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Tracklist |
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1. Vacant House
2. The Beautiful Lip
3. The Devils Pub
4. Old Sundial
5. Rehabilitation
6. Doll
7. Do you like a walk?
8. Youth Club (Two members)
9. Absurd Song |
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Review |
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If you like Japanese music, there is a great chance that you have listened to The Pillows at some point and probably really liked them, even if you do not anymore. Personally, they were the band that got me interested in Japanese music in the first place and they will always hold a place in my heart because of that. The first album of theirs I bought was Penalty Life and I vividly remember thinking how original and cool "Terminal Heavens Rock" was. Although I had no idea at the time, that album was arguably the end of their creative streak of releases that had begun with Please Mr. Lostman.
Since then there have definitely been great songs here and there, but they fight amongst a growing sea of uninspired fluff that comprises most of the Sawao Yamanaka s work. In addition to The Pillows, he started several side projects, including the "Nirvana-inspired" rock trio The Predators and most recently two solo albums.
Let us take a second to define the term "solo album" though. A decade ago Sawao produced four songs for the My Room is Delicious compilations; very lo-fi, home studio tracks where he played/recorded everything himself. In comparison, his recent two solo albums should be re-classified as collaborations, seeing as he just ropes in a bunch of notable musician friends to accompany him. In fact, I would suggest they be called "Sawao and Friends vol.1&2" instead. But I digress...
If you want an extremely quick and brash review of Tedious Man, look no further than the title of the album itself: it can be quite tedious to listen to. Mainly it just suffers from the same banality that has been plaguing all of Sawao s work for the past few years. Most of his trademark gimmicks are present, including bendy guitar riffs, terrible Engrish lyrics and derivative chord progressions, all wrapped up in nice pop-music gift basket. And like a gift basket, there are a few treats that entice you into giving it chance. For me personally it was noticing Kazayuki Kuhara (The Birthday) on the rap sheet. Kuhara plays on three tracks, but the only one where his style is recognizable is "The Devils Pub". In addition to Kuhara, previous Pillows bassist Tatsuya Kashima plays on the track as well. Unfortunately for both guest stars, Sawao s cookie-cutter song writing over powers their contribution, resulting in… yet another wacky music video!
Halfway through the album something interesting happens though, everything slows down a bit and we get a break from the "been there, heard that" routine. "Doll" acts the only true solo track of the album, featuring a simple, melancholy guitar and piano arrangement. Then two tracks later we get what I think might be the high-point of the album, "Youth Club (Two Members)". It is a percussion-less duet between Sawao and Akiko Fukuoka (Chatmonchy), that while not ground-breaking, is certainly worth a listen.
Unfortunately, Sawao could not leave it at that and instead ends the album with "Absurd Song". It reminds me of "Texan Daily Life," an Austin-inspired throw-away track the Pillows farted their way through during the Pied Piper sessions. Seriously Sawao, no one wants to hear you write pseudo hoedown tributes with hand claps, hooting vocals and a slide guitar.
Obviously I do not expect a guy who has been writing music for 20 years to blow my mind every time he picks up a guitar, especially when he is already responsible for opening my mind to an entire nation-worth of music… but I do ask that he stop spreading himself so thin. If we are lucky, he will not write himself into the grave with crap music and will simply move to producing albums like a normal person. |
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