Can Never Say No to a Music Festival

Two weekends ago I made my way down to Kiryu Music Fronts (Japanese site, sorry), the annual music festival in my town, where local performers get to fill all the towns clubs at the same time, and I get to go to any of those clubs for the low price of ¥1000 ($8.75). It's kind of like SXSW if it were held in a small Japanese city and lacked all the overwhelming hype and crowds of Austin in March. In actuality though, the clubs this year were pretty empty compared to last. First of all, the festival last year was a whole weekend long, from Friday night to Sunday night; this year was only a Sunday night. Also the whatever crowd made it out to the festival were more than likely spread thinner than last year after the organizers expanded the number of participating clubs from four to seven.

The event itself aside, watching these Japanese bands in succession hammered home a point about Japanese culture that I have noticed in numerous other situations. Japan really is an incredibly paternalistic society. The dominance of males in music in the U.S. is apparent by how few women there are in bands. Or if there are women in bands, they're only singing and never touch an instrument. Even considering these facts, Japan keeps its women musicians at still farther flung fringes of musical society.

The group I liked the most, Epopsan, had four members: one guitarist (male), one singer/dancer (female), one keyboardist/producer/singer named Ogiwara (male), and one keyboardist/singer (female) who by the way was visibly pregnant. First of all, their music was electronic pop: they used a lot of melodies and thick, clean textures, but wouldn't shy away from letting a beat or loop run on its own for half a minute. Most of the music was prepared ahead of time and it seemed that it was played from and controlled by a production unit. So naturally, the person who came across as having the most power was Ogiwara, who controlled the prepared loops. In terms of traditional musicianship, the guitarist (who stood in a back corner of the stage while the two women flanked their Ogiwara in a line of three across the front of the stage) commanded the most respect. The pregnant keyboardist seemed to only play token hooks and some atmospheric parts, so she came across as number three in the band member hierarchy. And the last woman who danced and sung came in at number four.

The vocals didn't figure into the equation very significantly. However, that's where it starts to get interesting. Not only were all three of the singers underwhelming, but the women sung with thin, girly, and adolescent voices. So that's what clinched their bottom spots in ranking the visible importance of each band member. Their use of thin and weak voices is consistent with how Japanese women speak when in public, especially of those who work in service industries. Besides reinforcing their overall subservient role in society, this shrill voice is simply irritating.

But even though the girls of Epopsan used thin, weak voices, at least they sang in tune. The group that played before them - I don't remember the name, and I won't ever regret forgetting - had a pair of women in their 20s fronting a rhythm section of men. They not only used adolescent voices, but they couldn't stay in tune. There were in fact times when I cringed at notes that were absurdly flat.

Although some people worry about the role that women play in popular music in the U.S., only singing and having no role in the rest of the band's work of playing instruments, recording, and lugging around instruments, the situation in Japan is much worse considering that singing, the one thing they are expected to do, they are expected to do in a way that strips them of the power they're given when they stand at the front of the stage. Though I must say I do respect the keyboardist for performing and even dancing a little while pregnant.

Here are some videos of Epopsan.

The `80s Couldn`t Have Been That Great

For a while now, I`ve been well aware that a lot of music since around 2000 has been in the vein of the 1980s. The Post punk revival - one that`s been huge in indie circles and has also expanded well into the mainstream - is still popular, though I think it`s taken a downturn lately. And elements of `80s new wave has made its way into mainstream singles as well. Even outside of music, it shows up, but for everyone`s sake I`m not going to talk about VH1`s fake documentaries ("I Love the `80s!") or anything else on TV. After seeing a total of five groups at the Summersonic Festival at Makuhari in Chiba, Japan last Saturday (The Pipettes, The Long Blondes, Shitdisco, Interpol, and LCD Soundsystem) whose lifeblood was reviving past styles, I just started to get bored. It was especially redundant when you consider that three of those bands are playing 80s music - LCD Soundsystem belong to the `70s, and The Pipettes belong to the `60s. I really do like a lot of the bands, but I guess I was just hoping for something a bit more stylisticly original. And maybe I asked for it by spending too much of my time at the dance stage.

Now I don`t want to completely dismiss anyone who so much as makes a reference to a past era through his music. I`m not a staunch advocate against using samples, quoting songs, or making references to the past of any sort. I think creativity is as much molding someone else`s ideas as it is cultivating your own. But when so many groups sound like throwbacks from a different era entirely, something must be wrong. Something like people are unable or unwilling to experiment with new ideas, or how people are just craving life from a different era. I can`t put my finger on it just yet, but you can believe that this problem will definitely be bugging me for a while.