From Merry Christmas to Happy Birthday

Between the general election and the new series of Doctor Who, the amount of Japanese TV I've been watching recently has dropped a bit, but I was aware enough to notice that Bump of Chicken released two singles in April, both of which are getting heavy rotation on my mp3 player.

Judging by Wikipedia (my Japanese isn't good enough to work out what he's singing about for myself) the lead singer/songwriter is a bit obsessed by turning 30 years old as the first single, "Happy" has the refrain "Happy Birthday" while the second single is about the thirty year old him giving advice to his twenty year old self. Pity that he hasn't advised himself to not give one of his albums an unpronouncable name (Yggdrasil? I mean, really.)

But the music's great, and after a fallow period of not liking music much I find myself rocking along to this, Veltpunch and Greeeen, as well as an American band sneaking in, The Winter Sounds.

Mmm, music.

Coming Soon: Bump of Chicken

Possibly the best band in the world with the worst name in the world. With a new single out on the 25th November, "R.I.P./Merry Christmas" (it's a double a-side, in case you think that's the title of one song about someone dying while celebrating the birth of Christ) and I have to admit I'm excited. Their last album, Orbital Period, is one of my favourite albums ever, and the rest of their back catalogue is pretty special too.

Their sound is sort of stadium rock, I'd say, but with a simplicity and delicacy that means it avoids most of the worst excesses of the genre. The almost childlike quality to some of the songs means that you sometimes feel that this is something you've heard before. Not in a bad, plagiaristic way, rather listening to Bump of Chicken is like remembering something wonderful you'd forgotten a long time ago.