winners and losers (Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Wonder Future)

Asian Kung-Fu Generation
Wonder Future

why you'll love it: English song titles for convenience

why you'll hate it: bland as toast with no butter

In their heyday, I'd refer to Asian Kung-Fu Generation as "that band from that anime you like."  I'm not so sure how true that is anymore.  I don't really know what glibly refer to them as, other than "that rock band that is sometimes good."  Being neither here nor there has been this quartet's curse for ten years now.

For a long time, Asian Kung-Fu Generation might as well have been Microsoft's Clippy.  When I was getting into fringe punk and garage rock bands from Japan in the late 2000's, their simple American influenced pop-rock would not stop cropping up.    Their saturation, due to fans interested in little more than Japanese pop-culture, was frustrating to wade through.  A frustration that I unfairly took out on the band.  Even when being kind, there is nothing experimental or outstanding about Asian Kung-Fu Generation.  They essentially sound like a typical indie-emo act.  Now, this isn't exactly a terrible thing if the songs are good, which is sometimes the case.  While I still don't feel like their popularity outside of Japan is well deserved, they have put out a decent amount of solid tunes over the years.  I have to admit, for a band that colors within the lines 100% of the time, they can impress every now and then.

Even as they release their 8th album, Wonder Future, I'm having trouble understanding why a band so capable is so.... plain.  It's almost as if the group has doubled down on the plain-ness with this release.  The album art alone is devoid of their mainstay wildly floral Yusuke Nakamura artwork.  Literally nothing replaces it.  Another sure sign of mediocrity came in that they recorded at Foo Fighters' LA studio.  The same Foo Fighters that have have only put out one album over the last ten years that hasn't been tragically generic.

That big ugly arena rock mixing style is probably the most damning aspect of the album.  Everything is mixed so loudly that nothing shines.  When trying to connect with a foreign song, it's important to have a melody or riff to latch on to, or a strong vocal performance to feel the emotion.  In Wonder Future's case, it's just one big hollow sound.  A shame, because there are some good songs buried in the mess.  "Little Lennon"and "Signal on The Street" have a strong driving pace.  The power-ballad, "Eternal Sunshine" hits all the right marks.  The best song on here is unfortunately a holdover.  "Standard" has much more personality on the version recorded last year for a compilation.

The low points of this album only reiterate the band's unfortunate production choice and nagging mediocrity.  "Easter" and "Planet of The Apes" reek of bog-standard aggressive production.  An echoey mix, distorted vocals, and just too much pomp and circumstance for a simple song.  A more down to earth presentation would have made the tracks feel more personable.  Instead they sound like they were generated by an computer program labeled "loudrockmusic.exe".  "Caterpillar" and "Wonder Future" go absolutely nowhere.  They may have had a saving grace in the form of impressive drum and/or guitar work, but everything is so clumsily layered it just sounds like white noise.

Somewhere in the middle is "Opera Glasses", with its confounding structure.  Perhaps in an attempt to recapture the magic of a popular song from yesteryear, "Senseless", "Opera Glasses" completely upends itself after the first chorus into a quirky refrain.  Obviously the most experimental songwriting on the album, but it feels a little too "Frankenstien'd" together to be actually enjoyable.  And again, the mixing just isn't versatile enough to do the concept justice.

It's been almost three years since the last Asian Kung-Fu Generation album, five since the last actually good one, and seven since the last one that was generally praised by fans.  The impulsive and high energy style of their formative years landed them anime deals that indirectly drove me mad; but I think I'd prefer that today over being plain as cardboard.