Like so many other things that we share with Japan, we also share a love of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Right now, there are many bands in Japan that are making their own versions of Rock ‘n’ Roll. In fact, one of the most famous bands in Japan is the Heavy Metal band Loudness.
Like Loudness before them, the band Imari Tones is currently making a name for themselves in the Japanese music scene. The band was formed when Tak “Tone” Nakamine took a solo recording project and turned it into a band. Along with “Tone” on guitar and vocals (as well as keys), the rest of the trio is made up of Yuki “Hassy” Hashimoto on bass, and Hide “Jake” Yamazaki on drums. Together, the trio has created a rock release entitled “Japanese Pop”.
Japanese Pop from Imari Tones is a release that contains several different styles of rock that will make you think back to other periods in music history, at least it will for American rock fans. “Skies of Tokyo” sounds like it would have come from the era of the 1980’s when Hair Bands were popular. “Winning Song” has a sound that would have fit in the 1980’s power rock, as would “New World”. And then there is the track of “That’s Why I Love You”. “That’s Why I Love You” is a power ballad with a heavy metal feel that sounds like it would have fit on Hurricane Eyes or any other album from Loudness.
And then, there is the song Juku Shiki. Juku Shiki is a song that could be described as a song with two personalities: part of the time, it sounds like a power pop song; and other times, it sounds like something from the band Devo, with the same jerky feel that Devo became known for.
Along with Juku Shiki, the most interesting tracks on the Japanese Pop album come at the very end of the release. When the rest of the album features Tak “Tone” Nakamine as the band’s singer and guitarist, “I” is a track that features Tak on double duty as he plays both guitar and keyboards. “I” shows that Tak is a very fine pianist as well as guitarist. “I” also sets itself apart from the rest of the album as Tak sings the lyrics to the song in Japanese. This is the first of two songs on the album that features Japanese lyrics as the band also includes a Japanese version of “Winning Song” at the end of the album. The band actually sounds a little better this way because the English lyrics become difficult to understand at certain spots because of Tak’s accent. But as I always point out, he can sing in English while I can’t even speak Japanese. A little difficulty understanding someone singing in a language other than his own is acceptable.
The album Japanese Pop by Imari Tones also seems to have a “two personalities” feel in the production of the tracks. This feel comes from the fact that Tak Yonemachi produced seven tracks of the release, and Sascha Paeth, a German producer that is known for his work with heavy metal bands, produced the remaining three tracks.
Japanese Pop is a very appropriate title for the album by Imari Tones. With the different styles of rock that are contained on the album, there is no one genre of rock that the album could be filed under; the only way to describe the music on the album is by calling it “pop”.
With the different styles that are contained in the album, Imari Tones created a very solid and entertaining album in Japanese Pop. As the album is not currently available for purchase in the United States, you can find Japanese Pop, the current album by Imari Tones by going to http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/imaritones.
Reviewed By Matheson Kamin
