Checkee outtee the video above. This is the first band out of Japan since M-Flo to really knock me down with their sound. Not that I hear much Japanese music these days–there’s something morally wrong about paying $40 for CD, which is what those Japanese record companies gouge, I mean, charge, us Americans. I learned about Monkey Majik after youtubing an M-Flo collaboration (check out the m-flo link…they can rap too!). Monkey Majik, according to wiki, is half white.
Monkey Majik is a Japanese pop-rock band formed in 2000, consisting of two Canadian brothers (Maynard and Blaise Plant) and two Japanese members (Tax and Dick).
The two lead singers are Canadian brothers who sing in both Japanese and English. I couldn’t find records of any fistfights on Wiki–so I don’t know which one of them is supposed to be Noel and which one is supposed to be Liam–but they’re awesome. I can’t get the song above out of my head. I’ve listened to five or six songs on youtube, and they’ve really got a unique sound with that prominent rhythm guitar. It’s great to see that the Japanese record companies are allowing musical talent to come to the top, regardless of the race of those who perform that music.
Contrast that with the American record companies, where it’s all hip hop mostly for Black people and pop for White people (or light skinned Hispanics). Asian Americans? We get to play backup for Justin Bieber. Seriously–and this comes a bit as an add-on to my last post–all I’m asking is to give our local talent a chance. You never know. Like these two White dudes singing and performing in Japanese, maybe, just maybe, people of our race and upbringing could carry it. Maybe carry it to the point we could charge $40 a CD.
(Disclosure: I’m coming into this discussion well aware of the fact that the Japanese music industry is probably doing better than the American music industry and can therefore take more risk in giving a chance to people of different races. Any industry that can charge $40 a disc is in very good shape. Americans don’t pay, so our money goes to iTunes, which supports more racially stratified advertising.)
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$40 a CD?!? And they wonder why their shit gets bootlegged so much.
I think it’s crucial for blogs such as this to give Asian American artist the exposure and real reviews (come on, Jaewhan, read more books! My summer list is empty). And Asian Americans need to support these artists by opening their damn wallets. If you like the music or the book, buy it! Maybe if enough of us support them, then the more mainstream media might take notice. Even if they don’t, hey, these AA artists need to eat, too.
And I don’t mean any of that whitewashed crap like stuff by Amy Tan. Those can go choke on their own vomit.
Haha! Thanks, Leon! Sometimes I don’t know whether people are reading my book reviews, and people get pissed sometimes when I offer even the slightest criticism, which is one reason why I cut back a slight bit. But it’s good to know people are reading them.
Have you checked out Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, or Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun? Both were very good. You could also try Transparency by Frances Hwang, who is a short story writer. I’ve got reviews of all three. I don’t know of many AA books that have come out recently, other than Ed Lin’s “Snakes Can’t Run”: but I can’t read that one yet because it’s a sequel and I haven’t read the previous book! I tried to read the Longshot by Katie Kitamura, which is about an MMA fighter, but I had trouble finishing it–there was no character development.
Most of what I’ve read recently has been non-Asian, althought you might like it. Here’s what I’ve read recently: Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (novel), Atonement by Ian McEwan (novel), and Disgrace by JM Coetzee (novel). I strongly recommend all three. I also read all eight stories in the 20 under 40 issue of the New Yorker and thought the piece by Philipp Meyer was really good. I’m currently working on The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (environment) and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (novel).
I’m an amateur musician myself and an eclectic music lover and music observer, but I enjoy well crafted rock and roll. I’m not so sure that record labels are as really racist as say Hollywood. I can say that the US music industry is just as blindly corrupt and short sighted in their pursuit of the dollar. There is one exception though, which will adressed after the following rant.
Popular music today sucks. Rock radio is barely in existence. There are barely any independent family run radio stations left in America. They’ve all been gobbled up by corporate monsters like Clear Channel Communications and Radio One. There used to be a time when you had original tunes, you had dj’s turning you on to something new. Well, those days are gone. The tug of war between art and commerce (which has always been in conflict since time immemorial) has been co-opted by pure greed.
You have a bunch of know-nothing MBA suits in radio who literally DICTATE what you get to hear on the radio. Program directors no longer have any control over what gets played. They are told to put this song into rotation, play this song and play it 2 times every hour. Everything is demographically researched to death, niches are created which further polarizes the radio spectrum.
Back in the 70′s, you had a wonderful cross pollinization, influences. You’d hear a Stevie Wonder song followed up by some Rolling Stones. A lot of bands suck today because they’re just aping too much of what they hear on the radio—which is watered down shit to begin with. They don’t know their music history, they have no other influences to draw upon, and the result is the songs all sound the same.
Rock and roll is dead. Hip hop and urban pop rule the airwaves. And even that stuff, for the most part, sucks. Because the pop songs and r&b of my youth had real melodies and grooves. Today, it’s all just nothing but beats—all rhythm, no melody, no blues, no groove. Or the latest pop divas caterwauling away with their non-descript songs. The pop divas are not musicians or artists, they’re simply entertainers and lousy ones at that.
George Martin, the Beatles producer, was once asked what advice he’d give to new bands. He immediately said, “learn how to write a bloody good song.” Too few know how to craft a good song, or know enough about composition to do anything more than the basic 3 chord rock/pop tune. You don’t necessarily need more than three, but there’s nothing interesting going on. Everyone sounds the same.
And the US music industry want that! They get to play it safe and create cookie cutter molded bands, singers to play to the greatest common denominator. And those who aren’t in the know, seriously, they have NO idea how many talented people, bands, singers are out there flying under the radar because they don’t get radio play or signed to a major label and get the full backing. The labels no longer wait for the newly signed artist to develop or mature–which is probably along the lines of about 3 or 4 CD’s. If you don’t have a breakout with one or two, you’re dropped from the label.
