Flower-Powered Artist - August 2006

Puffy AmiYumi

After 10 years of being one of Japan's biggest icons in music history, Puffy AmiYumi finally unleashes their 9th studio album, Splurge. An ordinary person outside Japan who only listens to what is on most commercial radio will probably say, Puffy who? Puffy AmiYumi (for legal reasons, although they are simply called "Puffy" in Japan) to put it simply is the Madonna/Britney Spears counterpart in Japan. They are widely idolized, mostly by teens and young ones, such that their brand of merchandise from clothing to shoes and accessories to toys sell out fast. They got everything a big music star has and more, they're a cultural phenomenon. They have countless ads/commercials, magazine features and their very own TV show (Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy in Japan and Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi in USA under Cartoon Network).

Tokyo's Ami Onuki and Osaka's Yumi Yoshimura were amongst the chosen ones from a search conducted by two talent agencies. They were then brought together by a record label and a management company to be a duo by 1995 to which they were given the name, Puffy (named by one of their long time song-writer Andy Sturmer). Following the release of their first single, "Asia No Junshin" ("True Asia"), the duo received tremendous popularity and craze that was, the Puffy-Mania. Puffy AmiYumi reached their peak around 1999 with the release of their critically-acclaimed album, Jet-CD. Subsequent album releases later (spanning a total of 9 studio albums), they reached a total sales of 14 million in Japan alone.

Puffy's music falls in a genre termed as JPOP (stands for Japanese Pop), which is western-influenced japanese popular music. If hard-pressed to be categorized within the US genres, we'd have to say that Puffy AmiYumi falls under the realms of Indie Rock. The duo's songs are mainly collaboration with former Jellyfish drummer, Andy Sturmer, Japanese rock star Tamio Okuda, and Ami & Yumi themselves. With Splurge, Puffy seeks to break boundaries by collaborations with America's famous personalities with the likes of Butch Walker (KGRL's favorite - that's saying a lot, because if we even play male music there'd be TONS of Butch tracks in our list) formerly of Marvelous 3, Dexter Holland of Offspring's fame, and John Spencer of Blues Explosion.

They soon started touring this year with their 10th anniversary tour in Japan which started on April 14, 2006. The Splurge tour, dubbed the Puffy AmiYumi Tour '06 Splurge! Splurge! Splurge!, began in America (limited in East Coast) and continued in Japan for a series of Summer Festival shows. KGRL was lucky enough to be present in one of the US shows, specifically the Boston, MA show 07/12/06, and to have received press access during the event.

It is with honor that we present this month’s Flower-Powered Artist to Puffy AmiYumi. We have a review of the CD Splurge and an exclusive interview with the duo for this month’s feature. Indeed this month’s feature is as special as Puffy’s latest album title say, it’s a Splurge!

KGRL Puffy Interview

Help Puffy AmiYumi Get Radio Airplay, the bulletin says off myspace... and that's all it took for us to respond by saying KGRL plays Puffy. Sure enough, our station offers a variety of JPOP artists and we do at that time, feature a host of all-time Puffy favorites, including Asia No Junshin (True Asia). And from a simple reply we got ourselves a copy of the new CD for airplay and more. We were lucky enough to get a face to face, one on one interview with the duo themselves.

Onwards our fearless representative marched to the venue in Boston, MA called "Axis." He was then led to a dimly lit room where he was then greeted by Yaz Noya of Tofu Records, which acted as the translator. Following behind Yaz were (in our own representative's words) "two of the most adorable, cute, charming, and really tiny girls" he has ever seen. Dressed in street clothes and rugged sweat pants were Ami and Yumi (which, incidentally is the very same outfit they used on the show - Editor's Note: just goes to show how the girls carry a piece of who they are on stage) who looked like they just came in from a day of shopping. Even though they probably were tired, they sit in and entertained our representative. And so the interview began...

KGRL: The new CD Splurge contains a lot of songs with english lyrics in comparison to other Puffy CD's. Was this to be more marketable for America?

