Review Summary: Tentenko XXI: Final Boss
Tentenko is an ex-idol freelance artist who runs her own label and has released an extensive range of experimental pop and techno EPs. This review is part of an ongoing series dedicated to exploring her discography. For a point of reference and orientation to her discography as a whole, please see the first instalment in the series, the review for Good Bye, Good Girl. For a further introduction to this album specifically, see also the review for Hokago Symphony.
Hello and welcome to the only Tentenko album that matters.
Well, sort-of.
Tentenko’s first full release on Toys Factory,
Kogyo Seihin, is far and away the most ‘important’ album in her canon. It’s where most people would and should start with her, including me, and it’s also where many will likely stop. This is partially because it fleshes out a retro-future techno pop sound so thoroughly within just seven tracks that day-trippers will likely feel little need to scout further afield, but also because of a few drawbacks that we’ll have covered before you can count to ten…ten…ko. Fuck me, it’s been a long ride. I need a drink.
As outlined in the
Hokago Symphony review, Tentenko’s output on Toys Factory sees her surrendering creative control to a healthy pool of writers, producers, mixers, arrangers etc.; she tends to write her own lyrics, but that’s about the scope of it. For a full list of collaborators see the handy Discogs link at the bottom, but suffice to say that our heroine finds herself in professional hands on this one, and the difference of production value and complexity of arrangement compared to her Tenten Records output is, erm, pronounced. On this basis, it’s encouraging to see how much attention Tentenko’s collaborators seem to have paid to the sound and style she developed alone. On first glance these tracks are whacky pop songs that sound nothing like the likes of
Aka to Kuro or
Machi, but their compositions string together several traits that constitute the fundaments of the great and venerable Tentenko brand, so it would seem. Remember her penchant for zany soundscapes that repurpose childlike melodies to mysterious ends? The fourth track “Hoshi no Densha” has you covered. How about her cute bangers propelled by killer bassines along the lines of “Hachiware (T.F)” or “Denjiha”? Look no further than “Jiro” (and look upon it all day long because this song is disgustingly catchy). But what about the main deal, Tentenko’s simultaneous greatest weapon and Achilles heel? What about the
noise, the glitch, the self-sabotaging timbre that made
Tooku no Parade an insanity simulator and
Conduct of Human Beings the best kind of bumpy ride? Opener “Kuruma” brings all these things to the table in force, with one of the most abrasive arrangements you’ll hear in any undubiously labelled Pop Song courtesy of Boredoms/Hanatrash/Naked City superhero Yamantaka Eye.
This is hopefully enough to placate team Tenten Records (if such a faction exists), but more to the point these tracks are excellent! Tenten and co. uphold a level of flair, polish and face-value catchiness that makes this an essential check for fans of alternative/art pop in the most general sense, never mind its pertinence to the Tentenkoverse. “Jiro” is a cutified anthology of Togawa-isms that can stomp playfully over my attention span all day long, while “Kuruma”
finally perfects the kind of wilfully challenging tongue-in-cheek Tentenko’s been shooting for all along in the form of a perfect pop banger. Singles “Good Bye, Good Girl.” and “Hokago Symphony” show up in their final (unaltered) form here and are such a welcome presence that their inclusion feels like a repatriation ceremony. The significantly more user-friendly “Kuruma” remix translates all the charm of the original into a sweeter package, “Hoshi no Densha” is a delight of intriguing melodies, while closer ‘Ryuuhou no Kodomo’ does a superb job of just existing.
An auspicious basis for any album, right?
Kogyo Seihin is almost good enough that we can deem it Tentenko’s first all-round success story and call it a day.
Almost.
A key part of this album that takes several replays to become fully apparent is the distinction it outlines between flair and personality.
Something’s missing here was one of my first Original Thoughts on this one, but it wasn’t immediately apparent what that something was. A few months and more than a few Tentenkos later, the answer is clear: as broadly faithful as this album is to the aesthetic and craft for which Tentenko laid the foundations on her own terms, it doesn’t capture quite the same sense of goofiness and stubborn amateurism that Tentenko’s true believers
will come to know and love.
Kogyo Seihin is polished to a fault in a way that fortifies individual tracks but seems a little plastic when viewed as a whole. The intentions and craft are without a doubt on point here, but they fail to capture the full spirit of what made Tentenko so intriguing and occasionally exhilarating to begin with. “Kuruma” has the right idea with its volatility and brashness, but the likes of “Hoshi no Densha” are prone to running too smoothly for their own good in sequencing. Consider this a backhanded compliment, but this album
As the flagship Tentenko album goes,
Kogyo Seihin is realistically more than anyone could have hoped for. For those inside the Tentenkoverse it stands as an ambivalent tyrant, excellent on its strengths but also somewhat misleading when it comes to the qualities that ultimately make Tentenko’s appealing (an ironic twist given how ambivalent these qualities are themselves). For the rest of the world, this is a record that you should pay attention to, consume, talk about, enjoy, and throw into nauseating conversations about innovative pop whenever you want to 1-up your nerd friends who can’t decide which Charli XCX single is the most accurate indication of the future of music. Or whatever. Tentenko’s Toys Factory story is far from over, as follow-up
Kiken na Anata would see a revised pool of collaborators refining this sound further, but for the time being
Kogyo Seihin would represent a de facto high watermark for our one true queen and her cheery cohort of studio chappies. Praise be.
Discog page (comprehensive list of collaborators): https://www.discogs.com/Tentenko-%E5%B7%A5%E6%A5%AD%E8%A3%BD%E5%93%81/release/9571649
Helpful interview with Tentenko and her art director Kenichiro Nagao: https://lutemedia.com/post/nagao_tentenko_en
