R.I.P. Polyrhythm (Rest in Pixar)

世界は廻る “The world rotates…”

Suddenly, the girls of Perfume are graduating from the little leagues  –  i.e. Japan – and are beamed into the very heart of the globalized entertainment industry (i.e. the end of the line). For on this day most fair and foul, the Disney / Pixar film “Cars 2” begins to open in theaters across the world…

Q: What's wrong with this picture?

Perfume’s 2007 hit Polyrhythm is featured on the Cars 2 soundtrack, sandwiched in-between songs by their “new” contemporaries Robbie Williams (who?) and Weezer (remember them?). 

Strange times. While holograms and virtual idols from Japan are stealing world headlines, last week’s promotional splurge for Cars 2 saw Perfume standing around in person at a Hollywood premiere for an all CGI film. One of them appears to have even made eye contact with an actual fan! A-chan, Nocchi & Kashiyuka sure have come a long from their humble beginnings as starry-eyed dance students in Hiroshima. And while their techno sound – created by the increasingly robotic Yasutaka Nakata – isn’t quite yet setting the world on fire, it is safe to say that their music (well, just this one song, unless Radio Disney deems otherwise) will soon be heard by a much wider audience: starting with little kids and their parents.

But what about me? As an early adopter of Perfume who gets excited when Godzilla gets a star on the Walk of Fame or when Tadanobu Asano wanders onscreen in Mighty Thor, I think I should be at least be kind of thrilled about this sort of development. But my feelings are mixed at best.

Partially, that’s because we are in the realm of a long and weird relationship between Japanese pop culture and the Disney empire, which most recently has been playing out in their domestic handling of the Studio Ghibli films. For those of you who need a little reminding...

Like Ghibli, Pixar – also distributed by Disney – offers works that are high in production values and technical accomplishment, but are also devoid of spontaneity or surprise, calculated down to the last pixel to affirm the most MOR of values. Formula seeks out other formulas to strengthen itself. And so, the already artistically tenuous electro-pop of Perfume has been cut and pasted into the mix.

Was "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors not available?

ANN explains (via Oricon): “Director John Lasseter was searching for appropriate music to represent the Japanese party scene (in Cars 2) when Pixar staff members who were fans of Perfume recommended the group.”

Why am I taking this so hard? I swear it's not merely a case of the fat hand of Hollywood taking a song I like and dropping it into a multiplex, thus endangering an emotional attachment to it by allowing total strangers to hear it too (see: the entire Wes Anderson filmography). It's more like a matter of the crossover happening at a moment when a once worthwhile musical act has become inessential.

I’ll just come out and say it now: Perfume have arrived at the center of the world, and all they have is a song that is four years old.

There’s a good reason why Polyrhythm was cherry picked out of the Perfume discography. Their recent tracks don’t stack up in terms of quality or novelty.

I first wrote about Perfume on this blog in 2007, just before the release of Polyrhythm, I described them as a “virtual idol group aimed at web addicted otaku”. Now, armed with VOCALOID software and IDOLM@STER product, web otaku themselves can make their own virtual idols and groups and the results are increasingly outpacing the real thing. For example, the VOCALOID song “Just Be Friends” is clearly inspired by the Perfume sound, but throws down the gauntlet with greater lyrical complexity and a very strong melody.

Problematic signs are everywhere. Perfume songs used to feature names that seemed plucked from the pages of New Scientist magazine, which – along with their CGI-heavy videos – helped to give Perfume a forward-looking sci-fi sheen, eventually copied (unsuccessfully) by AKB48 and others in the J-pop charts. Key tracks from mid-period Perfume include “Liner Motor Girl” and “Monochrome Effect”.  By contrast, their latest song is simply called “Laser Beam”. Filled with the usual knob-twirling tricks that producer Yasutaka Nakata presumably does in his sleep now, it sounds as exhausted of ideas as the title (wow, a laser beam!) would indicate. They don't even use wild SF imagry in their videos anymore, so why should I keep hanging around? 

