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MUSIC REVIEW . Puffy Amiyumi . Splurge

by Chris   ⋅   August 2, 2006   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

If you’re not familiar with Puffy (aka: Puffy AmiYumi) your perception of J-Pop is probably colored by cute girls in cute outfits singing cute love songs into equally cute microphones. Well, Puffy may be cute, and they may do nothing more than harmonize, but that’s where the similarity ends. Their sound is a delightfully peppy mishmash of retro rock and roll. Thanks in part to the talented guitarists they work with, the average Puffy album assaults you with a mix of 60’s, 70’s, and early 80’s rock (You know, when bands actually had to demonstrate more than a three-chord mastery of a guitar?), as well as the occasional flamenco and contemporary rock piece. Heck, even Lemmy from Motorhead is a fan. Puffy (AmiYumi) rock hard, but their American releases of the past five years have suffered a lot of repeat tracks, as the duo has released albums though both Sony’s music label and Bar/None Records concurrently. Their latest album, Splurge, is the first to be released by the up and coming Tofu Records, and also happens to be the first comprise of almost all new Puffy material.

Tracks evoke everything from vintage Bowie (Radio Tokyo) to pre sex-fiend GoGos (Nice Buddy).The opening track, the Butch Walker scribed Call Me What You Like (If you like rock-n-roll), is gleefully defiant declaration of old school sensibilities, and more than sets the mood for the album. The lyrics include stabs at country, hip-hop, and even Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls (complete with a background shout of “B-A-N-A-N-A-S!”). Mole Like is a sort driving rock piece that starts off forceful but grows increasingly dreamy as the duo’s vocals fade “into the echo-plex”. The latter subterranean critter track, Mole, is quirky sort of backroad gypsy Halloween traveling tune, immediately infectious with its persistant bassline, chorus chant “Mogura, Mogura, Mogura, Dig it,” and Burton-esque whistling. It’s great. Other interesting tracks include the Moody Bluesish missing you baby, the ska-ish Tokyo I’m On My Way, the romantic ballad Sunday in the Park, and the unintentionally dirty sounding Cameland. The Friends Foever ~FICKLE Remix~ track is a vast departure from the original song –a sort of bright and shiny pseudo-electronica (It made me want to go play Katamari Damacy).

While the vast majority of tracks are great, there are one or two that prove a bit grating, for example the Jon Spencer contribution, Go Baby Power Now. I’ve never been a fan of Spencer, and this song doesn’t do anything to bring me around. But these tracks are few and far between, and are more than made up for by the remaining array of catchy tunes. One nice bonus is the fact that Tofu has included additional Roma-ji lyrics sheets for the Japanese language songs for the fans who don’t read kanji. I believe Tofu does this for most of their J-Pop releases, but it’s the first occurrence I’ve encountered for a Puffy CD. All in all a great addition to the PuffyAmiyumi library.

In these dark days of Emo hipsters, pop punk poseurs, and alternative rock generics it’s nice to know this duo from Japan have got you covered when it comes to good old rock and roll.

About the Author:

Chris Nelson has a appetite for the offbeat. He has been a devoted fan of Puffy for the past five years. He and Kris proudly attended Puffy’s first US concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco.