Make Believe Melodies’ Top 30 Japanese Albums Of 2011: 20-11

20. Kido Yoji Call A Romance

On his debut release, Kido Yoji makes dance music for people who like spending significant amounts of time staring out on bright0lit cityscapes. Call A Romance certainly moves – check the easy-breezy disco shake of the title track, or the irresistible pop of “Hot And Cold” – but beneath the night-out-worthy sounds beats a particularly sensitive heart. Yoji jumps between ennui – the heavy-eyed opener “AM 3:33” – and longing – the talk-box powered “More Than Real,” which makes a strong bid for best robot slow jam since Daft Punk’s Discovery. Catchy and heartbreaking all at once, can’t wait to see what comes next.

19. Friends Let’s Get Together Again

There are so many angles one could take when discussing this album it almost demands an essay. Like, Friends’ sound, which takes beach-pop and covers it in layers of feedback, a sort of lo-fi approach one often loves or hates well before they even here the record. Or how the band approaches nostalgia, a prickly subject in a year that gave us Retromania? You could also spend paragraphs debating whether Friends even need all that feedback…is it a vital aspect, or just a stylistic distraction from the pretty pop underneath? Heck, take this at an extremely surface level and just focus on the band name, a moniker the group has announced they will change in 2011 (and now we know that name…Teen Runnings) and zero in on how the Japanese Friends couldn’t out-hype American-based Friends and what that says about Japanese indie music.

To discuss why Let’s Get Together Again lands here, though, I have to ignore all those talking points and just get a little personal. When Second Royal Records first posted the album online here, I wasn’t blown away. I like Friends’ approach to pop, but initially this release didn’t floor me like I thought it could. Yet I stuck with it and Let’s Get Together Again grew on me, the snow-cone delicious melodies lurking beneath the noise hooking me in (check the sweat-soaked wonder of “Since I Made A Mistake” or the chilling intro to “Our Love Is True”). At this point I though “OK, #30 on the list.” Yet time revealed another layer to this album that struck me even harder than the pure-pop pleasure Friends can pump out. Not to get all New Yorker on you, but it’s important to remember this is past-obsessed music being made my a 20-something in 2011, an extremely turbulent time for people like Friends’ head honcho Syouta Kaneko. Or, cough, me. The noise cutting through all the prettiness is essential to me because that sounds like the present, slicing through these Brian Wilson inspired fantasies. I once wrote the lyrics to any Friends’ song weren’t important – I’ve flip-flopped on that now, because the lyrics Kaneko has made available shed new light on the album. Check the words of “When I’m Asleep,” which focus on choosing the girls one conjures up in dreams as opposed to the ones in the real world, made current-events worthy with a line about one’s mom asking when they are getting married. Let’s Get Together Again is an album about wanting to be away from the present, possibly transported to times one was better made for, but with the world of today reminding you that just can’t happen. Ultimately, I can relate to that feeling, which is why this album jumps up in the rankings and I’m looking forward to what comes next, regardless of what the group is named.

18. Boris New Album

In a year where a bunch of J-Pop acts crafted strong artistic statements worthy of praise, long-time critical darlings Boris went the other way. The trio, best know for loud droning rock music and an intimidating discography to swim through, teamed up with a subsidiary of J-Pop mainstream label Avex and made their most accessible album to date. New Album isn’t Boris morphing into Porno Graffiti, the band retaining the metal and experimental tendencies that to now has defined their existence. Yet, whether because they were getting bored or wanted to take the piss out of something or they just wanted some of that J-Rock money, New Album features two songs that could easily be rejiggered into singles for Dracula-knuckleheads VAMPS (“Flare” and “Black Original”) and an honest-to-goodness ballad in the form of “Pardon?” Most surprising of all is how well Boris pull off this look – that ballad trumps the majority of schlocky trash on the Oricon charts, while Album highlight “Hope” easily hangs with any of the year’s best J-Rock tracks. Boris have always been a group eager to try out new sounds, but nobody saw something like New Album coming…or how good they sound doing it.

