Where is the LOVE for Perfume?

ie. Most of the songs on FRUITS CLiPPER > 'Electro World'.

'EW' is effectively 'Dreamin Dreamin' off FC with a drop-off in pop song skills and an upping of tempo and electro bass. Therefore, this is likely one of the few occasions I can agree with you on Nakata writing the same song twice (see also Capsule's 'Glider' > Perfume's 'Computer World'). Not something that bothers me in principle, since all the best alternative Japanese producers deliberately refer to their own sounds in later work, mind.

They just have more indie cachet because they dress mod and rock analog synths.

Which has what to do with anything?

PS. Capsule don't have an ILM thread.

PPS. It has nothing to do with Capsule being cooler (or "less pop") and everything to do with Nakata diluting his best ideas and giving them to Perfume.

PPPS. I'd do Perfume.

PS Srsly? I was going to make a Capsule thread and then I thought that there was one already and then I was listening to Perfume and I wanted to make a Perfume thread.

PPS STILL NOT LEGAL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyEHQTVNnkc

I'm getting the 2009 album "Triangle" right now, but until then, enjoy this, my favorite song.

I wish 1:50 to 2:01 could loop forever. That'd get my sailors jumping!

also WOW I LOVE THESE GIRLS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6TV-ztJlJc

screw the j-pop thread, i'm posting this here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZKMaFR2mtU

i mean this is a year-old b-side but it's still massive and i'm glad they made a video for it

I'm all about Point at the moment, potentially my pop song of the year.

I never saw this 2006 thread! ILX on top of it

sandbox detour for reference - http://sandbox.ilxor.com/sandbox/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=142&threadid=1671

The 'Fake It' clip in support of their new compilation for international markets - http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TKCA-73840 - which I was looking forward to being a true best-of but in turns out to be a rather odd cross-section from their albums / singles, so it's missing quite a few of the songs I was hoping to be able to have on a CD like 'One Room Disco', but it's got 'Polyrhythm'

More like "Where is the LOVE for Yasutaka Nakata?" is OTM. I've only recently started getting into Perfume and Meg, but I love Capsule and just about everything else the dude has had anything to do with. Copter4016882's 2D2D (which he had some level of involvement with and may have produced...?) is underrated even beyond the extent to which most of his stuff is underrated 'round here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqEg-Vs31Cg

what are they up to now?

:D http://www.songkick.com/concerts/16342874-perfume-at-o2-academy-islington

great extended version of Spending All My Time from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI0x5vA7fLo

That performance is fucking fantastic. If they ever play New York I will be there in a heartbeat.

Let's gear up for their next album, out October 2nd.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSkrZcrCcAAiGfb.jpg:large
01. Enter the Sphere
02. Spring of Life (Album-mix)
03. Magic of Love (Album-mix)
04. Clockwork
05. 1mm
06. 未来のミュージアム
07. Party Maker
08. ふりかえるといるよ
09. ポイント
10. だいじょばない
11. Handy Man
12. Sleeping Beauty
13. Spending all my time (Album-mix)
14. Dream Land

A great new track was revealed, 1mm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OANDqgw9qU

'spring of life' is one of the 10 best song-video combinations in human history

I prefer the 'Spending' routine / video.

yep digging '1mm'. hope 'Spending all my time (Album-mix)' is the extended version from the recent live shows

And when I said I prefer 'Spending' I meant the original, not the new one, which I forgot and is a whole new level of awesomeness in itself. The original had its own superhuman charm in the perfectness of the sync hand movements.

i hope it's more "spring of life" than "spending all my time".

Yeah, "Spending All My Time" is one of the greatest singles of the 2000s, and the video is amazing/hypnotic/creepy/brilliant. New song above is great, too—this is one of my most anticipated albums of 2013.

"1mm" is good.

"1mm" is good.
--EZ Snappin

yeah, it is. I'm excited.

still think "spending all my time" was a weak attempt to try to break into non-JPN territories. kinda edm eurotrash garbage imo. gimmie the bouncy, blue-skied instead perfume instead plz.

Yep, seemed slight to me. Magic Of Love was a massive return to form.

Spending All My Time is my fave single of this period. Not remotely un-Perfume-y but still something kinda new and fun for them to try, adding some sounds they usually don't have in their arsenal without ever fully stepping into another genre. Spring of Life and Magic are both the definition of safe to me and not as good as their b-sides but being Perfume that still makes them very listenable indeed.

One of the new album tracks is over 7 minutes so it's all looking good, with the promise of a flashy video for 1mm as well.

Oh and one thing that's made the safer recent Perfume singles interesting as well is Nakata experimenting with close to no vocal effects at times.

"Magic of Love" is OK but yeah, a pretty safe bet; it kinda sounds like a rewrite of "Natural ni Koishite." I think "Mirai no Museum" is the weakest single they've released from the upcoming album.

yeah, I haven't been blown away by anything released since JPN really. largely competent and fun and listenable but pales a bit compared to the more adventurous stuff nakata's been doing with kyary.

still, i can't imagine i won't listen to this new one like crazy!

oh wait, I forgot about "hurly burly" - that one rules

Quite a few fans are pissed that Hurly Burly isn't on the tracklist.

I thought Kyary's latest album was pretty great and she has a few masterpieces under her belt. In general I think Nakata's work with Perfume's got an emotional core and melodical genius to it that gives it weight compared to Kyary's fun time tunage, even when playing it safe.

Everything is relative, I would give all Perfume albums 10/10 and no song less than 8/10*.. then you get a couple of 8 singles in a row and it can come off as doomsday. But all the vibes I'm getting from this album is that it might work very well as an album indeed, and actually be a bit on the experimental side outside of the singles. Putting album mixes of singles there is a great choice. (The members talked in a recent interview about a few 'light' Perfume singles having been released in a row, and they have actually been their lowest selling singles in a few years)

* well, maybe.. http://youtu.be/ZMy_2UaQb-c

This on the other hand is definitely a solid 8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuPwFMTTYPo

those early tracks are hilarious.

In general I think Nakata's work with Perfume's got an emotional core and melodical genius to it that gives it weight compared to Kyary's fun time tunage, even when playing it safe.

yeah, I can see that. as much as I like kyary, she doesn't have a song with the emotional whallop of "electro world" or "polyrhythm" or "chocolate disco" or "dream fighter" or etc. etc. (not yet anyway)

and yeah, omitting "hurly burly" is a weird move for sure.

also, I don't really hate "mirai no museum" like everyone else seems to. it's... pretty likable, I think? def on the generic side but kinda gives off pleasant serani poji vibes that I can't really hate on.

and how does his work with Capsule compare? I feel like it kind of gets the short stick re: the recent albums (though honestly outside of Fruits Clipper I dunno if I've heard a Capsule album that's been good all the way through)

yeah, the capsule stuff is all really spotty but worth digging through for the gems in my experience. but I haven't heard it all.

sugarless girl is the best of what I've heard. love the title track and "starry sky". things get progressively more EDM-ey from that album on.

mirai no museum was done for a children's movie ne?

i listened to abt half of "stereo worxxxx" or whatever before turning it off due to shitty rapping

I only made it through Stereo Worxxx once, but I love the album before that, World of Fantasy. When I just want huge head-crushing sound, I put on the title track at ridiculous volume (this does not make my co-workers happy).

will get that one then — i love nakata in sensory-overload mode :)

I've found that my favorite Capsule album is probably L.D.K. which is the one that precedes Fruits Clipper, and is a more of a transitional album between their earlier stuff and the more EDM/Electro House influenced material.

