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By Dan Grunebaum
BUDDAHEAD
Crossing the Invisible Line
(Sanctuary/BMG)
Not a band, Buddahead is in fact the moniker of solo act
Raman Kia. An Iranian sent to England at nine to escape the
violence of his native land, Kia’s music is suffused
with the sadness of a man old beyond his years. Sometimes
this makes Crossing... a belabored affair, but it’s
also the strength behind the album’s poignant moments.
The leadoff track, “When I Fall,” about a trip
to Amsterdam gone wrong, sets an overall Britpop tone for
the album with jangly guitars and violins. The rest of the
record is full of expansive choruses, dirge-like melodies,
Manchester grooves, and, most of all, Kia’s plaintive,
falsetto vocals. This is the sound of catharsis, of someone
exorcizing his demons—will he have anything left for
a second album? Buddahead plays Harajuku Astro Hall on March
31.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Nordic Lounge
(DNM)
While Scandinavia is best known these days for neo-garage
bands like The Hives, it also has a small but fertile electronica
scene. The two owners of Dealers of Nordic Music (DNM), for
example, were in Tokyo last month to promote their latest
Nordic Lounge compilation, a mesmerizing collection of tracks
that range from house to nu jazz and beyond. Launching with
Cloud’s enchanting “Winternights” featuring
the silky vocals of Joanna Wahlsten, Nordic Lounge proceeds
through the subtle, jazzy house of artist Plej’s “And
So Lay the Land” to the funk of Context’s “Don’t
Need a Band.” The 22-year-old prodigy Hird’s “Safe
Place” is another standout, while the disc also oddly
includes a track by Japan’s Susumu Yokota.
KAGRRA
Omou
(Passion/ Columbia)
I tend to view the heavy makeup and melodramatic music of
visual kei as a phenomenon to be enjoyed by Japanese only,
but when Tokyo-based Kagrra’s director at Columbia Music
insisted they were attracting foreign fans, I had to find
out why. A look at their videos reveals a Japonesque interpretation
of visual kei, with the five garbed in kimono and the band
making use of the koto and taiko. But listening to their new
maxi-single “Omou” reveals surprising musical
sophistication. The heavy vibrato vocals of “Omou”
are lightened by some really nice acoustic guitar work, which
makes itself felt on some of the other tracks as well. Kagrra
aren’t for everyone, but they do show that the remarkable
progress Japanese musicians have made in recent years extends
even into visual kei.
THE GOSPELLERS
G10
(Sony)
Rarely considered one of Japan’s coolest bands, a cappella
group The Gospellers have worked long and hard for their success
and this month are celebrating their tenth album with a double
disc of their best hits as chosen by their fans. It wasn’t
until their 16th single “Hitori,” still one of
their finest, hit the top three in 2001, seven years after
their debut, that their pioneering vocal work was taken seriously.
The five male members have extended the boundaries of traditional
thinking about what a cappella groups can achieve, both commercially
and artistically, and it’s with this album that we can
best appreciate the latter. Benefitting greatly from a mix
lifted from nine albums, we can immerse ourselves in G10’s
gorgeous harmony work, flavors of R‘n’B and soul,
uptempo pop and a fair few love songs to create a very satisfying
and never tiring listen. Robert Poole
Would you like to comment on this article? Send a letter
to the editor at letters@metropolis.co.jp.
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