Denki Groove’s Shangri-La – The Cover Song Paradox
Firstly, I’m surprised by the number of Jpop fans who don’t know who Denki Groove is. I’m not the biggest fan of theirs (I have interest in what they do) but I know who they are. Anyway, a short introduction to them is needed and their song Shangri-La.
Denki Groove is a Japanese technopop in the style of Kraftwerk and YMO. The current members are Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki who basically produce everything, compose everything and whatnot. I’m a fan of their older stuff, especially of their A album and their songs have a very raw feel to them with pop sensibilities over very nice beats and basslines. I find that they’re sorely underrated as a group and they have gotten some popularity in Europe in any instance.
Their arguably most popular song is Shangri-La. It’s one of my favourites anyway.
The bassline in that song is to die for. It is amazing, I love this song. It’s very new wave but there is something German, something French, something distinctly European but fused with this infusion of something very Eastern as well. The melody is of course, taken from Bebu Silvetti’s Spring Rain (Lluvia de Primavera? That’s the title in Italian, though I have seen both in usage.)
Anyway, the lyrics are about this girl who is so wonderful that when she laughs, when she talks – it’s like she’s bringing Shangri-La (utopia, paradise, whatever floats your boat in terms of fictional mythical arcadia) to this guy who is infatuated with her. The days with her are sweet for him, like the spring rain. It’s a beautiful song, lyrically and musically. I would pay good money to have the original 8cm single that this was released on.
As far as I am aware, this song has been covered twice relatively recently. The first one is by the newest incarnation of formerly Konami backed j-pop group BeForU.
From this very raw new wave sound it gets turned into slick, electropop influenced… well, pop. It’s a different direction for the song, but what is with those outfits? As much as I like BeForU and followed their travails, I know this new incarnation was meant to be a shift from their old image to something sexier, but still. If I’d never heard the original Shangri-La, I would be perfectly content in thinking this song was alright, but not terribly impressive.
The other cover I know of is by electropop darling, Aira Mitsuki’s labelmate Saori@destiny, who gives a distinct definite electro twist to the song and it’s ever so slightly verging into denpa territory as well. Though this didn’t have a PV, it was released before Saori’s JAPANESE CHAOS album on iTunes as a “teaser” track.
Now that I’ve made you aware of the existence of both covers and the original, I am flummoxed by the fact that they’re both electropoppish and they’re both sung by females. It’s ever so slightly egotistical for a female to sing this because for god’s sake, it’s like they’re saying they’re the girl that brings Shangri-La upon some poor soul – which is clearly the direction the BeForU video takes it with those pajama outfits and sexy dancing.
BeForU make their cover sound very sexy and admittedly the synth that carries the main melody line sounds very cheap compared to the used in the original. It’s a decent enough cover.
Saori@destiny has sorta made covering songs in an electropop style her speciality as her first major single was a Kyogo Kawaguchi cover, and the choice of Shangri-La was certainly odd, but she pulls it off well enough with her vocals being slightly flat on the emotional aspect of the song (that’s probably just the vocoder), but nevertheless, it’s not too bad to listen to, with the vocal cutting of “Shangri-La, Shangri-La” during the bridge being one of the highlights.
What I really want, is a guy to cover this song. Admittedly after seeing a clip of Shangri-La live on youtube, if a guy were to cover this, then there’s a lot that he’d have to live up to. Nevertheless, as far as cover songs go, Shangri-La by Denki Groove does lend itself to being covered well enough.
Review: BAD trip – Aira Mitsuki
For 200 yen, people who can access the Japanese iTunes store can buy this song. A modification of the PLASTIC cover completes the deal with the title of the song emblazoned on the right and it seems like this track is being released in advance to whet peoples appetites for the full album.
(Because I do not like low quality images, there will be no images of the BAD trip album cover. Have an alternate image instead of Aira Mitsuki found in a compromising lesbian position with a mannequin in a toilet.)
Aira Mitsuki wrote on her mixi account that BAD trip was influenced by fidget house. And I can safely say with that in mind that this song’s title is pretty much descriptive of what the track is – a BAD trip.
I would say the problem with BAD trip is that Aira Mitsuki’s vocals pretty much ruin what is an interesting electrohouse track. It’s very clear that Terukado is being experimental with his music and drawing upon different influences (Fidget house artist Hervé’s influence can be heard in this track, but it is firmly rooted in it’s electropop sensibilities). If this track were instrumental, I would find myself liking it more.
Aira Mitsuki’s vocals are just processed really badly. Yes, the rip I have is from imeem and while it may lose bass and some of the treble as these mp3 rips tend to go – Aira Mitsuki’s vocals have been through side chain compression and the vocals were processed in such a bad manner in general that the track is a headache to listen to. I believe that to make this track better Aira’s vocals should not be in it and I would have preferred it if Terukado released this track himself as an instrumental. It seems as if Aira’s voice was pretty much a last minute addition to the track and really, it really is Terukado doing the beep count fantastic and showing off his mad skillz.
We do come to a bit of a paradox though, as dance music is firmly rooted in using short vocal hooks and vocal songs don’t really make the best dance music in some instances (just look at the majority of vocal trance, for god’s sake. A lot of it is shit and uses some really horrible vocalists.) However, Aira Mitsuki’s voice is the selling point with these albums because she is the artist being sold so Terukado has the paradox of using as much of Aira’s voice as he can but still keep it respectable enough dance music so that Aira isn’t written off as more pop than dance. All things considered though, he didn’t do a bad job but he didn’t do a spectacular one either.
Terukado put his name on to this explicitly but one can’t help but wonder whether he used the same project and template that he used for Saori@destiny’s EZ DO DANCE cover for Aira’s BAD trip, albeit with a bit more originality for Aira. A handful of the synth loops and sounds found on BAD trip are easily found in Saori’s cover of the TRF classic. That tinge of recycling is understandable considering Terukado does have a lot of producing to do on his plate.
As for what this means in regards to Aira’s upcoming album PLASTIC… I am still very interested in buying her album. I just hope the rest of it is better produced.
Truth be told, at least Terukado and Aira Mitsuki are being experimental and more creative in their music compared to Nakata Yasutaka playing it safe with Perfume. Even if they don’t get it right all the time.
(For an alternate take, see Selryam’s review at What is DISCO?)
