GAME
Perfume
genre: pop/ electronic • release date: 2008
i don’t know how else to say it, GAME is a quintessential 2000’s Japanese electronic pop idol album. that was a lot to unpack from just one sentence. Perfume is a female trio who are laser-focused, pitch perfect and precise electronica. producer Tasutaka Nakata, the engineer and composer behind the entire album, pursues clinical precision across its formation, but also an angular precision. in this way GAME is an album that feels like pure mind candy. but not in a cynical fashion, in fact the album is a lot of fun and incredibly engaging. the album plays with a wide range of synth and electronica resulting in a massive bop of a time. one that seems to remain tireless so many years later, an album that is just as fresh as it was nearly twenty years ago. from top to bottom, start to finish, GAME is immediately attractive to the ears, yet remains incredibly replayable due to its well constructed layers. let’s find out why.
for me, i had first found Perfume in my high school years around its release. songs like “Polyrhythm” and “Chocolate Disco” were powerful icons of Japanese pop at the time. making their way across a young internet, through Limewire, to me. their sound rang into my ears, it became a sort of sustenance i could never get enough of, in no hyperbolic way. now nearly twenty years later, i had rediscovered them in the junk drawer of my music library, and was surprised to find they still sounded so captivating. even today these same songs feel just as pristine, if not even better. even on a recent road trip, after countless hours of music, my friend came back day-after-day, “play that Take Me song again”. an accolade in its own small way. i merely wanted to illustrate that even after so many years, GAME has aged incredibly well, if not better into today’s music scene. an identity and performance that has not eroded in the time between.
on its topmost layer is the trio of pop idols (Yuka Kashino, Ayaka Nishikawa and Ayana Omoto) performing the pieces in not-a-hair-out-of-place fashion, a performance so pure it feels basically Tron-like. like human PC models. the outer sheen of Perfume relies on these ladies upholding a perfection in their appearance and performance. the general allure of Perfume being captured by the performers’ visual identity. gorgeous, perfect. however it wouldn’t be much without the right engine. beneath the hood GAME drives well oiled machine. it is a collection of layered electronic and synth sounds in an order that resembles music. the beat pounds out a powerful bass while the other effects layer over, and over and over. not just in build but in repetition. in fact, repetition is one of the album’s greatest tools. even the girls’ vocals rely on repetition. singing vague words of meaning, in and out. their vocal delivery even find their own pitch perfect peak in which they climb and maintain with zero friction. GAME mathematically creates music from well considered beats, sound, formulations, and electronically enhanced performances. an experience so synthetic, it becomes emotionally accessible. a curious result.
“Take me Take me” plays on these ideas best. the initial beat is sharp, it jabs over and over and over, drilling in. alone it would be too much. but over this is a deliciously crunchy upper beat, it sounds gritty, but clean. on top are these little beeps, dits and dots, that echo off completing the full range of atmosphere. its here that Perfume begins to sing, “take me take me. take me take me” in a sort of alluring and hypnotic trance. it reminds of a sirens call, beautiful, artificial, luring. the song comes in at an impressive 5 minutes and 28 seconds. impressive because it really just repeats its main loop over and over and over again, with little variation, until finish. yet it remains one of the most brisk and repeatable songs i’ve heard in years.
“Polyrhythm” is the thesis of the album. it opensin grandeur, in a false promise of typical pop, before brandishing its high BPM in unison with Perfume’s gorgeous vocals. it never feels too artificial, the trio hold down a certain human aspect. but they become warped and distorted into mathematical repetition. classic pop meets Nakata’s intense production, resulting in music that blurs the lines between human and digital. the opening song has every right to be the album’s finest, with well placed builds, drops and payoffs at every right spot. i especially love how the song feels so late 2000’s pop. its incredibly nostalgic, in a way that plays great today in a culture where revisiting nostalgia is a major attraction. “Polyrhythm” floors me even today, maybe more, so many years later, as a song just geared for dopamine drops. talk to me about pop after that.
even as their original studio album, it is impressive just how close on the bullseye this album managed to strike. “Chocolate Disco” is incredibly charming in all the right ways. it feels like a perfect mix of adorable and powerful. the glittering synths overtake the song, creating a true audio disco of layered noise. the sparkling treble shines little bits of delight on to each part of the song, giving the more chorus and its grungy little beat an uplifting and carefree quality. the song is a blast, never feeling too serious, but earning its goofiness in its own right. by midpoint, the song finds a certain momentum that feels kind of ethereal, the music finds beautiful and nebulous emotion which carries some nice weight. it’s a song i would love to hear for the first time again. (and i’m not one to mention music videos but…… charming as hell)
its hard not to discuss each song going along, each one seems to add their own staple in to the album’s identity. “Macaroni” manages eke out its own special place in the album. as it dips into deep pounding bass, it simultaneously peaks out the high end in a gratifying way. working from both ends in unison, the vocals inhabit the spacey center. after that is simple hook. “Macaroni” is one of the simplest songs of the album, but may also be its greatest showcase of mastery. one of the most unassuming tracks that manage to remain one of my favorites of Perfume in general.
even still i wish i could talk about “Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow” or “Secret Secret”. or give the other songs worth a mention, a deeper look. suffice it to say, you very well should yourself! i still can’t help but have fun across the whole thing. a testament to the attention of each track.
my only draw back for the album is that when everything is special, not everything can be. when put into one lump sum, all 12 tracks begin to blend. the same signatures strong across the album result in a unified sound, but also one that can sometimes feel too super unified. every song played for a crystalized fun experience is sure to dull after time. each song bleeding into the next. in GAME i sometimes feel that sameness creates distance. the album’s greatness strength defining its own greatest weakness.
it’s funny coming back to GAME after all these years. it almost feels like i never left. like i’m right back in 2008, being captured by the album’s allure, it’s closely manicured beauty, all over again. there is something forever satisfying about music made right, perfect even. i won’t argue GAME is a perfect album, but sometimes it does feel that way. everything is hand placed to be at full glitter and joy, for every moment. strangely, the album really shines when it has lulled you into its artificial world, where vague emotions dwell unnamed. it’s here that GAME transcends past its own mundane, human making. even after nearly twenty years GAME is still just as pristine, emotionally alive.
written by
Marcus Landeros
- highlights -
Polyrhythm 「ポリリズム」
Baby cruising Love
Chocolate Disco 「チョコレイト・ディスコ」
Macaroni 「マカロニ」
Take me Take me
Secret Secret 「シークレットシークレット」
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow
track list:
Polyrhythm 「ポリリズム」
plastic smile
GAME
Baby cruising Love
Chocolate Disco 「チョコレイト・ディスコ」
Macaroni 「マカロニ」
Ceramic Girl 「セラミックガール」
Take me Take me
Secret Secret 「シークレットシークレット」
Butterfly
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow
Puppy love
