Talking about some absolutely wonderful creations.

Why hello there. Fancy meeting you here 😏 Especially because you’re just in time for yet another installment of the one, the only, J-Music Exchange/Rate! Of course, if you’re a regular visitor of the blog, this post should come as no surprise to you at this point and thus are in no need of any further introduction, so by all means go ahead and skip this next paragraph. However, if this happens to be your first time here and you’re not quite sure what this is all aboutー

The Exchange/Rate is a tandem album review series conducted every month by yours truly alongside my good friend and fellow Japanese music fan Al (from Omunibasu). Each month we decide on a specific theme with which our reviews would revolve around. We then pick out albums from our respective libraries which we think best coincides with that theme. We will then give the album we chose to the other person and vice versa (exchange), after which we then listen to and subsequently review the album we were given (rate). This project has not only allowed us to explore music beyond our libraries, but it provides an opportunity for us to see our favorite albums from a different point of view. It is our hope that this series is able to do the same for you and that you either find a new artist to try out and/or we offer you a fresh take on one of *your* favorite albums 

Al and I take turns deciding on the theme for each month’s reviews, and for this round the reins are back in his hands. This month, Al decided that our theme will revolve around the concept of creativity; or more specifically, albums we think of when we think of the word “creative”. Of course, this is very much an open-ended prompt, and one that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. It could mean an album with a uniquely conceptual through-line, or one where the artist’s musical ingenuity really shines through. Or, honestly, however we personally define and identify “creativeness” in the albums we choose to highlight.

To that end, I put forward Guiano’s The Traditional Themes Of Natural Beauty In Japanese Aesthetics; a release I personally consider to be one of the most creative I’ve come across. You can check out Al’s thoughts on it over at the Omunibasu Substack! In return, Al handed me Back to the Future by A crow is white and had me give it a couple of spins.

Let’s get it!

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A crow is white (カラスは真っ白) was a Japanese funk rock band made up of vocalist/guitarist Yaginuma Kana, guitarist Shimizu Kouhei, bassist Ochi the Funk (formerly Yoshiyama Jun), and drummer Taihei. They first began activities in 2010 with their self-released mini-album Hato Poppo, and started gaining wider recognition in 2014 when their songs appeared as playable tracks in the popular mobile game SHOW BY ROCK!!. Over the course of their career, A crow is white released four mini-albums and three full-length albums before disbanding in 2017.

＜Ｂａｃｋ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｅ　Ｆｕｔｕｒｅ (バックトゥザフューチャー)＞
(＊Spotify link to the full album)

CDJapan Affiliate Link(s):
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＜T ｒａｃｋｌｉｓｔ＞

０１・魔方陣より愛を込めて/mahoujin yori aiwokomete
０２・浮気 DISCO/uwaki disco
０３・Let it die ～You shall die～
０４・サヨナラ！フラッシュバック！/sayonara flashback ～hard mode ver.～
０５・fifth
０６・カーネーション/carnation
０７・Oh my sugar
０８・YASAI FUNK
０９・みずいろ/mizuiro

Ａｌ：When Leap first proposed this theme to me, it took a while for me to figure out what even makes an album ‘creative’? You could make the argument that all artists convey a sense of creativity, as they use the means of music, photography, illustration, etc, to express their own, individual and wildest ideas. Or, you could look at it in the lens of the album Leap gave to me this month where it takes a broader/well-known idea and portrays it in a new light through its unique organization/composition.

But I think I looked at this topic a bit differently when I settled with my chosen album: Back to the Future by Karasu wa Masshiro (aka, A Crow is White).

Apart from it sharing the same title as my favorite film franchise of all-time, it honestly happens to embody a lot of the things I’ve learned and come to love throughout my time as a Japanese music fan. Songs that invoke a sense of nostalgia/sadness rooted from youth experiences? Check; I think “Mahoujin Yori Ai wo Komete” expresses that pretty well. Entertaining displays of jazz/funk? Check; “Carnation” and “Yasai Funk” are both bangers, and as per usual, I adored the inclusion of that sweet saxophone in “Fifth Blues”. Female vocalist with a more high-pitched/cutesy demeanor? Absolutely check; in fact, I’d go as far as to say that Yaginuma Kana’s voice heavily reminded me of Hanazawa Kana’s softer tone, and it was also pretty interesting to learn that she’s extensively worked with a lot of the voice actor artists I’ve followed throughout the years, including HanaKana herself. A good handful of these tracks having a slightly strange/zany personality? Totally; I couldn’t help but to think about Soutaiseiriron’s music when listening to the eerie nature of “Let it die~You shall die~” and it kinda took me back to the time I was absolutely mesmerized by the vibe of “Kerboros” and how I put it on repeat for a while.

