handsomeboy technique - "your blessings" (from the adelie land lp, import available for purchase here.)

in brief : the japanese avalanches.

all of the press around japanese duo handsomeboy technique--what little of it there is--has labelled them as the japanese go! team, which isn't entirely accurate. the go! team sample vocals, as handsomeboy do here, but they also, by and large, write their own music. from what i can hear on "your blessings," handsomeboy don't do that. (and the avalanches / go! team parallels are a bit specious, i think, mostly generated by the fact that the go! team proved more popular than the avalanches, and the hardcore had to find a way to counter that.)

i had first heard of them on said the gramophone, got caught up in the enthusiasm, but didn't dig the song. w/ more and more attention paid to them, though, i gave them another shot and came up w/ "your blessings," which i like a lot.

the vocals on "your blessings" are from jackie deshannon's "when you walk in the room," a substantial hit for the searchers in the 60's. handsomeboy's particular genius on this track is the way they chop up the chorus and, ultimately, make it much more effective than the original. as for the music ... have you ever seen fireworks when making eye contact w/ another? bright lights? angelic choirs? "your blessings" is like macy's 4th of july extravaganza exploding over the tokyo skyline. it understands the joy of romantic entaglements as the avalanches' "since i left you" understands being entirely free of them.