song of the month #1 / shinseiki no ringo san (???)

(Disclaimer: I'm no expert at music - these are just my opinions and everything I say might be wrong. Now, with that out of the way, let's get this show on the road!)

September's song of the month is 'Machine' by Chirinuruwowaka, a Japanese rock band formed in 2005 by Yumi Nakashima as a side project to her other band GO!GO!7188 (which if you like what you hear here I recommend you to check out.) The band's name comes from a sentence from the traditional Japanese poem / alphabet Iroha.

I think the main thing that catches my ear is the song's energy and verve. Right from the start, the bass drum and bass line have that stomp-y, grunge-y, in-your-face, kind of rebellious insistence that catches your attention and doesn't let go until the end. Another thing is the attitude - it reminds me a lot of that song Cherry Bomb by the Runaways - that girl power anti-anthem, take-us-seriously-or-we'll-kick-your-ass kind of attitude. And the melody is just great in my opinion, there's just enough brightness to balance out the dissonance and create a really unpredictable tension in the verse that steadily builds in intensity all the way to the chorus and then gets released once the band kicks into gear. Then it's back to a slow and steady simmer.

The other thing that really makes the song interesting for me is the vocal performance. Those little flourishes in her voice add a lot to the song. I think the fact that she has a high sort of voice - as opposed to a deeper or husky voice - not really powerful, not exactly refined either- just short of shrill- works to her advantage strangely. Her voice is high pitched, girly but she sings in a knowing and assured manner - she gives off a little bit of that worldy-wise, post-modern, everything is ironic and tired kind of vibe - if that makes sense. A kind of sweet-bitter way of singing. It might just be the diminished chords affecting my judgement but she reminds me a bit of shiina ringo, particularly from her stem and poltergeist days. And also i guess the chorus to Yume no Ato.

In summary, this song is a real rush. It gives you time in between to catch your breath, and just when you're about to catch up it goes speeding off again. That guitar tone as well. Ugh. It's got that bare, raw Pixies meets Weezer stripped down feel going for it and an uncomplicated but amphetamine inspired rhythm section that drives the song forward.

tl;dr this song is cool and fun

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Runners up:
Hoshikuzu no Pipeline by JUNK Fujiyama.
Heard this on an episode of Space Dandy. It's just - well... it's fantastic.

夜明けの街でサヨナラを [to say goodbye in the dawning city] by indigo la End
So far, it's been a J-rock kind of month. Standard upbeat 4-piece power pop with moody philosophical hipster lyrics with plaintive wailing bridge and uplifting sublimely catchy chorus. I just really like this band because everything just works. It's like they've got catchy melodies and harmonies down to a science. It's also super bright tonally, while still packing a punch. This song is off their Ano Machi Record mini-album, which was a bit too avant garde for my tastes at times but there are a handful of gems in there.

So I guess that's it for September. I enjoyed doing this post and I may or may not do another one next month, depending on whether another song really grabs my attention and if I have enough time (read: am able to overcome my incumbent laziness long enough) to write something. if you enjoyed any of the songs or have any songs to recommend leave a comment below!


alright, well y'all take care now -- don't be a stranger, hear.

oh, hold up just a minute! I almost forgot. Here, something kawaii for the road



now g'on, git