Once upon a time, I told Mister Mister that I’d be happy to feature any boy bands that did the music to warrant it. It was a safe, innocuous kind of comment, less a promise than a “we’ll see” with a smirk. After all, thought I at the time and plenty of times subsequently because yes I sometimes think about you guys who comment (what of it?), when has the relentless boy band machine that is mainstream J-pop ever turned out something on par with even, say, that lone K-pop outfit that I find significantly entertaining?

Cue up last week’s Weekender and said Mister Mister:

And that, friends, becomes the moment when I abjure all remaining pretense toward “normal” J-pop. Continue reading →