| Shibuya-kei | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Shibuya Crossing, 2007 | |
| Native name | 渋谷系 |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1990s,Shibuya,Tokyo, Japan |
| Fusion genres | |
| Akishibu-kei | |
| Other topics | |
Shibuya-kei (Japanese:渋谷系;lit. "Shibuya style") is amicrogenre[7] ofpop music[1] or a general aesthetic[8] that flourished in Japan in the mid-to-late 1990s.[3] The music genre is distinguished by a "cut-and-paste" approach that was inspired by thekitsch, fusion, andartifice from certain music styles of the past.[9] The most common reference points were 1960s culture and Western pop music,[1] especially the work ofBurt Bacharach,Brian Wilson,Phil Spector, andSerge Gainsbourg.[10]
Shibuya-kei first emerged as retail music from theShibuya district ofTokyo.[5]Flipper's Guitar, a duo led byKenji Ozawa andKeigo Oyamada (Cornelius), formed the bedrock of the genre and influenced all of its groups, but the most prominent Shibuya-kei band wasPizzicato Five, who fused mainstreamJ-pop with a mix ofjazz,soul, and lounge influences. Shibuya-kei peaked in the late 1990s and declined after its principal players began moving into other music styles.
Overseas, fans of Shibuya-kei were typicallyindie pop enthusiasts, partly because many Shibuya-kei records had been distributed through majorindie labels likeMatador andGrand Royal in the United States and Bungalow in Europe.[3][11]
The term "Shibuya-kei" comes fromShibuya (渋谷), one of the 23special wards of Tokyo, known for its concentration of stylish restaurants, bars, buildings, record shops, and bookshops.[12] In the late 1980s, the term "J-pop" was formulated by FM radio stationJ-Wave as a way to distinguish Western-sounding Japanese music (a central characteristic of Shibuya-kei) from exclusively Euro-American music.[12] In 1991, HMV Shibuya opened a J-pop corner which showcased displays and leaflets that highlighted indie records. It was one of those displays that coined the moniker "Shibuya-kei".[13]
The upper middle-class, privately educated rich kids who frequented these [Shibuya record] stores bought loads of imported records from the UK and esoteric reissues of all kinds, then created music that was a portrait of themselves as exquisitely discerning consumers.
At the time, Shibuya was an epicenter forTokyo fashion,nightlife, andyouth culture[15] with a cluster of record shops likeTower Records andHMV, which housed a selection of imports, as well as fashionable recordboutiques.[14] Britishindependent record labels such asél Records andthe Compact Organization had been influences on the various Japanese indie distributors,[16] and thanks to the late 1980s economic boom in Japan, Shibuya music shops could afford to stock a wider selection of genres.[12]
Shibuya in the '90s is just likeHaight-Ashbury in the '60s. The young people there are always thinking about how to be cool.