Never liked that one much, though I do appreciate the Hosono ref in the title :)

the World of Fantasy video is a thing of wonder http://youtu.be/W4h8m74pyC8
there's a new Capsule album out the end of next month btw

That video is what sold me on them.

yea that video is awesome

Full video for 1mm http://www.jpopsuki.tv/video/Perfume---1mm/623c95ae935400520ba744d102d12f37

I'm bored of the days where my curiosity roams free
And trying to chase only one thing.
In fact, it's really hard, and I need to become serious.
"Rely on my feelings", is what I used to think.
Of course it's not a disaster...
It's just that reality always surpasses my imagination
And I fall just 1mm short.

*
This last train is bumpy...
But even so, I want to get far away.
Ahhh, a detour; Ahhh, it's like a dream
Even after many years it's still difficult and uncomfortable

Ahhh, it never ends. Enough, enough, it's not okay!
Why can't I ever get these feelings across like this?
Ahhh, I need to redo it; Ahhh, repeat it all over again
Gradually I get closer, since there's only one way to go
Ahhh, let's go back; Ahhh, come on!
*

If I try to drift away from that faraway place,
It might become interesting, fun, and enjoyable - but
When I go to other places, nothing changes.
Nothing happens if I run from the risks.
Of course it's not a disaster...
It's just that reality always surpasses my imagination
And I still fall just 1mm short.

*Repeat
(Transl. Xiratava)

This is the only version of "Spending All My Time" on (UK) Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/track/3G6J53jZSTURPkZXC4u2o1

I like it!

hah, I've often wondered what the story is behind seemingly endless 'orgel sound j-pop' xylophone covers

Cash in on things that don't exist there otherwise (or that does) and some people might search for I assume.

Bought tickets to see Perfume for the third time this year.. but this time on a real big scale - the Osaka Dome as part of their JP dome tour.

Magic of Love (Album Mix)

Loving

yeah, that's great

Very nice.

album BANGS

It's euphoric, heavier, dancier than JPN. I almost made a thread for it in my ecstasy yesterday. Furikaeru to iru yo is classic Perfume mid-tempo. Party Maker is guaranteed insane in their dome shows. The album mixes freshen things up so much.

liking this but I'm actually a little cold on the bangers. but not ruling them growing on me out yet.

very into the more restrained ones like "furikaeru..." and "dream land." "sleeping beauty" is pleasantly reminding me of orbital, so that's great too.

First thing I did was compare the single versions of songs to the album mixes - I actually think the single versions (especially "Spending All My Time") are superior in every case. I also wish the album included "I'm Not Okay." But I'm gonna be giving it a serious listen on the train home tonight and am very excited.

i prefer the album mixes at this point; think the single mix of "magic of love" really gets in the way of the lightness of that melody

XP "I'm Not Okay" is included though.

OK, on first front-to-back listen, this might be my Album of the Year. The only thing I really don't like is the album mix of "Spending All My Time," which lacks the hypnotic looping quality of the original. But so much of it is incredibly hard dancefloor stomping stuff, much more like Capsule than JPN. Love this record.

yeah, this one really does blur the lines between what nakata's doing for perfume and capsule. I'm just not so sure that's a good thing.

this album is indeed incredible

I don't know if heavy=Capsule. Fan favorite album GAME was heavier, "edge" is Perfume's live centerpiece. I think Perfume have preserved all their personality here. Some of that is about the songs' emotional core exclusive to Perfume I talked about above.

Also:

“[We and Nakata] had a dinner where we discussed about the album. All of what we discussed there was fulfilled. We requested like ‘we’d like a track that can match the dome concert where we can build large sets’ or ‘can we have a song in which we can make various directions, rather than just dancing?’ and so on. All of the new songs on this album are very suited with our requests. Some sound soft, some sound majestic.”

I'm gonna try to have an in-depth review posted by Friday. I'll link it here. Where's that quote from?

http://fuckyeahystk.tumblr.com/post/62687400985

yeah, this one is growing on me big time. it isn't really as monolithic as I initially found it... just maybe a little more monolithic than usual. this is still highly melodic, and yeah, still very much a perfume album. I'd say it's prob on par with JPN but not quite up to GAME standards.

still think this could use "hurly burly"!

I always like about one or two songs on any Capsule record, especially the ones that border more on being songs than relentless loops and builds, but even then it's tough to make it through more than two of them in a row. With club music there's that thin line between gratifying and generic and a lot of this new Perfume is walking it for me. But yeah it's the kind of line where I'm fascinatedly listening the most to the tracks that I really have deep problems with.

As promised, a link to my review. Apologies for cheesy headline.

Just wanna pop in to say that "Butterfly" has some of the trippest synths/production I've ever heard, I never see that tune mentioned but damn is it something

ya I love that one. the constant ascending/descending loopy propulsion!

Good pick. Those synths remind me a little of Larry Heard, something like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FkVaoe_BSE

i've been obsessing over "glitter" and "nee" from jpn lately -- the production on those is amazing

US TOUR DATES (NY & LA only, unsurprisingly)

New single "Cling Cling" is pretty good, if a little Kyary Pamyu Pamyu-ish. Don't love the B-side, "Hold Your Hand," but the other two tracks are good.

Translation: Level3 will be released in the US, with bonus tracks, on Astralwerks.

yuhhhhhhh

worst perfume album + edm bros remix of one of their worst singles does not really seem like the best intro to perfume

what

level3 is their best since game imo

triangle too uneven, jpn too scattered, level3 actually flows pretty nicely as an album

jpn IS scattered and super front-loaded but the highs are higher. there isn't a "my color" or "nee" on level3 and the overt edm-isms really sour it for me

I always forget traingle exists. it's like their new jersey! it might be better than that one.

i love every song on both level3 and jpn and feel like i hear something new every time i listen to them.

I like most of em on jpn except for that one short one that sounds like music for a children's bday party. but I do wish there were more in the buzzing electro chiptune j-pop style that dominates the first half of the record.

whoopso, "a child's bday party" I mean

2nd half is cool too tho. and "spice" is one of my faves.

mirai no museum was made for a doraemon movie -- don't think it should've been on the album but it's easy to skip.

oh wait yr'e talking about "toki no hari" right

haha yes

man, why isn't "hurly burly" a bonus track on the US version? what were they thinking leaving it off the ablum in the first place??

In Tokyo at the moment and saw multiple coloured vinyl options for Level 3, but I didn’t buy it which is telling as I would have bought the previous 3 without even thinking about it.

Just got press list confirmation for the NYC show on 11/15, and possibly an interview (roundtable style, multiple writers). Incredibly excited about this.

YEAH

Who else is going? Mildly curious

B-)

Roundtable interview is confirmed for tomorrow afternoon. I'm coming up with 2-3 questions, though I'll probably only get to ask one.

Perfume interview was...interesting. We were all seated (5 journalists including me, a translator from Universal Japan, and the members of the group) around a cafeteria-style table; I was right next to Nocchi. Questions were translated into Japanese, answers were translated into English. Since there were five of us, and we only had 15-20 minutes, we each got to ask one question. Mine was about their response to the "Spending All My Time" remixes, since those were the first time anyone but Nakata had worked on their music - what did they think of an outsider's version of Perfume? A-Chan answered (she did most of the talking, though they all spoke up) that they really liked all the new elements the producer brought to the song (I believe she was talking about the longer remix) and mimicked the rise and fall of the EDM-ish portions of the track with hand gestures. Apparently, they're going to be performing that version of the song tonight, which is interesting. They were all quite animated when they talked; the other reporters were from i-D, MTV Iggy, Vice, and an outlet I didn't catch because the reporter introduced herself in Japanese, and the questions were about outfits, stage choreography, etc., so the group members would occasionally make gestures - like the "Spending All My Time" hand choreography, or swiveling to indicate that their outfits for the night's performance would be "shiny" (this word was in English, and was followed by giggling). After the interview, all of us took a group photo with them.

