It's not the highest of honors, but I'd like to award awkwardly named boy band Kis-My-Ft2 as the best pop act under the Johnny & Associates umbrella.
Again, this isn't an accomplishment worthy of a trophy, especially considering the competition includes the phone-it-in balladry of SMAP and the dinner-theater cheesiness of Arashi and Sexy Zone. Still, as evidenced by several tracks on the seven-member group's third album, "Kis-My-Journey," the project's willingness to embrace contemporary global sounds makes it more compelling than the stuff being put out by most other male pop stars topping the Oricon charts, even if it's a hit-or-miss collection that's heavy on the misses.
As on last year's "Good Ikuze!" the most interesting element on "Kis-My-Journey" is the group's embrace of EDM (electronic dance music) signifiers: hyperactive pacing building up to moments of electronic release, often via bass freak-outs. The producers behind these songs, who mainly have backgrounds in writing for megagroup Exile or various K-pop outfits, give Kis-My-Ft2 tracks that add some punch to its pop. "Seven Journey" is fleshed out by bright synths and a zippy pace, while "Striker" achieves a catchy number out of Skrillex-aping clatter. The squiggly rush of "3.6.5" goes down easy, and features the CD's one great instance of building a song for maximum emotional payoff.