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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Puffy AmiYumi Are Cuter Than You
Wednesday 10 July @ 10:02:52 |
 by Yuko Sakata
Don’t question. Don’t try to analyze. Just go with it, because there is no rule to the music of Puffy AmiYumi.
The casually charming and surprisingly powerful Japanese duo is now storming across the country, moving eastward from California. Their nonchalant, down-to-earth voices will easily fill any performance space with positive and healthy energy, and if nothing else, one thing is for sure—you are guaranteed to have fun at their concert.
Although you may call them a Japanese pop duo, they are completely genre-defying, as from one song to another they explore and adopt every thinkable era and style. There is no style they won’t try on, as casually as they do their clothing: You’ll hear light, Beatlesque rock in one song, Brazilian samba with a touch of techno in another, and find in others anything from Chic disco to Go-Go’s-era pop-punk, ’60s pop, dance tune to ’70s-style disco. Rather than concentrating on perfecting their music in a certain genre like most contemporary high-concept pop musicians, Puffy AmiYumi try anything there is to try: while perhaps there’s no style that hasn’t been explored before, it is only with this duo you get to experience them all at once.
In their home country they easily fill a stadium-size arena for each of their concerts across the islands. They have been a pop sensation since their debut in 1996, selling 14 million records and becoming something of an approachable cultural icon. They frequently appear on high-profile commercials and billboards, have hosted their own wildly popular TV variety show, and even have their own line of shoes and Barbie-dolls made after them. In Asia they have already won a massive following with their multiple successful concerts, and this summer they are venturing on their first cross-continental U.S. tour.
Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura were brought together in 1995 through talent searches by a record label and a management company in Tokyo. Although strangers until they were paired up, their voices blend and ring together quite naturally. There doesn’t seem to be much technique or subtle polishing involved in their singing: they sing in unison with straightforward vocalization, which creates a single, unique sound of their own. Puffy AmiYumi’s 1996 debut single “Asia no Junshin,” written and produced by American Andy Sturmer (former Jellyfish drummer, who has produced many of their songs), sold a million copies. Since then they have collaborated with various musicians, most prominently with popular Japanese musician/producer Tamio Okuda.
The subjects of Puffy AmuYumi’s songs are as varied as their styles—covering anything from love to cultural pride to life philosophy. But one thing is common to all: their light-hearted, carefree tone. No love song of theirs is longing, heartbreaking or serious, and often their songs portray the carefree, happy-go-lucky and yet self-assured attitude of contemporary young Japanese women. The same can be said about their performances—they never strain their voices, nor do they sing any of their songs with dramatic emotion. Their performance is a burst of happy energy, balanced by comfortably and cheerfully mellow tunes.
Puffy AmiYumi plays The Quest on Tuesday, July 16. MANPLANET opens. 6 p.m. All ages. $13.50 Adv./Door. 110 N. 5th St., Mpls. 612-338-3383.
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