Since all we can do now is look back fondly, I’m going to regard the “Electro World” single and accompanying PV clip as Perfume / Nakata’s crowning achievement in retro-future soundscaping. The chorus genuinely gives me goosebumps nearly eveytime I hear it. But “Polyrhythm” – which was Perfume’s debut in the Oricon charts and made them stars in their native country– is their most representative song; destined to seem as quaint to tomorrow's post-humans as Pink Lady’s UFO does to us today, and to become just a durable as a pop cultural landmark.

If you were in Japan in 2007, “Polyrhythm” was ever-present and inescapable. That it didn’t sound like forty-eight hamsters all singing at once was much to be thankful for. Even W. David Marx, tireless critic of much of recent J-pop music, is willing to give the track a pass, saying via email:

 “Polyrhythm may be the only J-Pop offering after 2005 that remotely functions as actual music, i.e., Nakata intended the song to be enjoyed by human beings who are not already obsessed with those three girls from Hiroshima. Nakata's Tron-like genius was to take the girls 'out of the equation' by Autotuning them into automatons and then using the vocals as a melodic synth line backed up with a good dance beat. It's as if someone with good taste played around with Hatsune Miku. Compare this to anything by Perfume's contemporaries AKB48, and 'Polyrhythm' instantly sounds like it was written in modern times by someone who likes modern music — not by some horrible committee of 50 year-old men who want to get the whole songwriting and production thing out of the way so they can get back to picking out the bikini styles that will force hapless nerds to each buy 500 copies of the upcoming single."

On one hand, Polyrhythm has hit the wall; exported well past Perfume’s actual sell-date. On the other, it is fated to always sound like Japan circa 2007. So how is this song durable enough to occupy both positions at the same time?

Well, I reckon we better watch the video and listen to the song about now...

 Since names mean a lot in the Perfume cosmology, let’s start there.

“Polyrhythm”, of course, means multiple rhythms simultaneously playing at once. It’s a word deeply associated the word with the Krautrock movement and Afro-Cuban sounds adopted by Western musicians like Talking Heads and King Crimson. I’m not certain if Yasutaka Nakata’s music nerd roots go that deep, but he’s definitely got some Detroit Techno and Kraftwerk records in his bag. Either way, “Polyrhythm” is meta enough to do what it does what it says on the label, but it takes some time to get there.

The song begins with big airy open suspended chords. The verses alternately ascend and descend before giving way to a chorus that’s less of a melodic hook and more of a repeated tribal chant (“Kurikaesu kono polyrhythm”),  but the lyrics, as usual, don't matter much. The beat is 4/4 time, which is downright lethargic for a Perfume single (hey, has anyone else noticed that Chocolate Disco, an earlier Perfume track, is the same song, only faster?) and the overall effect glides along like a monorail headed for the glowing I/O tower in Tron. Or maybe just Odaiba. 

Nakata saves his hand for the bridge (1:31) where, as someone helpfully explains on Wikipedia, “the song's bridge is polyrhythmic, incorporating 5/8, 6/8 in the vocals, common time (4/4) and 3/2 in the drums.” This section of the song lasts little more than 30 seconds, but it has a fantastically disorientating effect on the listener: it's the trip-out musical equivalent of a hit of nitrous oxide (Sometimes, I will leave Polyrhythm on repeat in an attempt to get high on this one part of the song over and over). Keep in mind that the sort of sonic wizardly featured on the bridge is usually reserved only for remix albums or bonus tracks. Indeed, the record label actually insisted on removing the bridge for the radio edit, resulting in a hilariously useless version of Polyrhythm without any polyrhythm. (Side note: the PV for Polyrhythm – which sees the girls sifting through the genetic makeup of planet earth in much the same way that customers browse for accessories at Spinns Harajuku –  tries it's best, but fails to capitalize on a major opportunity for some creative visualization. However, when Perfume perform the song in concert, their spirited dancing finally helps give it proper highlight status.)

