E-girls: E.G. TIME
So here we are. The 2015 J-pop magnum opus. The album that quietly dropped on the very first day of the year and still beat out hundreds of other J-pop albums to make this list. You’re not going to find any surprises on E.G. TIME: this is unadulterated dance music, Avex Trax-style, with elements of idol pop’s optimism and verve, touches of trendy EDM showers, and the conspicuous vowels of Japanese punctuated by American words and phrases. It’s an update on 2014’s COLORFUL POP, tweaking the tracks for the ultimate frenetic dance-pop, a brand that EXILE does more or less successfully. It’s a massive girl-group firing on all cylinders, optimizing their key members for optimum vocals and choreography. The album comes charging in with singles “E.G. Anthem -WE ARE VENUS-” and “Mr. Snowman;” they’re no “RYDEEN ~Dance All Night~” but for mood-setting, you can’t get closer to this album’s raison d’etre. Add in a chunky Yasutaka Nakata production, a cover song, several other successful tie-in singles, and the album closes with some merciless reminders of how E-girls have pretty much always been this good, even if it took you this long to notice.
Limited editions of this album also come bundled with footage from E-girls LIVE TOUR 2014 “COLORFUL LAND,” one of the best concerts to be released this year: the opening performance of “RYDEEN” is still the most exciting cold open I’ve experienced all year, and possibly this decade, since Ayumi Hamasaki’s DOME TOUR 2001 A, with it stratospheric production value. It’s also the most fun I’ve had watching a concert performance in a long, long time: COLORFUL LAND is packed with costumes, color, movement, and the crackling exuberance of a group of girls who look seriously thrilled to be doing what they’re doing for their audience.
2015 was the year E-girls proved you can no longer write them off as just another double-digit girl-group cash cow. Any misconceptions you have about pop music from Japan are finally put to rest on E.G. TIME; it’s a vibrant and unique approach to pop that can’t be replicated by anyone else, anywhere else.
appears 