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| "Tsushimamire (the name is a random assortment of syllables from the band members' names) is one of those bands that you think you've got pegged on the first play: three young women, high energy indie rock. But, as you might have guessed from the "think" in that first sentence, there's more finely wrought detail and surprising detours in the three piece's attack, and while Sex On The Beach, their latest effort and second for major label Victor JVC, is somewhat slicker than past efforts, it still has plenty of juxtaposed weirdness to fit right into the creative lineage of a band who has a history of writing pop songs about eating brains. The lyrics are Japanese, which means some obvious loss in the translation for foreign listeners, but it doesn't take too much scrutiny to pick up on a unique, and uniquely snarky, approach. Exhibit 1 is "J-Pop," a deceptively straight pop punk shout along that brings to mind a bouncier early Wedding Present…until the halfway mark, when the band slides into a deliciously straight-faced imitation of the dippy saccharine bullshit they're lampooning. It's brief but hilarious, and offers an easy access point for the Nihongo challenged listener. They pull a similarly Jekyll and Hyde move in the next track "桃だろう" ("Momo Darou," i.e. "Probably A Peach." ) Stylistic shifts within one song is hardly a new move, especially in the frequently warped Japanese rock world, but the abrupt changes not only remain jarring after repeated plays, they unfailingly make a bizarre intuitive sense, always finding a new tangent to explore without losing sense of the whole. In a scene full of oddities, coming off as unselfconsciously and effortlessly weird is no small accomplishment, and as a result, Tsushimamire's spastic yet curiously unassuming stylistic hodge podge has a much longer shelf life than it probably should. It would be easy to allow the constant left turns to carry the show on their own, but Tsushimamire's strength is their ability to make all those fragments genuinely catchy, and oddly appropriate despite the contrast. "Nezumi (Mouse) Sensation" is simply a zippy little rock number until you delve into the (atypically English) lyrics, which turn out to be the psychotic ramblings of a lonely, mouse obsessed girl. "I just want a tiny mouse, chu-chu/Nobody knows why I really want chu-chu/NEVER MIND! MOUSE SENSATION!" The combination is absolutely hilarious, provided you're paying attention: if not, it works just fine as a three minute pop rock tune. And that's the thing: Tsushimamire aren't just skilled musicians pulling Zappa-esque genre acrobatics. They know how to make a song work within the rules of three minute verse/chorus/verse, and even when they ease up on the whiplash contrasts ("ラッシュアワー," i.e. "Rush Hour," sticks to its ska punk base for its duration,) it's no less exciting for its normalcy. Ditto on the epic closer "人生圏外" ("Jinsei Kengai," i.e. "Outside Life," ) which is unironically grand, and (mostly) consistent in its mid tempo indie rock trappings. Tsushimamire have managed to fuse traditional songwriting chops and ADD riddled thematic hopscotch into a seamless, exciting whole, and Sex On The Beach will hopefully see the band moving on to bolder moves." - jrawk.com |
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artist: TsuShiMaMiRe
title: Sex On The Beach
type: album
label: Victor Entertainment
release date: 2010
length: 48:31
genre: indie rock
country: Japan
language: Japanese/English
format: mp3
bitrate: 320kbps
credits:
Mari - guitar, vocals
Yayoi - bass, chorus
Mizue - drums, chorus
Ayami "Leona" Matsuo - keyboards
Ulful Keisuke - guitar, chorus
tracklist:
1. Sex On The Beach
2. チキンサンドイッチ
3. ストロボ
4. J-POP
5. 桃だろう
6. パンバスケット
7. 自転車
8. 姫事情
9. おばあちゃんのブラジャー
10. Nezumi Sensation
11. ～ラッパ練習中～
12. ラッシュアワー
13. 人生圏外