Hey gang! Like I mentioned the other day, Phase II is actually happening all the time — think “content strategy” moreso than “obvious activity,” and always evolving — and there’s a separate little project happening right now that made me think that I may as well introduce this one component.
Terry’s started up a project of building playlists of idols for fans of other idols. So, like, if you’re into PassCode, you might also like these things, and so on. It’s a good idea!
What I had in mind, and kind of half-started a while back, is to try to find good sonic comparisons between certain notable idols and certain notable not-Japanese bands and the like. Contemporary is best, but good connections are better than no connections.
I can’t think of a really good way to organize it, so let’s just try it by word association. My only real request is that you leave out Japanese bands (or singers or whatever!) that aren’t somewhat well-known outside of Japan — Maximum the Hormone and ONE OK ROCK are probably fine to mention, for instance, but SEX MACHINEGUNS, probably not. Ironically, it is now completely okay to use Babymetal as a point of comparison as opposed to an example.
So here’s a list of notable idols, ones that we seem to like in particular; if you feel like playing along, just list your ideas next to each.
- PassCode
- Zenbu Kimi no Sei Da
- Screaming Sixties
- BiSH
- NECRONOMIDOL
- Bellring Girls Heart (last gen)
- ayumikurikamaki
- Billie Idle
- Guso Drop
- Yanakoto Sotto Mute
- FRUITPOCHETTE
- PASSPO
- Yukueshirezutsurezure
- Hauptharmonie
- You’ll Melt More!
Do it to it. Also, feel free to suggest connections that you make in your head re: idols that aren’t on the list!
Ok,this us not exactly what was requested, so feel free to dismiss it, but I thought I would also try to describe the general sounds of bands by feeling :
Maison Book Girl: Warm Rainy summer day
PassCode: (JP group: Feat and Loathing in Las Vegas) Catchy robotic clean rock with dirty screams. Imagine a group of rebel Cyborgs hijacking mainstream radio streams.
Zenbu Kimi no Sei Da: Binging on sweets when you are having a terrible day and the baggage of mixed feelings that comes with it.
BiSH: You know that feeling when you sing by yourself in your car/room and you feel absolutely cool? Well,this group is exactly that, except they actually look and sounds as awesome in reality as you do on your head.
Billie Idle: Old school punk band that should make it big but won’t compromise enough to sing with a label.
Yukueshirezutsurezure: if your teenage angst manifested physically as something great, it would be Tsurezure.
You’ll Melt More!: imagine if the Yeah Yeah Yeahs ballad and their more party songs had conjoined twins with a summer hit anthem.
Billie Idle- are like if The Jam and Soft Cell were the same band.
Zenbu Kimi no Sei Da- Are what happens if Momoiro Clover Z gets in your BABYMETAL or vice versa.
Way before the BABYMETAL popularity boom I had to describe them to people as “imagine if System Of A Down had a baby with a gothic lolita Japanese anime and then that baby had a baby with Rammstein”.
I’m just going to leave this here for reference: https://soundcloud.com/psybou-kanojo/byobcover
I’ve been saying for the last few months that I’m going to have my idols cover Psybou Kanojo’s cover of BYOB.
That got me thinking, I’m kinda surprised none of the alt-idols have played with Sonic Youth’s “Kill Yr Idols”, maybe someone has and I just missed it.
It seems like it’s ripe for the picking . I wouldn’t expect a straight cover of an early Sonic Youth song, but maybe use the lyrical refrain.
“Kill Yr Idols
Sonic Death
It’s the end of the world
and confusion is sex”
Then there is that whole business when Thurston Moore briefly changed the title of the song to “I Killed Christgau with my Big Fucking Dick”.
Just a pre- The Big Game (don’t want you getting shut down for copyright infringement) slightly besotted musing.
Okay, I think I can do that for one particular unit 😀
– pop/poprock songs (50%) -> A. Lavigne’, GoGo’s, Bangles, etc.
Other 50%:
– punkrock songs (Heaven’s Burger) -> Green Day³
– party rock songs (High Tension Emotion) -> Andrew W.K.
– classic hardrock songs (Mask) -> Iron Maiden³, Judas Priest³
– 80/90’s rock (Next Flight) -> Aerosmith², Guns’n’Roses², Skid Row², Van Halen³ etc.
– and, since last week….Babymetal.
1) original starting point
2) mentioned as influence by main songwriter
3) covered live with, or by backing band The Ground Crew
This is great, thank you!