Anyway, I'll be writing the whole thing up for Stereogum next week; I'll post a link next week.

Brad you going tonight? I hear there's been a line-up since the early AM

Kashiyuka should've answered your Q, being the dance music connoisseur of the group. But yeah A-chan will be doing most of the talking.

literally the best show i've ever seen

Yup, spent the whole gig raging
Every intro to every song was so good

all of the songs sounded so huge

Posted this last night on Twitter:

Perfume postmortem: my knees hurt from 90 minutes of bouncing, my face hurts from 90 minutes of grinning. Best show I've seen this decade.

so soooooo fun. I wanted another hour!

very happy that ny got bagel shout outs.

anyone else see the guy in a jacket completely covered in idol pins? respect.

In the "generic interview questions" handout I got from the publicist, they specified that they were talking about Murray's Bagels, a choice I support 100%.

There was a dude right near me in a jacket with the cover of Converge's Jane Doe painted on the back.

yeah, what did they say instead of murray's? I just assumed they meant murray's too.

i actually think they said murray's

the 15 minute digression on bagels is basically my favorite variation of someone stalling bc of technical difficulties

and man, "my color" was a dynamite closer. what a song

it's one of my faves but I'd resigned myself to not hearing it by then. man, I was so psyched when it kicked in!!

My review of the show.

｢Relax In The City / Pick Me Up｣ Double A-side Single 2015/04/29 (http://www.sapporobeer.jp/greenaroma/) Release 決定！！

http://www.sapporobeer.jp/greenaroma/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNXwV8RkZ3U

Love double A-sides, double MVs, more fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZiPIgCtIxg

Makes my head spin

that's the best thing i've ever seen

Yeah, that was amazing.

I have no idea what is going on in that video, but I want to be there

new song is really really good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhfYis6VuXY

Yesss. and that gorgeous video. HD!

I have no doubt that is an accurate representation of shopping in Shinjuku

“Sukoshi Fushigi” is a sort-of catchphrase the creator of Doraemon, Fujiko F. Fujio, used when he was alive to describe his style of stories. It translates to “Slightly Mysterious” and is used as an alternate form of “SF” which usually stands for “Science Fiction” in Japan.

https://31.media.tumblr.com/1a69deb6a38eb77bbc80b155e2af0673/tumblr_nm4ooaN7cI1u8axueo4_400.gifhttps://33.media.tumblr.com/e699d0b67c2255cf34f18fe0e073541f/tumblr_nm4ooaN7cI1u8axueo6_400.gif

into nocchi's more confident-sounding singing; not so into the added acoustic guitar but i hated "spending all my time" at first and now it's one of my favorites. video is great.

I seem to have lost the LOVE for (new) Perfume. The magic seems to have gone for me in their latest work, maybe I’ll get it later but it all sounds so conventional now.

yeah, I feel ya

'Pick Me Up' is definitely quite conventional but it is also good. I like it a lot.

Listening to the whole 3-track single it's one of their strongest releases in years.

Here's the MV for Relax in the City https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mo95i_perfume-relax-in-the-city_music

And here's the B-side https://vimeo.com/126262930

really like that b-side <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK4GDYwR_Lk
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2oyh61_pick-me-up-mj_music

Finally got hip to this outfit after jbr FB post.

jbr?

rtf

I really like Relax in the City.

Possibly the best MV collection in the world is now reuploaded in full HD http://www.youtube.com/user/Perfume/search?query=mv

http://cdn2.natalie.mu/media/1509/0903/extra/news_header_Perfume_art201508.jpg
http://cdn2.natalie.mu/media/1509/0903/extra/news_header_Perfume_art201508.jpg

Just posting this pic twice. It's PR for upcoming single STAR TRAIN, October 28

STAR TRAIN

as many styles nakata has gone thru over the years i sincerely hope his bro-EDM turn is short-lived

I dunno, oddly the slight EDM touches on some Perfume singles have humanized them in an interesting way.

yeah i love "spending all my time," "party maker," and "pick me up" so it's whatever

Nakata's latest Kyary single on the other hand falls flat and seems to flop on JP charts as well. She was outselling Perfume for a short period.

I don't know if I want Perfume too human - seeing one of them barefoot in their last video was actually weirdly shocking. (This only applies to their music, obviously; I've been in the room with them, I know they're human beings.)

It's interesting. On the last two albums they have definitely moved towards less processed vocals. I don't want them to make regular ol' pop of course. They're Perfume. But at the same time there's something tantalizing in peeking behind the mask, and the emotional effect of clean voices breaking through in parts of their songs has been strong. A-chan, at least, is also a v good vocalist. We're certainly at the point in time, 15 years into their career, where it's difficult to invent without messing with their signature. Do they need to invent? I don't know. But I've promised myself to not be reactionary about it. I've seen them live three times and they gave me very different faces of the group in those three shows. Very different venues, approaches. From intimate to big and epic to fun and frivolous. They're versatile, in a way. I just hope they and Nakata can have fun creating new music.

/ aimless rant of a stan

"spending my time" is incredible but only the single version

haven't really felt much of their other EDM stuff. nakata's giving his interesting material to this new kid nowadays, forget her name but i heard a song a couple months back that was definitely where his creativity's been going

latest capsule LP was very boring; esp so considering CAPS LOCK was a neat little album of surprising melodic IDM-y instrumentals

xp When Kyary got started people were saying Nakata gave the good stuff to her, now it's a new one. I don't really agree. I think Perfume is a sort of constant in Nakata's career, the girls a guarantee for a steady high quality. His Kyary work has varied, his Capsule work is hit and miss, his inspiration for other projects varies comes and goes, but Perfume has never really had a bad streak or spotty album. But I agree he seems more playful with Natsume Mito than Kyary these days. We'll see how long it lasts.

i love perfume at their best but i would never consider them an albums group, like maybe barely game...i think their singles and b-sides continued to improve up through LEVEL3, but the run of EDM and phoned in j-pop singles since then has left me pretty cold

honestly i wouldn't consider anything nakata's done to be a top-to-bottom great release, w/ the possible exception of coltemonikha 2

barely game?

:|

hi again brad :) been missing you

game is really consistent and there's nothing bad on it by any means, but i think as a start-to-finish listen it doesn't have enough variation. nakata's career-long struggles with pacing at the song level contributes, as well.

i'm way more into the dynamics of having "point" followed by "daijobanai," for example. i know it's never gonna happen but i think a whole album with that kind of individual quality and variety is where the potential is

perfume is in <url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=34&v=aBYWGjIzvyw>;this iphone ad</url> for two thirds of a second at 0:26 and again at 0:42 because obviously?

let's pretend i can do formatting codes just for now

xp I couldn't disagree more violently - I think all their albums, from complete best up to and including JPN are 10/10s and among the classics of pop history.

I think the singles campaign for Level 3 was their weakest but it's pretty great as an album. The singles post-Level 3 have been better, explored new terrain.

I do find it difficult to listen to a full album, IMO there aren't enough good album tracks like "Speed of Sound" (by which I mean, tunes that are NOT intended to be singles). But of course when you're in the mood for 'em they're like the best things ever.

