And now for something totally different! One of the advantages of having to listen to a new album every day is that you end up listening to music you otherwise would have never sought out. This has been especially true in the last four days, when the number of albums released in 2018 are slim so far. And so here I go to the other side of the world to listen through some good old J-Pop.
Shuta Sueyoshi might be better known as a member of AAA, but I’m not really sure how he’s known across the Pacific. What I do know is that this music sounds awfully familiar. Pop music, after all, is universal. If it weren’t for the language, some of these songs may just as well have been from Africa, Europe, or South America. What makes this kind of world pop distinctive, then, isn’t in some distinctive national sound, but rather a special combination of myriad cultural styles. Here there’s hard rock, electronic, Latin, and disco, often all at once. What’s missing, though, is hip-hop and trap (he does begin one rap verse, breaking down into song by the end of the verse).
Sueyoshi starts off at his strongest with “To.ri.ca.go,” a wild ride that sounds straight out of the opening credits to an anime show. In the chorus you can hear at least one distinctive trait of J-pop: a forward-driven harmonic progression. This is reminiscent of more classic popular music forms, whereas today’s pop music meanders between 2-4 chords over and over again. Classical music theorists call a forward-driven harmony the “teleological” approach, and this is largely what makes Classical music sound the way it does. Rather than chill in a cool safe place, teleological music is constantly propelling toward some indeterminate ending. This isn’t to knock either harmonic style, it just reveals a difference in priorities. Perhaps Japan’s teleological pop is informed by an older relationship with Western culture, or maybe it reflects a predilection for nostalgic or sentimental expression. How should I know? I’m only listening to this because there was nothing else this year.
Mike Frasier Music 