Robyn Writes

J-Pop Sunday – capsule

Hello! Kaito here! So, regular readers of this column – if there are any of you – will know that I recently went on a little holiday research trip to Tokyo. I didn’t come back empty handed. As well as the charming Rei Ayanami coffee mug currently sat to my left I also brought home with me a number of J-Pop CDs, including the latest release from the subject of this week’s entry: capsule.

Yasutaka Nakata & Toshiko Koshijima: The duo behind capsule

Quick Guide
Act Name: capsule
Years Active: 1997 – Present
Genre: Shibuya-kei/Electronica/House.
Notable Tracks: Sakura (2001), jelly (2006), Jumper (2008), World of Fantasy (2011), Step on the Floor (2012)
Not to be confused with: Capsule, a screamo band from Miami, Florida.

A quick side note before we start, you probably noticed the term “Shibuya-kei” in the genre list. Originating from the Shibuya district of Tokyo in the early 90’s, it’s best described as a mix between Jazz, Pop and synthpop. capsule’s 2007 track Sugarless GiRL is a nice example of the genre:

So, onto the duo themselves. Yasutaka Nakata and Toshiko Koshijima met and formed capsule in 1997 after meeting a music festival in Kanazawa. Capsule operates with Nakata acting as composer and co-producer while Koshijima provides the vocals. Although their pair formed capsule in 1997 it wasn’t until 2001 when the pair were signed by Yamaha Music Communications that they released their first single, “Sakura” (さくら/Cherry Blossom). capsule’s first album “High Collar Girl” – also released in 2001 – featured a sound almost unrecognisable in comparison with their later, more successful works. “High Collar Girl” had much less of a focus on the electronic sounds or synthesizers that the duo would later become known for. “High Collar Girl” failed to chart.


“Sakura” features a vastly different sound compared to the duo’s later work.

n 2003 the pair followed “High Collar Girl” with their next album “Cutie Cinema Replay”. Another odd release, “Cutie Cinema Replay” featured guest vocalists and an odd French theme prevalent throughout the album – complete with the use of accordions on several tracks. However, for all it’s strangeness “Cutie Cinema Replay” did manage to chart! At rank 232…

Undeterred at the lack of success so far, Nakata set up his own record label under Yamaha, “Contemode”. From there capsule began to grow from strength to strength, eventually finding their current sound – found in tracks such as 2006’s “jelly”, 2008’s “Jumper” and 2012’s “Step on the Floor” – and became a success.

Aside from his work with capsule, Nakata has managed to find the time to work with and produce the albums of a number of other big name Japanese artists. These artists include Perfume, MEG and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. (Yes, Nakata is the man that inflicted KPP onto the world…) Meanwhile Koshijima has focused her efforts solely on capsule.


The video for Jumper, from the album “More! More! More!”

To date, the duo has released 17 albums – including a self-remix album and three compilation albums. 2008’s “More! More! More!” was their biggest seller, managing to shift over 60,000 copies; a number that could be considered staggering when compared to “Cutie Cinema Replay” which struggled to make it past sales of 2,000. Their 2011 album had originally been scheduled to drop at the end of March that year under the working title of “Killer Wave”. Unfortunately, the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami caused the pair to album to delay and re-edit the album until a later May release under a new name and with a replacement title track “World of Fantasy”.


Neon road trip! (The video for “World of Fantasy”)

“World of Fantasy” became capsule’s highest charting album, reaching #3 in the Oricon Weekly Charts. Since then the pair have continued working together and show no signs of slowing down any time soon. Which is a good thing. Because they’re totally rad. And because Miss Koshijima has nice legs…

Anyway! Until next time!

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Modern Baseball – Sports

Sports is the debut full-length effort from Modern Baseball following a split release with Marietta. With a blend of indie, emo and pop, Modern Baseball bring song writing back to basics, but they prove that sometimes (although definitely not all of the time) the simpler the better. The melodies throughout are relatively straightforward and don’t ever achieve much in the way of complexity, but they do not try to. What they bring to the table is an album bursting with catchy rhythms and quite ordinary but far-reaching lyrics. As a band in their youth, Modern Baseball have definitely grasped the basics of a good song composition and stuck to it. They haven’t been overambitious, but they have been clinical thorough, moulding an album that will stay long in your memory.

