The PC’s on the blink again. It’ll be over a week before I can put right whatever’s wrong so in the meantime I’m working on the backup machine, my trusty four-year-old low-spec laptop. So here I am, running in the Aniblog Tourney with little to write about because I can’t watch much; I feel like I have an important call to make when my mobile phone’s in the pocket of My Other Jacket.
So I thought I might as well write about Perfume. Music dominates a lot of my spare time: I immerse myself in as much as possible, ignoring the usual boundaries of time, trends and genre in favour of my own so sometimes my tastes are a bit unpredictable. My fascination with Perfume is a guilty-pleasure kind of thing, but not completely so.
As in, I’m again asking myself “why am I enjoying this when it’s such a departure from everything else in my collection?” They are after all commercialised and have this aura of image, of marketing, of popular shallowness, for want of a better phrase. And no, I’m not going into that K-on business again after what happened last time. I’m merely saying it’s a departure from most music I listen to.
Bands that sound like this don’t usually appeal to me but I really enjoy Perfume…and not just because it consists of three attractive ladies in cool outfits (although I’m not denying that helps). I have a feeling that they aren’t a typical manufactured electro-pop girl-group (I’m using the distinction between ‘group’ and ‘band’ very deliberately here), and my acceptance of them can largely be attributed to that.
I’ll admit that on the surface they sound and look manufactured. I’d even go as far as to say they represent everything about commercialised pop: they’re marketed as a sound and image rather than self-made songwriters, they sell zillions of records and the lyrics are generic to the point of being nonsensical at times. I even find the voices peculiar.
The vocals are put through so much digital studio trickery that their own mothers wouldn’t recognise them; I’d put money on them being indistinguishable from a skillfully-used piece of Vocaloid software in the next five years (and I don’t think that has to be a bad thing). Hell, the visuals at their gigs look like something from Sharon Apple in Macross Plus (again, not a bad thing?).
Perfume are therefore a textbook example of a commercially successful, chart-friendly electropop group that projects a futuristic, popular image. I also admit that my own personal methods of appreciating and classifying music are weird enough anyway…
Let’s start on ‘genre’: the concept that music fans hate because it unfairly pigeonholes things, but we grudgingly accept because it’s useful on occasion. I like alt-rock, post-rock, classic rock, shoegaze, nu-gaze, blues, classical, electronica…but where does Perfume fit into this nebulous world of mine? It’s too poppy to be alternative, to electronic to be rock…and clumsy self-conscious people like me are generally averse to dance music (I’m working on it. Not the dancing…just the appreciation of dance music).
I found this pic at The Bonkurasu Brigade ages ago and found the manga-style artwork cool…I finally have an excuse to post it
How would I classify Perfume? Here’s where it starts to get interesting. A while ago I jokingly referred to My Bloody Valentine as ‘post-pop’ in the sense that, despite it being a form of sonic experimentation that sounds like nothing before it, chief songwriter/guitarist Kevin Shields insists that he sets out to write straightforward guitar songs. Nobody who listens to Isn’t Anything or Loveless can call it *just* guitar pop – nevertheless it is, beneath the pitch bends and liquid reverb atmospherics, five-or-less minute songs made up of ordinary guitar chords. Perfume are *just* electro-pop…only not.
Before going any further I have to link to the official promo video for the Triangle version of Edge, which is possibly my favourite tune of theirs so far (the album overall isn’t their best though). The video itself is really fun – it has images from End of Evangelion mixed up with concert footage, wild computer text strings blinking across projector screens, and is a neat test for whether you have photo-sensitive epilepsy or not if you hit fullscreen in a darkened room.
It shows Perfume as an energetic live experience, which makes them more than some sterile studio-only act. Making records is one thing, but putting on a live show that draws people in is a different matter; some artists are more comfortable in the studio while some attain fame/notoriety through live gigs. Jumping around like mad AND singing is damned hard (are their vocals dubbed for gigs? Feel free to clarify this for me)!