I'm with abcfsk - JPN is a fucking fantastic album-as-album. Level3 is really the only time an album of theirs felt even slightly like a letdown, and that was mostly because the original mixes of the singles ("Spending All My Time" in particular) were so superior to the album mixes.

Game is def best but i think they're all difficult to listen through. a little bit of editing could've gone a long way there, though (and a judicious 'best of' would be unbelievable).

Not a single album track pre-Level 3 is less than an 8/10. For 10 years they had the most perfect discography in history, basically. And I think the album experience also adds something, I think they're album and live artists, there's a play between the big chorus numbers and the introspectives, the quirkiness and the bangers.

eh i somewhat disagree. i think their most impressive singles campaign also predicated their most uneven album, triangle (lol i know i'm alone there)

otherwise their albums are all great, and i hold game and level 3 in nearly the same esteem

Ok some time this fall I'll go through all the albums and review each track.

Where is the LOVE for student folk trio cover versions of Perfume songs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twb8cB9dRHU

no, brad, i find triangle especially uneven, too. maybe their most uneven, but i suppose i should give their discog a fresh coat of lastfm paint it's probably been half a year at least by now

agreed, however, with whoever said LEVEL3 had their best batch of singles but album was a letdown in large part because of how botched those singles' LP arrangements were

anyway it's really interesting that there the venn diagram overlaps of everyone's opinions are so thin. i know game is kind of a consensus record but past that we're all over the place

what's everyone's favorite perfume songs? unranked but all 5 stars in my itunes:

ポリリズム
The Opening
ナチュラルに恋して
ねぇ (Nee) [and its instrumental]
ポイント (Point [and its instrumental])
だいじょばない (Daijobanai, from a songwriting and songwriting-meets-production standpoint their best)
Fake It
Spending all my time [single mix, and its instrumental]
575 [and its instrumental]
Kiss and Music [like Oizo producing mid-aughts Britney, so good]

some other songs close, and i'd even make revisions of some of these ("Nee" could be so much shorter), but these are top-tier imo. Game is most consistent but only has one of these

I don't think anyone but you would say Level 3 had the best batch of singles. Weakest by far.

triangle had the best singles. love the world, dream fighter, one room disco

anyway perfume pox:

dream fighter
plastic smile
fake it
nee
i still love u
electro world
night flight
my color
chocolate disco
spice

actually, limited to a-sides, i'd prob say JPN had best singles. my fondness for LEVEL3's are more than halfway owe to the b-sides "point" and "daijobanai" (but the single mix of "spending all my time" is brilliant from a songwriting standpoint, the use of repetition is so effective and few other songs take it so far so well (in terms of mileage on a minimum of content, i think the high watermark remains alice deejay's "better off alone")). "spring of life" was eh, "1mm" was dece (that was a single, i think? remember writing about it for TMT), and i love "mirai no museum" and its little swipe from hall & oates, really underrated song.

meanwhile, JPN: "natural ni koishite," "nee," "laser beam," "spice"...def strong batch, incredible b-sides w/ "fake it" and "575" too. (there were at least two other a-sides that i don't like as much, but nothing bad)

hard to complain about triangle's crop indeed, perhaps technically 'the best' but it's got an advantage in there only being three of them and musically they all risk so little

*level3's more than halfway owe to

also, crucial if we are talking about LEVEL3's singles to limit our discussion to the single mixes, the ones on the album are total self-sabotage =/

"musically they all risk so little" what

what

lol? they're all songs that are completely in nakata/perfume's wheelhouse, well established by the time game came out (triangle's singles all being songs around the 5-minute mark, too, with little development and no surprises to show for it – as i've said before, economy is nakata's most consistent stumbling block). i still love 'em, but nakata's at his boldest when employing more obtuse strategies to his compositions: making a whole song out of basically two lines and some ten words and the simplest theme of his career ("spending all my time" – the title itself is basically the verse, the chorus, the post-chorus, and bridge...!), grafting the perfume aesthetic to a breakbeat, harp, and some of the most fleshed-out melodic development he's ever done ("point"), "daijobanai" which is afaik a strategically unique song in terms of what it attempts and how it achieves it (about which i could write a good couple thou, wish it were a k-pop song so i would), and "kiss and music" (which, cramming as many transitional, melodic and rhythmic surprises as it does into just 2:30, is easily nakata's idea-densest and most compact song to date). these are all songs that take risks autopilot nakata never bothers with.

hate to go here, but have you ever written a song? or produced? do you know any theory? i know these are dick things to ask in general but this is the one subject on which you keep hasslin' me up in here and i think it's p clear we're just not listening to music in the same way and should prob leave it at that

oh relistening to "daijobanai" now and remembering how there's no functional snare in the entire song (what's hitting on the 2 and 4 is super subtle and basically manifests as a slight accent on the kick if one really listens for it; also that heavily reverbed pickup leading into the chorus, i guess), which is always an accomplishment for a banger (most impressively imo on "new slaves" which aside from the sample coda lacks percussion throughout, less what could be considered a kick/low tom here and there). love that song so much :')

wait are we talking about nakata's writing/production on "dream fighter" which was really still evolving out of his work on game and sugarless girl/more more more as "wheelhouse"? "autopilot"?

i have written a song and know theory, but i'm bad at both. regardless i think the structure and production of "dream fighter" is really surprising and dimensional in a way that you're downplaying in favor of novelty and economy

i mean obviously we listen to music for different reasons but u are really insistent about explaining in paragraphs how you tend to listen for very specific things, which i think is a narrow and very alienating approach if you're on a message board about discussing music

the singles on triangle were so comfort zone for him by then, maybe sliiight progressions but i would be interested to hear how you'd quantify these as songs as great leaps for him. (what is "surprises" you about "dream fighter?" how is it "dimensional?"

i think economy's important across the board (granted, a 20-minute song can be perfectly economical), but even if i think a song could stand to lose some weight (these ones, "nee," much other nakata) i can still appreciate all that it gets right. as for "novelty," i don't agree with that word's connotations – it makes something innovative sound like a party favor. but yes, as i believe i've said before (and why i'm motioning that we maybe stop talking about these things, at least in such catty ways), in an instance of two hypothetical songs that are of equal quality, i'm always going to prefer the one that arrives at that goodness in an idiosyncratic way. at this point in my life the strategy of how music achieves its goals is a huge part of why music even interests me, and i do think is a measure more 'objective' a discussion than your generic "i like this" vs. my generic "i like this." the why is what's interesting.

"i mean obviously we listen to music for different reasons but u are really insistent about explaining in paragraphs how you tend to listen for very specific things"

no? that is one sentence of what i posted above. the paragraph is me explaining what those specific things are that i find exceptional about x y z songs we're discussing...which is, yes, the entire point of a message board aboutg discussing music, as you've italicized it. all you ever say is "this is good, this is not" – can you explain to me how using concretes and bothering to expound is "narrow" and "alienating," or how that underscores some kind of superficial engagement or whatever you said the last time we had this convo w/ diff topical variables plugged in? or can we at least not do it anymore? it's just an ironic diss coming from someone who always responds with "yeah but you're wrong" or an emoticon or w/e

sorry for messiness, i need to start what my dictation software put down before hitting enter ;-(

*start checking XD

I like Spending All My Time quite a lot, but saying it's Nakata at its boldest just because he does a banal trick he hasn't employed before is a good example of why using 'theory' when talking taste can lead to baffling results. Similarly Point being unique just because it does genre elements? That could easily be turned around and used to argue the song is reductive and "musically risking little". Its use of breakbeat is a simple quotation in service of a catchy song.

