Dirty Androids & punipunidenki -- On The West Coastline

 

I have never really hidden the fact that for a guy who isn't really into art, I've been a fan of Seizo Watase（わたせせいぞう） (as you can see above) and Hiroshi Nagai（永井博）, basically two artists who have been depicting the idealized City Pop lifestyle onto canvas. Up to now, I've been investing in my annual Watase calendars but I really ought to give Nagai a chance as well next time.

Good golly! I swear that the above video is a real-life depiction of the Watase/Nagai lifestyle! And to boot, the video is for a single titled "On The West Coastline" by the collaboration between music producers and performers Dirty Androids & punipunidenki（ぷにぷに電機）which came out in August 2021 (an April 2020 compilation album titled "SPD GAR 003" contained the song, mind you). I can only imagine how people were feeling watching this video during COVID times. Having said that, interspersing those scenes of the good time and beautiful people are excerpts of women looking quite isolated and lonely with only a common Walkman to keep them company. But in the end, the balance between the two looks quite solid so perhaps the message is that life is a coin consisting of those two sides and one's constantly flipping it.

It's a combination of strings (including an emotional cello in the intro), groovy rhythms, haunting synths and punipunidenki's whispery vocals for some of that Neo-City Pop vibe. Maybe the video is showing something darker, but the actual song seems to keep up the happy happy joy joy in modern-day Japan. I only posted something about Dirty Androids at the beginning of this month, and I also noted another collaboration between the two a few years ago.

Dirty Androids -- Sapphire City

By W.carter via Wikimedia Commons

 

Couldn't tell sapphires from rubies aside from the colour, I'm afraid. All I know is that trying to acquire any of them would be way above my pay grade.

Mind you, acquiring Dirty Androids' "Classic" from 2024 with the track "Sapphire City" would be much more reasonable and perhaps more satisfying depending on how much of a music lover you are. I first mentioned the music producer, aka Daisuke Akitsu (秋津大祐), when I posted his collaboration with punipunidenki（ぷにぷに電機）, the 2021 "Private Sunset"（プライベート・サンセット）. Since then, I haven't gotten much more information about the secretive artist although I finally did find an entry on RemyWiki.

"Sapphire City" is a pretty cool and clubby City Pop tune of the 2020s...it's something to enjoy while savoring a cocktail during sunset in one of the tallest bars in Tokyo, perhaps. Yup, it's a very chill tune.

Dirty Androids & punipunidenki -- Private Sunset（プライベート・サンセット）

 

I'm currently in envy of a few of my friends right now since in a matter of weeks, they will all be visiting Japan for the first time since the pandemic damaged international travel for a few years. With all of the construction that's been going on there, one friend and I have agreed that certain parts of Tokyo will have changed a fair bit, notably Shibuya. I wish that I could go but my finances aren't quite ready to absorb the oodles of Canadian dollars and Japanese yen that it will take for a decent trip.

My last time in Japan was the fall of 2017 so perhaps it was just before the whole City Pop thing exploded onto the digital zeitgeist, and since then, folks have been digging deeper and perhaps discovering that there are subsections within this rather wide umbrella of genres. And one of those sections is the Neo-City Pop that has included acts such as Kirinji（キリンジ）, Hitomitoi（一十三十一）and Ryusenkei（流線型）. I realize that there are folks out there who believe that City Pop should be kept within the borders of the late 1970s and 1980s, but personally, I'm perfectly fine with the Neo tag.

Last fall, I noted the collaboration between electronica artist DÉ DÉ MOUSE & online singer-songwriter and music producer punipunidenki（ぷにぷに電機）which resulted in "Midnight Dew" (2021). Well, the latter has worked with a variety of other artists including fellow producer Dirty Androids, aka somewhat secretive Daisuke Akitsu. The Yokohama native's speciality is Nu Disco and Future Bass, and together with punipunidenki, they came up with a maxi-single or EP titled "On the West Coastline" also in 2021 (August, to be exact). 

"On the West Coastline" has been categorized by Discogs as a mix of Electro, fusion, Nu Disco and Chillwave. I'm still wrapping my head around the various techno genres but one track on the single, "Private Sunset", as sung by punipunidenki as tenderly as a fork going through filet mignon, simply strikes me as club-friendly and City Pop circa 2020s. It does have that languid coolness and sparkly flavour that the thumbnail of Roppongi shows at the top. Hey, I think it would also go well with that car drive through the megalopolis, too.