digi*ana*logue

I follow quite a few photoblogs, but this is the only one that I know of that’s definitely foreign, so here we go. I mentioned earlier that music was universal, but I believe that art, being a wider category than music, is the same way as well. While the settings are unfamiliar to me, I think the photos can still evoke the same emotions in both a Japanese person and someone, say me, from another country browsing the photos on the Internet. These pictures in particular are generally really calming to me, but I especially love the one I posted above. I think some of the best photographs are ones that suggest there’s a deeper meaning below the simple beauty of the photo. The girl is obviously the main character of the picture, but she is also dwarfed by the sheer size of the buildings around her, as well as the number of people walking on the sidewalks. But why is she standing in the middle of the street? What is she looking at?

Experts Weigh Importance of English Education

http://classified.japantimes.com/ads/pdfs/20110329-jtforum.pdf

This article from March of this year covers the current debate in Japan over whether English should be taught even earlier to students in Elementary school. While the article itself doesn’t really present any extreme viewpoints, I think it’s interesting that other countries are even considering starting foreign language education so early. I read earlier in some other article that despite the English classes offered at the middle and high school levels, the average “skill” of many non-native English speakers in Japan is still very poor (I think the article said only slightly better than North Koreans), which could possibly be another factor in this decision to introduce English to Elementary schoolers. I think it’s a very significant reminder of how widespread and powerful Western culture and influence is on the rest of the world. Not that this is a negative thing, but it’s definitely something that I take for granted sometimes when traveling to other countries, assuming that at some point I’ll be able to find someone who speaks English to help me out if I ever need it.

Random Life Experiences!

I was in the middle of fifth grade, and one day, my friend asked me to go to church with him the upcoming weekend, I didn't really know what to expect. I had heard the stereotypes about going to church at lunch; "church was boring", "I accidentally fell asleep last week", "I hate going to Sunday School", and so on, either from watching TV or hearing snippets of conversations at lunch.

"I have a duet I need to play, so I need you to help me with it. It's not gonna be too hard."

"Sure, I guess."

A few days later, I arrived together with my friend, slightly uncomfortable in my button up shirt and pants. I follwed him nervously to the pews and sat down. Were there assigned seats? I glanced nervously at my friend, and then back at the projector screen. I thought to myself, "Oh no, I don't know any of these hymns."

After the ceremonies were over, we gathered on a lower level and the adults began to unpack various dishes they had brought for the lunch potluck as my friend and I took out our violins and music. A simple tune from an old TV show, but everyone crowded around us anyway, congratulating us on our "skill," and then hustling us to the tables of food. "Eat, eat," they said, "there's plenty of food. Don't be shy."

The closeness of all of the families was what really struck me back then. It seemed more like a large family gathering instead of the somber and formal procession that I had imagined. I was amazed at how much fun and how well everyone knew each other. I thought to myself, "They get together like this every week?"

Though I have not gotten another chance to attend church since then, I think that one day helped me get a taste of a different way of life, and really demonstrated to me the value of belonging to a tight-knit community.

NAGISA COSMETIC - Life Balance

I don't even know what to write here. Ridiculous bouncy electropop with horns and ridiculously bouncy vocals and ridiculously bouncy piano and jazzy influences and ridiculously upbeat melody. It's got that "cool because it's so over the top and ridiculous" feel? Seems like a characteristic of the genre though. Anyway, "Shibuya-kei (渋谷系) is a sub-genre of Japanese pop music which originated in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. It is best described as a mix between jazz, pop, and electropop." Yup. Oh and also according to Wikipedia the genre was influenced by French Yé-yé music, a style of pop music that emerged from France, Québec and Spain in the early 1960s. It’s amazing how in this age influences can come from everywhere in the world. While I’d hate to see the world’s music all move in the same universal direction, it’s still cool to see fusions of genres from all over, and the product is almost always at least unique and interesting, if not great. In this case it’s just unique and weird, your mileage may vary on whether it’s great or not.

Tokyo Jihen - Adult

One of my favorite albums from last year. An interesting mix of specifically Japanese “pop” sensibilities with Western rock and jazz influences.

スポーツ (Sports) is the newest album released by 東京事変 (Tokyo Jihen). Formed in 2004 after 椎名林檎 (Shiina Ringo) decided to end her solo career (though she has since resumed it with her 2009 album 三文ゴシップ, which is also great). All of her albums, both solo and with the band have been at least great, and most of them are amazing.

As far as stand out tracks go on this album... pretty much all of them. This tends to be the case with all of her albums, and each individual track would probably be a standout single on any other album. None of that hits + filler nonsense. That being said, there are still tracks that stand out within the album. The second track, Denpa Tsuushin opens with a hectic bass line, while combining elements of electropop and her signature jazzy style into a ridiculously catchy and energetic song. Raise the dead on your turntable, she sings on 能動的三分間 (Noudouteki Sanpunkan, Active Three Minutes), the lead single. An exactly three minute long (get it?) song, played at 120BPM, with hands down one of the catchiest choruses I've ever heard. A fusion of her amazing pop sensibilities and the rest of the band's instrumentation. This song is the shining example of her ability to fuse modern rock and pop with the feel of high energy jazz performances in a tightly knit song, stripped away of any superfluous elements and without a single wasted second. Finally, スイートスポット (Sweet Spot), is another one of my favorites and one of the slower songs on the album. In the form of a modern jazz ballad, overflowing with emotion, amazing vocal delivery, etc etc.

Die Antwoord - Enter the Ninja

Die Antwoord was a “rap-rave” group that originated in Cape Town, South Africa. I’m personally not a fan of their gimmick, but the critical reaction for their unique glorification of the South African “Zef” culture was extremely positive, so much so that they became very popular in music magazines and online publications. Their rapid rise to popularity among “hipster” music circles was very interesting in that their music is very “trashy” and a celebration of this foreign culture that usually gets little to no attention in the West. Enter the Ninja was released in 2009 and very quickly became a sensation, with people all over praising their unique music and culture. An interesting note is that it was revealed earlier this year that Die Antwoord was actually a group of art students who were putting up an “act,” and they were parodying the extremes and excesses of the culture, although not in a negative way.

Sidenote: Leon Botha, the sufferer of progeria featured in the Enter the Ninja video died a few days ago, which reminded me of this group and I figured they were actually pretty relevant to this blog.

Music and Language

I’ve had some people ask me why I listened to music in a foreign language if I couldn’t even understand the lyrics. It had never actually crossed my mind before that unintelligible lyrics would somehow be a barrier to listening to music. To me, the actual musical aspects – melody, rhythm, etc – were always the most important, and lyrics were secondary. Perhaps it’s because I started playing violin before I really got into popular music, but to me vocals have always been “another instrument” in a sense. I have a friend who, aside from this would consider to have good taste, refuse to listen to anything that isn’t in English because it “makes no sense” to him. I always hear the saying that “music is the universal language” (although math has been thrown around too occasionally), and so his logic makes no sense to me. To me, as long as it “sounds good,” I can listen to anything. The most interesting part to me is the stylistic difference in music from different cultures. It’s really interesting to hear the slightly different takes on various genres, such as when you hear traditional ethnic instruments in modern pop music recordings from Asia or Africa.