Favorites:

Vitamin Drop
Monochrome Effect
Electro World
Computer Driving
Polyrhythm
Baby Cruising Love
Macaroni
Plastic Smile
Dream Fighter
Edge
One Room Disco
The Best THing
Kiss and Music
Natural ni Koishite
Nee
Glitter
Spice

More recently Sweet Refrain and p,erhaps Relax In the City just to get some easy listening on the list.

nah – the logic of those songs go deep. and these aren't so much "theoretical" points as ones to do with arrangement, structure, production, daredevil strategies (i.e. very few songs work as well as "spending all my time" does with as little or less, though i'd be curious to hear counterexamples), etc. it's the way nakata brings them all together that's special. though sure, if you isolate any one element of a song like "point" - or most any - it's easy to write off.

I'm not saying Spending All My Time doesn't do well with that choice, or Point for that matter, nor that it's not valid to bring these qualities up. You talked of originality/risk in a binary way though - these songs risk a lot, these songs don't (so they're worth less). I feel that's rarely the best primary factor to judge songs on, and I also think it's pretty easy to argue that some of your choices aren't more original than some of the others. Selective use of theoretical arguments - you like a song and find arguments for its uniqueness.

i'm sure you're right sometimes, though it very often goes the other way (per another discussion we've all taken part in, i actually disliked "missing you" until i bothered to analyze it a bit). in the case of nakata alone, though, i'd say that the songs i've mentioned are far more distinct from the rest of his work than triangle's singles...whether we agree re: the value of that or not

and i thought i made it clear, but no, i do not think an unusual strategy is central to value. but i do think in the case of two good songs, the unusual one is that much worthier. and that's how i come down on this particular selection of music, again all of which i like. i think it's great to disagree and i actually feel like i'm learning something by you articulating why, though i find brad's more ad hominem and sub-sentence responses redundant (esp when they're always about the same fundamental parallax y'dig)

i like perfume

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3aejcy_perfume-star-train_music

only realised the other day that Relax in the City is A+

New album april 6th COSMIC EXPLORER. New US tour in summer.

https://40.media.tumblr.com/e74b4c1b46439ac002ccc8ec3bc7e2cb/tumblr_o2jgwyVJUx1qbc57uo1_1280.jpg

Anybody who didn't see them last time, GO.

The greatest live act

album tracklisting

01. Navigate
02. Cosmic Explorer
03. Miracle Worker
04. Next Stage with YOU
05. STORY
06. FLASH（Album-mix）
07. Sweet Refrain（Album-mix）
08. Baby Face
09. TOKIMEKI LIGHTS（Album-mix）
10. STAR TRAIN（Album-mix）
11. Relax In The City
12. Pick Me Up
13. Cling Cling（Album-mix）
14. Hold Your Hand

I'm hoping, from the title, that this will be their move into full-blown Tangerine Dream / Italo space techno, although the presence of Star Train in the track list isn't boding well for that.

album mix though! could mean literally anything

[日程] 2016/08/26 (金)
[会場] The Wiltern（Los Angeles）
http://www.wiltern.com
[開場/開演] 19:00/20:00 (現地時間)
$39.50 / $49.50 / $59.50

[日程] 2016/08/28 (日)
[会場] The Warfield（San Francisco）
http://www.thewarfieldtheatre.com
[開場/開演] 19:00/20:00 (現地時間)
$49.50 / $59.50
　
[日程] 2016/08/31 (水)
[会場] The Vic Theatre（Chicago）
http://jamusa.com/the-vic/
[開場/開演] 19:00/20:00 (現地時間)
] $49.50

[日程] 2016/09/03 (土)
[会場] HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM（New York）
http://www.mcstudios.com
[開場/開演] 19:00/20:00 (現地時間)
$39.50 / $49.50 / $59.50 / $64.50

[日程] 2016/09/04 (日)
[会場] HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM（New York）
http://www.mcstudios.com
[開場/開演] 19:00/20:00 (現地時間)
$39.50 / $49.50 / $59.50 / $64.50

mmmmmm

Two New York shows over Labor Day weekend? Man, I have no excuse for skipping that...

Perfume kung fu fighting!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM63o4UlUPU

The album is... OUT

http://www.generasia.com/w/images/3/3e/Perfume_-_Cosmic_Explorer_(Regular_Edition).jpg

hearts in my eyes at the instrumentation for "next stage with YOU"

wtf @ "story"

re: the album mixes, "flash" is a sort of baffling abstraction of the original (see also "spending all my time," but i think this one works better), "sweet refrain" is sort of improved but also randomized, i don't remember what the original "tokimeki lights" or "star train" sounded like at this point, "cling cling" feels less stuttering and awkward

i almost wish he'd done something to "relax in the city" and "pick me up" but then those were my favorite singles, they're perfect as they are

in fact in its album mix "cling cling" kinda sounds like a follow-up to "voice"

Tokimeki Lights is just the kind of warm, comforting Perfume track, mid-tempo, with uniquely Perfume-y flourishes, a little piano - they did these quite a bit in earlier years and all my defenses break down.

Story: For people who felt the EDM elements on the last album were far too subtle.

it's distinctly less enjoyable than "party maker" but i imagine it goes off live

"hold your hand" is an inspired idea for a closer imo

Story is the intro music from their SXSW showcase. It worked at an intro, but... It's quite funny, at least, that it comes at the point it does on the album. BAM!

Like this a lot. Baby Face is cute.

I like the album on first listen, but its multifaceted-ness takes some getting used to. The title track could easily be covered by a power metal band like Sonata Arctica or somebody, and I'm not sure we needed two ballads (one with acoustic guitar). And the stuff that seems most blatantly aimed at US dancefloors is a little hard to take. I would have preferred more ultra-hard capsule-style techno tracks. But "Pick Me Up" is still such a great song it balances out a lot of the less-immediately-awesome stuff. I'm gonna listen to the album a few dozen more times and see if I change my mind.

i really should've learned years ago to stop actively listening to perfume singles and just wait for the album but the sequencing on this record is really bizarre to me and i can't tell if it actually is or i'm just hyperfamiliar with the back half

I haven't listened that much to the singles, and I also think the sequencing is really weird. I kinda like that, though.

was just remembering how I felt the first time I heard the cut-up part of "polyrhythm". still prob the best thing I've ever heard

The sequencing is really weird; it doesn't come to a conclusion like an album "should," it just sort of...runs out of tracks.

Perfume can even make tropical house sound good <3

dang. if you got rid of the title track and "story" this would be a much tighter record – and still plenty substantial at 47 mins.

surprised by how enjoyable and compatible these songs are otherwise, even if they might not have much to match the highs of their other albums. really in love with "miracle worker" for some reason

think this might be my fav Perfume song in quite a while
http://mikietsang.tumblr.com/post/164736017493/perfume-everyday-video-clip-lq

mugenmirai

https://youtu.be/Q51bru32S7A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WQZ_Q8e_pU

whoa

"fusion" intro is... not unlike dopplereffekt?

I don't really care for "mugenmirai" tho. man, enough with the dubstep wobbling already, nakata.

btw anyone listen to his recent solo ablum? I'm afraid to.

I'm curious about it but man is it getting some terrible reviews

yea it feels like he still hasn't really recovered from that dark EDM bro period

Just got an email from my friend Patrick, he's written about GAME for the 33 1/3 series, he's a great writer, very well informed and kinda gossipy in a good way, I'm looking forward to checking this out.

oh tight, been meaning to check that out, nice to hear a good uh testimonial

would read!

oh cool it's already out, *will* read!

