Auto-Tune doesn’t have to suck

You may respond to this by saying “of course auto-tune doesn’t have to suck, just look at Auto-Tune the News #5!” But then you might add “however, in terms of using it in real music, yes it pretty much always sucks.”

The criticism of auto-tune generally surrounds the idea that the people “aren’t actually singing” and “can’t actually sing,” which is, well, probably the case. Kanye can’t sing, we know this. He is terrible, even with auto-tune.  Here’s the thing, though: we have been thinking about auto-tune all wrong. It doesn’t have to be a replacement for singing. In fact, what it allows (in some cases) is for the music production to take precedence over the “great singing voices” of pop stars of days past. That is to say, we don’t have to put up with dry, formulaic songwriting in pop ballads that passes because “omg whitney houston / christina aguilera / mariah carey / jewel? is the best singer ever!” I was watching an episode of American Idol this past season, and was surprised that, 9 years after the first season, we are still looking for the same type of power-pipes pop star.

Americans often forget that the Japanese have been auto-tuning for decades. And some jpop proves that they are fucking good at it. This is where Perfume comes in. Perfume’s record GAME is auto-tune at it’s absolute finest, and here’s why: Perfume’s tracks are all produced by Yasutaka Nakata, the guy from Capsule, a group that has come out with the most quality techno-/electro-pop of the past decade. (Check out Capsule’s album MORE! MORE! MORE!)  But Perfume is more famous than Capsule, why? Because there are three beautiful auto-tuned ladies that are the front of the group.

And this, too, is the beauty of auto-tune as it relates to GAME. The producers, if they are concerned about making great, original music, don’t have to worry about writing music favorable to the vocalist, because the vocals in this case are not much more than another synthesizer with settings, buttons, and knobs. But there is still the capacity to reach out to the masses using easily-recognizable and attractive people as the face of the operation.

And I think, what Nakata and Perfume have come up with is some original sounding stuff that would not have come about if we were still valuing showcasing “great singers” more than coming up with great songs and sound production.

Here’s a couple tracks from GAME. These videos are obviously totally ridiculous. Just, erm, try to pay attention to what I think is a really original sound, made possible through auto-tune. Also imagine being at a party/club when one of these bangs out.

Polyrhythm (this songs’s, well, polyrhythmic breakdown is really amazing. Comes in at 1:37. Also that wacky vocoder-synth line that comes in at 3:37. And at 3:52 they come together! The melody at the verses is pretty bomb, too)

Chocolate Disco (this track does a great job of making that “beep beep beep beep be- be beep beep from the beginning sound really different in various parts of the song. also it’s infectiously happy)

Cool Shit: No longer just in the USA

Have I just always lived in bumfuck, MI, or is Taipei really that interesting? I’m at Cafe 26 in Ximen, the “Japanese” area of the city. I’ve never been to Japan, but from its stereotypes, I can recognize the influence.

During the Japanese occupation, Ximen was the center of imperial Taiwan. 150 years later and Japanese pop-art, fashion, and design are still obvious here. This influence, despite its being made on conditions of military rule, reminds me of something I’m going to call American cultural arrogance. Visiting my brother in Manhattan, the purported world center of everything cool and original, I wandered for 3 days looking for a place like Cafe 26, to no real avail. Every “cafe” was a high-end restaurant.

The walls of Cafe 26 are filled with original artwork, there are splendid pale whitewashed schooldesks for seating, juxtaposed with Murakami-esque superflat patterned couches. There are kleenex boxes covered in original fabric from the housewares art gallery/shop below. The music is in English, but to order I have to point to #2 on the English menu the barista pulls out from underneath the counter. There are little design magazines inside the schooldesks with that matte-paper feel characteristic of good arty magazines. And my iced coffee is at least as good as anything I’ve had in the US.

America is great, and so is New York City. But an hour in Ximen and I’ve seen more creativity than months in Manhattan. It may be that, to my fresh eyes, everything that seems original to me is redundant and predictable to locals. But it seems more likely that the US takes its place as world-cultural-generator for granted.

The real disaster of American ignorance in this respect is that we refuse to be influenced or inspired by external innovation, particularly in the arts. How many US indie-rock musicians listen to stuff made outside North America? In my experience studying philosophy at Michigan State University, a relatively open-minded department, I was exposed to maybe one or two non-Western thinkers, even in courses on contemporary issues. Globalization, even by the definitions of radical American leftists, is understood as the outward explosion of Western values.

I have hope for the US, but it seems that unless Americans begin to comprehend the value of a two-way global culture, the country might lose relevance to creative, original people altogether.

Cafe 26 gives me a little white ceramic plate with my coffee. It has a deep, espresso brown “2,” cookie, a pale green “6,” and a cold chocolate dot: “26.” It’s a color scheme out of a (good) web designer’s portfolio. American culture does spread outward, but all of these other countries are sharing with each other, exchanging ideas, coming up with new stuff. Things are happening here, whether people on the other side of the world recognize it, or care.

edit: somebody’s cell phone just blew up with Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.”