Pizzicato Five
Advance publicity for Pizzicato Five’s summer tour promised that the animated Japanese popsters would be backed by a live band, the largest group they’d performed with outside of their home country. Up to now they’ve toured in a scaled-down version due to financial constraints.
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At once obsessed with pop’s past and future, Konishi, who writes and produces most of the group’s music, sets Bacharach-cum-Brasil ’66-esque hooks amid drum ‘n’ bass mayhem. But his heady concoctions could be heard to better advantage downstairs on the dance floor at Smart Bar, where he DJed a brief set immediately after the show.
Pizzicato Five began over a decade ago when Konishi teamed up with two friends and a different female singer. The group’s ever-changing lineup has never at one time equaled five–the name was inspired by Louis Jordan’s novelty-blues combo of the 30s and 40s, the Tympany Five. But their 1987 debut album Couples (unreleased here) emulates the orchestral pop of the Beach Boys’ classic Pet Sounds, a style that’s been revived again more recently by artists like Eric Matthews and the High Llamas. Eventually establishing himself as an influential figure on the Japanese music scene, Konishi spearheaded a national soft-rock trend, paying particular reverence to forgotten American tunesmith Roger Nichols, the cowriter of such Carpenters hits as “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays.”