17. Sapphire Slows True Breath

The most buzzed-about sound from Japan in 2011 was the shadowy, dreamy dance music hovering out of Tokyo like fog. The CUZ ME PAIN label came to be most associated with this style, but it looks like 2012 will be the year the projects in that stable get serious with albums. Instead, non-PAIN act Sapphire Slows released a brief album on American label Not Not Fun serving as an excellent introduction to Tokyo’s dimly lit scene and a strong statement all its own. Standout number “Spin Lights Over You” could be Slows’ business card, a simplistic club strut surrounded by vapor-light vocals and dizzying synths . Elsewhere, “Cosmo Cities” swelters while “Green Flash Mob” vamps by on particularly bright keyboards while a voice creeps around the edges. It’s unsettling but ultimately irresistible, like getting an invitation to dance from one of the Super Mario Brothers ghosts.

16. Her Ghost Friend Her Ghost Friend

DJ Obake always struck me as an odd musician, a guy capable of a straight-up catchy dance number one day but check in like a week later and he would suddenly have some avant track full of wacky touches up on his MySpace. This versatility manifests itself in the Her Ghost Friend project, a collaboration between Obake and Shinobu Ono, who handles vocals and also designed the cutesy album art you see on the side. Her Ghost Friend drifts through mostly poppy terrain, Obake setting his synths on a level so bright it would make a Ghibli animator think twice while Ono coos over the twinkling soundscape. The Her Ghost Friend album is above all a very colorful album, Obake’s flurry of synths complimented by graceful string sections and chirping video game noises. Yet this isn’t pure cotton candy – Her Ghost Friend flashes bits of Obake’s stranger side, like how several songs here see Ono skip singing in favor of just talking or how some of the instrumental tracks, loaded with spacey satellite transmission sounds, could have served as an opening theme to a 1950’s sci-fi show. Her Ghost Friend is a great display of Obake’s abilities, from his ear for catchiness to his more adventurous leanings.

15. She Talks Silence Some Small Gifts

Here’s the only album where I’ll say “just read my original review” because if I chucked up any words in this spot trying to touch on how this mini-album touches the emotions, I’d just be control-v-ing. So, in brief – She Talks Silence’s follow-up to 2010’s lonely masterstroke Noise & Novels finds the once-solo project grow into a duo, the overall sonic quality upped oh-so-slightly. The sound mostly remains true to our previous list topper, indie-pop diagrams designed by minds cloud by melancholy and Lynched-up with, appropriately, some small details. This is where the emotional stuff would start flowing, but just hit the hyperlink and I’ll sum it up by saying Some Small Gifts gives us more of the same She Talks Silence…which is very welcome considering how great that is. Oh, and “Some Small Gift” is the best tune they’ve penned to date.

Cherryboy Function Suggested Function EP #2

I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with nightclubs. Growing up in the middle of a desert (population: 10,000. Happening spot: Jack In The Box), I didn’t even see a proper concert until college let alone sneak off and spend a wild evening trying to sneak into a club. When I finally shipped off to university and found myself in Chicago, a whole new universe of nightlife options appeared before me…yet, once the initial giddiness wore off, I found myself finding annoying points. Sometimes the music being spun wasn’t really for me, and sometimes expressing this fact to friends resulted in nearby strangers loudly saying how fucking pretentious I was (this really happened, and pretty much ruined Chicago clubs for me). Sometimes in Japan, I’d go out for the night and sorta sour on the event…only to realize no more trains were running home and I was stuck until six the next morning. Most likely I’m just not much fun, but I always picture nights on the town as magical, woozy, drunken times, not exercises in killing time.