“Re-Do” kicks of the album with a strong riff which builds up into regimented bursts of energy. The toing and froing between choruses and verses bring smooth changes of tempo with it and this is a common feature throughout the album, allowing for some miniature dramatic crescendos throughout in each song. The foot-tapping pace, which quickly develops into a belting chorus follows the singer’s “unrequited love for life”, before “Tears Over Beers”, one of the catchiest songs of the year never mind the album, shows the vocalist’s resentment of the typical teen story of the pretty girl who doesn’t know her own worth pining over some ‘jock’ while the ‘nerd’ looks on. Modern Baseball’s approach is a refreshing take on pop punk which emphasises the ‘pop’, but is perhaps lacking in the confused angst displayed by its noisier sister which places a little more emphasis on the ‘punk’ half of the equation.

Modern Baseball craft songs which are charmingly awkward as the narrative works through the emotional growth associated with the age group populated by those guys who are no longer boys but not yet men. Several songs on the record include explicit references to the digitalisation of modern culture, especially noticeable in “@chl03k” which describes conversations and relationships conveyed through Twitter and Facebook. This can make the songs sound a little too descriptive of a bland ordinary day in the life of a teenager, but it is part of what makes the listener become enveloped in each track. However the literality of the songs makes no room for artistic metaphor and they are left lacking much in the way of complexity, but this may enter in as the band matures.

One of the best things about Sports is its ‘relatability’. The lyrically simplistic songs detail events that will occur in the average life of every teenager. These themes jump from feeling socially inept when compared to the popular kids, the emotional struggles associated with leaving home, and as you would expect, teen love in all of its awkward and cringey glory. This is clearly nothing new and it could be argued that such themes form the basis of most young bands’ writing, but it’s their ability to get people singing along and empathising while keeping the issues and music itself simple that makes this debut a clear success. As a band in their youth Modern Baseball don’t only show a few green shoots and potential for growth, every bar of music resonates the promise locked inside Sports which could explode out into a very special second album. While I have picked out its simplicity as one of the keys to the success of this release, it would be nice to hear a bit more complexity and experimentation next time around, but what we are left with for now is a solid debut from a band you have to look out for in the future.

Four out of five high fives!

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With Silent Eyes – Destroyer Of Worlds [EP]

Destroyer Of Worlds is a short, but definitely not sweet, EP from Derby boys With Silent Eyes. A dirgey metalcore affair, it grabs you by the short and curlies from the first second in and doesn’t let go again for another twelve or so minutes. ‘A Word Of Warning’ is choc a block with chugging breakdowns and hellish vocals. There’s plenty of two step opportunities throughout the track and the release as a whole, which is what I always look for in my metalcore, as well as some fun tapping. It’s got all the conventions, and while it might not be playing around with them, it’s still an exciting and explosive effort.

Next track, ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’, has a lot more melody dropping in and some Every Time I Die style guitar lines. However, the vocals are lacking the previous depth of tone that they had at the beginning, and there’s very little variance in pitch when the track needs it most. Despite that, it’s still the most tightly crafted track on the EP and by losing a little bit of the atonality that was present earlier, it shows the band’s true talents off. ‘Eradicator’ opens with a cracking sample of Oppenheimer over a haunting riff before kicking off for real, and while the band stray a little bit into the ‘tuff hxc guy’ territory with the lyrics, the sense of atmosphere built throughout the track more than makes up for it. Music like this needs that kind of horror and suspense, and ‘Eradicator’ more than has that potential. However, the end lets it down – there’s a fantastic bit where the music drops and gang vocals begin to fade out, and by reintroducing the chorus again, the band miss out on the opportunity to finish off on a very poignant and arresting note. Nevertheless, if you like your music nice and heavy, then you could do worse than take a chance on With Silent Eyes.

3 out of 5 high fives!