I definitly get the powerpop from some of their albums. PL, WUx3, and My Foot in particular. I personally tend to favor the alternative pop/rock, even though it's usually a catch-all kind of genre.

I then try to explain how only a catch-all like that could have them in it, and then try to think of a good song to play to exemplify it and end up with a series of songs. I guess I get ahead of myself.

I think it's time for another "POST UR PILLOWS MIX DISC" thread. or maybe a dinosaur bump.

I'd say you could compare the pillows to The Beatles in the fact that they have done a lot in the span of their musical career, they create songs with very likeable/catchy melodies and at times very thoughtful and powerful lyrics, and of course have some Beatles-influence dashed here and there in their music be it homages or just having that kind of "feel" to the music. Granted this is a very vague blanket statement that can apply to a lot of bands though.

Basically, if you tell someone the pillows are like the Beatles, and then show them some pillows music, the most appropriate response they could give you is, "What the fuck are you on?"

^Actually I've gotten a lot of they sound kinda like The Beatles reactions after playing stuff like Terminal Heaven's Rock and Like A Lovesong for them. But then again this was more sharing with friends rather than random people.

I'd just call 'em "pop rock." "Alternative" is a vague descriptor that's used for pretty much any rock music released since the late eighties or so, even though almost none of it is "alternative" to anything anymore. A similar highjacking has occured to the term "indie rock," since it's now used to describe a ton of bands that aren't indie at all.

indie was a pretty poor genre idea anyway. All it means is independant, because a band hasnt been signed to a major label doesnt say anything about the music other than the band in question trying to hard to sound well... indie.

the whole tight pants, scruffy beard and plaid button down shirt with wimpy guitars gives them more definition then the literal meaning of indie. Indie is more a scene these days then a style of music. Kinda like emo.

I do however have to give indie rock props for eventually spawning the garage rock revival, which is becoming my favorite musical movement in the last two decades.

Among the bands that I like, being the pillows my favourite one makes it impossible for me to label their music in terms of genre. I usually tell people they're the group I dig the most and they happen to be Japanese.

This comparison to the Beatles sounds familiar to me, actually. My ex-girlfriend used to make fun of me by saying that I listen to the ultimate Japanese Beatles-wannabe band and nothing else. Bitch.

[quote="The Little Buster"]I'd say you could compare the pillows to The Beatles in the fact that they have done a lot in the span of their musical career, they create songs with very likeable/catchy melodies and at times very thoughtful and powerful lyrics, and of course have some Beatles-influence dashed here and there in their music be it homages or just having that kind of "feel" to the music. Granted this is a very vague blanket statement that can apply to a lot of bands though.[/quote]

I absolutely agree with you on that.

I'd also give them a bit of a jazz sense as well, like; something like a romance, girlfriend, happy slave, and swingers night club.

They hit a lot of different genres in everything they write, it's like they can play anything.

[quote="sheerheartattack"]Language is a pretty big difference, Fish.[/quote]

I know it is, and that's what makes the pillows(or any other Japanese band) very hard to get into for a lot of people. When it comes to music, I tend to think in terms of the music itself(not counting lyrics) sounds to me. To me, good music has no bounds. Sawao himself shares this idea, I think. I know language makes it hard to understand, but I got into these guys because I could "feel" the music. It wasn't a question of style or scene or genre, it was just the music, plain and simple. The language barrier didn't change that at all.

What I try to do when I have people listen to the pillows is I try to make them think along the same lines. I tell them, "you know, this is japanese, it is in another language, but just give it a listen." A lot of times, they don't like it. But I have had some successes in the past, and I like to think these people share the same ideas as me.

Good [i]music[/i] has no bounds, but good [i]songs[/i] do. Lyrics play a major role in a song - I would go so far as to say that a song is half music, half words. Why else do we have a Lyrics forum, with an intensely strong demand for translations? Why else do we credit songs "words [i]and[/i] music," and compensate the artists of each equally?

As such, when qualifying a genre for the pillows, it is absolutely necessary to principally consider language.

well unless you're some post-rock elitist.

but those are a dieing breed.

How can you listen to She Is Perfect and not think that it resembles a Beatles song?

A) That's one song
B) which sounds nothing like the Beatles.

Can you even find one Beatles song that sounds remotely like that?

Even if you found a song that is an exact replica of a Beatles song, unless the majority of the pillows' songs are similar to the Beatles, "sounds like the Beatles" is a completely inappropriate descriptor.

A) Duh it was just one song; it was an example.
B ) I was referring to the style of the song, not comparing it note-by-note.

I was only saying that the number of examples (even this dubious one) is limited, and surely does not comprise a majority of their work.

I can see how the vocal melody for the chorus could be similar, stylistically. However, that is the only similarity, which is hindered since Sawao's vocal timbre sounds nothing like any of the Beatles'. The intro of the song is certainly something the Beatles would never do, the instrumentation is completely different, the verses are dissimilar to anything I've heard from John, Paul, George, and Ringo (or Pete)...the list goes on.

Since you gave only one example, it can be assumed that "She Is Perfect" is the most similar song to the Beatles. Since it is a stretch, it can be safely concluded that the pillows cannot be described as "similar to the Beatles."