Basically, I wish going to a night club mirrored Suggested Function EP #2. Cherryboy Function crafted five delirious, rum-soaked dance songs here that are club triumphs, both because of Function’s professional attention to detail and because they just sound insanely fun. Like how “Distopia” opens with this pass-me-a-drink vibe that feels like seeing an elevator door open up to reveal a great party already bumping, or how the cowbell smacking of “Plan E” sounds like it wouldn’t be complete without shots of tequila. And this stuff does work in a live setting. I heard dizzying EP highlight “Pulse Of Change” between sets of a concert late in 2011, and tipsly danced without fear of missed transit or assholish reprimand from bearded jerk. Suggested Function is a perfect night out reduced into a sonic medium, these five tracks nailing the initial thrill of stepping out into the night to the drunken leg moving to the off-balance walk home.

13. Perfume JPN

REVIEW OF JPN PART 2: THE ONE THAT BRINGS IN EVERYTHING

“With Perfume, before I even start work on a song, it is already assigned to a certain commercial, so it’s all about getting a single idea or hook that stands out, whereas capsule’s music is more complex and part of the fun is in finding new sounds every time, or how different people can hear different sounds whilst listening to it.”

Yasutaka Nakata, the mind behind Perfume and Capsule, talking about the differences between the projects in The Japan Times.

Yeah, that’s all nice and good Nakata, bracing for the inevitable backlash against JPN by blaming THE MAN. Here’s the thing though – Nakata NEEDS the commercial pressure of Perfume applied to him to bring out his best, and it’s the reason JPN succeeds. I’ve already laid out why Perfume’s latest sounds good to me, but one interesting development has come along since that review…I’m liking JPN a lot more now. This album still dominates my iPod time, and even the singles that were monopolizing my time in 2010 continue to captivate me. This isn’t the best Perfume album, but I’m starting to think it might be a solid silver medalist.

Yet some people hate this album and what Perfume have become, and look everyone gets an opinion blah blah blah, but some of the reasons for dismissing JPN strike me as silly. Mainly, those not fond of this album frequently mention the same thing Nakata highlighted in that top quote – the advertising ties. I’ve seen Tweets call this album a collection of “advertising jingles” while even Ian Martin’s otherwise good review takes time to talk about the Kirin connections. This post – written long before JPN, but about the “fall” of Perfume – seems almost obsessed with Perfume’s marketing ties, from the Cars 2 appearance to something about how new Perfume tracks don’t have good sci-fi names. Look, I love reading Neojaponisme too, but judging music shouldn’t involve what ads the band has appeared in or what Pixar movie they lent a song to or what the song titles are…it should focus on the music.

And when I focus on just the sound, I hear another colorful pop album from a trio that might be as prevalent in commercials as the Aflac duck but a group still ahead of the J-Pop curve. I also hear Nakata, seemingly over the restrictions placed on him by Perfume’s status, accidentally making some of his best music yet. In that top quote, the part where he mentions Capsule also implies he’s talking about World Of Fantasy, an album that most people who didn’t like JPN loved…but one that I personally didn’t like at all. Sometimes being “complex” can be a burden…and as for “finding new sounds,” Nakata might want to revisit some blogs circa 2008…and the simplicity of pop music (“make something catchy”) trumps what World Of Fantasy tries to do (“be catchy AND cool”). In the intro to “Glitter” alone I hear more ecstasy than I do anywhere on that Capsule album. As much as Nakata wants to distance himself from it, the restrains of Perfume bring out the best in him, and make JPN a stellar release regardless of how many cell phone ads the songs on it appeared.

12. Canopies And Drapes Violet, Lilly, Rose, Daisy

The break-up of Tokyo’s Nu Clear Classmate back in July was a sad moment. The under-heralded duo gave the world one superb EP in 2010’s Lick The Star – a release that in retrospect was a top ten album that year – and seemed capable of even greater art. Yet the project ended after a live show in their native city this past summer, and that was that. Sometimes cliches can be true though, and opportunity can arise from bad news. Out of the ashes of that group came Canopies And Drapes, the solo project of Classmate lead singer Chick, and eventually the EP Violet, Lilly, Rose, Daisy. Her excellent debut establishes her as an exciting young face in the Tokyo scene, one taking cues from her previous project but unafraid of new directions.

