One of the reasons why I started a blog that deals partly in Japanese rock and pop was because so much contemporary music in the UK and USA these days bores me. In order to continue finding stuff that’s new and interesting to listen to I decided to look further afield and naturally the idea of Jrock caught my attention straight away. Very few Japanese bands have seen great success abroad however; while the Mad Capsule Markets and Dir en Grey have acquired a cult following, Jpop and Jrock have received little attention from listeners or the press. I was recommended Soft Ballet a while back but it wasn’t until I discovered Jpopsuki that I was able to sample their material.
Soft Ballet are a three-piece synthpop/industrial outfit comprised of Maki Fujii, Ken Morioka and Ryoichi Endo; their first album was released way back in 1989 when new romantics and dark-wave synthesised music were popular in the West but for some reason there are hardly any English language news, reviews or interviews around at all (even their Wikipedia page is a stub at time of writing). I find this surprising because, although they went through a hiatus period during the late 90s and their last release was in 2003, Soft Ballet have a sound that could really catch on internationally. In a nutshell they sound like a Japanese Depeche Mode…and I love it.
Album Discography
Earth Born (1989)
The opening track Body to Body immediately alerted me to the DM similarity (I also suspect that their name is an amalgamation of two iconic 80s bands, Spandau Ballet and Soft Cell): it has a catchy, radio-friendly beat but the lyrical content is quite dark and racy; needless to say the lyrics are mostly performed in their native language but otherwise it sounds uncannily similar to the Basildon legends. The instrumentation is similar of course, as is the baritone vocal delivery and balance of light and dark atmospherics. If you want to hear how SB started out, or just want to return to the days of leg warmers, yuppies and keyboards being cooler than guitars, this is a good place to start.
Document (1990)
The follow-up is in the same vein as its predecessor but has a slightly more forceful and dance-orientated feel, as demonstrated by the opener No Pleasure, which reminds me a bit of Pretty Hate Machine-era NIN. Some brighter pop moments, such as Private Pride, the stunning ballads Escape and After Images and a couple of other slower tracks offer a bit of variety to a record that is moodier and more hard-edged than chart material of the era; this was also the point where they started to work the occasional guitar riff into the largely synthesised arrangements. If you like the first album, you’ll find much to enjoy here too.
3[drai] (1990)
A short six-track mini LP, this is a continuation of their sound so far although the songs are in a more relaxed tempo. Backlash and Brilliant Fault and the Sky was Blue are quite introspective while Exist is more hypnotic; the exception is Much of Madness, More of Sin which is a frantic piece that is one of their heaviest, most industrial numbers to date and sounds a bit like Broken-era Trent Reznor. It’s worth noting that they also made use of acoustic guitars in Flow, which maintains a sense of diversity in such a short track listing; I suspect the three band members were allowed to show their individual approaches to songwriting here.
Love and Peace (Ai to Heiwa) (1991)
This was the band’s political protest concept album, referring to the first Gulf War (they seemed to release albums with great regularity during this period – one every year!). It was released as a double album, with a couple of remixes on the bonus disc, and marked a return to the DM-inspired brooding, synth-driven sound. It’s a more serious and less pop-orientated effort than their earlier work too, which I suppose reflects the serious issues that the songs address. Shame I don’t know enough of the language to understand all the lyrics that are performed in Japanese (which is most of them) but the titles of the songs as well as the album as a whole, not to mention some vocal snippets sampled in, say it all for me. This is SB at their most thoughtful but outspoken too.
Million Mirrors (1992)
This is where SB go a bit more experimental, possibly following on with the serious aspect that stemmed from the subject matter of their previous record. Again, there’s a slightly political slant (Re: Vietnam) and more use of vocal/sound effects samples. It’s a more hard-edged effort too (as indicated by the sepia-tinged, gothic cover artwork), although I have to say Fairy Tale is possibly their most heartfelt song of the lot; the female backing vocals, something that is added on occasion and really compliments the male vocal parts, and measured tempo make it one of the album’s highlights.
Incubate (1993)
The first part of this album sounds like Joy Division would have sounded, had Curtis survived and lived on through their forays into electronica as New Order. It’s a very grandiose sounding record, but also brighter and has a more dance beat-orientated sound than the previous two albums; the single White Shaman is especially worth a listen – it’s one of my personal favourites of theirs. The album gets slower and smoother later on though with Gene Sets, an odd intermission track in between some wonderfully chilled out and relaxing vocal numbers.
Form (1995)
As Depeche moved towards a more guitar-driven sound with their Songs of Faith and Devotion, Soft Ballet were adding some excellent guitar lines into their songs, along with the dancier beats that were becoming more and more integral to their sound. Pheonix could go down a storm in a nightclub; Perfection adds some exotic instrumentation to liven things up too. There are the more chilled out moments of course: Ride and No One Lives on Mars rumble slowly along and U jumps from noisy chaos to brooding atmospherics. In terms of quality of material it’s pretty subjective I guess, but (perhaps because they were considering calling it a day) this is one of their most varied efforts; all facets of their sound so far are represented here.
Symbiont (2002)
After their first period of hiatus the band’s recording techniques made use of the newer synthesiser technology to give a record that sounds more polished and less ‘retro’; that said Bird Time is almost synth-free, coming over as a bona fide guitar rock tune. There’s a sense of renewed energy and a more relaxed feel this time around, with the component instrumental parts fitting together seamlessly and the vocals oozing laid-back confidence. It has a more contemporary vibe, apparently drawing from modern dance and electronic bands; I can see similarities to the likes of the Prodigy and Faithless but my knowledge of these genres is pretty scant. Either way it sits quite comfortably in the middle ground between catchy dance and grandiose rock, with their trademark effortless transitions between brightness and dark experimental moments.
Menopause (2003)
The most recent album, and possibly the last unless they make a comeback for a second time, shares both the experimental noise-rock with distorted loops and samples but also some really bouncy and catchy numbers that will stick in your head for days. The sound is more polished, but I think this is down to the newer technology used; the less radio-friendly moments are quite gritty but it’s a nice mixture. I’d like to think there’ll be another SB record after this but it’s fair to say the three of them are happy following their respective solo projects. If this is indeed the case the likes of Bright My Way and the decidedly sexy Smashing the Sun are a great parting shot for a band that I believe are very underrated indeed.
Soft Ballet is amazing. More people should know about them.