Japanese Breakfast (2022)

One Liner: Great melodic indie rock to go with thoughts of sushi pancakes

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, indie pop, alternative pop, dream pop
Home:  Philadelphia (although Wikipedia lists Eugene, Oregon)

Poster Position: 6
Both Weekends.  Sunday.

Thoughts:  She was last here in 2018, and I didn't see her, but I really wish I had.  Since then, I have really enjoyed some of her tunes.

Back in 2018, her top song was called "Road Head" and I'm all about it.  Although, I have to say, getting up to shenanigans like that while on the turnpike exit seems like a terrible idea.  If you are needing to maneuver in any way other than driving straight ahead at the same speed, then it is honestly a better time to just take a chill pill and hold on for a few minutes.  Oh God, I'm old.  If you've thought fully through something like this, then you are officially too big of a dork and stick in the mud for anyone to even want to tear the cover off the gear shift anyway.  Anyway, that is still her most streamed track, at 30.4 million streams.

Huh.  I guess if death is the one giving you road head, then no one in your car really cares if you are being unsafe in the throes of your O face.  Have at it then!  Also, ramen and cigarettes?  I can't even consider this as an option.  I'd literally rather die.  That video is disturbing on multiple levels.

"Boyish" is a cool, noirish, surfish love tune.  21.2 million streams.  Peep it, the first song in this Tiny Desk concert:

Lovely.  I need an invite to all Tiny Desk concerts for all time.  I wish she would have talked more about stuff, but very nice tunes.  Different from the recordings, which are much more electronically inclined instead of acoustic.

Overall, I really like this lady.  Her real name is Michelle Zauner.  She said that the band name comes from a "juxtaposition of Asian exoticism and American culture."  Which is, uh, OK.  She apparently isn't Japanese either.  But she said she "chose the name because she "grew up relating to Japanese culture quite a bit because it felt like the closest thing [she] had" to Korean popular culture in America."  OK, that is kind of cool, then.

They also do a good cover of "Dreams," the Cranberries tune.  But I think she missteps on the auto-tune fest "Machinist."  That is about the only tune on her early albums that I outright dislike.  

I'll give you one of her older tracks too.  She has two albums, 2017's Soft Sounds from Another Planet (which includes both "Road Head" and "Boyish") and 2016's Psychopomp, which includes "Everybody Wants to Love You, her fourth most listened to track at 15.7 million streams.

Like a yelping Bjork at times, and the song is much more upbeat than the newer album.  Yeah, I'm down for this stuff.  

Since then, she released the very good Jubilee in 2021.  This one has a little disco sparkle on top of an otherwise great indie rock sound.  "Be Sweet" is a sunshiny pop nugget of an aspirational love song.  The top track for sure with 25.9 million streams.

Kicks off kinda funky, and then the guitar and drums start to edge closer to disco, before the chorus kicks in and you are required to groove to the track and decide to honor synth-pop as cool.  It just bangs with bouncy happiness.  Jenky ass video too.  "Slide Tackle" also has that disco pop feeling.  Other tunes on here are less poppy and more indie, like the nice one that follows "Be Sweet," called "Kokomo, IN," which sounds like something you'd find on some indie budget movie's soundtrack.  "Savage Good Boy" is another standout track that makes me think of Neko Case.  This is good music.  You usually find me on this blog whining about how overly long albums are, but in this case I wish it was even longer!

I'd absolutely go give her a shot in the fall.  Might be a little too detailed and pretty for a Fest show, but I want to keep hearing these tunes.