Nu Clear Classmate treated emotion like black and white, their songs either sounding extremely happy or crushingly depressed. Canopies And Drapes approaches them with subtlety, though, the best songs on Violet almost coming off as short stories. “Sleeping Under The Bed,” backed by a dreamy pulse reminiscent of Grimes, tells a story fluxuating between devotion and longing, ending with a slightly sad line leading to vagueness. The jittery “Perfect Step” is a lovely character sketch, while “Live In The Snow Globe” tells a story of unrequited love peppered with details about eating french fries at McDonald’s and discussing Snoopy. As our narrator discusses her “sickness” and reveals her wish to live with him in a snow globe forever, the music matches the mood and features a climax worthy of Banana Yoshimoto. Violet carries on the emotional tugging Nu Clear Classmate were so good at, but does it in an understated, almost literary way. Bands and artists can close up shop at anytime, but here’s to hoping Canopies And Drapes sticks around a while.

11. Nuxx Lettre Mois

Sorry to get a little sappy, but it has been nice watching Osaka’s Nuxx grow up right before my eyes. When I first arrived in Japan, I had this habit of choosing random concerts featuring only Japanese bands to go to, and one night I ended up seeing a trio called Bang Bang Balloon who blew me away with their fusion of club-ready beats and Perfume-esque pop chops. They eventually renamed themselves Nuxx, released a very good debut and this year dropped Lettre Mois, their best work to date. Prior to it, Nuxx mostly dealt in huge, singles-worthy pop hooks, which sounded phenomenal but also sometimes made the surrounding songs on their releases pale in comparison. With Lettre Mois, Nuxx have crafted a consistently great album, one featuring few sags to the point this almost feels like a well put-together DJ mix of Nuxx tracks rather than a proper release. The group haven’t lost their knack for crazy catchy moments – “Born To Walk” has a little of “Journey To The West’s” DNA in it, while “Ring Of Pop” lands on a shortlist of best Nuxx song yet – but now those moments aren’t left towering above the rest. Everything else either keeps the frantic floor-worthy pace going or slows thing down just enough to feel like a breather (the blinking “Stereotype”). Nuxx even turn “Happy Birthday” into a banger on “Your Day,” one of the most surprising musical feats of 2011. That’s almost impressive as them putting together this album, a stride forward for them and one of the year’s finest.

Make Believe Melodies’ Top 50 Japanese Songs Of 2011: 20-11

20. The Brixton Academy “Two Shadows United”

The Brixton Academy have always played the role of overly earnest nightclub crawlers, guys who love evenings out on the town but also aren’t good at bottling up all those icky emotions, prone to letting them shoot out like just-uncorked champagne. Whereas Kido Yoji distracts from his ennui with super-groovable music, TBA’s brand of New Wave gets painted over in raw feelings, the member’s earnestness just as vital as their keyboards. But on “Two Shadows United” something strange happens – TBA turn sexy. This scented-candle burner sees the group bypass the club-friendly 80’s dance they’ve built their reputation on in favor of a simple beat, sparse bass and wispy synths that sounds like a bedroom jam. And I’m not talking sloppy 4 A.M. post-dubstep night hooking up resulting in awkward breakfasts – this is romantic, passionate, vulnerable fucking, the sort of thing RedTube has eradicated to a generation of horny teenagers. But man does love-fueled thrusting sound alive on “Two Shadows United,” complete with sexy title! As this is The Brixton Academy, sadness still hangs in the air – as indicated by the fragile synths ushering us into the song, TBA are focusing on a memory, “I miss you” being the line that punctuates it. But that just makes “Two Shadows” even hotter – that moment of physical Eros-approved love isn’t coming back, but what a memory.