There was a great documentary on TV called “Electric PUrgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker”. And a lot of these trendsetting black rockers (Fishbone, Living Color) didn’t get the same promotion or backing from the record labels as did their counterparts (Red Hot Chili Peppers, No Doubt). THOSE guys have legitimate complaints about corporate racism in the US industry.
Japan? I’m not well versed in how the business operates in their own home, but Sony Records is just as racist here in the States as any other record label. Not really sure how they are with their home grown talent.
Oh wow. I had no idea you were an amateur musician, Mojo.
I agree with you on the current American music scene. Melody is like a dead art. Gone are the days of melodic songs coming from groups like the Stevie Wonder, the Spinners, the Beatles, Dionne Warwick, etc. The few remaining melody-focused American artists are really corny. I think that’s why I like Japanese music–they still focus heavily on melody, and the sounds are original.
(BTW, I like the Chili Peppers and No Doubt. I unfortunately never heard of Fishbone or Living Color, which, I guess, is your point.)
hey, I didn’t say I was GOOD or anything, ha ha! I still struggle with the craft of putting together a decent rock/power pop song and I can go for long stretches of time before actually forcing myself to write and a record another tune. I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes time for writing or coming up a good hook, riff, or chorus. I’ve trashed a lot of songs because I couldn’t come up with the right melody.
Very true—something is missing in today’s pop music. A lot of it is a really beautiful melody. I think of old Carly Simon songs, or Linda Rondstadt tunes, Elton John. The stuff that Elton John puts out now makes me cringe, it’s so bland and banal. I loved Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, the classic rock bands….they had that groove, that sort of grit and swing that I don’t hear today.
Fishbone and Living Color were contemporaries of No Doubt and RHCP, in that they were doing a lot of the crossover stuff—ska, punk influences.
The trailer for “Electric Purgatory: Fate of the Black Rocker”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuLD3EtnPwo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaMGY5IidxE&NR=1
Oi, no sound at work, but I’ll check those out later.
I agree with you. Man, I remember being shocked when Billy Joel released that “We Didn’t Start the Fire” song. I was thinking, is this really the same guy who wrote “Just the Way You Are,” “Honesty,” and “You May Be Right?” Melody seems to be out of popularity these days!
True—-I thought Joel hit a pathetic low with that tune. I appreciate him trying to say something but the lyrics just didn’t fit the sub par melody for it.
Ahhh, I shouldn’t be too judgemental, i know it’s subjective. It’s just that I have esoteric interests about music. Music is an art form and it’s reflective of the times. Unfortunately, today’s music is reflective of its generation and time just like it was for mine. There was a lot of crap on the radio too when I was in college, and the only thing that saved me was college radio and alternative music. Something new, different.
But what I do not find in today’s music, as I didn’t find back in my college days, were too many bands that could actually say something unique. Not that every song has to say something. I just think a band or artist can hit a high mark if they’re capable of saying something meaningfull and have it fit with the music. It has to be the right balance. And I don’t mean it always has to be political. It can be about the human experience in which we all share. Some universal truth. The biggest themes are that of love. Everyone has songs about that, but what distinguishes them from others is they can say something different about it. And that’s the mark of real talented songwriters. Guys like Springsteen, whether you like or hate his music, is capable of painting these vivid stories about the human condition, of struggle. And we all recognize it, we sense it and maybe identify with it.
Now as for Moneky Majic, they’re on the fringes, with a unique sound and maybe that makes them more exciting and different. And maybe some things never change—the only chances to catch on to bands like Monkey Majic is thru the internet. Radio won’t play them unless it’s indie or college radio. There’s no way major record label is going to push and promote them here in the US. I mean, look at a band like Shonen Knife, the all female Japanese punk band. Their recognition and success in the US came strictly from US indie labels liking what they did and releasing it.
And looking again at their wiki entry, their label seems like a small one and not a major label like Sony. It always seems like the indie labels are willing to take chances and be more open to a diversity of things.
I’ve heard people blame Nirvana for the decline in music, specially rock.
(Sorry guys. This might be the only time I get to trash Nirvana on this blog. I had to act fast!)
I’m out of my depth when talking about music, so I can’t explain why I find myself gravitating towards older dinosaur rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen, old R&B like Al Green and Billy Preston, old punk bands… Maybe I’m just old.
Well, I’m an old guy too and I think those bands you referenced just had something I don’t get from a lot of the stuff out there today….see, the thing is, Nirvana wasn’t doing anything new. They just happened to be that accident that occured when all the stars aligned properly for something like that to happen. The entire dynamic of soft LOUD soft stuff? Already been done. That wasn’t new—the Pixies were doing that.
I was never a fan of Nirvana—I dig some of their tunes, but at some point, a lot of it was too derivative. A lot of what I heard, sounded like someone else; all those punk and alternative influences showed. I will give them this credit: Cobain had a knack for melody and for creating nice guitar hooks. In the wake of their success, a lot of other band got signed that clearly didn’t have the kind of songwriting and sense of melody that Cobain had. It was the record labels just piling on, hoping to find the “next” Cobain and rake in the cash.
Anyway, so a lot of other bands that preceded Nirvana never got the kind of recognition and success that they should’ve gotten. Instead, they remain “seminal influences”, always the critics faves, always name checked in articles and in interviews. I’m talking bands like the Replacements, Husker Du, X, Pixies, Ramones, Sonic Youth, etc…