’s energetic and playful energy, all while adding an edgier touch to their music, the downside to this approach though, can be felt in the way the vocals are frequently drowned by the rest of the music. A bona fide WACK release, this EP is a welcome addition to GANG PARADE’s catalog, and further proof of them being the most adaptable group among their peers.