LISTEN TO A SAMPLE HERE

19. NOKIES! “We Are News In The Dance Floor”

Upstart NOKIES! closed out 2011 by releasing two ho-hum ballads that seemed more at attracting vanilla major label ears, a forced maturity of the worst kind. Strange to think back in January and February when these kids burst onto the Kansai scene behind Pixie-Stick-powered indie pop that was unrepentantly youthful, taking the most spastic bits of Los Campesinos! while surveying a very crowded Japanese field (Sorrys! and The Chef Cooks Me) and deciding “let’s just do everything better than those guys!” “We Are News In The Dance Floor” is their defining moment, a head down, full-speed-ahead fireball that is so excited it even forgets proper grammar. NOKIES! set out to make their own “You! Me! Dancing!” and nailed all the elements that make that song a young-forever classic. “News” just exudes energy, brimming with the power of a case of Red Bull compared to a lot of the other artists in Japan adding cutesy howls to their songs. Even if NOKIES! do choose to embrace boring old middle-aged music, we will always have this song to turn to as a fountain of youth.

18. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu “Pon Pon Pon”

A discussion between me (ME) and the song “Pon Pon Pon” (PPP)

ME: OK Pon, why in the world should I include you in a top songs list?

PPP: PON PON PON DASHITE

ME: Sure, but what about the fact that you sound like at least two older Perfume songs? And not just the vague idea of Perfume, like “Polyrhythm” and “Dream Fighter.” Yasutaka Nakata getting lazy, yo.

PPP: PON PON WAY WAY WAY

ME: OK OK….how about the troubling aspect of the lady who sings you? She’s a walking Harajuku mannequin who seems to just be adding “pop star” to her personal brand.

PPP: WAY WAY PON WAY WAY WAY WAY

ME: Gah, uhhhhhh, how about that eyesore of a video clip? That was designed to get lazy “whoa look how CRAZY Japan is” clicks and turn you into a viral star. Plus it’s so goofy – floating bones? Candy tanks? Fart colors?

PPP: EVERYDAYYYY PONNNNNNN

ME: Uhm, uhhhhh errrrrrrr

PPP: PON PON WAY WAY WAY! points at iTunes “most played” page, a specific song catching ME’s attention. ME blushes, throws his hands up as if to say “you win!” and turns to the audience.

ME: Look, I spent all year trying to find ways to be annoyed by “Pon Pon Pon” but here in December, I have to admit few songs have gotten as many replays as this one. For every reason you or I could think of to hate this, though, sits a single, giant counterpoint in the form of that chorus which is just perfect for what it is, wisely extended and frequent. I honestly don’t know how a living, breathing human who just isn’t a total dick about everything can’t get at least a little joy out of that chorus, which sounds like Skittles taste. So you win “Pon Pon Pon.” And you god damn deserve it.

17. Cloudy Busey “Broken By Inertia”

Osaka projects Ice Cream Shout and Cloudy Busey – the latter serving as the solo moniker of Bob Willey, who also mans the former – are blog-hyped groups not behaving like blog-hyped groups normally do. In today’s online music media world, everything dictated by speed, the breakthrough artist of last week an ancient relic by the next. Thus groups hoping to attract an online presence have to be always releasing something, whether it be new music or a remix of some other buzzed-’bout artist’s also fresh song or a cover or like a goofy iPhone app. Ice Cream Shout and Cloudy Busey don’t play by those rules – unless you caught them live (pro-tip, you should), Ice Cream Shout hasn’t released anything since last year’s gorgeous “Tattooed Tears” while Cloudy Busey’s last song was our number 17 song of the year “Broken By Inertia.” By now, Willey should be recording a goofy John Denver jam or remixing ASAP Rocky.

Yet Willey seems like the type to value craft over rush jobs, having one great song over a bunch of flimsy tunes like Cults (whooops!). “Broken By Inertia” wasn’t even technically new in 2011, as he had been working on this for upwards of three years before finally hammering it down in July. It shows – from the spaced-out (think Milky Way not Algebra class) synths blasting off all over the song to the propulsive beat to the vocals which flow just right and feature nuggets like “I don’t care if everything is stolen/just make sure it’s used,” the sort of line that could be loaded with meaning or not at all but doesn’t matter because it still grabs you. “Inertia” ends up being one of the moodiest pieces Willey has put together in awhile, but one still with eyes set on the sky rather than the pavement. Waiting pays off gang, even if you miss out on an extra Stereogum update.

