Review ~ FRESH CUTS FROM JAPAN: Volume 2
(various artists)
The mix of sounds on this album is really quite extraordinary. Leaving no genre untouched, Fresh Cuts from Japan: Volume 2, displays an appetizing sampler of sweet, bitter, and just plain crazy. Each track offers its own unique edge. Fresh Cuts from Japan: Volume 2 starts off with Number 1 / Always Great Days, a chirpy, fast-paced rock diddy from ketchup mania. The song is a major exhilaration rush. Its sonic speed mixed with sterilizing, cute vocals launches the album into a fun, unpredictable adventure for the ears.
For ska lovers, Fresh Cuts Volume 2 offers two very pleasing ska tracks from Auroranote and TsuShiMaMiRe. TsuShiMaMiRe’s Tea Time Ska describes itself with the title. It alternates between bubbly ska and grueling rock. It never quite sticks to one pace, which makes for a very interesting listening experience; Auroranote’s Chinjaoro-Su is zany, eccentric, and fast to the very end.
Fresh Cuts also touches upon the hip hop genre with funky tracks from Silk Road and Dogg Bone. Dogg Bone mixes things up with Make Money, combining hip hop and rock and thrashing them about each other. Silk Road’s Animal Funk is a refreshing, groovy number with a throwback to 70s funk--great for dancing.
Besides lesser experimented-with genres, Fresh Cuts makes the best use of the alternative scene in Japan. These bands know their instruments! LiN Clover, already gathering a huge following in the USA, is featured with their dark, eerie, mystery of a song, Rinkaiten. MECHANiCAL PANDA’s Mugen shines with its amazing mix of synthesized sound effects, shimmering guitar and rap breaks. Both songs orchestrate their instruments masterfully and are two of the strongest songs on the album. Slightly dancing a fine line between alternative and pop, Swinging Popsicle’s Clash is a sweet, soft rock melody with some spacey, synthesized sounds thrown in here and there for a nice change of pace. Mothercoat’s Potofu is almost impossible to box within any genre. Musically it’s an odyssey, as if it had descended from the cosmos. Still, it remains strangely universal. Rocket K’s fantastic, ass-kicking rendition of The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star is a huge stand-out on this album with its glittery rock adding a new spice to the already successful song. Budo Grape’s Aijou Kyuraku gets points for originality. It jumbles together 60s psychedelic rock, punk, and alternative, creating a retro sound that is both perky and cute. Guitar Vader’s AGE is one of the most addicting tracks on the album by far, laidback but soaring with its starry, poignant, hip style.
The harder rock tracks on this album are particularly easy to get into and will provoke anyone into rocking out with them in no time flat. Those familiar with bands such as D’espairsRay and Girugamesh will appreciate Goofy Style’s melancholy yet hard edge. Unslow’s Unstoppable is exactly as its title states, an anthem to headbangers everywhere and unapologetically flippant to the end.
The only setback this album suffers is that it doesn’t feature much from the forefront of the Japanese pop scene. Probably the song that comes closest is Advantage Lucy’s Everything. Still an alternative song through and through, but its pleasant, relaxed mood is a sweet surprise from an album carried mostly by crazy, speedy, hard rock tracks.
Despite the lack of Jpop, the album makes up for it by daring to be more than just an album of genre variety and rather, appealing to peoples’ tastes by featuring some of the best-sounding bands within their respected genres. Fresh Cuts is modern, current, and displays a huge amount of variety with an exemplifying level of uniqueness. On its own it shines as one of the best compilation albums anyone could possibly own, but its success lies in accurately showcasing the direction Japanese music is currently heading in.
track list
1. Always Great Days (ketchup mania)
2. Chinjaoro-su (Auroranote)
3. Make Money (Dogg Bone)
4. Video Killed the Radio Star (Rocket K)
5. Animal Funk (Silk Road)
6. Tea Time Ska (TsuShiMaMiRe)
7. Aijou Kyuraku (Budo Grape)
8. AGE (Guitar Vader)
9. Clash (Swinging Popsicle)
10. MUGEN (MECHANiCAL PANDA)
11. rinkaiten (LiN CLOVER)
12. Seikyuu no Saibou (Goofy Style)
13. Unstoppable (Unslow)
14. potofu (mothercoat)
15. Everything (advantage Lucy)
buy this album
Fresh Cuts from Japan: Volume 2 is available for purchase on YesJapan.com and for legal download on JapanFiles.com
Review by Sarah
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