Today, I would like to write about STUTS, an artist that I have discovered recently!
I already mentioned STUTS in a previous post, when I was talking about another Japanese artist: Alfred Beach Sandal. STUTS and Alfred Beach Sandal have made an EP together called “ABS+STUTS”. To be honest, I am completely obsessed with this work and I have listened to nothing else for the past days!
I was thinking of working on the lyrics, but I always stumble across parts I cannot translate or understand so I got discouraged…
STUTS is described as a “track maker”. To be honest, I don’t know what it means exactly, but guess it is something like making the instrumental backing track for other artists? He has been working with various artists and attracted attention with his first album “Pushin'” in 2016. STUTS says that he sees this album as a collection of his best works until then (source).
In 2017, he released two EP:
- “ABS+STUTS” featuring Alfred Beach Sandal, which is my favourite album so far.
- “ALLSEASON” featuring SIKK-O and Mamiko SUZUKI (鈴木真海子). This is a song from this EP:
In September this year (2018), he released his second album “Eutopia”. STUTS explains that, contrary to “Pushin'”, the album “Eutopia” is born from a real intention to create an album. The theme of “eutopia” (a place of ideal well-being) serves as axis for this work.
In this interview for MIKKI, STUTS explains why he chose the theme “eutopia” (存在し得る完璧な場所) and not “utopia” (存在しない場所):
「そちら (eutopia)のほうが自分の思い描いてるマインドに近いと思ったんです。〈存在しない場所〉を夢見る行為の魅力もわかるのですが、自分はこの作品を作りはじめたとき、どちらかと言うと理想とする場所や状態に行きたいというモードだったので、それを〈存在しない場所〉と言ってしまうのは希望がない感じがすると思ったんですね。
I personally like this album very much, particularly the instrumental tracks! There are 8 instrumental tracks, and 8 tracks featuring other artists. List of the tracks and where to buy on STUTS’ official website.
That’s it! Two days before the JLPT, why not chill out with some good music? 😄
I was wondering if you judge a song by the lyrics? I tend to put a bunch of my new songs on my mp3 player and I’ll delete or skip songs I don’t like. Half the time the tell tale sign the song is mediocre is the lyrics…. lyrics that are unimaginative, hackneyed, cheesy, etc. I need a certain about stimulation from the song lyrics where there’s wordplay and strange word combinations (one that comes to mind is kajikanda koe from the song otona no okite)
I forgot the adjective cringey !
https://mojim.com/jpy120469x2x2.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFwTBliU2-8
and this is another song that stood out for me for the lyrics since the guy started rapping in the middle of the song where he rhymes souri, toori, and choujiri
and this is otona no okite
https://vimeo.com/205744689
I like these songs! Thanks!
Some lyrics are so boring and unimaginative to the point I think you would understand the song after a couple months of learning Japanese (I know this from my own personal experience since I started with song lyrics when I started). I delete those songs quickly lol. I’ve been listening to japanese music since I started learning Japanese in 2007 so I can tell within a few phrases whether the lyrics are terrible or amazing.
LOL I just remembered something I googled years ago. arigachi na kashi!
https://matome.naver.jp/odai/2133534227127600201
http://news4wide.livedoor.biz/archives/1586659.html
I think that I am not good enough to appreciate or dislike the lyrics in Japanese. Most of the time, I would not understand them until I read them, and as I have not listened to a lot of Japanese songs in my life, it’s hard for me to tell if the lyrics are imaginative or clichéd. I think that the better you are in a language, the more sensitive you will be to bad lyrics. Mediocre lyrics almost never bother me in songs in English, Korean or Japanese while I find some French lyrics utterly stupid and embarrassing.
There is something that I dislike however, is when the same two or three strophes are repeated again and again. These are the songs that will bore me quickly. But all in all, I am more sensitive to the music and the singer’s voice.
bad lyrics bother me for english (I can’t stand the crap where I could tell where the songwriter went “well it rhymes.” some of the rhyming is so cheesy in the top 40 stuff), korean, and Japanese but as you said I am less bothered by the lyrics in Korean since it’s my weakest language. There’s still times where I’m not sure exactly how I’m supposed to interpret stuff in Korean especially when it comes to rap lyrics. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of the hip hop show called show me the money but that show makes me feel like I’m left in the dark sometimes because I don’t understand the lyrics. IT sometimes gets to the point where I know all the words and grammar (from looking it up or whatever or just from knowing) but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to interpret it since it rap lyrics they don’t rap in full sentences and they always leave out subjects etc. I get the english subs just to compare my interpretation to someone who is fluent in Korean even though I have no problem with the talking parts of the show .
I guess that even a native would have a hard time explaining some rap lyrics. It’s like poetry I think, good song writers will use new and inexpected associations of words, slang, maybe even new words? There are also a bunch of references we need to know to understand the lyrics sometimes.
It makes me think of that Chinese song “The Grass-Mud Horse”. It criticises the censorship by the governement, but one has to know that the “crabs” mentioned in the lyrics have the same pronounciation than “harmony”. One also has to know that “harmony” was a way to refer to “censorship”…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D2eh4xehc4
I am always afraid to miss hidden references in lyrics! Whenever I understand every word of a sentence but not the sentence itself, I always tend to think that it refers to something a native would know but not me…