Musicologist Mori Yoshitaka writes that popular groups from the area responded with their "eclectically fashionable hybrid music influenced by different musical resources from around the world in a way that might be identified aspostmodernist ... they were able to listen to, quote, sample, mix, and dub this music, and eventually create a new hybrid music. In other words,Shibuya-kei was a byproduct ofconsumerism".[12] Journalist W. David Marx notes that the musicians were less interested in having an original sound than they were about having a sound that reflected their personal tastes, that the music "was literally built out of this collection process. The 'creative content' is almost all curation, since they basically reproduced their favourite songs, changing the melody a bit but keeping all parts of the production intact."[18]
Specific touchstones include the Frenchyé-yé music ofSerge Gainsbourg,[nb 1] theorchestral pop ofVan Dyke Parks andthe Beach Boys'Brian Wilson,[5] thelounge pop ofBurt Bacharach,[1] and thesunshine pop ofRoger Nichols and the Small Circle of Friends.[2] Wilson was romanticized as amad genius experimenting in the recording studio, andPhil Spector'sWall of Sound was emulated not for its density, but for its elaborate quality.[17] From él Records,Louis Philippe was heralded as the "godfather" of the Shibuya sound around the time he released the Japan-only albumsJean Renoir (1992) andRainfall (1993).[19] Reynolds adds thatPostcard Records and "the tradition of Scottish indie pop it spawned was hugely admired, and there was a penchant for what the Japanese dubbed 'funk-a-latina':Haircut 100 ...,Blue Rondo à la Turk,Matt Bianco. The composite of all these innocuous and already distinctly ersatz sources was a cosmopolitan hybrid that didn't draw on any indigenous Japanese influences."[18]
Flipper's Guitar, a duo led byKenji Ozawa andKeigo Oyamada (also known asCornelius), formed the bedrock of Shibuya-kei and influenced all of its groups. However, the term was not coined until after the fact,[20] and its exact definition would not be crystallized until 1993.[8] Many of these artists indulged in a cut-and-paste style that was inspired by previous genres based onkitsch, fusion, andartifice.[9] In the West, the development ofchamber pop and a renewed interest incocktail music was a remote parallel.[21][nb 2] According to Reynolds: "What was really international was theunderlying sensibility. ... The Shibuya-kei approach was common to an emerging class of rootless cosmopolitans with outposts in most major cities of the world ... known pejoratively ashipsters."[23] Eventually, the music of Shibuya-kei groups and their derivatives could be heard in virtually every cafe and boutique in Japan. Reynolds references this as an issue with its "model of elevated consumerism and curation-as-creation ... Once music is a reflection of esoteric knowledge rather than expressive urgency, its value is easily voided."[24]
After Oyamada went solo, he became one of the biggest Shibuya-kei successes.[14] Although his debut "The Sun Is My Enemy" only peaked at No. 15 on Japanese singles charts, writer Ian Martin calls it a "key track" that helped define Shibuya-kei.[6] His 1997 albumFantasma is also considered one of the greatest achievements of the genre.[23][20] Oyamada landed praise from American music critics, who called him a "modern-day Brian Wilson" or the "JapaneseBeck".[10] Marx described the album as "an important textbook for an alternative musical history whereBach, Bacharach, and the Beach Boys stands as the great triumvirate."[20]
The most prominent Shibuya-kei band wasPizzicato Five, who fused mainstreamJ-pop with a mix ofjazz,soul, and lounge influences, reaching a commercial peak withMade in USA (1994).[15] As the style's popularity increased at end of the 1990s, the term began to be applied to many bands whose musical stylings reflected a more mainstream sensibility. Although some artists rejected or resisted being categorized as "Shibuya-kei," the name ultimately stuck, as the style was favored by local businesses, including Shibuya Center Street's HMV Shibuya, which sold Shibuya-kei records in its traditional Japanese music section. Increasingly, musicians outside Japan—includingMomus,La Casa Azul,Dimitri from Paris, Ursula 1000,Nicola Conte, Natural Calamity, andPhofo—are labeled Shibuya-kei.[citation needed] South Korean bands such asClazziquai Project, Casker, andHumming Urban Stereo have been said to represent "a Korean neo-Shibuya-kei movement".[25]
Shibuya-kei's prominence declined after its principal players began moving into other music styles.[26] Momus said in a 2015 interview that the subculture had more to do with the area itself, which he called "an overblown shopping district".[27]
Shibuya-kei experienced a revival in popularity in mid-2024 after recordings by obscure mid-90s Shibuya-kei band Satellite Lovers were shared to YouTube for the first time.[28] The band's third albumSons of 73 racked up 3 million views by the end of the year.[29]
The interest prompted an article in online music and culture magazine Outside Left, which revealed that Satellite Lovers had disbanded in the late 1990s due to low sales of their music.[30] Despite the band's obscurity, the article was Outside Left's most read article in 2024 and led to the publication of a second article on Shibuya-kei, about Japanese composerTomosuke Funaki whose Shibuya-kei compositions were released under the name Orange Lounge.[31]
| Districts |
|  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major stations |
| |||||||
| Education |
| |||||||
| History | ||||||||