The bridge, in tandem with the daring use of what sounds like a snake charmer's pungi flute on the outro, marks Polyrhythm as a real creative high point for Perfume and Nakata, both of whom could have used more moments like this in their work. But maybe the sum was always greater than the parts. Perfume’s very best songs brought a conceptual sophistication to J-pop. It was music that nostalgically evoked the ‘80s synthesizer sound as a way of commenting on our now hopelessly and completely computer-depended world. The dodgy part was a lot of the hooks tended to be referenced from a single source: Daft Punk’s “Discovery” LP.

It’s easy to see how Nakata got sucked in. Released waaaaaay back in 2001, before things got really complicated (see: 9/11), Discovery now belongs to a select handful of club-ready dance / electronic albums that actually work as albums, were enjoyed by a wide variety of people, and ultimately achieved best-selling status (Moby’s “Play” comes to mind, as does Primal Scream’s “Screamadelica”, although you had to be blasted on drugs to really hear that one). Released with an promo campaign based around the animation of Leiji Matsumoto, Discovery literally wore it’s otaku cred. on it’s sleeve and made this set of French disco robots ripe for collectable action figure status in Japan.  

But what if they stole it all from Leiji Matsumoto?

Previously an dabbler in middling post Shibuya-kei pop sounds with his unit capsule, Nakata seems to have taken to Discovery with roughly the same enthusiasm that Charles Manson took to the White Album. The throwaway lyric “why don’t you play the game” in Daft’s “Digital Love” was interpreted as a call to absorb wholesale Daft Punk’s arsenal of harsh compression, rhythmic use of attack/decay, and – for a punchline – to ultimately make an entire Perfume album called GAME. Big smudgy fingerprints of YMO and Kraftwerk can be found all over Perfume’s singles as well, but you’d have to be deaf from standing between a pair of massive Seismic Audio speakers all night not to hear how much is really pinched on their “Complete Best” LP. Start with “Linear Motor Girl”; a barely disguised rip-off of, or homage to, (take your pick) “Digital Love”.

Ok. I don’t want to come down too hard on the Daft Punk / Perfume connection. Especially since Polyrhythm sounds pretty original and is really just a great song to boot. Plus, Japanese pop music is deeply rooted in appropriation and outright theft, perhaps a legacy of post-war kayokyoku cover songs that never acknowledged, or paid royalties, to the Western originals that spawned them. One of the crucial lessons at the heart of all this madness might as revolve around how the factor of “influence” can give Japanese pop culture enormous novelty, or make others reject it outright (I’ll never forget when I mentioned to a Japanese music critic that I liked the band Number Girl only to be told, “You realize they’re just a lame copy of the Pixies, right?” and then having to convince him that, while I could see his point, I was still ok with it).

capsule - Not to be confused with "Perfume" (Yasutaka Nakata at right)

The fact that Perfume were not rejected by Japanese listeners and eventually made it to “Hollywood, California” more or less intact is a testimony to how far Nakata could run with someone else’s sound. But, as I was harping on earlier, the well has been awfully dry of late. Nakata’s recent work with capsule and as a resident DJ suggest that the bridge of Polyrhythm may have been a failed starting point for a new sound: one that can only work as "music" when blasting from a humongous club’s wall-shaking stereo system (where I have to admit, in that context, it sounds pretty good). From club music back to club music, I guess.

And Perfume…without more songs to equal or surpass Polyrhythm, Perfume now resembles Pixar's would-be Hollywood blockbusters: every new release a carefully calculated tie-up, marketed months in advance for maximum exposure, never mind the diminishing creative returns, gotta meet that quarterly report...

