It’s not often that I write about music on here, though not for a lack of desire. Just about any time I discover a new band or listen to a full album, I have the desire to talk about it in some way. While I may not “love music” as an entity, I am passionate about the styles of music that I enjoy. Which sounds a bit obvious to say, I imagine, as who wouldn’t love the music that they enjoy? Yet to me, music is about finding the emotions buried deep inside one’s core and just letting it all out in an explosive manner.

Which, perhaps, is why I tend to enjoy a lot of heavy metal and classic rock that not only has a solid beat, but good melodies as well. If a song makes you want to tap your foot, then it is getting the basics done. If a song fails to make you want to move your entire body or to sing out loud, even if it’s just imitating the sound of the guitars, drums, or synths, then to me, it is not a truly good song. It lacks a soul.

Perhaps it’s been too long since I was in concert band in school, or perhaps I just never learned more than the basics of music, but when it comes time to write about a song or an album, well, it’s like trying to push a cart that has cubes instead of wheels. Without the actual music present to help describe my meaning, to be able to imitate the sounds to specify what I mean, then I often find critiquing and analyzing music to be vague, lending even more to how subjective a medium it can truly be.

I suppose that’s why I enjoy Todd’s Pop Song Reviews and The Rap Critic. Even though they discuss music I’m not at all partial to, I find their analysis to be insightful as it is able to dissect the song bit by bit. They can simply isolate whatever part of a song it is they want to discuss, allowing you to zoom in and understand what they’re praising or condemning, rather than simply looking at a webcam and talking about what they do or don’t like.

The only reason I bring this up is because, well, today I’ll be blogging about music. Specifically, Japanese music. The tunes I listen to already suffer from a barrier within North America, as power metal and similar melodic genres are typically from Europe, and as such are not a part of the major record industry. It doesn’t matter that most bands sing in English in order to appeal to the largest audience worldwide, it matters that none of these record labels are part of the old distributors that have been in the States for decades. No radio play, no television play, no exposure outside of the Internet and the rare chance that a CD is actually carried by a major retailer.

So imagine all of those barriers already existing, and fortify them with a different language and a difference in culture. It’s a bit difficult to write about such a thing and have people understand, especially since it’s tough to get people willing to step outside of their normal boundaries when it comes to what they’ll listen to. I should know, as even when I can appreciate a good song in another genre, the odds of a pop, punk, rap or other style of song being on my Zune or computer are slim to none. I want something specific out of my music, and I believe others are the same.

Why bring it up, then? Well, as I said, I tend to be passionate about the music that I like. More so, ever since my niece was born, I’ve been a bit disappointed in the lack of truly talented female role models in music altogether. If a woman can aspire to do more than blow the members of some pop boy band, then she’s usually being put into fancy costumes, handed a sheet of music with lyrics the artist didn’t even write, and then told to sing it like she means it. Once upon a time pop starlets at least had a wide range, but nowadays, especially with autotune, it seems like all they need is someone that’s mildly decent at Rock Band. Even in the heavy metal I listen to it is rare to find a woman that plays an actual instrument or is in charge of writing the music. The largest presence, from what I can tell, of such women is the indie punk scene, and even then they’re essentially a niche within a niche (possibly within another niche).

Unfortunately, my thoughts towards most punk are much like those of Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris (and similar thoughts extend to most grunge, at the dismay of my brother).

So as my niece has been growing older and is being influenced left and right by the growing bombardment of Justin Bieber and One Direction from classmates and even teachers and adults, I find myself yearning to find something proper for her. Music that is “safe” for a child’s perception, but also can help her aspire to be more than just another girl swooning as yet another young pop male sings a generic song about a vague sense of some girl. I don’t want her to be manipulated by some record executives like all the girls she’s trying to fit in with.

Which is where Japan comes in. From standard rock bands like Stereopony and Scandal to more power metal style Cyntia and Destrose, finding all female bands in Japan is easy. I have to resort to Wikipedia if I want such lists of Western music, but a quick trip to YouTube will have me hopping from band to band to sample the great variety of musicians.

At first I was skeptical, of course. I don’t trust record industries in general, and I feel like Japan’s is the sort to grab a helping of young women to put together a band, sell some records, and then discard the girls once they start hitting the latter end of their twenties. It wasn’t until I started looking into some of these bands’ histories that I discovered many of them form like any other band, and soon after I find no reason to believe they’re just playing a tune written by some corporate suits.

Amongst all of the different bands I’ve discovered and listened to, however, one has made a surprisingly large impact upon me. In fact, I’ve managed to listen to their whole album. I tend to be quite picky in that regard, with very few bands writing entire albums that I’ve been able to enjoy. To me, a lot of bands have a lot of filler and fluff between their big hits and singles. Very rarely can I sit down and listen to an album from start to finish, and thus far only one band has been able to craft such musical experiences multiple times.

Yet I’ve found every track on the Doll $ Boxx album to be good and, despite many of them having similar traits in regards to tempo and tone, different.

I spoke with friends before about how, aside from Headbangya (Headbanger), Babymetal is pretty much just generic metal riffs fused with generic pop melodies. Very rarely do the two blend well together, and ultimately the band has only grown so aware in Western public consciousness because it’s “weird”. The name, the age of the girls, and the juxtaposition of two genres that seem at odds with each other has your typical white person going “Oh Japan, how funny and unusual!” when, in truth, there’s nothing all that strange about it. Nor is the quality of the music all that good, with aforementioned Headbangya being the one song that works as more than a mere gimmick.