The title track to the GAME album is another example of the quirky Perfume sound: there’s this tooth-rattling fuzzy bassline that cuts through the pretty-shiny girly shimmer and feels so unexpected and incongruous…to the point where I felt the need to invent a new genre definition for it and the caffeine rush of Edge: ‘bubblegum industrial’.
Listening carefully to the arrangements, this robotic and meticulously-produced electro isn’t quite in the same league as the usual chart music to me. I don’t follow the UK or Japanese charts but what I’m used to hearing is more formulaic than this – it has to be in order to be ‘safe’ from putting mainstream fans off and losing sales (not that it stops Lady Gaga…). As significant as they are in terms of financial revenue, Perfume’s cybernetic heart may well be an indie one.
Towards the end of the Edge promo the screens display the line “what is DISCO?”, along with some eccentric stage work that’s different from ordinary choreography. What I’ve heard of Yasutaka Nakata’s work on Capsule covers similar ground to Perfume’s current sound but he strikes me as being more eclectic and experimental; my assumption is that Perfume’s songwriting duties can largely be attributed to him, and as such they’re an experiment on his part to dabble in the mainstream and challenge its conventions.
Does Nakata dislike formulaic, commercialised chart music and wants to subvert from within? Or are Perfume a demonstration of his closet love for it? Or, more interestingly still, are they an attempt to marry popular marketability with indie cred and imagination to push the electro-pop envelope? I haven’t had chance to listen to their early Shibuya-kei-inspired material for comparison but I view Perfume in their current incarnation partly as a vehicle for Nakata’s songwriting.
The end result shouldn’t matter when the songs are as fun as they are, but part of the appeal that Perfume holds for me is that they come across as band who have gained the acclaim of a headlining pop act – even playing the Budoukan – but underneath they’re an experimental outfit that innovates as well as entertains. Because they placate the Industry – playing the GAME[sic] – with the choreographed dance moves and catchy hooks, they can get away with the commercially riskier innovative moments.
perfume is the 4th dimension maybe, im not sure what it is either. good news though, a while ago i finally figured out what disco is: http://is.gd/cuRc1
The only Perfume I’ve heard or seen is the YouTube link you supply here. I liked it. The song is slightly odd, and so are the girls’ performance. You’re right about the choreography; never seen anything quite like that. But I live in the US, where all the hits sound and look generic. That’s because I, er, live here.
Is it because Perfume’s in Japan? I listen to my share of Shoutcast anime music channels. Much of it is generic, much is odd and beautiful. In this global age borders have broken down, but I still hear local quirks in the music. Japanese pop music not only takes the global influences but are able to respond to the artists directly around them, not to mention their own cultural roots. Of course, this is true anywhere; I once heard Jamaica called “A musical pressure-cooker” in regard to Reggae. I celebrate the things that make one part of the world make music that other parts will find odd and beautiful.
Does Nakata need an ulterior motive? Maybe he’s thinking that with Perfume he has a successful franchise where he has some space to make some sounds he likes. No doubt he has other projects with different constraints and freedoms. I bet he’s having a lot of fun with all of them!
Finally, and this is partly a delayed response to your K-ON article: no one should ever apologize or have to explain why they like something. I’m listening to prog-rock right now. Love it.
Some really good insight into the group. I’m another person who shouldn’t be a fan, and yet I really dig them… It helps to know that they’re not manufactured in a Spice Girls way, they’ve been together since they were 12 or something. I would argue that there’s something of early Madonna about them too: They’re cute, but not nearly as beautiful as some of the J-pop singers out there. They’re reasonably attractive but normal girls who perform, and I think that appeals to their more traditional fanbase. Their choreography is deceptively simple and not overtly sexual or outrageous, which also helps. They’re living what seems like an attainable dream.
There was a good article about Nakata in The Japan Times about a year ago. He’s basically a pop songwriting genius, on par with Vince Clarke or Neil Tennant.
