Stuck In A Pagoda With Motoko Aoyama

SCANDAL
“Space Ranger”, “Koi Moyo” and “Kagerou”
(Kitty Inc.)
Availability: CD single and iTunes Japan and US
“Space Ranger”: Rating:
“Koi Moyo”: Rating:
“Kagero”: Rating:

I have a weird musical fetish, and it involves Japanese girls playing guitars. Shonen Knife may have kicked up the dirt, but it was Whiteberry who planted the seed back in 2001 that eventually grew into my chest-deep interest of Japanese music. Unfortunately, while there have been plenty of Japanese girls with guitars and drums winning my heart over the years, nothing has been totally perfect in this little wonderland. Whiteberry called it a career in 2004 after 2 albums, an EP and countless great singles. ZONE lasted three studio albums and over a dozen great singles. Nakanomori Band are on a short forced hiatus due to their lead singer taking six months off after having surgery on her vocal cords. Akiakane are touring the world but have yet to hand new material to Mike Park at Asian Man. You get the idea.

This past March, four schoolgirls from Osaka flew over to the United States as part of a package tour of independent J-Rock artists called “Japan Nite US Tour 2008″. No one knew what they really looked like. The band was called SCANDAL - spelled with all capital letters, and absolutely no relation to the 80’s American band fronted by Richard Hell’s ex-wife. (Yes, my friends, the “Love Comes In Spurts” guy was married to the “Goodbye To You” chick once upon a time…) Their website only had a short biography, manga/anime caricatures of the four members, some web animation, and the plan to release three one-song singles through the independent label Kitty Inc. in three months, as well as their US tour plans. I heard the four “demo” songs that were on their MySpace page. Their only available PV at the time was an animated video that was cut short to serve as an advertisement for the Japan Nite tour. I was both intrigued and skeptical.

Some of my blogging brothers at YODC witnessed their set in San Francisco and came away raving about their opening set and wanting more of these four young ladies. They weren’t the only ones, as Son of Gigan reported that every copy of their first two CD singles sold out at the merchandise booth. Yikes.

Fortunately, their tunes recently turned up on iTunes in both Japan and the US, with their second single becoming a Free Single Of The Week on iTunes Japan. Suffice it to say, thanks to the availability of iTunes Japan gift cards through Peter Payne’s JList.com, I went right over and nailed both songs. Of course, a week or so later I would discover that they were on US iTunes as well. Bad for me, but good for every American J-Pop fan that hasn’t dared get a Japanese iTunes account yet.

Now that their third single has been released (on CD on May 5th, and on Japanese iTunes on Tuesday evening [ETA: "Kagerou" turned up on US iTunes early Wednesday morning after I first posted this... argh!]) and that there is plenty of video of them available on YouTube, I can safely say that these four girls are for real.

The four musicians - 19-year-old singer/guitarist/leader Haruna Ono; 17-year-old lead guitarist/vocalist Mama Sasazaki; singer/bassist Tomomi Ogawa, also 17; and 16-year-old drummer Rina Suzuki - are more than compentent on their instruments for their young ages - a not unusual trait amongst instrument-wielding girl bands. They wear schoolgirl uniforms onstage, and the two guitarists and bassist use Fender guitars - something that definitely scores points with this writer given that there’s a few Fender instruments in his house. Their website and MySpace page describe them as “The Most Powerful Japanese Girlie Pop Rock”. Does that title fit?

Single number one, the curiously titled “Space Ranger”, starts with some ominous synthesizer drones before the rhythm section kicks in. The two guitars follow, along with an uncredited organist supplementing the guitar riffs, with the end result being a very catchy song very reminiscent of ZONE.

The second single, “Koi Moyo” (”Love Pattern”), is my personal favorite of the three. Instead of emulating ZONE, SCANDAL seem to have found a sound almost entirely of their own making. The production recalls Husker Du circa Flip Your Wig and Candy Apple Grey - indeed, the song itself sounds like how the Huskers would have sounded had Grant Hart played a straighter, more Tommy Lee-esque drum beat instead of his swinging style. Tomomi plays a very interesting, cliche-free bass line in the song’s introduction and instrumental tags, laying back to play only half-notes and whole notes during the verses and straight eighth-notes during the chorus. There’s no keyboards to be found, the three-part harmonies are tight, and Rina’s drums have a great wooden-room sound around them.

The newly released “Kagarou” kicks off with some Wire-sounding powerchords before a single-note synth line akin to early Devo adds its own icing to the rest of the introduction, with the rest of the song sounding like a guitar-heavy Elvis Costello & The Attractions (any keyboards beyond the occasional synth icing are pretty much obliterated by Haruna and Mami’s Stratocasters) and some of the lead vocals, especially during the first verse, reminding me of W. The production has the same sound as “Koi Moyo” - perhaps it was recorded during the same session?

“The Most Powerful Japanese Girlie Pop Rock”? Definitely. Bottom line: A full-length album from these young ladies cannot come soon enough. If you like Whiteberry, ZONE, Maria, Nakanomori Band, or Akiakane, you’ll like this. If you like most or all of those bands, you’ll love this.