RYM Ultimate Box Set > Neo-Shibuya-kei

评语："John's Running" This Saitama-based duo began with lo-fi drum-machine-driven indie pop tracks not unlike those of Johnny Dee, releasing a few EPs in the early 2000s. Although eventually they would incorporate more elements of dream pop and shoegaze into their sound, culminating in the side project Pasteboard and its album Glitter in 2006, their early works fit squarely in the more guitar-driven side of neo-Shibuya-kei. The band's 2007 album Hana hearkens back to this earlier sound, featuring primarily re-recordings of songs from these early EPs.

评语："White Drops" Plus-Tech Squeeze Box quickly made a name for themselves with their quirky, fast-paced and sample-laden spin on the Shibuya-kei sound, perhaps best exemplified by their turn-of-the-millennium debut Fakevox which mixes more traditional lounge and bossa-influenced tracks like "White Drops" with elements of alternative rock on "Rocket Coaster". Yet perhaps what the group became best known for was the manic blend of neo-Shibuya-kei and electronica on tracks like "A Day in the Radio" that would be dubbed "future pop" (and later Picopop), a style also pioneered by the group's neo-Shibuya contemporaries like Strawberry Machine, EeL, and Hazel Nuts Chocolate.

评语： "Bunny Hop Lollipop Crazy Baby" Based around distinctive breathy vocals which accentuate their cutesy style, Melting Holidays mixed lounge and French pop influence with a dance sensibility found in many of their neo-Shibuya-kei contemporaries on their 2002 debut Cherry Wine. The band would release a few more mini-albums in the following years, but has been effectively dormant since 2007.

评语： "Plastic Girl" feat. EeL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eIemc7Y3wM By far the most commercially successful of any neo-Shibuya-kei group, Capsule was able to find a perfect middle ground between the retro lounge influence of earlier Shibuya-kei and the more J-pop oriented electronics of future pop/picopop—sometimes veering more in one direction than the other, but never sacrificing melody and perfect pop arrangements along the way. The second album from the project, Cutie Cinema Replay, would see collaborations with many artists from the neo-Shibuya and future pop scenes, including EeL, Sonic Coaster Pop, and dahlia. Although the group would later move in a more electronic J-pop direction, its importance to neo-Shibuya-kei cannot be overstated.

评语：NAGISA COSMETIC - "Cosmetic Happy" Producer Yasutaka Nakata is a big name in Japanese pop and was especially important to neo-Shibuya-kei as a scene, as the producer of Capsule and founder of label Contemode, whose two early 2000s compilations showcased artists from the scene both on the label and off. Perhaps less influential, though no less interesting or fun, is his work with side projects NAGISA COSMETIC, whose one EP is a surprisingly solid collection of piano-based neo-Shibuya-kei songs, and the more electronic COLTEMONIKHA. He would also come to produce J-pop group Perfume, with their early singles like "Sweet Donuts" and "Monochrome Effect" taking clear influence from Nakata's time in the neo-Shibuya-kei scene.

评语："ガールザジャップ" Similar to Capsule, COPTER4016882 blends the influence of earlier Shibuya-kei with more modern electronics and production; however, more often than not, the trio imbues this with a little bit of the manic energy of groups like Plus-Tech Squeeze Box. Tracks like "ガールザジャップ" and "Book or Gun" on their third album (and first for Contemode) Perfect Joke seem to take retro lounge influence and almost weaponise it with the rambunctiousness of the arrangements. The group's fourth album 2D2D was released in 2006, but they have not been heard from since.

评语："今夜の二人" Similar to their contemporaries Paris Match, Lamp focuses on the more lounge and bossa side of Shibuya-kei, mixing in elements of jazz and eschewing the electronics of many other neo-Shibuya-kei acts. Though perhaps best known for their 2004 debut full-length 恋人へ (Koibito he), the band has continued to record and release music into the present day, making them one of the longest-lasting neo-Shibuya-kei groups.

评语："The Yellow Go" Macdonald Duck Eclair is another artists primarily associated with the future pop/picopop microgenre due to their frantic electronic sound, with their 2004 debut album even namechecking digital hardcore band Atari Teenage Riot on its opener. But much of their music is softer and more in the vein of traditional Shibuya-kei, including the track "The Yellow Go" whose dreamy dub influence evokes the style of Fishmans. The band would focus more on a more electronic style on their following albums in 2005 and 2011, although they would never fully drop their occasional nods to lounge and bossa nova.