Puffy: We have actually two different versions of each song, a Japanese version and an English version. It is the same song, but we know it's going to be released in the United States, so that is why, it's the same song but we made an english version as well.


->You can read the rest of the Interview by Clicking Here! <-

Delight In Splurge
A Review Of Splurge

How does Puffy celebrate their 10th year anniversary? By releasing their brand new CD Splurge, where they show how they extravagantly produced an album that features collaboration with some of today's Indie Rock Gods.

First off, let's start by saying that one very peculiar thing about Puffy is that with every new album there is always a new style in music. Their most popular album, the Jet-CD, carried a 60's-70's type music which drew comparisons from Beatles to Abba to something even as heavy as Black Sabbath.

With Splurge, you will immediately notice the rawness of the musical content. It is evident right off the bat with the first single, Call Me What You Like, which was written by Butch Walker (he played guitar/bass in the recording as well). Rocking guitar-driven melody (which heavily reminds us of a riff from a song by The Knack ;)) and very catchy hook will set you in the right mood to even dance along (there's a reason this song is entitled "Shall We Dance?" in the Japanese release). One more thing to notice is how good the duo has sung this song in English.

Next in line is another hard-rocking catchy song called Nice Buddy, which is easily one of our favorites. Then followed by the Dexter Holland penned song, Tokyo I'm On My Way, which sounds more like a happy-in-the-sun party-type music. Radio Tokyo then follows the suit of the heavy guitar-driven rock songs. This remake of a Marvelous 3 song easily fits the girl's energy and intensity in the way a song of this caliber needs to be delivered. And again, another rock track ensues with Mole-Like. Until finally we are treated to one of the slow but infectiously catchy ballad called Etude, which like the song before it is purely in Japanese.

Bluesy guitars take over next in the Jon Spencer written song, Go Baby Power Now. Which is followed by another slow groovin' Japanese track called Sunday In The Park. We are again treated with another slow ballad that features a wonderful non-sugary sweet romantic melody called Missing You Baby. The Story presents a neo-pop style music complemented with the ooohh ooohh ooohh back-up in a perfectly delivered vocal harmony. The Mole, on the other hand, has a kind of a cartoon horror-spoof theme type music which is kind of odd (I know, I gave an odd description myself - go figure). The acoustically-driven track called Cameland comes next.

Security Blanket, a personal favorite, starts off slow which then turn into a lovely lively guitar-driven ballad. Closing the album is another wonderfully rocking track called Beginnings. There are two US bonus tracks included in the CD, which are mainly remixes, namely: Friends Forever ~FICKLE Remix~ (the original version appeared in both the compilation album Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi and the Scooby-Doo 2 Soundtrack) and Teen Titans Theme ~POLYSICS' CR-06 MIX~ (the original version appeared in the same compilation album, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi). I'm not so fond of remixes but I'd have to say the Friends Forever remix is pretty nice. The Japanese version comes with a remake of Greenday's Basketcase, which like their remake of Radio Tokyo perfectly fits the girl's energy and intensity.

In closing, Splurge delivers the same caliber of intensity, hooks, and rockability the duo is known for but in a bit of a different direction and it might be because of them bringing in new influences and collaborators. If we would be asked to name an album to introduce the girls, without a doubt we'd have to say Jet-CD, but after the introduction, Splurge is indeed a very worthwhile follow up.

Splurge - Buy It Now (Click Here)!

Tracklist:

Call Me What You Like (If You Like Rock-N-Roll)
Nice Buddy
Tokyo I'm On My Way
Radio Tokyo
Mole-Like
Etude
Go Baby Power Now
Sunday In The Park
Missing You Baby
The Story
Mole
Cameland
Security Blanket
Beginnings


US ONLY Bonus Tracks
Friends Forever ~FICKLE Remix~
Teen Titans Theme ~POLYSICS' CR-06 MIX~

Press Photos (High-Resolution Images):

Feature Credits:

Special thanks goes to Yuriko Inagaki, Barry Hamaguchi, Yaz Noya, the rest of the staff of Tofu Records and Sony Music Entertainment of Japan, and to the girls themselves: Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura.