Review Summary: Big world, big bops, big love
Mondo Grosso (aka Shinichi Osawa) makes smooth-cruising, toe-tapping dance pop with inflections of house, jazz, and whatever else takes his fancy;
BIG WORLD is equal parts triumph of contemporary J-pop and a worthy testament of his career, now in its fourth decade. Movers, dreamers, shakers and easy-listeners alike should consider it mandatory – it’s an album of the moment, an incisive mapping of the Japanese pop landscape, and an irresistibly catchy spread of great tracks. Hop on.
As per Mondo Grosso custom, a different guest vocalist takes the mic for each song.
BIG WORLD accommodates a few veterans, with Original Love and one-time Pizzicato Five member Takao Tajima taking a turn along with soloist Mika Nakashima, while the legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto lends his instrumental talents to the sophisticated tone-setter “IN THIS WORLD”, yet its focus is fiercely contemporary. This tracklist represents a slew of groups at the peak of today’s trends, from pop-rock comfortables Yorushika to crossover innovators Millennium Parade to indie-pop caption fanatics CHAI to the AKB-baiting idol group Nogizaka46; it even finds time for a few who have yet to hit lift-off (hip-hop duo Dongurizu especially).
What do these groups and their respective vocalists have in common beyond their claims to pop vogue? Very little, but Mondo Grosso makes the best of this, laying down an appropriately diverse set of tracks that cater to his contributors’ fortes with a connoisseur’s ear. “OH NO” (CHAI) is an almost gratingly catchy piece of dancefloor ignition, while the early standout “FORGOTTEN” (Black Boboi / Millennium Parade) plays things cooler with its pulsing house rhythm, alternation of languages and steady cascade of vocal phrasings; “CRYPT” (Awesome City Club)’s bass-heavy pop-rap feels like the song Daoko has spent her whole career trying to make with its high-range hairbrush-mic acrobatics, while the final highlight “OVERFLOWING” (Mika Nakashima) adopts the grandiose tones of epic J-pop and underpins them with a whirl of throbbing synths that interweave as something truly momentous. The variety across the board here is a treat, seen off with a shocking level of consistency; each vocalist capitalises on their 3-4 minutes of spotlight, and the only slot that feels a little underused is suis (Yorushika) on “Saigo no Shinzou”, a comparatively unfocused composition that drops her into a filler cut. Disregard that and the short instrumental opener, and you’re left with 10-for-10 on an all-star ticket.
However, the real MVP is of course Mondo Grosso himself. Composition and production aside, this record paints him as a masterful mixtape architect, juggling disparate cuts into a satisfying sequence. As anyone who’s made a good mix knows, you have to be bold as well as shrewd: “Mayoi Hito” (EGO-WRAPPIN’)’s melancholy reverie and “Gensou no Reflection” (Takao Takashima)’s monstrous funk-pop scarcely belong in the same ballpark, but the album flow renders them cogent complements to one another. Mondo Grosso’s flair for unobtrusively colourful chords run as a distinctive common thread, while his beatwork is infectious and economical, almost casual in the way it exerts maximum momentum from the bare minimum of energy. Consider those dance credentials well earned. His chops fare less well on the upbeat pop-shoegaze departure of “STRANGER” (Nogizaka46), but idol Asuka Saito makes great work of the song’s perfect pop melodies. Mondo Grosso foregrounds her in the mix, and his confidence is so well-placed that his scratchy guitar stylings hardly detract.
While this compensation act is exclusive to “STRANGER”, the album is equally sound in the trust it affords the rest of its roster. Mondo Grosso’s sensitivity to their talents and his impeccable sequencing turns what could have been an erratic grab-bag into a rewarding and highly replayable trove of delights; the drowsy R&B of closer “Big World” (RHYME) would have felt like an obligatory wrap-up on a more piecemeal tracklist, but on this album, it almost begs for an encore.
