Perfume (electropop trio)

Diddy

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I thought I'd take the opportunity to give a formal introduction to my favourite Japanese act of all time, Perfume. And yes, I said Japanese, so if you've written them off already, then either clear off or humour me. At least I thought I could give some pointers to the @COB s and @ButterTart s of the world.

Perfume are a 3-piece electropop group from Hiroshima, debuting in 2002 and moving to Tokyo's Akihabara district to make it big a few years later, eventually signing to a major label in 2005. Akihabara is sort of the hotbed for indie idols and weird electro experiments (also the tech geek capital of Japan).

They built a following and finally broke through in 2007 with their single "Polyrhythm". From then on it was onward and upwards, and all of their 6 studio albums have been #1 on the Oricon charts and are on a 12-year string of 20 top 5 singles.

Electropop is a broad church, sometimes they lean more pop, other times more electro. A few downtempos (but no big ballads), sometimes straight-up Streets of Rage music, City pop, and some freshness I don't get from western pop.

I LOVE them, I first picked up on them on a flight back from Tokyo in 2012 where I saw Spring of Life on a music video program. I gobbled up their material and saw them in concert in London in 2013 (definitely see a live show, just from a technological standpoint they are AMAZING), and I credit it as a bit of a turning point in my decision to move to Japan, the energy was so positive. Watching some of their music videos today I felt a bit emotional in a way I never get from music really, and I don't get why.

I hope you enjoy them
 
SO... I made a video playlist if you are interested in digging a bit into their repertoire.



  1. Spring of Life (2012) - Light, zippy & cute. Great video, great breakdown
  2. Tokyo Girl (2017) - Almost my Kalavision entry, a statement of their latest phase. It was a grower but now I love it.
  3. I Still Love U (2009) - LOVE that intro, a midtempo from the stunning Triangle album
  4. Fusion (2018) - Almost instrumental, heavy and menacing, amazing video filmed in real-time
  5. Pick me up (2015) - Straight up J-Pop drama (ft OK Go in a shop window)
  6. Spending all my time (2012) - They do English too (ish)
  7. 1mm (2013) - Gorge video based on the Level3 album artwork, heavenly layered bop
  8. Star Train (2015) - Adorable retrospective for a tour video, highlighting how much they love each other
  9. Glitter (2011) - Manic BPM, rich, warm, J-pop
  10. Laser Beam (2011) More from their imperial era - only had an edited video for this one, sorry
  11. Nee (2010) - A more midtempo track from this triple of "JPN" album highlights (with Glitter & Laser Beam)
  12. Electro World (2006) - Throwback to the early Akihabara days
  13. Natural ni Koishite (2010) - Dreamy city-pop with a simple but great video
  14. Chocolate Disco (2007) - How can you dislike a song called Chocolate Disco? Their last pre-breakthrough single that got their big break
  15. Future Pop (2018) - First alternate in Kalavision Semi 2 and shows the direction they're heading.
 
For those Spotify users, it seems like everything's up there (at least in Japan), but for an album recommendation, I'd start with Triangle - The number of times I used this album for cardio :disco:



There is also a GH, but it's VERY comprehensive (3CDs) - you could start with CD3 though, which is "Party Maker" onwards

 
I'm WELL in the mood to explore something NEW today so this was a pleasant surprise. I'll start with Triangle and report back @Diddy.
 
This will be the perfect soundtrack to my work day. I can't wait to hear more from my 12 Point QUEENS!
 
Omg :disco: I thought this thread would be a politely-liked but no replies classic!
 
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Fusion :disco:

If I am being critical (admittedly after only 5 of their songs) I am a much bigger fan of their production than them, so of course their instrumental track is the one I like most so far.
 
Fusion :disco:

If I am being critical (admittedly after only 5 of their songs) I am a much bigger fan of their production than them, so of course their instrumental track is the one I like most so far.

fusion is :disco:, I wanted to enter it into Kalavision, but it’s basically all in English (what lyrics there are). It was going to be a STATEMENT

I can understand the cute girly vocals aren’t everyone’s tastes, and honestly their vocals aren’t really up to a lot, but that sort of fits with the vaguely robotic aesthetic. They are really sweet though, not like the legions of faceless idols in mega groups.

@ZenGiraffe the producer Capsule (something Nakata is his real name) produces for other acts, and possibly solo stuff I don’t really know about. most famous of those is Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Production is almost identical but she’s a solo singer and more of the quirky offbeat Japanese image people usually have. She’s not bad, it comes off a little forced IMO but she has plenty of fans and did shows in the UK before now
 
I'm going to give a bit of J-Pop a go and this is mainly thanks your ASFM entries Diddy, so thanks for all of this!

But not on KylieDay™ okay? :kim:
 
I'm going to give a bit of J-Pop a go and this is mainly thanks your ASFM entries Diddy, so thanks for all of this!

But not on KylieDay™ okay? :kim:

thats tomorrow right? Enjoy today :disco:

I should have led with Chocolate Disco to tie in with the disco theme



also apparently their producer Capsule did a Get Outta My Way remix for Kylie
 
I VAGUELY remember CAPSULE from like 10 years ago. There was another Japanese music enthusiast from SBUK who recommended a song from them which I actually LIKED. Unless it was a remix or something. Need to dig it out.
 
Here it is, it was under his full name
It’s a nice build but doesn’t really go off like I’d hoped

 
Thanks @Diddy. I was aware of Perfume but never really investigated their stuff except for the occasional song that came up in aYouTube loop. I think I had the odd moment to 'Baby Cruising Love' in 2007 or so.
 
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Thanks @Diddy. I was aware of Perfume but never really investigated their stuff except for the occasional song that came up in aYouTube loop. I think I had the odd moment to 'Baby Cruising Love' in 2007 or so.

oh that’s a deep cut :D that’s their pre-fame days. I like some of that but it’s very cute, it’s a bit love/hate I’d imagine
 
New single "Time Warp" - cute song, I never understand how they make videos like that, must be so complicated



 
I'm giving this a whirl at the moment. I've got "Spring Of Life" in my library which must be from some earlier Dids foray into selling them on here :D
 
I'm giving this a whirl at the moment. I've got "Spring Of Life" in my library which must be from some earlier Dids foray into selling them on here :D

I must say it’s not an instant classic, but I DO recommend the handy playlists I’ve included for your pleasure
 
Hopefully on Netflix now, a theatre special “ReFrame”. Holy moly this is a visual banquet :o

honestly they’re doing things with projectors and lasers that I have never seen in my life, let alone in music lerfoemande



Leaning more Art than Pop compared to their stadium concerts, it’s an anniversary event but more like a tech expo, including all their dark bangers like Fusion and Edge, Kalavision flop Future Pop too.

I'm watching Future Pop now with sort of pirouetting lasers :o

some retrospective bits are a bit baffling and impenetrable but you can get through it
 
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There ARE a few bits I found a touch boring, but the next gag is close behind

looks like another one, Time Warp is coming in about 3 weeks
 

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