LAST YEAR'S MODEL

Radtown massacre!  Check out those sweet glasses.  FLOPPY is an electronic rock duo that formed in Japan in 2004 consisting of Sharaku Kobayashi (vox, guitar) and Hiromu Toda (synthesizer).  They released their first album in 2005, Protoscience is their fourth (almost, cuz it’s only seven tracks and one remix) full length record.  I would call this music “Post Polysics”, but Sharaku’s other band, Metronome, has been around since the late 90’s, making them contemporaries of my favorite hyper rock band, though Metronome’s style is a bit more visual-kei.  FLOPPY’s music has a lot to do with Polysics and other “Tokyo New Wave of New Wave” bands (Hi-Posi definitely!).  Their music flies by at breakneck speeds and each song is filled with as many different sounds, textures and rhythms as can possibly fit, but what sets FLOPPY apart is their commitment to a more austere feel that is less pogo punk Devo and more cyberpunk anime while still managing not to take itself too seriously (see above intro video).

What I really like about FLOPPY is, much like Brit electo punk rap rockers Hadouken!, they combine aspects of genres of music that should be awkward and awful in a way that is awkward and amazing. Take Protoscience album opener, Reimei.  It starts fairly reserved for a FLOPPY track, merely picopop break beats and a typical FLOPPY vocoder heavy vocal line.  Slowly adding club style kick drum and loud snare that is all cheesy rave, it then opens up into a chorus that is influenced in style and sound by late 90’s alt metal or something similarly awful…it almost sounds like early 2000’s radio rock?  I don’t know, I have trouble describing it because it ends up sounding so fucking rad.  The melody is impeccable and while the heavily pitch corrected vocals were off-putting at first, I did grow to like them and accept that they are definitely an important part of the FLOPPY post-apocalyptic club punk aesthetic.  Have a listen.

The album continues from there,  each track messing with a different genre but filtered through FLOPPY’s hyper yet cold take on maximalist post chip tunes electro pop.  Live horn samples that sound like a game show or a tropics vacation commercial (Harukaze), bossa nova inspired bass lines (Metairo Toiki), surf rock (Surftronica), and plenty of really cringeworthy rave (Papopi and Tetsugakudo Shinjyu) keep things interesting throughout the albums seven tracks before ending with an eight bit outro.  Tacked on to the end of the album is a remix of Metairo Toiki, which is the only place on the record where vocal effects, pitch correcting a vocoding have been removed.  Not what you would expect from a remix, but the mix is very inventive and is a great dub take on one of Protoscience’s most manic tracks.

4 // METAIRO TOIKI (album version)

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As usual, I think you should support awesome music, so go buy this music now or die!!  Sadly, I have been having a lot of trouble finding any videos or songs from Protoscience to share with you, so to wrap this up, here are a couple of vids/songs from FLOPPY’s previous releases.  I really feel that FLOPPY gets better and better with each release, with Protoscience being their strongest record by far.  So check it out first then go for the back catalogue, which is still pretty bodacious.  001 out.

EVERYTHING // DEUS EX MACHINA

DEUS EX MACHINA // DEUS EX MACHINE

SENTIMENTAL SHOUNEN // SINE WAVE ORCHESTRA