For the most part I’ve preferred Cyntia’s blend of metal and pop, as their two albums available on iTunes in America (“Lady Made” and “Limit Break”) feel a bit like taking your typical JPop song found in the opening credits of an anime and applying some speedy riffs to it, breaking down in the middle for some rather impressive guitar and keyboard solos. It’s much more effective at being unique and well done music than Babymetal’s awkward mashing together of genres. It’s more of a blend, and I’ve always felt that a chosen genre should be more of a skeleton, a backbone, to what you’re building rather than the syntax. A song that is heavy metal should only be defined by loose ideas that heavy metal songs tend to share, but still be good music. Cyntia’s backbone can be found in both heavy metal and pop, and as a result you have a wholly unique band.

Doll $ Boxx takes this blend in a different direction, however. Or rather, they are capable of applying it more effectively.

I suppose it would help to understand that Doll $ Boxx is actually the product of two separate bands, or rather, one band combined with the vocalist from another group. When Gacharic Spin’s vocalist had to leave the band due to health reasons, they brought in the singer for Lightbringer, a melodic power metal band, to fill in for the live shows. It was during this time that they created Doll $ Boxx, which on the surface is Gacharic Spin + 1.

However, Gacharic Spin, despite having plenty of metal and rock influence in its songs, has a very strong pop emphasis. A lot of dance style beats and songs while Doll $ House greatly downplays those for a more metal style. Yet the pop influence doesn’t vanish, and the heavy metal doesn’t get overly strong. In fact, one of the primary traits of heavy metal, the distorted rhythm guitar, is almost absent in Doll $ House. They have a bassist and lead guitarist, but there is no primary rhythm guitar to fill in between. Instead, the synthesizer provides rhythms as needed, which is largely why the different songs are able to stand out. Even high-tempo tracks can have a different tone simply based on how the synthesizer is implemented and how strongly. The heavy rhythm guitar is only provided by the lead guitarist when needed.

I suppose this is what I meant by Doll $ Boxx blending genres more effectively, and certainly in line with my thought that certain traits of genre should simply provide a framework to build off of. The drums and percussion are most definitely influenced by metal and thrash stylings, but the synths vary from dance, to classic piano, to just about any sound a synthesizer can pump out. The bassist is typically playing a variety of notes rather than simply repeating the rhythm guitarist’s parts, or jamming down on D repeatedly.

In essence, Doll $ Boxx displays a sort of craftsmanship that has become harder to find in many modern music genres. No, they’re not masters of progressive rock or anything, but you can expect the songs to change between the lead-in, verses, the bridge and the chorus, with each solo filling whatever need that individual song has. Slow things down, release all energy at once, or perhaps build up to the explosive final chorus.

Doll $ Boxx knows how to end a song as well, a skill that is often lacking many times, especially when discussing generic hits. I love a song that feels like it is a journey, with a sense of rising action and a grandiose climax. If your song can leave me feeling as if the ending is the culmination of every note and chord that has come before it and leave me sitting back in my seat, tingling with the energy of that song, then you have a good song I want to listen to again. Too often you’ll find songs that end awkwardly or suddenly simply because the song is built off of a rigid structure of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, and as a result you feel more as if the song is just padding itself until official requirements of song length are met. If I feel as if I’ve been on a journey, however, then the length of the song doesn’t matter. Three minutes or ten, a well structured and crafted song feels complete.

I understand that I no doubt sound as if I’m gushing over this band. I’ll be honest, I was pretty much blind-sided by how much I enjoyed them, nor have I been able to get into my favorite aspect of the band. Honestly, I don’t quite know how to describe their implementation of vocal melodies. Trying to describe what makes aspects of music work is, ultimately, more difficult in writing because it’s all about how it effects you in an emotional way. In fact, even “emotion” is an inadequate description. It’s more of an energy, a sense of sorts.

The vocalist has a beautiful voice, most certainly, as do the frequent co- or backup-singers in the drummer and keyboardist. Yet it’s more how each vocal melody carries the song, how the secondary melody adds an additional layer to the primary, or even the rhythm of the words as she sings. Is there a way to objectively describe why it works? To properly analyze it as I might a video game’s design? If it’s possible, I am no expert at it.

All I suppose I can really say is that it takes more than technical talent to perform and compose a proper song. It’s one of the reasons I don’t quite enjoy as much progressive rock or metal as others, as many of the songs come off as some sort of masturbation for the performer. Yes, they can play complex chords, notes, and rhythms, but does it make a good song? For me, a good song is defined purely by emotion and energy. There is skill, and then there is craftsmanship. It’s no different when trying to determine if someone is a good writer, and if they’re a good story-teller.

So while I can sit here and dissect how Doll $ Boxx blends together multiple genres, how they somehow culminate into a unique band different from their origins, and manage to put together an entire album that I can truly get into, what it comes down to is that they simply know how to write a song, and they managed to do it ten times.

I’ve really enjoyed what music I’ve found from Japan, but Doll $ Boxx has entered the ranks of my favorites like few other bands have. To me, the greatest shame is how difficult it is to obtain the music of these bands. Doll $ Boxx, Gacharic Spin, Lightbringer and Destrose are not being distributed digitally in the states, and only the latest two albums by Cyntia can be bought off of iTunes. If you’re lucky you can import a CD for $30-40 off of Amazon, but few people are willing to pay such prices.

That is why I wrote this blog, despite all the difficulties in discussing music. I don’t expect it to be one of my better written pieces, and in fact already believe it to be one of my worst. I took forever getting to the point, I jump across topics, and the actual analysis of the songs and album is absolutely terrible. But I want to spread word of these bands, and Doll $ Boxx in particular because their album, “Dolls Apartment”, is such a rare and finely crafted gem. I’d like to do my part in spreading what awareness I can so that maybe, just maybe, these bands can get at least a bit of a larger following in an already niche market in the states.

Plus, there need to be more opportunities to see such bands live, and Doll $ Boxx/Gacharic Spin are certainly a band I wouldn’t want to miss.