by David Wilikofsky
In Alternative Canon, we take a closer look at an obscure or underappreciated album from the past that deserves more recognition. Some of these albums may be hard to find, but they’re always worth the effort to seek out.
Pop music as serious art feels like a new phenomenon. Today, we see many artists playing with the sounds, forms and tropes of pop music (see folks like Charli XCX, Rina Sawayama, and P.C. Music and its affiliates). “Underground” music publications laud this music in a manner that would have been unimaginable ten or twenty years ago. The reality is that artists have been doing this for decades; there have always been bizarro interpretations of pop music floating around for those willing to seek it out.
Jun Togawa has had a career in music spanning four decades, but isn’t widely known outside of Japan. Her first band, Guernica, was heavily influenced by cabaret music of the ’20s and ’30s (this band was crazy, and this album may very well appear in this column some day). Yappos, her later band, had a more pop sound and is also well worth seeking out. Her solo releases are wide ranging; she’s done everything from twisted pop to collaborative albums with noise provocateur Hijokaidan.
The titular song of Suki Suki Daisuki was the first Jun Togawa track I ever heard, and it immediately drew me in. The track begins with swelling strings, only to abruptly break into a rolling synth line. Togawa’s vocals start out impassioned, but turn downright operatic on the chorus. If translations on the internet are to be believed, the lyrics tell the story of a woman threatening violence if her love is not reciprocated; the chorus translates to “Kiss me as if you’re punching me, until my lips bleed / Hold me until my ribs make a cracking sound and break / I like you, I like you, I love you / If you don’t say you love me, I’ll kill you”. Togawa’s manic vocals deepen the threat in these lyrics, and her energy in the music video for the song conveys the same energy.
There aren’t readily available translations of other songs available online, making it nearly impossible for the English speaking audience to understand what the rest of these songs are about. But through her vocals, Togawa always manages to convey the feeling of the song. At times wistful, playful or impassioned, her vocals are never quite the same on any track. The album feels as much an exercise in singing as acting, with Togawa taking on a different character for each song. Although stylistically the album feels schizophrenic at times (with straight up pop songs, cabaret experiments, and even a 50s style ballad sung in English) it’s Togawa’s vocal experimentation that ties everything together and keeps the listener engaged.
Suki Suki Daiskui is an album packed with ideas about what risk taking pop music could sound like. It’s a feat of imagination that sounds as fresh today as it did when it was first released. Although not available for purchase here in America, you can hear the whole album on Youtube (linked below).