评语：Yoshihito Yano - "Lonely Rolling Star" The soundtrack to 2004 game Katamari Damacy blends influence from lounge, jazz, and Latin music as well as any '90s Shibuya-kei release, and the electronic elements (and even occasional hip-hop influence) cement the release as an essential part of the neo-Shibuya-kei wave. Some tracks like "Lonely Rolling Star" and "You Are Smart", with their erratic chip sounds, also fit in with future pop/picopop, bringing that video game-influenced sound into an actual video game.

评语："世界を越えて" The Aprils are another artist at the core of the future pop/picopop scene, even taking part in a "Future Pop Lounge" showcase with Hazel Nuts Chocolate and EeL from 2008-2010. While they definitely tend towards the more electronic and J-pop influenced side of things, the influence of earlier neo-acoustic Shibuya-kei groups is very obvious on their earlier releases and some of their music sounds straight out of Hideki Kaji's solo career.

评语："1.2.3!" A trio composed of medical students at the time of their debut, Pitcher56's airy sound is a great example of what neo-Shibuya-kei is at its heart—the retro lounge-influenced sound of most Shibuya-kei, codified and perfected into more of a specific genre and sound as opposed to a wide-reaching musical movement. The band's second album was released on TKO New Music Corporation (a reference to the production duo behind Flipper's Guitar), and its opening track "1.2.3!" was featured on the label's Headstart for Happiness compilation which, along with Boys (& Girls) Wonder, acts as a primer to the purview of neo-Shibuya-kei as a 2000s movement. Pitcher56 would later contribute to TKO's three volume Shibuya-K Respect series in 2012, featuring covers of a variety of 1990s Shibuya-kei classics.

评语："El momento más feliz" Much like the original Shibuya-kei movement in the 1990s, the neo-Shibuya-kei wave was not limited completely to Japan. Pop revivalist project La Casa Azul from Spain is possibly the clearest example of this, with band leader Guille Milkyway's blend of '60s bubblegum, psych pop, lounge, and electronica—and if there was any doubt, on his 2000 EP El sonido efervescente de La Casa Azul, he makes sure to title the future pop-adjacent closer "Cerca de Shibuya", or "Close to Shibuya". The band's 2007 album La revolución sexual on Elefant Records is shockingly similar to something any neo-Shibuya-kei group would put out, with chilled-out lounge-influenced tracks interspersed with the mania of future pop/picopop, and anything in between. And, to top it off, the group would re-record the album's opener "La nueva Yma Sumac" in Japanese with The Aprils in 2009.

评语："Bacharach" Another group outside of Japan that at times embodied the spirit of neo-Shibuya-kei (also on Elefant Records) is the Italian band Fitness Forever, whose first album's upbeat neo-acoustic Chamber Pop sound certainly has an overlap with groups like Bridge. Even though this group doesn't have the same direct ties with the Japanese scene as La Casa Azul, this album helps to show the similarities between many of these neo-Shibuya-kei bands and similar retro revivalism at the same time elsewhere, as within Europe.

评语："仮想過去" The solo project of one Fusako Kumazaki, who was previously a member of short-lived neo-Shibuya-kei group Bluenö. She started releasing solo albums beginning with 2009's Cupra, bringing a flicker of life to the movement into the early 2010s even as most other artists had moved on.

评语："Life Goes On" The bassist of original Shibuya-kei group Bridge has had a long and varied solo career since he released his debut album ミニ・スカート (Mini Skirt) in 1997, dabbling with modern production styles and electronic additions to his quirky brand of indie pop ever since the turn of the millennium, running in almost a parallel track to these neo-Shibuya-kei artists. And he just keeps going—even in 2019 he keeps the sound and original movement of Shibuya-kei alive with his album Goth Romance. Though perhaps not associated with neo-Shibuya-kei proper, not really working with or on the labels of any of the aforementioned acts, the influence of the man and the similarity of the music he's been making for the last ten to fifteen years cannot be ignored.