UPDATE: Commenter Ian Martin, who recently interviewed Yasutaka Nakata for the Japan Times, added some info that's just waaaay too important not to put here:

With Perfume these days, I think Nakata's kind of working with his hands tied behind his back. He told me that since all the songs are pre-sold to advertising campaigns before he's even written them, he has to sort of work on them with that in mind (I guess that means just having a big hit that lots of people would want to buy isn't enough -- he also has to please the chaps at Dentsu who are going to be screening every new submission). He also said this means he can't mix their stuff the way he would with capsule now, so that probably explains why he's shied away somewhat from the heavier, dancefloor-ready sound that Polyrhythm had, while capsule have gone into full-on nosebleed electro-house mode. When he plays Perfume tracks at his DJ parties, he seems to have beefed-up mixes ready.

In a shocking twist that no one saw coming (for once, I’m saying that with zero irony), Cars 2 is now taking a beating from critics who were convinced that the studio that made it could do no wrong. The Wall Street Journal lists off some familiar complaints that could be applied elsewhere, “a lack of variety, originality, subtlety, clarity and plain old charm.”

Anyway, after all that build-up here's the less-than-earth-shattering scene from Cars 2 where Polyrhythm acutally appears (I would embed it, but, as my 9 year old newphew would say, "it's for babies"). It makes more sense to show this instead -- a performance of Polyrhythm at the Budokan complete with a crowd totally in synch with the spirit of '07.

And that's all I have for now, but the song itself must have the final word:

とても大事な キミの想いは
無駄にならない 世界は廻る
ほんの少しの 僕の気持ちも
巡り巡るよ
くり返す このポリリズム

Your very precious feelings
Won't be wasted The world rotates
My little feelings．
Will circle again too

Comments

[Jared]

I think you're being too hard on Pixar: Cars is by far the most merchandising- and crossover-friendly of their movies, and the one that critics never really liked.

I like Polyrhythm a lot too, but I think my problem is just that it's a bad fit with Pixar's formula, which is diametrically opposite of Perfume's post-humanism. Whether Disney's tween audience is ready for electro-pop in a foreign language is interesting, though.

[Patrick]

Cars 1 has a 74% approval rating among "Top Critics" at Rotten Tomatoes. Cars 2 currently has 33%. I guess we will know more about how it's going to do after tomorrow's bean counting.

[Dave]

Cool post.
Being a fan of Perfume since 2007, you hit at some points that were aggravating me about the current Perfume.

All Jpop acts sell out but Perfume could make great music AND sellout.(2005 - 2008)

Now, their sound is just generic, better crafted but still generic

[Marxy]

When I first moved to Japan in 2003, Capsule were kind of the "big thing" in the indie scene as they were on Yamaha and making a bunch of Pizzicato Five clones while giving guest appearances on the record "Cutie Cinema Replay" with all the other riding young neo-Shibuya-kei stars. Yamaha bought them out Marquee magazine every single month in an attempt to make them the next inevitable dominant force in that world. But it never really happened for them (that first record only sold around 2000 copies, which is very weak for a major label), even with all that media push.

Then a few albums later, Nakata switched to the Daft Punk formula and it just worked a lot better. Then once he did it for Perfume, that put Capsule back on the map.

As of now, Capsule has released 12 albums in 10 years, which must be some sort of record. They also win a prize for "most brickwall mastered tracks." Even their Pizzicato Five-era stuff is about 10x louder than anything else in my iTunes.

[LadyAri]

I try to remain positive about my Otaku/Jrock culture being tossed into the psuedo-limelight here. On the one hand its potential added success and fan-base my fave acts or anime etc etc which in turn makes it more accesible for all. And on the other hand I almost dont want to share with a group of undeserving uncultured narrow-minded people who will halfway pay attention and then dismiss what I c as poingnant and moving simply because its n another language...:sigh:. My only true issue with music trying to go mainstream here is when its dumbed down and Americanized i.e Boa's latest, the videos for Eat You Up specifically. I fail to c how its wise to alienate and virtually ignore the fan base an artist has here already by putting out crap to attract a new one. Why not simply expand the publicity, put them out there with what they are actually about and not try to turn them into some cookie cutter clone of what was in 5 minutes ago. Argh! Thoughts?

