♫♪  Half Japanese - “It’s Called Love”

As the lyrical conceit of pretty much EVERY lo-fi jangle-pop in history attests: you just can’t keep a good lo-fi jangle-pop songwriter down. Especially when he/she is in sloppy-love and writing adorable lo-fi jangle-pop songs about it.

But don’t take it from me. Take it from adorable brothers Jad & David Fair, founders of the legendary Half Japanese and cuteness-influencers on everyone from Daniel Johnston to Jeff Mangum to Kermit the Frog (presumably). They’ve been at the lo-fi game since friggin’ 1975. Oh sure, they might have taken an “adorable little hiatus” here and there (say, from 2001-2014 or so), but… yeah, that doesn’t count against their commitment to heart-meltingly sweet, simple, two-chord rock. Why not? Because I said it doesn’t. Okay, moving on!

Anyways—after getting back to biz in 2014 and releasing an album or two, the band charged into 2016 with an adorable vengeance, deciding to just go ahead and unleash their most obviously PERFECT album to date, an LP entitled Perfect, this past January via the Joyful Noise label. And even though a legendary band of historical significance releasing an album called Perfect sounds to me like a pretty air-tight argument for everyone running out and buying like 18 copies IMMEDIATELY; these guys, in their infinite benevolence, have nonetheless decided to share a delightful new music video to promote the album anyway.

The animated romp showcases album track “It’s Called Love.” I know what you’re asking, and the answer is—YES: there’s plenty of cartoon hearts and birds and boys and girls and robots and polka-dots swirling around. Check out the clip down below and feel your 21st-century maladies of intense stress, cynicism, and fear just melt away on a sea of cartoon cats and flowers. And while you do that, just consider yourself gosh-darn lucky to alive to receive such a nifty lil’ gift today. :-)

Chocolate Grinder

CHOCOLATE GRINDER is our audio/visual section, with an emphasis on the lesser heard and lesser known. We aim to dig deep, but we’ll post any song or video we find interesting, big or small.

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