New album in August http://www.perfume-web.jp/eng/news/individual.php?id=46

yesssssss

Tour dates! We were maybe visiting Japan this autumn anyway, this could swing it.

http://www.perfume-web.jp/eng/news/individual.php?id=47

Future Pop

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgqrW_kU8AAsHbf.jpg

01. Start-Up
02. Future Pop
03. If you wanna
04. TOKYO GIRL
05. FUSION
06. Tiny Baby
07. Let Me Know
08. Chorairin
09. Mugenmirai
10. Housekino Ame
11. Tenku
12. Everyday

what a title

Interesting one 18 years into their career. A statement about their legacy, and maybe that they're still at the front

august! jeez

oh sweeeeeeeeet

Expecting a promo stream this week. Really excited.

it’s out

and it’s like a b sides compilation

I like it a lot, probably more than their last album. So far, anyway. New songs have a throwback quality, very cute. And the singles pop in this context.

aw this is fun and thankfully way shorter than usual

I've seen complaints that the singles appear on the album exactly as they were initially released, not in new album mixes.

i guess it's fine that i accidentally ignored this singles cycle then

I have some thoughts about Future Pop.

The album mixes have been downgrades lately so I'm happy they stay the way they were. I listen to Perfume mostly through albums and I want the 'real' deal.

nice article that xp

do they have a comp with the singles mixes? don't exactly want to track down 20 separate singles

it was only on Level3 and Cosmic Explorer where there were mostly new mixes for the previously released singles, Triangle and JPN just had one or two new mixes of previously-released B-sides on them too.

there's no compilation of all the single version of tracks but there's not that many and the singles are all easily available on streaming services, it's not very hard to track them down.

Update: Le Me Know is a classic, A+ Perfume single, and with this great new Future Pop MV I'm ready to declare this year a Golden Age Perfume Year.

These are two of the best singles of 2018 and both get me emotional

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGlFxkWgI84

holy shit that is one of their best mvs, which is saying a lot

"let me know" is such an awesome song, can't believe nakata is still surprising me like this

That video is amazing. "If You Wanna," "Fusion," "Tenku," and "Everyday" are still my favorite tracks on the album.

yyyyyeeeeeeIKES

amazing how all the imagery generally used to accompany dystopian articles about surveillance and social credit dictatorships are assimilated perfectly and neatly into a Perfume video slash advertisement for how great 5G is going to be

new album not kicking in for me, even the singles - something went missing in the latest replica, though my outlook has shifted as well the last two years and it's probably just me having a harder time enjoying almost anything

that shot of the three of them dancing, surrounded both on land and air by circling shopping carts & delivery drones is really something though

pop content never to be mistaken for mere entertainment etc

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-18/china-social-credit-a-model-citizen-in-a-digital-dictatorship/10200278
https://ehtrust.org/key-issues/cell-phoneswireless/5g-networks-iot-scientific-overview-human-health-risks/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5784487/The-roll-5G-wireless-service-massive-health-experiment-public-health-expert-warns-a.html

wow that's a truly fantastic video

not really sold on the album at all, it's fine i guess but not at all thrilling like they used to be, and Cosmic Explorer at least had "Relax in the City" which was really sublime if not 'exciting'. nowhere near as bad as nakata's solo work at least

Fun fact: a couple of days ago I explained--to someone I don't generally talk music--that "Dream Fighter" is one the greatest things I've ever heard. They were bewildered and wholly unmoved upon looking it up.

"Polyrhythm" is still one of my favourite songs ever

Fun fact: a couple of days ago I explained--to someone I don't generally talk music--that "Dream Fighter" is one the greatest things I've ever heard

lol i was actually expressing this very thing yesterday, it's still the most mindblowing song i've heard in the past ten years

I've tried telling trad prog-rock guys they should listen to Polyrhythm because it has polyrhythms in it (sort of). They weren't buying it, sadly.

should we do a singles poll? they have such a great run

yes!!!!

POLLyrhythm - Perfume singles poll

here we are then!

touring "Asia and North America" next spring, no dates/venues yet

🌟 Very excited to announce that we will be doing an Asia and North America tour in Spring 2019! Can’t wait to share wonderful moments with you again. ❤️ Stay tuned for more details coming soon. #FuturePopTour #prfm pic.twitter.com/YvlqXeLUqh

— Perfume_um (@Perfume_um) September 22, 2018

That 2014 NYC concert was fucking amazing. I am seriously thinking about going back next year.

btw see them live if you can

first us tour was the best show i’ve ever seen

I wanted to tie in seeing one of their arena shows with a forthcoming Japanese trip but it didn't happen, not least because the tickets are about £150.

<3 that video

that video, holy moly

new album isn't really clicking for me but that's alright. I feel like the run up to and including JPN is more than most will ever accomplish and the rest is enjoyable enough. I like 超来輪 on this one.

great GREAT live act. seriously, go see them if you can.

NA live dates are up!
http://www.perfume-web.jp/cam/FUTUREPOP/world/

An interesting Forbes interview

Also playing Coachella

And yeah they had some good answers

so so cool that they’ll be at Coachella!! Happy to see that the fest is still at least *trying* to reach for unique acts, even tho the American festival landscape - Coachella usually included - is so homogeneous these days.

Having a hard time getting into Future Pop. I like Tenku, but that’s pretty much it. Everything else feels very...um...”early-2010s” EDM?

I prefer the techno-disco of everything through Level3, which in retrospect is a pretty consistently bangin’ album.

In a rare cover performance Perfume do Ryuchi Sakamoto's Computer Obaachan https://vimeo.com/309652893

awesome...never even heard the original

funny part in that interview..."we're gonna hit our 30s now"...that's nuts! their first single was in 2002!

Oh my, that cover! Amazing.

this rules

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2019/01/10/music/perfume-goes-back-dance-basics-ahead-coachella-debut/

i've barely listened to any of their music since jpn but i'm considering seeing them live in nyc in a few days b/c it's rare that i'm in this city and i can't count on necessarily getting the chance to see them again

do it! i can't afford to do it this time

Fucking do it. Absolutely. They were amazing last time. (I can't believe it's not sold out.)

thank you both for encouraging me to make the correct decision

love that 'Secret Secret' is in the setlist! such a futuristic jam that I'd sort of forgotten about.

Lots of 'Future Pop' cuts as well, and yet no 'Let Me Know' or 'Tenku?' Kind of odd.

forgot to bump this but NYC show ruled.

I keep thinking about how, each time I see them, there are fewer and fewer songs that I'm really that into if I'm being honest. I mean, nothing from but JPN and no "dream fighter" or "game" but they did "tiny baby"? what!!!

but whatever, somehow still so much fun. and seeing "electro world" was cool. best band.

Coachella set: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x76b2de

If anyone can tell me how the visual effect in "Daijobanai" works (from around 34.00) I'd love to know, apparently there's no hidden screens or anything.

The video has gone down for me (UK) before I got the time to watch it.

Ah, found it on another streaming service: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av50153659

Electro Link

Superstar!

here's my pox that no one asked for:

Daijyobanai
The best thing
Secret Secret
1mm
Spice
Magic of Love
Polyrhythm
Dream Fighter
Fushizen na Girl
FUSION

Watched the Coachella last night with my daughters (thank you!). Despite the decent performance I was really let down by (a) the tracks conforming exactly to the album releases with the exception of an interlude (I think), and (b) half the time the camera people obviously had no idea how to shoot them to highlight the choreography, which let's face it is really the only "live" aspect of note. The 3D capture was also used pretty badly with insane rotations and pans unrelated to the music. I would have loved them to use more of the practical effect with the translucent screens onstage, instead of the overlaid elements on the video signal which I presume were shown on screens beside the stage.
It struck me how weird it must have been for them to come on stage to a muted reception instead of the place going nuts. Having seen video of some of their full performances in Japan, their home shows are on another level altogether.

