Pizzicato Five

With roots going all the way back to 1984, Pizzicato Five were progenitors of and remain the best example of Tokyo's Shibuya pop scene. As voracious consumers of Western culture, these young musicians combine a taste for 1960s go-go kitsch and Bacharach & David pop songcraft with the optimistic indie pop of the '80s to create an effervescent and sophisticated sound. With tongue only partially in cheek, Pizzicato main man Konishi-san and crew both deconstruct and pay homage to all that is urbane and swinging, easily layering cooing French-style vocals over dreamy hip-hop beats as if it were the most natural thing in the world -- and in their hands, it is. Pizzicato Five connect the dots of hip Western style in a way that perhaps only an outsider can truly pull off, making fizzy, danceable and thoroughly modern music that is both pop and Pop Art at the same time.