16. Pop-Office “A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness”

Being earnest is one thing, but sharing a personal diary with an entire live house takes guts. Nagoya’s Pop-Office ignores any self-conscious hurdles and just snap on “A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness,” feelings left out in the open like jeans on a wash line. At one point the line “I want you to eat my soul/I want you to forget my name” comes out and it feels sincere, even aching. The backing sounds help a lot, New-Wave synths trying to shine over pummeling guitar work, but here Pop-Office’s vocals steal the show by practically puking out every dark emotion brewing inside of them. Incredible stuff, first major label to sign them gets super cool points.

15. Cherryboy Function “Pulse Of Change”

Moment of honesty – I initially forgot this song existed when compiling this little list. Cherryboy Function’s Suggested Function #2 EP came out all the way back in January/February, a slot often doomed to suffer a few drops in list rankings thanks to how the human brain works. So “Pulse Of Change” missed out on the first cut of this list. Until one night when I decided to review all of 2011 the only way I know how – by revisiting every single post I had written that calendar year. And right near the start of my digital voyage, “Pulse Of Change.” “Oh hey, yeah that song, better give it another spin!”

And boy did my face red, because this whirling dance number is so well structured and such a blast to be spun around by that this spot on the list seems like a birthright for “Pulse Of Change” – not a showstopper, but rather carefully constructed cartoon craziness loaded up with bright twinkles and feet-shuffling touches. There are at least three keyboard lines on this thing I want to point to and be like, “that’s the one, the best one!” but couldn’t bring myself to choose just one dose of technicolor fun. Cherryboy lets “Pulse Of Change” run for more than seven minutes but never does it feel like a trudge, his shifts thought out well enough that “Change” never lags. As if turned into a joke about my dumbness by the gods, I heard “Pulse” playing at an indie-club event recently and saw just how fun it can sound surrounded by other people. This thing isn’t leaving my iPod anytime soon.

14. Heavenstamp “Morning Glow”

My day job forces me to wake up way earlier than I am used to, an iPhone alarm setting I’m sure a lot of people would kill for but one that still finds a way to catch me off guard even four months in. Though I routinely let the “Snooze” button win out – sometimes resulting in the panicked moment of “ohhhhhh I have five minutes to get out the door” – I almost always lock up my apartment at 6:50 and zombie shuffle my way to the train station. That time of day isn’t early enough to see empty streets but still dimly lit enough where it feels like I’m living in my own Synecdoche, New York. I even see the same characters now, smell the same smells and hear the same noises. It isn’t what I want necessarily, but it’s what I have and thank you for that.

“Morning Glow” came out well before my new daily routine, back when 7:30 still seemed like a safe bet. Then, the song sounded like A-work J-Rock, Heavenstamp crafting this catchy, dancey and sorta downtrodden pop number that just felt more alive and warm than a lot of the mainstream rock cluttering up the Japanese airwaves today. In that context, I still loved “Morning Glow” in ways I sometimes couldn’t explain, the whole track just doing everything good music should, being nice to listen to and bound for frequent replays while also concealing some feeling.

Now, though, I’ve got why I dig “Morning Glow.” As hinted at by the title and the accompanying video, this song deals with the early-morning hours, Heavenstamp creating a song that sounds like a J-Rock single drinking decaf to ease into the day. The guitars and drums give the song the titular “glow,” a faint one that won’t make you strain your eyes but a beautiful one nonetheless. It’s the singing by Sally#Cinnamon (seriously), though, that makes this special. She goes from eyes-cast-down longing…for what, who cares…to being upbeat to practically shouting come the chorus, her voice always warbling slightly. This sounds like that groggy walk to the station, barely awake but surprised by the nice touch of the elements brushing against exposed skin. All those old faces seem like friends, reminding you it isn’t all a dream. Suddenly everything looks a bit brighter – yeah, waking up at this hour sucked, but that’s our life. And isn’t that fucking miraculous to say?

