From mod rockers The Who covering the "Batman" theme, through punk pranksters The Dickies taking on The Banana Splits, to former Megadeth shredder-in-chief Marty Friedman's transformation into J-pop svengali, there has always been a flirtation between the fiercer and heavier outposts of music and its trashy, bubble-gum fringes.
The punk cover is a staple of the genre, but it can often be blighted by hamfisted irony, even more hamfisted commercialism, or both. However, a lot of it is thoroughly sincere, and in Japan, the burning heart of this love affair is Momoiro Clover Z, a pop group who provoke squealing, teenage admiration from punks, indie kids, noise musicians and heavy-psychedelic longhairs throughout the Japanese underground music scene.
One such progressive rocker is Taigen Kawabe of U.K.-based psychedelic band Bo Ningen. More often seen in Tokyo playing alongside noise legends such as Keiji Haino, Kawabe's page on the website SoundCloud leads off with a curious mashup of his own band and Momioro Clover Z in which the former band's shifts in rhythm match surprisingly well with the idol group's distinctive penchant for chopping aggressively (and sometimes illogically) between seemingly unconnected melodies.
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