And while Back to the Future may not fall entirely on the definitions of ‘creativity’ that I mentioned earlier, I still think it’s so interesting that all of these familiar musical elements happen to be expressed in this singular album. It’s all combined and executed so well, and not only did this album easily connect with me and my own tastes, but I feel like the unique charms and talent of Karasu wa Masshiro were just shown off really nicely here.

＜Ｓｏｎｇｓ　ｏｆ　Ｉｎｔｅｒｅｓｔ＞

０１・魔方陣より愛を込めて/mahoujin yori aiwokomete
I mentioned this to Al when we first revealed our album picks for this month’s Exchange/Rate theme, but A crow is white actually happens to be one of the very first bands (give or take within the first twenty or so) I discovered when I was just getting into Japanese music. Back then, I quickly realized how much I gravitated toward the bands and artists that indie label Space Shower Music was spotlighting on their official YouTube channel. It became one of the first channels I’d religiously check for new uploads when I didn’t know yet where else to find new music, and through it I stumbled upon A crow is white. Their track fake!fake! in particular left an impression on me, with its energetic and funk pop sound paired with its striking animated PV practically demanded attention.

That being said, this was also back when I didn’t quite have the luxury of being able to stream music whenever and wherever I wanted. So while I did discover A crow is white fairly early on in their career, I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a “fan” in the truest sense, as I just wasn’t able to keep up with their releases as much as I would’ve liked. I bring this up though to at least establish that, however little it might be, I did have some sense of the kind of sound A crow is white were bringing to the table back then: a cutesy, high-energy brand of pop rock accentuated by vocalist Yaginuma Kana’s light and airy singing style. I distinctly remember thinking at the time how they sounded like a peppier, more pastel-colored Soutaiseiriron. All of that is why I ultimately found Mahoujin yori aiwokomete to be such a surprise. It feels so far removed from most of what I came to know about A crow is white. The track is significantly mellower and slower compared to their earlier work, and the band has completely shifted away from that cutesy pop rock sound I just described toward something jazzier, moodier, and overall more mature.

０３・Let it die ～ You shall die ～
That sentiment carries over for the vast majority of the album, with really only one or two exceptions, which we’ll get to in a bit. For now though, I found this fascinating not just because of how different it is from the band’s earlier output (as I was just talking about), but also because if you didn’t know any better, say this happens to be your very first time hearing A crow is white, you might honestly think this was how they’d always sounded. Their grasp of broader jazz and post rock elements feels so natural and nuanced here that it comes across as second nature. This also ties directly into how I feel about the album as a whole, but it’s worth pointing out how those musical sensibilities translate into how well their songs turn out, with Let it die ～You shall die～ standing tall as the band’s most popular track by an immense margin.

Of course, there’s a lot that could explain this, with one big factor being that the track was part of the original soundtrack for a PlayStation 4 game released around that time (the aptly titled Let It Die); a game that featured over a hundred Japanese bands and artists, and quickly gained a ton of traction online for that very reason (on top of being a compelling title in its own right). I also suspect the reason the song is sung entirely in English has to do with the fact that the game launched internationally first. Now, it’s not unusual for Japanese bands to throw in bits of English here and there, but what really surprised me with A crow is white was how seamlessly they wove the language into their music. Much like how they showed themselves to be incredibly proficient jazz artists, Let it die ～You shall die～ doesn’t just feel like a Japanese track with some English sprinkled in, it comes across as a genuinely catchy, well-written English song in its own right.

０６・カーネーション/carnation
Things really come to a head with Carnation, where the band shifts from subtle jazz undertones to full-on, unadulterated swing jazz, ditching their usual rock band setup in favor of a straight-up jazz ensemble. Once again, it’s miles apart from what A crow is white had been known for prior to this release, yet it’s pulled off nearly flawlessly in my opinion. The track sets this perfect ambiance, like you’ve just stepped into a dimly lit jazz club, smoke hanging in the air while Yaginuma Kana’s coquettish singing flits through the room. There’s a natural sway to it too, the kind that practically makes you want to snap your fingers along as the band takes turns cutting loose with their instrumental solos.