Yeah, the livestream was a cool showcase of technology, but kind of dizzying if you want to focus on the choreo.

The extended sets they played during their main tour stops were more impressive production-wise. Some unique non-album arrangements too (a glitchy transition from the outro of Secret Secret into an extended, mid-tempo trip-hop piece?!).

Future Pop has grown on me a bit. I think it’s way better than Cosmic Explorer.

holy shit i forgot how perfect "daijyobanai" is

It really is! I love how it sounds so ecstatic, and yet the lyrics hint at something more manic or neurotic. That melancholy middle-8 comes out of nowhere with those stabbing off-beat synths. A brief pensive pause before the mania continues.

And best of all, unlike so many Perfume tracks, it doesn’t overstay its welcome being just 3 mins long. And wow that choreography!

From their Reframe shows last year, kind of Einstein On The Beach gone ambient techno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzvh2fw4FVQ

wow

If they release a Reframe Blu-Ray, I will absolutely buy it.

new single a bit of a throwback to their early stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M4EwGf-lH0

the curiously not futuristic future pop was OK and all but I def personally prefer them in this mode

^^ agreed this is a nice return to form

Reframe will be on Netflix starting Friday!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKFAx-fi2JE

Watching this now and it's phenomenal. Makes me wish my TV had speakers the size of walk-in freezers.

Hope this is out on my netflix

Apparently it's a worldwide deal:

So excited to announce our “Reframe THEATER EXPERIENCE with you” is now available worldwide exclusively on @Netflix! Make sure to check out Team Perfume’s word-class creativity once again. #prfm https://t.co/4VwizqUunD pic.twitter.com/FVyVoNTaqi

— Perfume (@perfumeofficial) March 19, 2021

edge is the most perfect fucking song in the history of music

obv i’m very stoned and watching this right now

i am not sure how they keep outdoing themselves visually

Yeah, the performance of "Edge" is fucking amazing. It's on YouTube, for those who don't have Netflix/haven't seen this yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk_hOOz5V38

go Brad, liveblog!

it’s fantastic!!! the set is pretty weird but they’re trying to do something very specific so it’s chill. visually mind boggling every few seconds and just keeps building and building. missed “challenger” when it came out so it was nice to encounter a new perfume banger

it feels very for-true-fans-only to me in a way, i wouldn’t necessarily introduce anyone to perfume with this show, but yeah it rules

Still can't believe I was actually in Tokyo when these shows were happening but couldn't get it together to source a ticket, oh well.

edge rules

Confirmed for Primavera Sound 2022. Wonder if they'll play London again?

https://www.perfume-web.jp/news/detail.php?id=3640

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfa__mKAhec

new single "polygon wave" is fun

Polygon Wave video out now, not exactly battering down the walls of innovation but a definite return to form

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5_2VK_Hj2s

Nakata's got some new Capsule tracks out too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP78JV3RCU8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwn49r14nIc

I always like when they play around with supernatural/posthuman-ness in their videos, so I think the end of this one is great. Not just the VR goggle thing but the way they walk away from each other stone-faced at the end. (Also, the eye makeup when they take the goggles off is kinda off-putting, like some kind of weird cyber pinkeye.)

new album July 27th

7/27(水)にNewアルバム"PLASMA"の発売が決定🎉
PLASMAオリジナルケース付Bluetoothイヤホンが付いた豪華盤も数量限定で発売🔥🎧

さらに!全国9都市を廻るアリーナツアー「Perfume 9th Tour 2022 “PLASMA”」の開催も決定🗾👏

"PLASMA" ご予約はこちらhttps://t.co/rSzlyAxywz#prfm pic.twitter.com/yzVfPbFoS1

— Perfume_Staff (@Perfume_Staff) May 12, 2022

and it’s a real return to form. ハテナビト is an instant classic.

This one kind of worms its way in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F27FkOytdYA

gonna listen today, very hyped

I'm 3 tracks in. Really good so far. Nice synthwavey intro track, and some very cool prog synths on "Polygon Wave."

might be my fave since JPN? it still doesn't quite hit the highs of the early stuff (imo) but I'm reminded of the polished consistency of triangle.

Consistency is definitely a good word for it. There were at least two or three songs where I thought, "Yep, that's what a Perfume song sounds like."

That single is very nice indeed, love the high-tech take on 80s funk/boogie

oh my god it sounds MASSIVE

also huge Cassius vibe from "Polygon Wave" for me

Oooh love the single, my favorite of theirs in a while

agreed that this is their best since JPN and very solid

nakata's really playing to his strengths by returning to their classic sound for a lot of this, and taking influence from 80s funk/boogie/city pop is very preferable to the EDM trend-chasing that made up a lot of their previous decade, though it's also just as relatively on-trend right now

love "drive'n the rain"

album honestly sounds like a direct follow-up to triangle lmao

but i'm not complaining that nakata's renewed his commitment to making the coolest music on earth

album honestly sounds like a direct follow-up to triangle lmao

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, July 28, 2022 7:03 AM (twenty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i said this when i was still in the first half but honestly the second half feels like its own celestial balearic thing

i'm so happy

def among their most consistent albums (cf. game, level 3), just a bunch of bangers, relistens are prob only gonna make me more enthusiastic about it

i had heard "saisei" during one of their netflix concert specials and immediately clocked it as a really good perfume song but gd if it isn't one of their earwormiest tracks ever

album did inspire me to go back to the beginning of the discography and if nakata's reading this i still need a full techno perfume record in the mode of "game"/"take me take me"/"butterfly"/"edge"

Beginning of the discography is this, strictly speaking, but I know what you're saying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXOWra-Wh6k

oh yeah i was kinda grouping complete best/game/triangle together in that post

and completely ignoring/forgetting about the two earliest singles lmao

would love a full album in the mode of "Sweet Donuts"

the first four perfume albums are basically as good as abba

Level 3 will always be my jam, I took my kids to the Sanrio store in Shinjuku, happily watching them browse when "1mm" came on the store PA and my brain melted

would love a full album in the mode of "Sweet Donuts"

hell yeah

even when the albums they were touring were kinda weak, the perfume live shows were still reliably mind-blowing. i really REALLY want a huge tour for this one tho.

yeah I would absolutely love to see them

Listened to the whole thing this morning. "Drive'n the Rain" is fucking incredible.

just couldn't stop listening to perfume yesterday so here's how i feel about the first five records as of today

complete best: a somewhat uneven compilation of their earliest work with nakata but also the most jrpg bgm their music ever gets. "electro world" arguably a pre-"polyrhythm" crystallization of the perfume sound

game: utterly perfect, maybe a little long but is there a bad song? no. just ceaseless invention

triangle: i still think this kinda dips in the second half, though i might think otherwise if i considered "the best thing" and "speed of sound" one song. first five songs are as good as pop music gets

jpn: feels longer than it is, mystifyingly sequenced, overweighted with singles and b-sides that had been out for years, but after living with it for a decade it's maybe the perfume album i'm fondest of? ("fondest of" being distinct from "think it's the best.") really feel their personalities come through here, and that includes nakata, whose entire conception of songcraft seems to be combusting during the album mixes of "laser beam" and "spring of life." "my color" best perfume deep cut

level3: this is their longest album? never felt like it. just put it on this morning and i had nearly forgotten how much it bangs. nakata successfully takes them into a housier space without sacrificing any of the fucking liquid electro basslines or the quintessential perfume feeling of being at the center of a universe of stars blinking on and off in crazy patterns

I love Level3, but I would love it so much more if it didn't have that horrible remix of "Spending All My Time." The real single version is one of my favorite songs ever by anyone.

