Otoboke Beaver has today released their new album titled ‘Super Champon’. Energetic Japanese genre-stitching originality with sheer adorable rebellion that has such a feeling of pure energy and synergy that you can’t help but instantly fall in love with this band as well as anything they release.
While I think the songs are too short, do they really need to be when you think about it? They are just long enough to become addict to them and short enough to leave you wishing they were longer. How the f*ck does an artist or band get in your head like that? To be able to instantly turn you into a fan? I know how. They get to your head through your heart.
About Otoboke Beaver
Super Champon follows 2019’s critically acclaimed Itekoma Hits. ‘Champon’ is a Japanese noun meaning a mixture or jumble of things of different types, as the band explains, “It’s a mixture of songs from love to food, life and JASRAC. Our music is genreless and has various elements. We hope that it will be our masterpiece of chaos music. It also sounds like champion.” Across 18 songs, chief singer-songwriter Acco expands the band’s possibilities and pushes their musical skills to the limit. Acco has remarked previously that she is more influenced by ‘manzai,’ a traditional style of comedy in Japanese culture comparable to stand-up comedy, exemplified by its use of slang puns and wordplay, speedy back-and-forth dialogue and impeccable timing in delivering a punchline — characteristics of which Otoboke Beaver’s music shares in droves.
“PARDON?” was the album’s lead single, a jokey recounting of a situation the band often finds themselves in, with unrelenting miscommunication of unsolicited and overzealous points of views. The simple lyrical refrains are an extreme contrast to the stop-start time changes and dizzying pace. Loneliness and dating are hot topics, tackling contradictory desires (“Leave me alone! No, stay with me!” and “I don’t want to die alone”), rebuffing them (“First class side-guy” and “You’re no hero shut up F**k you man-whore”), and all the absurdities in between (“I checked your cellphone” and “Do you want me to send a DM”).
Previously released singles “I am not maternal,” “Don’t call me mojo,” and “Dirty old fart is waiting for my reaction” see the band pushing back on societal pressure to reproduce, calling out ridiculous judgements on what gives a woman value, and reacting to uninvited counsel from would-be patronizers. The food-themed songs here are figurative rather than literally about food. “YAKITORI” (Japanese grilled chicken) is a weapon of choice in a petty act of revenge. “I won’t dish out salad” is an allegorical rejection of actions and roles expected of genders. In “Nabe party with pocket brothers,” the band imagines the awkwardness of a hotpot party with partner-swapped exes. “George & Janice” is the second song from Damnably’s roster to pay tribute to the marriage of the label’s co-heads, (the other was from Say Sue Me), with a typically hilarious take on the couple’s bickering love. “Let’s shopping after show” is a short and to-the-point hustle; all bands need to eat.
Otoboke Beaver, formed at Kyoto University’s music club, consists of Accorinrin (lead vocal & guitar), Yoyoyoshie (guitar & vocals), Hirochan (bass & vocals), and Kahokiss (drums & vocals). Acco’s off-kilter self-taught compositional and confrontational performance skills, together with the band’s incredible musicianship, make for a thrilling and unmissable live act.
