Japanese freestyle

[koganbot]

Japanese freestyle - is there a lot of it? I wouldn't know. Just glad that the style, which is pretty much gone from U.S. airwaves, is still strong in Asia.

( h/t arbitrary_greay, of course)

Tomato n' Pine FAB ("Free As A Bird")

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The rhythm is simply a hopped-up electrobeat, not freestyle's fast twists and breakneck turns, but the melody, at least in the verse,

Comments

[arbitrary_greay]

Would these also qualify as freestyle melody style? Because if so, then this stuff was pretty common in Jpop up through the early 00s.

1994, 1993-2005, 1985, 2007, 2003 but kind of cheating because it's from an artist whose music gimmick is 80s era sound

More common, though, was to take that type of melody and speed it up for Eurobeat, especially for anime themes. (Most of said anime themes do major-key modulations for inspirational effect, though.

[koganbot]

Wow! That's an interesting style(s). This is where my lack of music theory is a real handicap. No those melodies are not freestyle, but my adjectival description of freestyle - "sad, but upbeat!" - sorta fits those, too. There seems to be a show-music element in some of them that isn't in freestyle.

Anyway, where description fails, maybe links can help. Some classic American freestyle, '80s to early '90s:

New York:

Cover Girls "Inside Outside"

Judy Torres "Come Into My Arms"

Cynthia "Change On Me"

Lisette Melendez "A Day In My Life (Without You)"

Miami

Debbie Deb "When I Hear Music"

Sequal "It's Not Too Late"

Company B "Fascinated"

[koganbot]

So, what I think is going on in "FAB (Free As A Bird)" is that the verse melody is what I'm calling "freestyle" while the prechorus and chorus are in the style - you get to choose a name for it - that you're identifying.

[petronia]

Yeah, my reaction to the Tomato n' Pine is that the melody is the kind of J-pop I do like (I don't like the current idol type of tune) and was common when I got into J-pop/anime music in the 90s; whereas the instrumental is more deliberately "80s dance" than you would've gotten at the time**, and reads to me as intentionally retro.

I've mentioned this to Frank before IIRC, but the Eurobeat style was pioneered by ex-Italo disco producers -- that's why it's called that. (This guy uber alles, but I think there were others as well

[koganbot]

"Still strong in Asia" - i.e., I know the influence is strong in Korea (e.g., Kara "Jumping," 4minute "Hot Issue," H.O.T. "We Are The Future," Leader'S "Hope," Chuli & Miae "Why You," etc.), and I'm wondering if it's strong in Japan too. A question about the influence would be how much is from direct and deliberate takeoffs on American freestyle of the '80s and how much is from ongoing evolution of Korean music that's taken in this or that aspect of freestyle. Not that producers are likely to say to themselves, "I am taking this element from American freestyle and this other element from the Korean use of freestyle." It's not like genealogy. And I've never heard a Korean track that sounds like American freestyle start-to-finish

[petronia]

I would have to say that although this sound was really prevalent in all of Asia for ages, I've never heard the term "freestyle" used (either the English word or the translation). It was called disco** at first, and later probably just pop.

** The sinophone world missed 70s disco, so what Chinese ppl think of as disco is 80s disco. I think this was less the case in Japan, but Japan never went for funk in a huge way, so.

[koganbot]

"Freestyle" wasn't the only word used in America, either. In the '80s I was hearing the term "Latin Hip-Hop" a lot more than "freestyle," though, since there's rarely rapping, I understand why "freestyle" ended up as the general historical term (to distinguish the genre from the hip-hop and rap made by Latinos). The beats did kinda sorta originate in hip-hop, in that Afrika Bambaataa's two big Soul Sonic Force hits - "Planet Rock" and "Lookin' For A Perfect Beat" - had a huge impact on freestyle, much greater than their impact on New York hip-hop, even though Soul Sonic Force was based in New York. Miami hip-hop in the form of Miami Bass was what really developed the "Planet Rock" sound in hip-hop, and it moved around the country from there. (Well, the story is not so simple or neat.) Eventually New York hip-hop had to take in the electrofunk that was coming at it from everywhere else. But in the meantime, New York club music was using those beats

[anonymous]

Tomato n’Pine was sort of a bizarre thing. Most of their songs were composed by a company called agehasprings. The only name repeated on each song (at least on “PS4U”) is Kenji Tamai (the CEO). And he is basically a hit producer (according to the company website sales over 30 millions

Low-tiered nocturnal creature watch, part 94

[davidfrazer]

Some Chocolat updates as they inch closer to their comeback, courtesy of Stryfe at jphip:

Filming a new MV.

Some fancams of recent performances. Unkind netizen comments about Juliane's thighs are predicted, unless Chocolat are too obscure for netizens to notice.

Experimenting with different hair colours and appearing on a "military-themed variety show" with Crayon Pop, EXID and Skarf.

Speaking of which, Crayon Pop will comeback in the third week of June.

Low-tiered rapper watch

[davidfrazer]

Tymee (forerly e.via) has signed a contract with an agency called ASSA Communicatio, which was established by Korea's fastest rapper, Outsider.