[Patrick]

@Marxy: I know you're always down on Nakata's mastering, but it really does sound good when played at deafening volume in a club. Unfortunately, that's also the only place...

@LadyAri: Thanks for your thoughts.

@Pretty Much Everyone Else: I'll try and make this super easy for you. The point of this article is not (and I quote), "I was an original fan I'm so amazing and the band sucks now that they have popularity in other parts of the world." But rather, "That's cool that Perfume got this chance to reach a wider audience, but it's too bad they don't have any good new material do it it with." Opinions may vary, but I wish people knew how to read.

[ian]

With Perfume these days, I think Nakata's kind of working with his hands tied behind his back. He told me that since all the songs are pre-sold to advertising campaigns before he's even written them, he has to sort of work on them with that in mind (I guess that means just having a big hit that lots of people would want to buy isn't enough -- he also has to please the chaps at Dentsu who are going to be screening every new submission). He also said this means he can't mix their stuff the way he would with capsule now, so that probably explains why he's shied away somewhat from the heavier, dancefloor-ready sound that Polyrhythm had, while capsule have gone into full-on nosebleed electro-house mode. When he plays Perfume tracks at his DJ parties, he seems to have beefed-up mixes ready.

That said, I strongly endorse Laser Beam. Best thing Perfume have done in ages, genuinely catchy and memorable, and with that lovely plinky plonky synth bit that makes me go all gooey and Popcorn.

[Patrick]

Ian@: Thanks for the insider info. It sounds like Nakata has literally made a deal with the devil. Really depressing stuff.

Even though I came down kinda hard on him in the essay, I really do respect him as one of the leading lights of the electro scene in Japan. His accessibility via DJ-ing in clubs and releasing a flood of product (keep in mind that I'm also a fan of artists like Prince and Robert Pollard, who have a quality-quantity issues) shows a real commitment to the scene.

I really hope he's putting anti-Dentsu subliminal messages into his Perfume singles -- ala Phil Dick's Radio Free Albemuth -- but I somehow doubt it.

[Dave]

Not sure if this adds to the conversation but I shall mention it.

I remember Perfume said on a TV show that they around graduating high school around 2006, they ask their managers if they should apply for college since they had found some minor success at that point. Their manager recommend college and that disappointed them because he was saying that they were never going to find more success. Perfume was not expected to succeed and thus they enrolled in Yokohama University (I think.

Then Polyrhythm hit it big and the rest is history.
On the same show that I mentioned earlier, Nocchi actually said that she wanted to graduate earlier to concentrate on Perfume's career and Uni was too hard (ahhh,Japanese idols)

I guess, what I am trying to say is that Perfume had low expectations set on them and thus Nakata was able to experiment fully with the only caveat that he design a hit.

When Night Flight was used as CM for Pino, the decline set in. Maybe at that point Dentsu really really intervene into the management. There are some rumblings that Dentsu created the Perfume narrative since the early days but based on their discography, I will say the intervention happened around 2009.

[Shidehara]

I really like this article because it discusses a topic that's always been on my mind since I was 12: the crossover of Japanese artists into the U.S.

Taking a look at all of the major acts that have tried to release an album and failing miserably- Seiko in the early '90s, Kuraki Mai in the early 2000's, Puffy also in the early 2000's (and their cartoon show), Utada Hikaru in 2004 and 2009, BoA in 2009/2010 and so on......Americans who aren't already aware of the J-music scene here in the States just aren't ready for crossovers; why? because the artists aren't singing in english (except for Utada). It's sad to say, but Japanese artists may have a heavy influence on most U.S. fans, but the scene will always remain underground in the States, never mainstream, which is sad. It all boils down to ethnocentrisim for Americans.

If you want to see some kind of decent act in the States (most likely T.M.Revolution, Dir en Grey and Nami Tamaki), one might as well start hanging out at anime conventions.......

Buck-tick would never fly in the States.......

