Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re
| つしまみれ | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chiba, Japan |
| Genres | Punk rock, art punk, pop punk, indie rock |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Benten Label Tokyo, July, Australian Cattle God |
| Website | www.tsushimamire.com |
| Members | Mari Kono Yayoi Tsushima |
Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re (つしまみれ, TSMMR) is an all-girl Japanese rock trio. Their style is eclectic punk rock, mixing noisy and pop instrumental sounds with idiosyncratic, quirky, often funny or disturbing lyrics. They are one of the many bands to have become famous in the United States through the Austin, Texas South by Southwest music festival, and also through their performances at anime conventions, with the Suicide Girls, and at Benten Label's "Japan Girls Nite" U.S. tours.
The band's original lineup consisted of Mari Kono on lead guitar and vocals, Yayoi Tsushima on bass, and Mizue Masuda on drums. They originally formed the band while in college in Chiba, Japan. In January 2017, Mizue announced she was leaving the band to pursue other projects.
Tsushimamire is a neologism coined by the band, not a real Japanese word. It is a combination of Tsushima (the family name of bassist Yayoi) with "Ma" (from guitarist/vocalist Mari Kono) and "Mi" (from original drummer Mizue Masuda). In addition, mamire means "mixed up" in Japanese: thus the effect is that of "Tsushima (Yayoi), Mari and Mizue all mixed together."
Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re's musical style can be broadly classified as punk rock, with eclectic influences of noise and Japanese pop music. Several of their songs begin with strong bass lines by Yayoi, but Mari's guitar and Mizue's drums finally make equal contributions. Several songs combine sweet female vocal harmonies with hard drum playing and punk guitar riffs, for a deliberately ironic effect, for example in their signature tune, Tea Time Ska. The lyrics are consistently quirky and idiosyncratic, with the most common themes being sex, food, and death, and sometimes all three at once. Underneath sweet vocal harmonies, the lyrics frequently hint at far darker, scarier themes.
Food is a noticeable subject in their lyrics. In the rap-rock title song from no-miso shortcake (brain shortcake), lead singer Mari invites the listener to eat her brain. In Kamaboco (Fish Cakes), all three girls play the roles of food ingredients in Japanese hotpot, with fish cakes (Mari) feeling rejected and lonely because she is never added to hotpot. In their very first single, American Hamburger, an upbeat pop song, the singer describes herself as fat and food-loving but beautiful; the first line is, "I'm a pig so I eat pork."
Some of their most powerful songs address death and its inevitability. In Na-mellow (Nameru), the singer plays the role of the young daughter of a fisherman, who gradually realizes her father will never return from a fishing voyage. In Manhole, the singer speculates about where manholes in the street might lead to, perhaps to the land of the dead.
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