their time is now (the pillows - Moondust)

the pillows - Moondust

Why you'll love it: Strong and catchy first half

Why you'll hate it: Same ol' schtick. Stale second half. 

Anyone calling the pillows an anime band is living in the past.  It was a pretty grating moniker to begin with, even when it was meant with no harm.  In the 90s, the pillows was a strange and charming Beatles knock off.  Let's say, a more tolerable Oasis.  At the turn of the century, they found their edge with a slew of Pixes and punk inspired albums popularized by an anime.  Since then, the pillows has just been... a band.  Mostly neither here nor there, but they pump out releases at such an incredible rate that they manage to hit the bullseye every once and a while.  In the past 15 years, I'd say only two pillows albums have been remarkable, one flat out bad, and the rest with only about six or seven enjoyable tracks on them.

Moondust finds itself lost in that vast prairie of "ok, I guess" pillows albums.  A just about flawless 15 minutes kicks this album off.  "Clean Slate Revolution" and "Break A Time Machine" are only a fuzzy rough mix away from standing alongside their cherished "FLCL" years.  "About A Rock 'N' Roll Band" is the pillows at their snappy and catchy best in this stagnant and inoffensive era that seems to be going on forever.  "都会のAlice" is clearly the best song on here, with its confident snarky swagger and glitchy chorus.  Sadly, it's a holdover b-side from 2013, and doesn't represent the rest of the album well.

The rest of the album is fleeting, and frankly not all that worth talking about.  A few disposable happy-go-lucky pop songs that they've done 100 times now, and a handful of ballads.  Some ballads plod, like "Happy Birthday" while a couple others, like "Anemone" are given some extra love and care with slow meaty guitar solos and an emotional vocal delivery.

Moondust represents the pillows in more than one way.  It's a pretty strong offering.  I'd say about 8 songs on this album are pretty good.  That's more than the average!  In another way, it represents their frustrating stagnation.  the pillows probably could be much better.  Their songs are packaged and ready to go delicious pop.  All they need is some expression; any kind of deviation from the norm.  the pillows experimented in their early years, and found success in catchy indie-rock.  Ever since finding that success, they've done very little to stray from what's familiar, and have become a watered down version of themselves.  They're a hard working band that has every fundamental right to be the one Japanese band that Americans know (not because of wacky viral shenanigans).  But anyone who has been following them for 10 years should be begging for them to do something different.

Basically, the pillows are John Cena.