13. Michiyo Honda “Game Boyz (Don’t You Want A Real Girlfriend?”)

The actual music on Michiyo Honda’s “Game Boyz (Don’t You Want A Real Girlfriend”) speaks for itself – all-neon-like synths, the sort of beat that slays at the club, Honda giving her flirtiest vocal performance of the year. That alone would lock it up as maybe the fifth or fourth best track she released all year. Yet this finishes the year as the mile-away finest entry in her “single a month” project because of the story going on in the song, or at least what I’m hearing. The coos in the song could easily be mistaken for average bedding talk until she gets to the part set off in parentheses – “don’t you want a real girlfriend?” Then we remember the title and it clicks – this song is about a socially maladjusted man who plays video games so well the virtual characters in his titles wonder why he doesn’t crave something more real? This would be a good laugh if 2011 Japan wasn’t loaded with dudes choosing to love Hatsune Miku or pretending to have babies with the members of AKB48 instead of getting their di….errrrr fix the country’s population problem. Honda, playing the role of pixlated babe, moans about how well this dude “plays” her, and it does seem like she wants to get with him. Yet this character still tells her Otaku interest “you don’t know how to let it out,” and then asks that persistent question once again. Societal crisis rarely sounds so fun to listen in on.

GET ON iTUNES

12. Spangle Call Lilli Line “For Rio”

In which Spangle Call Lilli Line’s long-running series of “Rio” songs reaches an appropriate peak. Every prior take on what sticks out as one of the group’s strongest cuts existed at relatively slow speeds, turning the track into either a isolated wish or a dreamy stroll around the block depending on what else happens around it. “For Rio” shoots right out the gate – all metallic guitar strums burst forward by the authoritative drumming. The lyrics, same as ever, appear, but whereas on previous versions they hung around like lonely friends, now they feel urgent, in a great need to get somewhere. The stakes seem higher this time around, everything a bit more breathless. More than anything, this is the catchiest version of the already-hard-to-shake “Rio” song, exhilarating while playing and when it suddenly stops on a dime, first instinct is to jump for “repeat.”

GET ON iTUNES

11. Sakanaction “Bach No Senritsu Wo Yoru Ni Kiita Sei Desu”

This song ended up being the band’s best selling single of the year, landed them on Music Station and hell I heard it on TV a lot. THIS. Like a lot of DocumentaLy, “Bach” hides a lot of clever details under the obvious pop brilliance Sakanaction discovered when they found just the right way for them to merge dance music with J-Rock. I hope I don’t need to tell you about how darn catchy this is – the choir-like shouting of the title and deceptively slinky chorus should do the job – so instead I’ll dwell on the strange bits. Like how this features two instances where everything else cuts out so we can hear piano keys. How random synth splatters drip across the song before the first big shout-along. How midway through the entire thing almost breaks down because of a burst of static. How this is a song about Bach. Or how Sakanaction drew inspiration from styles ranging from Japanese rock, 90’s dance, disco and classical to name a few to craft one of the pop jams of the year.

Let’s also take a second to acknowledge the music video, the best in Japan and probably the best one I watched anywhere in 2011. Neaux already showered it with love, but here is another gentle poke in the ribs that this clip rules, thanks in part to a lot of puppets.

Review: Cherryboy Function’s Suggested Function EP #2

Cite that old Elvis Costello about dancing and architecture if you must, but writing about DJ-made music shouldn’t require any goofy similes in order to convey what a fruitless endeavor it can be. It’s not like more critically-friendly stuff like The Field or Daft Punk, which allows writers to focus on minimalism and Barry Manilow samples respectively instead of having to figure out whether this stuff packs a club (for the record – sometimes and fuck yes). This year’s dubstep darling James Blake released an album being slathered in critical praise that’s also nearly impossible to dance to. When a club-centric DJ puts out an album, though, they tend to emphasize creating great music to dance to over hype-baiting innovation…filling a club gets them paid after all…so writing about this becomes slightly trickier.

