Asobi Seksu
http://www.asobiseksu.com
styles: shoegaze, pop-rock, indie rock
others: Ride, Pixies, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Drugstore, Medicine
 Citrus
Friendly Fire, 2006
rating: 4/5
reviewer: grigsby
When I think of Loveless, I can't help but feel the warmth of
the maroon colors gracing the cover; they're simply inextricable from
how I feel about the album. The same goes for the black of Slowdive's
Souvlaki, especially when I hear the despair on "Dagger." Of
course, on Ride's Nowhere, the blue makes it the most
melancholy of these albums. Who knows why, but shoegaze artists seem
to have a particularly astute ability to match the color of their
sleeve art to the content. New York's Asobi Seksu earns their place in the
pantheon having mastered this skill on their sophomore LP, Citrus.
Keep in mind that the Technicolor swirl of the artwork is a more apt
depiction of the album than what follows.
Perhaps this mixture of colors should clue you in to the fact that
Citrus isn't all shoegaze; guitar squall is only one compositional
element rather than the M.O. of Asobi Seksu. They have plenty of other
tricks up their collective sleeve, including throbbing eighth-note,
alterna-rock basslines, Nirvana/Pixies dynamics, and a killer
backbeat. Stylistically, Asobi Seksu are dead on – they allude to
a-million-and-one-bands I adore and never sound exactly like any one
of them.
Anyone, however, can adopt style; it takes about as long as figuring
out which bands you want to copy. On their debut self-titled album,
Asobi Seksu did a bit of that but also had a few moments that truly
shone. Improving tremendously with Citrus, they have committed
to making every song a pop delight – whether it be with the bells on
"Lions and Tigers" or the Cure-style synths on "Nefi + Girly," no
genre constraints get in the way of making these songs perfect. As a
result, Citrus is screaming out to be loved, but with enough
style and sophistication to avoid being a guilty pleasure.
If this isn't the album you are blaring out of your car all summer
long, you aren't having enough fun.
1. Everything Is On
2. Strawberries
3. New Years
4. Thursday
5. Strings
6. Pink Cloud Tracing Paper
7. Red Sea
8. Goodbye
9. Lions and Tigers
10. Nefi + Girly
11. Exotic Animal Paradise
12. Mizu Asobi
 Asobi
Seksu
Friendly Fire, 2004
rating: 3/5
reviewer: marti332
If ten years invested in the local scenes of three different
Midwestern towns have taught me one thing, it is that singers are at a
premium. I couldn't begin to count the number of bands that have
forced me to listen to the vocalist's atonal baritone, unpleasant
"emoting" (read: screaming), or failed Thom Yorke impersonation. The
terrible voices are often made all the more unpleasant by the singers'
absolute lack of charisma. Because of this, any band that has a true
presence at the lead-singer position has a leg up on the competition
and can get away with wearing its influences on its sleeves. This is
the case with Asobi Seksu (Japanese for "play sex").
Asobi Seksu's Yuki Chikudate is a true presence. Yuki effortlessly
shifts her on-tape personas from Japanese school-girl ("I'm Happy But
You Don't Like Me") to disaffected indie-kid ("Walk on the Moon") to
detached Italian songbird ("Taiyo," which recalls Morricone's '70s
cult soundtracks). It is this skill that transforms the band's
passable shoegazing into a distinct sound. One hates to call Chikudate
the band's "gimmick," but until something new is added to the band's
sound, she very much is.
So then why the h-e-double-hockey-sticks do three of the eleven tracks
feature someone else on the lead vocals? And why is she replaced with
the non-descript white-man baritone we've all heard 100 times before,
from dozens of forgettable bands? Note to guitarist James Hanna: shut
up and let the better singer do her job. Don't' get me wrong, I think
your little songs are cute and all, but without Chikudate's charm,
there is nothing separating you from tens of fashionable NYC bands, or
for that matter any number of unfashionable Midwestern bands.
1. I'm Happy But You Don't Like Me
2. Sooner
3. Umi de No Jisatsu
4. Walk on the Moon
5. Let Them Wait
6. Taiyo
7. It's Too Late
8. End at the Beginning
9. Asobi Masho
10. Stay
11. Before We Fall
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