![]() ![]() But unlike the rock edge of her first LP, Roomic Cube, or the innocent obsession with consumer-grade synthesizers on Cloudy Cloud Calculator, Fun 9 reflects a maturity in its blending of better electronics with "organic" rock instrumentation, including acoustic guitar. ![]() ![]() Often her music suggests diary entries, a young girl delighted by watching her cat and wondering what she's thinking, or what kind of music clouds might make. What would account for this change in the girl who sings about how pretty the color white is? Judging by song titles such as "Spin Spider Spin" and "Fancy Funk Work," maybe Minekawa is still up to her old lyrically nonsensical tricks. Perhaps Cornelius' presence on the new record is most responsible for this downbeat Takako. Interestingly, even as a lesser album, Ximer presented a melancholic Takako in the acoustic guitar version of "Phonobaloon Song" and, more immediately, the Cornelius rendition of "Milk Rock."Ĭornelius, Japanese pop's man-for-all-reasons, stripped the tune of its joyful buzzes, beeps and playfulness and introduced the introspection of a bossa-inspired guitar, lending a ponderous tone to its cutesy lyrics. On the contrary, the pop flair of the previous albums, Roomic Cube and Cloudy Cloud Calculator, still provides the foundation of Fun 9. With its spare cover portrait of Takako, Fun 9 suggests at the outset that it may involve things less than fun. The super-sugary sounds of CCC have been given a taste of tartness. ![]() And with the substantially weaker remix EP, Ximer, as holdover, Fun 9 is not only refreshing, but startling. The ingenious electric antics of 1997's Cloudy Cloud Calculator, with its wonderfully cute, all-synthesizer musings, unfortunately could barely stand the two-year stretch. Takako Minekawa hits the downbeat with 'Fun 9'įINALLY, A NEW Takako Minekawa album has arrived. The following is a run of singles they released from 98-2002, all quality stuff but for 'complexity' and arrangements in particular check out The Peace and Sou da! Great great pop music with really high quality productions, Hello Project (of whom Morning Musume is but one of the bands (albeit the most important)) were responsible for some of the greatest pop music ever released and really deserve their own thread but, for now, here's that run of singles I was banging on about.Fun? Takako Minekawa rubs sweet with bitter on a semi-acoustic Fun 9. You wanna listen to some quality Morning Musume. If anyone has a minute to read and listen, and also has some intense experience with J-Pop, would you mind schooling me a bit?ĭon't post 3-nin Matsuuri. I'm fairly sure that the song he references directly in the audio interview (which can be heard at the link below) is the same one in the YouTube link below. Admittedly, while I do have a fairly technical ear for music, it does not apply at all to Japanese pop music, most of which I find mildly Satanic (in the disturbing sense, not as the embodiment of the Prince of Darkness). In this NPR article with accompanying audio interview, Friedman talks about how repetitive Megadeth songs became (which is absolutely true) and how he began to find J-Pop far more musically challenging and rewarding. I was slightly less surprised when I learned a number of years later that he'd moved permanently to Japan and became a fixture on Japanese television. As a big Megadeth fan in the late 80's/early 90s, I can still recall being mildly bemused when I learned that Friedman spent much of his time working in Japan, recording classical guitar records and instructional videos. He's also done lots of classical work and is considered in most circles to be virtuoso musician. Friedman, for those of you who don't know of him, is best known for being a guitarist in Megadeth for a number of years. I came across this story on NPR over the weekend, and it really has me wondering if there is more to this stuff than meets the eye (or ear). Or is Marty Friedman simply out of his gourd? ![]()
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