You’ve Met Japanese Gender Benders, Now Meet The Genre Benders! Midori – Swing Single (Review)

I know, as I’m sure you also know, a lot of big-name, reaches-the-surface J-Pop and J-Rock stars out there. So it’s nice to dig beneath that now and then and hear something really… different.

The Japanese band “Midori” is a self-described jazz/alternative fusion band. I had no idea what that would sound like; but I had a feeling they’d have to be very intentional and very blatant about merging these two genres. Drums and piano can go together fine, but then put in an angsty female vocalist who isn’t afraid to scream? I just don’t know what to make of it.

But I’ll do my best to sort it out in this review of the “Swing” single (catalog number AICL-2003), after the jump.

The Swing single has four tracks on it. There’s the eponymous “Swing,” as well as an alternate version of the song at the end (which is not a karaoke version, despite what some online resources will tell you). The B-sides are “Akan!!” and “Kuchite wa Hatenu” (roughly, “The End of Decay”). “Swing” opens with a nice indie-pop intro: piano solo, moderate tempo, interesting pattern between both hands. But then we hear the vocalist breathe a short sigh, and the song truly “begins” at this point. The piano pattern continues a few more measures, now infused with this incredible drum part. A stand-up bass joins, and then the “singing” begins.

When this young lady opens her mouth, sometimes she makes a beautiful noise, and sometimes what comes out of her mouth is downright irritating. But at all times, it’s heartfelt, and it’s never mixed to be “clean.” There’s something entirely raw about this single, yet it seems to somehow retain the ability to draw in a wide audience. At least, that’s my opinion.

“Akan!!,” on the other hand, is something entirely too esoteric to market. Here’s the formula: it’s an A B A (bookend) piece, with the A section being a “3 in 4” syncopated rhythm, and the vocalist screaming the word “Akan!!” amidst some other lyrics with every measure. During the very long “B” section, the vocalist repeats the words “seno, kaiho” every other measure, and a male vocalist screams “oooh, aaoaugh!!!” between each measure. This builds over the span of two minutes where the bass kicks back in and the tempo picks up a bit. I can’t believe this actually goes on for two minutes, nor that I actually find myself wanting to listen again after it’s over. It’s so angry and dissonant, but there’s a small part of me that thinks this is the kind of music I’ve been looking for all my life.

…but probably not.

“The End of Decay” is the most jazzy of the three tracks, mostly because of the crazy Samba groove played multi-octave on the piano. This B-side is catchy, but it’s also repetitive.

All in all, the single shows four talented musicians letting it all hang out. I think I may, someday, go after their earlier full-length albums. But what about you? Would you risk checking out this crazy J-(something) band?

I also intend to coin the term “J-(something)” as a musical genre because it’s so awesome.