"HITSUJIBUNGAKU" - JAPANESE ALT ROCK

I’m not a fan of most contemporary Japanese music, and doubly so for the more commercial forms favoured by “the kids.” In general, as we all know, J-Pop is a product designed to make money. Big companies sign up good-looking puppets, teams compose generic songs for them to perform, and media campaigns push the product to the teenagers.

There’s nothing new about this : it’s the same in other countries and eras. It’s about business, not art.

There are, of course, non-mainstream artists in Japan of various kinds, but sadly I’ve almost never been able to like any of them. Why? It’s the singing style…

It seems to be some sort of cultural trait which causes Japanese pop, and even rock and alternative music to be delivered in a kind of whiny nasal vibrato, while the melodies have very distinctive note choices and patterns, all of which I find really grating. It’s hard to describe it precisely, but It’s noticeably different to Western pop.

Not all Japanese artists sing like this, though. I was a great fan of Osaka’s finest punks Shonen Knife, who most definitely did not sing like typical Japanese. 

Over the years I’ve heard talk of various other alternative rock bands who are lauded, but when I investigate I’m always let down - it’s the same annoying vocal style, no matter if it’s backed by great-sounding music.

A few weeks ago, however, the Apple Music algorithm did its thing and dropped the song ‘Addiction’ by some J-band called ‘Hitsujibungaku.’ It thought I might like it. Well, the name wasn’t very promising - it means ‘sheep literature.’ OK. A three-piece alt-rock band featuring a male drummer with a ridiculous hairstyle, and two women fronting on bass and guitar.

I gave the track a go, and wow! It was good. The singing was….. not your standard J-warble! It had heavy guitars and a very cool slightly atonal riff. A few more listens and it changed from being ‘good’ to being ‘really good’ and worthy of inclusion in my playlist of faves. It seems to have been influenced by various UK ‘shoegaze’ bands such as Lush, of whom I’m a great fan.

So, that’s the good news. I found a contemporary Japanese song that I like.

The bad news, however, is that after scouring Hitsujibungaku’s back catalogue, I must sadly report that this song is not only atypical of their usual fare, but most of their other material has - yes, you’ve guessed it - that horrible J-singing style that I so loathe.

Still, I’m glad I’ve managed to at least have secured a tiny foothold of pleasure in the otherwise unappealing world of Japanese contemporary music.