Deee-Litefully Japanese

Still searching for the eighth wonder of the world? A place that holds not only the mysteries of life but also its excesses? Are you absolutely certain that there is a better party, one that you haven't received the coveted VIP pass for yet? All of life's expectations can be found in the "P" section of your record store. For there, hidden in a small 5x5 plastic case, is Pizzicato Five. The one and only Japanese rock band that very well could save the planet from complaint-rock saturation.

Is there such a thing as Japanese rock, let alone a good kind? Isn't Japanese music generally quiet and polite much like the Japanese folks themselves? Well my friends, Pizzicato Five is the exception and would scare Elvis right out of his leather pant suit. Given Pizzicato Five's rock posturing and attention to style, the band would no doubt steal the suit and tailor it to fit the band's front woman, Maki Nomiya.

Riding a wave of interest in new musical styles from different cultural perspectives, Pizzicato Five is one of a handful of Japanese rock exports gaining world respect and who dispel the myth that only white middle class youth can rock. And Pizzicato Five go one better, because while the band creates their own brand of infectious music, they walk a fine line of aping the rock genre altogether. It's done with a knowing wink and an ironic smile.

Pizzicato Five's brand of music is nothing short of pop-culture eclecticism. And surprisingly, it's inclusive to American pop culture. The band's obsessions range from disco, bossa nova, and Motown styles and are matched with the iconography of Andy Warhol, Audrey Hepburn and (gulp) suntan god, George Hamilton.

The band was formed nearly ten years ago by the svengali-esque Yasuharu Konishi who, in his youth drooled over the doltish antics of TV's "The Monkees" and dreamed one day of becoming a larger than life movie star. Realizing limitations, he hooked up with fellow visionary and cultural worshipper, K-Taro Takanami (who left the band last year), and formed Pizzicato Five, hoping to rewrite pop history with their skewed ideas of music and the consumerism ideology of excess. Moderate success followed in Japan and finally with the addition of front woman and arbiter of funky style, Maki, the band started getting attention.

Now enormously popular, following the release of some 12 albums, American music biz executives began sniffing around and smelled some gold. However, it was not until the mass appeal of underground disco dollies Deee-lite selling millions of records, that the biz types understood exactly how to market the band. They realized that music buyers were hungry for dance music with an attitude for dressing up and getting down.

Last February saw the release of "Made In The USA," (Matador Records) Pizzicato Five's first domestic release, a compilation of "greatest hits" from Japan. The album features sweet Burt Bacharach melodies and stomping soul instrumentation, all fronted by the girlish vocal theatrics of Maki-and yes, most songs are sung in Japanese.

The album became an instant smash and numerous cuts off the album like "Twiggy Twiggy Versus James Bond" and "Magic Carpet Ride" could be heard pouring out of alternative rock radio, in the dance clubs and trendy club-gear boutiques...even on the fashion runways of New York and Paris. A sold-out 14 date world tour followed.

Appropriately enough, the band will have released their second US album on Halloween (why dress-up? let the band do it for you!) called "The Sound Of Music By Pizzicato Five" (Matador Records). It's a release worthy of numerous listenings-the first few to figure out what could be being sung, and a few more just to absorb the style. It also offers an even more quirky mosaic as basic song structures are created from an understanding and interest of the latest dance club rhythms, not to mention fused with space age wah-wahing, calypso tinkerings and improvisational jazz structures. Songs such as "Strawberry Sleighride," "Sweet Thursday" and "Fortune Cookie" invoke images of Paris in the springtime, memories of the incidental music of "That Girl," and reworkings of old favorites like Vince Giraldi's Charlie Brown themes.

The first single off of "The Sound Of Music" is "Happy Sad," one of two English sung songs on the record, also featured in the closing credits of "Unzipped," the film about the joys and further joys of celebrity fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. With a familiar groove similar to Van McCoy's "The Hustle," it creates a perfect upbeat ending for one medium and the perfect beginning for another. And with Pizzicato Five and all of their high-profile gloss and spirited fizz, it's hard to believe that they really are just beginning.

[ Prism Online November 1995 Homepage ]

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