Shibuya-kei

Shibuya-kei first emerged as retail music from the Shibuya district of Tokyo.^[5] Flipper's Guitar, a duo led by Kenji Ozawa and Keigo Oyamada (Cornelius), formed the bedrock of the genre and influenced all of its groups, but the most prominent Shibuya-kei band was Pizzicato Five, who fused mainstream J-pop with a mix of jazz, soul, and lounge influences. Shibuya-kei peaked in the late 1990s and declined after its principal players began moving into other music styles.


Overseas, fans of Shibuya-kei were typically indie pop enthusiasts, which contrasted with the tendency for other Japanese music scenes to attract listeners of foreign anime fandoms. This was partly because many Shibuya-kei records had been distributed in the United States through major indie labels like Matador and Grand Royal.^[3]

Development and popularity[edit]

Flipper's Guitar, a duo led by Kenji Ozawa and Keigo Oyamada (also known as Cornelius), formed the bedrock of Shibuya-kei and influenced all of its groups. However, the term was not coined until after the fact,^[19] and its exact definition would not be crystallized until 1993.^[8] Many of these artists indulged in a cut-and-paste style that was inspired by previous genres based on kitsch, fusion, and artifice.^[9] In the West, the development of chamber pop and a renewed interest in cocktail music was a remote parallel.^{[20][nb 2]} According to Reynolds: "What was really international was the underlying sensibility. ... The Shibuya-kei approach was common to an emerging class of rootless cosmopolitans with outposts in most major cities of the world ... known pejoratively as hipsters."^[22] Eventually, the music of Shibuya-kei groups and their derivatives could be heard in virtually every cafe and boutique in Japan. Reynolds references this as an issue with its "model of elevated consumerism and curation-as-creation ... Once music is a reflection of esoteric knowledge rather than expressive urgency, its value is easily voided."^[23]


After Oyamada went solo, he became one of the biggest Shibuya-kei successes.^[13] Although his debut "The Sun Is My Enemy" only peaked at No. 15 on Japanese singles charts, writer Ian Martin calls it a "key track" that helped define Shibuya-kei.^[6] His 1997 album Fantasma is also considered one of the greatest achievements of the genre.^[22][19] Oyamada landed praise from American music critics, who called him a "modern-day Brian Wilson" or the "Japanese Beck".^[10] Marx described the album as "an important textbook for an alternative musical history where Bach, Bacharach, and the Beach Boys stands as the great triumvirate."^[19]


The most prominent Shibuya-kei band was Pizzicato Five, who fused mainstream J-pop with a mix of jazz, soul, and lounge influences, reaching a commercial peak with Made in USA (1994).^[14] As the style's popularity increased at end of the 1990s, the term began to be applied to many bands whose musical stylings reflected a more mainstream sensibility. Although some artists rejected or resisted being categorized as "Shibuya-kei," the name ultimately stuck, as the style was favored by local businesses, including Shibuya Center Street's HMV Shibuya, which sold Shibuya-kei records in its traditional Japanese music section. Increasingly, musicians outside Japan—including Momus, La Casa Azul, Dimitri from Paris, Ursula 1000, Nicola Conte, Natural Calamity, and Phofo—are labeled Shibuya-kei. South Korean bands such as Clazziquai Project, Casker, and Humming Urban Stereo have been said to represent "a Korean neo-Shibuya-kei movement".^[24]


Shibuya-kei's prominence declined after its principal players began moving into other music styles.^[25] Momus said in a 2015 interview that the subculture had more to do with the area itself, which he called "an overblown shopping district".^[26]