PUFFY POP PRINCESSES
BY LEN SOUSA
Puffy AmiYumi - Splurge
Album Review
There are many things to admire about the Japanese: their fondness for history and tradition, the tremendous amount of craft they bring to their art, and their ability to create some of the wackiest game shows ever seen. Puffy AmiYumi is a studio-manufactured Japanese band that brilliant brings these varied cultural facets together into one album. Combining the rawkus beats of a classic rock record, melodies that would make any Beatles fan swoon, and lyrics that are bubbliciously pointless, they’ve produced one of the best blatant pop records of the year.
Their latest album has everything. A song featuring club hopping and hot pink cell phones? Check! Brand new cars and falling in love? Check! An underground conspiracy about people who decide what’s cool and what’s not? Fucking check! Don’t get me wrong, Puffy AmiYumi are not the next coming in music, but they (or their producers) have synthesized just about everything about modern pop into one unyielding album. Half of the songs on the release are in Japanese, but the best part is, it doesn’t matter. A song like “Mole” has such a fantastic beat and melody that the lyrics could be about rentboys and I’d still sing along.
What makes Puffy AmiYumi different from other pop performers is that their inspirations stem from such rich pop luminaries as The Supremes, Sleater-Kinney, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana and The Beach Boys. Its genius is in being part album and part time capsule. Even with lyrics in a foreign tongue, the musical finesse of tracks like “Etude,” “The Story,” and “Cameland” are clear. Whoever is writing this music (former Jellyfish member Andy Sturmer is one songwriter for the group), they know exactly how to co-opt every musical tradition of the last 50 years. As a result, there’s undeniable craftsmanship behind each of these songs, making the album an unexpected treat to listen to—even if you aren’t Rivers Cuomo or can’t understand a word of Japanese.
Originally Published:
Skope Magazine