Listened to Plasma again while walking around (going to the post office, picking up lunch) and I kind of want to drop "Drive'n the Rain" into Logic and add a bunch of a cappella Michael McDonald nonsense syllables as background vocals...

feel very similarly about all five of those records, great rundown. but esp complete best (my contrarian's pick for the best one, tho I'm not sure if that's actually true haha) and jpn (possibly the highest highs in the catalog for me, but it's not like the best tracks on game and triangle aren't right there with it...)

"my color" gets my vote for best perfume song. it has this strong sentimental quality that I associate with my faves. they closed with it one of the times I saw them and it was incredible.

the worst translation between single mix and album mix for me is “flash,” took everything i liked out of the song and replaced it with really generic stock edm

jthe fucking liquid electro basslines

first time perfume listener here, that new album is the shit

also huge Cassius vibe from "Polygon Wave" for me

― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, July 28, 2022 12:31 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

totally

you've gotta listen to game then ASAP

play the GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME

on revisit catch me thinking that cosmic explorer is the worst perfume record but really enjoying future pop

“let me know” still the most brilliant edm song i’m aware of

xp what about Tokimeki Lights?

idk i feel like it's telling that "tokimeki lights" is part of the second half's run of singles-i-already-enjoyed-before-the-album-came-out on cosmic explorer

future pop and cosmic explorer were both fairly uninspired. they have their moments but it felt like nakata largely ran out of interesting things to do with the edm sound palette after level3

nakata's really been on a roll lately though, the single he produced for ado for the latest one piece movie is great, & pretty distinct from his usual productions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FliVTcX8bQ

it's such a rock song but i'm not sure any of the "guitars" are even real

I hope we can agree the one about “tiny baby jumping up, eyes open naaaniiii” is the absolute worst Perfume song.

hahaha no argument here

some of EDM era CAPSULE songs might be even worse tho. truly dire. glad nakata finally grew out of this thing.

even tho it didn't seem to help with her fading status, the last KPP was quite good as well.

nakata's back, baby!

Capsule only got bad when Nakata would bounce in English-language vocal tracks from sound banks or wherever he got them from. Although yes about 30% of most of their albums consist of generic EDM run-throughs, more dull than terrible though.

listened to plasma like five times in a row today nbd

I had accepted that - excluding GAME and Triangle - Perfume were a singles/track-by-track group for me. Even the Cosmic Explorer and Future Pop eras have some of my favorites ('Toumei Ningen,' 'Ijiwaru na Hello,' 'FUSION,' 'Chorairin,' 'Tenku'). I really liked the minimalist and sleek feel of the Future Pop tour, which really let the choreography shine.

To be honest, 'Nananananairo' and 'Challenger' are where I really started to get nervous...haha. Anyways, I absolutely love PLASMA! It really works as an album.

album of the year for me at this point

Listening to the album properly today, Android & (アンドロイド&) is very much my jam… but it appears I have been sleeping, it was a track on the Polygon Wave EP last year!

Full-length review tomorrow.

My full review, as part of the weekly Burning Ambulance newsletter (subscribe! it's free!):

The new Perfume album, Plasma, came out last week, and I’ve been listening to it a lot. I’ve been a fan for more than a decade at this point; seeing them live at Hammerstein Ballroom in 2014 was one of the most fun concert experiences of my life. Their last two albums — 2016’s Cosmic Explorer and 2018’s Future Pop — were just OK, though. So I kind of expected more of the same this time: cybernetic pop tunes produced as always by Yasutaka Nakata, with the three women’s voices blended into a pleasant, slightly uncanny valley-ish ensemble sound, chirpy at times and vaguely melancholy at other times.

And yeah, vocally, A-Chan, Nocchi and Kashiyuka sound much like they always have. But Nakata has delivered some of the best music of his career on this album. It begins, as Perfume albums often do, with a short intro. This one is also the title track, and it has an almost Perturbator-esque feel, with drums that punch hard and synths that wheel in the sky like cybernetic vultures. You would be forgiven for thinking they were about to make a turn toward industrial, or at least EDM. But the first actual song, “Time Warp,” is ultra-chirpy electro J-pop of a type they’ve done many times before, one of several moments that made me say to myself, Yes, this is what a Perfume song sounds like.

There’s another left turn coming fast, though. “Polygon Wave,” a pre-album single, sounds like Daft Punk-esque filter disco. More accurately, it sounds like “Music Sounds Better With You,” the one-off 1998 single by Thomas Bangalter’s side project Stardust. “Spinning World” is another highlight, a cool track set to a hip-hop/funk rhythm. This recent TV performance showcases the impeccable, posthuman choreography that’s been a Perfume trademark forever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pFIkLEXINU

The most striking track on Plasma, though, is “Drive’n the Rain.” At 6:17, it’s one of their longest songs (only the stomping techno anthems “Party Maker” from Level3 and “Edge” from Triangle, at 7:22 and 8:43(!) respectively, are longer), but what really sets it apart is its mood. It’s not a dancefloor banger; it’s an uptempo but still internally chilled-out mood piece that begins with the sound of rain and is constructed to sound like silky jazz-funk or ’80s “city pop.” It’s so slick and smooth, with what sounds like live funk bass and some ultra-AC keyboard soloing in the second half, that I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to hear Michael McDonald crooning on the choruses. I’ll come right out and say it: Plasma is the best Perfume album in a decade, and maybe their best album-as-album ever. Their records are usually somewhat bafflingly sequenced, full of jarring transitions; this one works from beginning to end. There’s not a bad track here. Give it a chance.

the "spinning world" choreography is wild

sidechain compression suck is doing my head in

Generally the use of compression seems more restrained than the last few albums.

Enjoyable album. I liked the branching out into new styles and sounds on "Spinning World", "Flow", and "Drive'n the Rain", which are my three favorite tracks. the flute in the chorus of "Drive'n the Rain" is subtle and awesome!

at this point i think this is likely second only to game in their discography. there are higher highs elsewhere but across-the-board as an album this one's so good

Listening to Spinning World as Enter the Sphere came up on shuffle today and decided to stick on a playlist. Spinning World is a) great and b) the bouncy synths/beat remind me of the music from Spring Yard Zone in the original Sonic which, btw, is a compliment.

Just seen they are playing for the first time in 10 years in London (and I can’t make it ;_;)

https://www.perfume-web.jp/news/detail.php?id=3920

Happening 2 months after I move overseas! I am destined never to see them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJA-W3G_BV8

oh shit, they are still absolutely bringing it
my favourite Nakata production in a long time, too.

moon moon moon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUiA1nhqXe0

b-side is fantastic

Always love the Nakata instrumental mixes too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu0iF6WJIKU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7h2MoRfujQ

Been really enjoying these. Enjoyable performance of Love Cloud here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udX4H-1Cals

just gave Cosmic Explorer a listen, was scared off by its reputation (I'm not a huge fan but I like 'em fine) and think it's actually quite good? I mean this is a pop band, what do you expect? plus it has an incredible cover. I mean they all do but I really like this one.

It’s solid and I like the intro along with some of the tracks - I guess just less flashy and arresting than LEVEL 3, GAME or even Future Pop.