[ian]

@Patrick: Cheers. I wouldn't call myself an insider exactly though; Nakata made those comments to me on the record and they're in the latest Japan Times piece I wrote about him. He went on to explain that the result was basically that he has to focus on just one main melodic idea or hook with Perfume nowadays and can't do more subtle things that reveal themselves gradually over multiple listens. In a way, that's just the difference between pop music and whatever the other kind is, but it does seem to chime in with what you say about Polyrhythm as compared to more recent Perfume songs.

[ian]

Oh, and slightly off-topic, but:

"Q: What's wrong with this picture?"

What's wrong with it is that the version of the Union Flag in the background is the 1606 King James version that omits the St. Patrick's Cross motif from the design (the modern version appears in the corner of the Australian flag over the other side). Not only does Cars 2 suffer from "a lack of variety, originality, subtlety, clarity and plain old charm," but does it also have concealed terrorist sympathies? Yowzer!

[MattAlt]

"Taking a look at all of the major acts that have tried to release an album and failing miserably"

Dreams Come True is another. (Or was it just a tour without an album?) I remember being dragged to a concert at the 9:30 Club in DC around 1999-ish. The crowd was 99% Japanese expats and there was a distinctly desparate air around the whole enterprise (lead singer Miwa repeatedly and unsuccessfully exhorting the crowd to "Say my name! 'Miwa!' Say my name!" between numbers, etc.)

On the other hand, the year before, Ryuichi Sakamoto played the same venue and a grand total of maybe fifty people showed up. I couldn't believe it. But in spite of, or perhaps because of, the low turnout, that one was amazing. He quickly realized everyone who did show up was a nerd for him, and basically threw out the playlist for audience requests. ("Hey! Play 'Theme from Honneamis!'") That remains one of my favorite concert experiences because of the sheer intimacy of it all.

[Gandhara]

@Shidehara: Seiko sang in English, yet she didn't have much success, while Kyu Sakamoto's Ue wo Muite Arukou (known as Sukiyaki in the USA) was a smash hit in the US, and all around the world, selling more than 13 million copies, despite being sung in Japanese.

And it all started when
"Louis Benjamin, the head of Britain's Pye records, brought the song to English jazz musician Kenny Ball after hearing the song while in Japan on business in 1962. Since British DJs were not likely going to pronounce the real title correctly, Pye records released the single under the Japanese name "Sukiyaki", a Japanese dish consisting of thin beef strips cooked with onions, greens and soy sauce. A Newsweek music critic pointed out at the time that it was like releasing "Moon River" in Japan with the title "Beef Stew".

American DJ Rich Osborne of station KORD in Pasco, Washington, got a copy of Kyu Sakamoto's original version and played it on his show. Listeners began requesting the song, and the station started playing it regularly. Soon after Capitol Records picked up distribution rights and released it under its British title of "Sukiyaki". It became the second song sung in a foreign language to top the Hot 100 (the other was "Volare" by Domenico Modugno.)"
Source: http://www.rock-the-jukebox.com/2011/03/sukiyaki-ue-o-muite-aruko-1963.html

I think this shows the key to make Japanese music more popular is to get Japanese songs played on radio, so that people can hear them and request them, which might spur record labels to release them stateside, if they become popular enough.

@Patrick:
That's really common in the Japanese music industry, and not specific to Nakata though. When you're on a major record label, having your songs placed in an ad (or movie trailer, movie, or the theme song of a TV show) is really important for promotion, and doesn't have a bad reputation like in many Western countries. The best selling artists have tended to be the ones with the most tie-ins.

[STELLALUNA]

Although the Daft Punk influence on Perfume is clear, I find it much stronger in capsule's current sound, specifically in the album More! More! More! Halfway thorough, I found myself really wanting to listen to Discovery again just to hear it done better.

[Natsuki]

I'm surprised that Suzuki Ami and MEG (Nakata's work with them) weren't mentioned here, they are each sort of a go between sound from capsule to Perfume.