If you haven’t checked it out yet, Perfume co-host a weekly music show on NHK TV called Music Japan. They occasionally perform, but do Q&A with guests and often do a fun “MJ University” segment with other girl groups where they teach each other (and the viewers) their choreography. I mention it because they are all naturally charismatic and friendly girls, with none of the diva obnoxiousness of similarly successful US groups.
you should definitely pick up the 2006 Perfume Complete Best. Almost all the pieces on it are dramatically different. Very shibuya-kei, very chiptune driven. Though everything on that album is produced by Yasutaka Nakata. I’ve never heard any of Perfume’s 2 debut singles. I understand they sold almost exclusively in their hometown of Hiroshima. There’s probably a copy floating around though. Anyway on that 2006 album they also sing with their own vocals a couple times. As far as I know they don’t sing with their own vocals live. It may depend on the show though. It’s only recently since late GAME and all the way through TRIANGLE that their stuff has had such heavy synth techno maybe even industrial in some songs sound. While I think these recent songs are much better produced they are clearly a much different tone than anything on the 2006 album.
I do think the newer stuff is starting to blend together a little bit. When I listen to the new single Fushizen na Girl to me it sounds a lot like NIGHT FLIGHT or even One Room Disco a bit. Though I think their other single “Natural ni Koishite” is a clear departure from that. It’s almost minimalist. When I listen to the vocal-less version of the song it has hardly any melody apart from the vocals. Just heavy intermittent synth and strange sound affects thrown in.
I have a really eclectic taste in music as well and normally Perfume yes would seem atypical and I’ve used the word “sketch” to describe the first experience with them. I’ll be damned if they aren’t catchy as hell.
Thanks for the comments everyone – sorry I’ve been too busy to reply sooner. Real Life Things and all that. ^_^’
@maculid: the 4th dimension as in the future of electropop? You could be onto something there…that pic is win BTW. ;)
@Peter S: the UK charts are fairly similar to the US ones…I’m guessing the industry over here is trying to emulate the Stateside scene, although we fortunately have more varied and quirky musical subculture to draw from as well (unless the US equivalent is hidden from UK listeners…surely you have something akin to Manchester, London or Leeds too…?).
Nakata probably is having a lot of fun here…the Japanese music industry is weird, because it seems to be another one that’s trying to emulate what’s popular in the USA but at the same time there’s a lot of VERY different and very creative stuff that really couldn’t be born from anywhere else (e.g. Perfume and Melt-Banana, whose overseas following is I believe even more fervant than their domestic one). K-On!! is still fun and I don’t care. I’ll be watching more when my PC’s fixed!
@Eric: your views on Perfume really are similar to mine, then! Yeah, I get the same impression too that although they’re a commercially-driven act, the girls themselves are more ‘ordinary’ and their approach also carries a bit of the alternative indie ethos. It’s an unusual mixture that I wish happened more often.
I’d like to catch their TV spots, because from what little I’ve read of interviews they don’t strike me as mindless music industry puppets either. Comparing Nakata with Vince Clarke though…I know what you mean. I listened to Capsule’s Player album recently and was impressed with how eclectic it was. I remember Clarke as the shy genius who left Depeche Mode just as their career took off (I love their stuff from Some Great Reward onwards) but his work in Yazoo with Alison Moyet was really underrated. I need to pick up some of his post-DM stuff actually.
@Taka: Perfect Best is lighter and fluffier than the more techno-orientated vibe of GAME and Triangle from what I’ve heard, but you’re right in that the more recent songs are a bit samey and the vocals over-processed. Since the girls have such vibrant personalities it seems a bit of a waste to compress and digitalise their vocals so much! Using pre-recorded vocals live makes sense though, especially considering how energetic the live performances are – it’s a practical compromise I guess.
Perhaps the more ‘minimalist’ approach taken with Natural ni Koishite (I love the video to that!) is a sign of the group’s sound evolving again…and yeah, they’re catchy as hell!