It’s times like this, when a band steps outside their usual lane into a genre they’re not really known for, only to absolutely nail it as if they’ve been playing that style their whole lives, that I can’t help but think back to when we used to talk a lot about the concepts of “omote” and “ura” here on the Exchange/Rate. That idea of bands making music because it’s the trendy sound of the moment versus making the kind of music they genuinely love. I can’t say for sure that that’s what happened with A crow is white here as we don’t know enough about their inner workings to draw that conclusion, but at the same time, it’s just as easy to believe they’re simply that talented. Talented enough, in fact, to flip a switch and convincingly pull off whatever style they set their minds to.

０８・YASAI FUNK
It’s almost poetic, really, that we have to dig this deep into Back to the Future before stumbling onto a track like YASAI FUNK, the one song here that feels like classic A crow is white. True to its title, it’s the band going back into their zany, funky pop-rock sound, almost as if we never left. It feels to me like a deliberate creative choice: a little nudge and wink from the band, showing that, yes, they can still turn on that signature style whenever they want. More importantly, though, it underscores that the album’s broader direction was a conscious one. Almost as if the band wanted to make a statement in the form of a showcase of just how many different genres they can inhabit. And in that sense, this track serves as a reminder that no matter how far they stray from their original sound, at the end of the day, they’re still the same old A crow is white.

A little tidbit I held off on mentioning until now is that Back to the Future marks the first time all the members contributed to both writing and composition. Up until this point, that responsibility had rested squarely on frontwoman Yaginuma Kana. That shift in process explains a lot about why the album covers so much stylistic ground, with each member had the freedom to fully explore their own creative instincts (funnily enough, the one track that sounds the most like A crow is white’s earlier work, YASAI FUNK, just so happens to be one of the ones Yaginuma herself wrote). Learning of that fact gave me a much deeper appreciation for the band from a technical standpoint, as well as the album as a whole being a collective reflection of everyone’s respective musicality.

＜Ｗｈａｔ　Ｉ　ｔｈｉｎｋ　ｏｆ　Ｂａｃｋ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｅ　Ｆｕｔｕｒｅ ＞

In the context of light and color perception, white is often said to be the result of all visible colors combined. In other words, the color white can be seen is a combination of all the colors of the spectrum. Now, I highly doubt that to be one of the things that the band thought of when deciding the name “A crow is white” for their band (lol), but I can’t help but find it fitting, almost reflective even of what kind of release Back to the Future turned out to be. Not only because this release was a true collaborative effort between all the members, but also because of the way their different ideas and sounds ended up coming together for the creation of this album.

I really do think this was by design. That the band set out to make this album a true showcase of just how deep their musicality runs. And honestly, it’s something we might never have gotten a glimpse of had they not chosen to go this route. In that sense, I also find Back to the Future to be a daring release, precisely because it presents something so unfamiliar to their established fanbase. We’ve talked before about how resistant fans can be to change, and how veering away from expectations can sometimes backfire, especially when listeners were perfectly content with how things were before a change in band or artists sound or style.

For what it’s worth, I do think A crow is white’s gamble ultimately paid off, or at least that’s how I see it. Back to the Future comes across as a straight-up masterclass. A flex, if you will, from the band, who are pretty much showing off by delivering more than serviceable takes across a wide spectrum, whether it’s the nostalgic ’80s disco of Uwaki Disco, the post rock inspired rhythms of Let it die ～You shall die～, the swing jazz of Carnation, or even the classic kayoukyoku stylings of Oh Sugar. Each of these genre detours felt deliberate and tactfully executed, with the band proving that their grasp of these sounds goes well beyond surface level.

＜Ｍｙ　Ｒａｔｉｎｇ＞


４.５ ｏｕｔ ｏｆ ５

＆

９ ｏｕｔ ｏｆ １０

It feels almost poignant that Back to the Future would become A crow is white’s final release before disbanding. Rather than giving us more of the music they were collectively known for, they chose instead to leave behind an album that highlights each member’s individuality and unique sensibilities. In a way, it mirrors the underlying message of the film Back to the Future; that time is interconnected, and sometimes to move forward you must first look back. Perhaps the subtle retro threads woven throughout the album are a nod to the members’ own musical roots, revisited one last time before parting ways. Whatever the case, what they’ve left us with here is truly something to remember them by.

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What are your guys’ thoughts on A crow is white’s Back to the Future? Let me know in the comments!

Likewise, let us know too which albums come to mind when you think of the word “creative”. We’d love to know!

And, before I let you go, don’t forget to check out Al’s review of he Traditional Themes Of Natural Beauty In Japanese Aesthetics by Guiano over at the Omunibasu Substack if you haven’t yet already!

Happy Listening!