I'm a huge fan of Nakata (capsule, MEG, Perfume, Ami...), Daft Punk, and Number Girl... so this article was a really great read for me.

I totally agree with the sentiment about being worried about complete strangers wandering in and catching on to music we love that they normally wouldn't seek out (and pawing all over it with their grubby hands). Then it's sort of like coming home and there's this awkward stranger sitting on your couch. Though, I've been chastised in the past for being an "elite wanker" for saying things like that... so, glad to see someone else said it. lol

[Natsuki]

oh and a Pixies fan... how did I forget to mention that in my last comment. Ack.

[Patrick]

@Natsuki: The quote in the article is, "I swear it's NOT merely a case of the fat hand of Hollywood taking a song I like..." In other words, it's not really a factor in this article. Bu thanks for reading and reminding me of the Suzuki and MEG catalogs.

[Natsuki]

@Patrick It is still irritating though when a gaggle of people (will potentially) flock around something for superficial reasons.

It's not that I'd want to bar anyone from enjoying something I enjoy. I quite like sharing things, especially music. I just cringe at the possibility (in situations that you described here... in a children's movie of all things) of the information and experience online being diluted, while at present it is still easy to find without all the mainstream "noise."

So the annoyance is in the risk that, if I google Perfume later on I might end up being inundated with twenty giggling schoolgirl websites about how "cute their makeup it" and how "I wish I was japaneseeeee! kawaaiiii!!!" before I get to the actual, worthwhile articles such as the one you've written here. :)

It's a taste issue, truly, I want to see articles like this, and they want to see "KAWAIIII" webpages, all's fair... but I'm still allowed to be irritated at having to wade through it in the aftermath. lol

Just wanted to explain my reasoning behind the sentiment.

But maybe I won't have to be worried; Being in the Matthew Broderick Godzilla movie for 5 seconds didn't really do much to set off L'Arc in America (but I suppose that is a poor example as they were left off the American version of the soundtrack... hmm).

[Rihsa]

@Natsuki Some of the current fans of Japanese culture, music, and anime are already like that though. If anything, the current fans are the ones who'll most likely to say "I wish I was japaneseeeee! kawaaiiii!!!", not the potential new ones who saw Polyrhythm in Cars 2. If anything, it would hardly interest them. I'm just saying that fanbase is already diluted and superficial and this new audience thing won't make it any worse than it already is.

Anywho, great article. I think I may have missed or misunderstood some of your points (that would be my own fault) but I CAN say I noticed Capsule's bizzare transition into this weird techno club funk. I haven't been keeping up with Perfume's music, however.

[StepOnTheFloor]

I realizing I'm posting 3 years later but I wanted to point out that I don't agree Perfume's music had gone down the tubes in 2011 (JPN era) but that their label had horrible taste in picking what should be the singles.

To these ears "Kokoro No Sport", "Have a Stroll" and "575" are the best JPN songs by a long shot ("575" has a PV of course, but was never released as a CD single). Plus, those songs are towards the end of the album, and it's kind of the golden rule to put at least 1 of the best songs at the beginning.

This problem seems to have greatly improved since, with Level 3 (although "Furikaeru To Yru Yo" (track 8, the reggae sounding one) is a much better song than "Spending All My Time" in my opinion. "Spring of Life" was a great choice for a single though, as was "1mm" (was 1mm an actual single? or just a PV like "575'?)

The problem of choosing the single surfaced again with "Cling Cling" though. It's pretty obvious from comments online that everyone likes "Ijiwaru na Hello" the best, but apparently the label thought it should be the only track of the 4 not to get a PV made for it.

As far as Capsule goes, I'd be curious to know what people who didn't like Player or World of Fantasy thought about Caps Lock! I happen to like every album Capsule has released and have no criticisms to add, but I am glad Toshiko appears to have a bigger role on Wave Runner (which doesn't come out for a couple months yet, as I write this).