Cherryboy Function certainly falls into the “fun times” category. Most articles about the artist spend at least a sentence covering his “acclaimed” DJ stints and tours. He hasn’t released an album in 3-and-a-half-years, and I have a feeling it wasn’t because he hunkered down in the lab trying to change the game. Instead, all available materials indicates he just wanted to focus on his live show. His recently released Suggested Function EP #2 reflects this devotion to his live craft, as all 30 minutes of this EP cater to the weekend set. Yet Cherryboy Function’s also a deceptive architecture and his music hides intricacies that allows a goof like me to write something more than “it has great beats!” So…best of both worlds.

All of Cherryboy’s strengths show on opening number “Pulse Of Change,” a whirling light-show and one of the best Japanese songs released so far this year. He adopts the same super-bright formula fellow Japanese electronic artist De De Mouse uses on his hyper-chipper drum ‘n’ bass bits, yet gives his flashes time to grow and never rushes them. “Pulse” introduces various cartoony twinkles over it’s seven-minute run, each element taking it’s time to blossom until everything sort of hits at once and you wonder how that happened. It’s the sound of stumbling around late-night Shinjuku or Osaka, giddy on booze, and taking in all the gaudy neon shaped signage like it’s the Pyramids. It’s a delirious song, but one that’s been intelligently planned for quite sometime now.

The rest of EP isn’t quite as woozy as “Pulse,” but plenty of moments come close. “Distopia” boast similar pulsing electronics but works in more wobbly bass. It’s a slightly more reeled-in “Pulse Of Change” with the bubbling joy replaced by something a bit more stylish. “Plan E” dabbles in the same congo percussion Baroque and 80kidz toyed around with last year, yet whereas those songs felt like crazy parties spliced up, Cherryboy’s take comes off as wanting to soundtrack said shindigs. It’s also runs a little deeper, as he introduces a strobe-light interlude that then superimposes itself over the rest of the track. Only “Tornado” seems like a slight let-down, being the most generically “club” track on an EP showing considerably more depth than you’d expect. Even then, it’s a perfectly good dance track with, er, great beats.

EP stands as a strong electronic album containing complex structure as well. It’s also the perfect format for Cherryboy…his last full-length Something Electronic featured plenty of similar moments of brilliance but that LP’s hour-plus play time came off as incredibly daunting. Thirty-minute blasts of his tunes are much more agreeable, his songs able to shine without ending up muddled in everything surrounding them. And yeah, for all this geeky analysis it’s an album bound to sound good on earbuds and in a nightclub.

Out The Gate: Cherryboy Function

One week into the new year and no time to rest because here come the new releases. Patrick over at Tokyo’s Coolest Sound throws some heavy props on Cherryboy Function, an electronic artist dabbling in the same Lifesaver-bright dance music as De De Mouse. Don’t expect drum ‘n’ bass and dissected kids voices though – the samples for Function’s recently released “Suggested Function EP #2” hint at less neck-snapping dance music Toucan Sam-med the hell out. You can listen to three morsels over at ExT Recordings MySpace page. “Another Side” mixes glossy synth strikes with easy-breezy electro-whistles and dabs of percussion ripped out of an old Mickey Mouse cartoon where he plays a skeletons spine like a xylophone. More striking is the whizzing “Pulse Of Change,” which splits between a club-friendly tune – Function has apparently been working the Japanese party scene for a few years now – and a more cerebral place where design gets the most attention. “Tornado” closes the trio of preview tracks out, functioning as the most stereotypically “dance music” song here. Funtion’s EP comes out on January 5…which is today in Japan. Order the thing here.