Style: Jpop, City pop
Primary Emotions/Themes: I'm stuck in a Japanese time machine taking me back to the glory days of the early eighty's and the radio is playing this
Thoughts: Why is this so good? Seriously, I can't stop listening to it. Why is it so god damn good?
I normally am not a huge fan of pop, jpop included. It's too bubbly, it's too happy, it's out of touch with reality, and it's just not fun for me to listen to. Ryuusennkei challenges all of my perceptions on what I think I like and don't like in pop.
This album feels like it's straight out of the late 70's to early 80's. The music has the classic Jpop feel, the vocals in particular resonate strongly with that time period. While the production is decidedly a bit more modern, the entire package is obviously a love letter to the past Japanese pop scene.
The basis of the music is drums and bass. They are in every song along with the vocals. The other instruments change as the songs require. Sometimes it's an electric guitar strumming along with no effects. Other times it's a keyboard playing soothing chords sounding like they were pulled directly out of a lounge. Sometimes it's even a harmonica or stings. It's really whatever the song calls for and whatever sounds good.
The other constant is the definitive sparkle that city pop is so well known for. It's hard to quantify in words, but the music has this air of brightness to it that is carried over in the music. It sounds... shiny. It sounds like it's polished to the point where you expect an anime figure to walk out and twinkle... it just sounds fresh and clean... and sparkly.
Tokyo Sniper has no business being as good as it is. Pop music should not sound this good, but here we are. I'm currently on my third listen of the day and Timemachine Love is stuck in my head... again. There are worse ways to spend a day.
Written April 2nd 2024
No comments:
Post a Comment