Pizzicato Five has been called the Japanese Deee-Lite. But I am allowed because I am cute.” After Nomiya took the stage at Metro in a suit of yellow feathers, the very embodiment of glamorous excess, one audience member remarked, “The only women who can get away with wearing something like that in this country are transvestites.” She’s a feminine stereotype, who, accompanied by a Parisian squeeze box, refuses to apologize for it: “Yes, I am unreliable, capricious, cheeky, willful, luxurious, affected, lying, dubious, and random. The visual focus of the group’s performances, she parades across the stage in an assortment of outlandish outfits. The group has also included sound engineer Keitaro Takanami, who recently left to pursue solo projects, and two other vocalists-one male, one female-before Nomiya joined in 1991. Konishi has been the Great Oz behind Pizzicato Five since its first incarnation in the mid-80s. During the song “Catchy,” Nomiya’s husky whisper might lead you to think she’s talking to a lover until you read that her evident pleasure is for a “new shop that accepts a credit card” and “a brand new hairstyle, a brand new mascara.” Not that American fans are missing any important semantic nuances when Nomiya sings about blue Afros and miniskirts, but the translations enable the listener to hear the irony in her Barbie doll delivery. debut album, last year’s Made in USA (Matador), supplies English translations for all the lyrics. The lyrics-sung either in Japanese or sweet, stilted English (sometimes combining the two)-speak the universal language of bubblegum: happy, sappy puppy love, self-absorbed nihilism, or trippy utopian fantasies. Imagine a bossa nova given new life as a dance club hit or Speed Racer twisting in Hair. The result blurs unlikely styles and icons, eliciting a freshness from sounds that had their time in the spotlight years, even decades, before. These samples, along with whatever else Konishi throws into the mix, are reassembled and edited into new, original songs. Drawing on a vast catalog of American popular music, Konishi samples a variety of artists and genres-early 60s cocktail swank, loungey easy listening, 70s soul, disco, psychedelia, Bootsy Collins bass lines, drippy Burt Bacharach ballads, the Ventures, the Turtles, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. The band appeared with a guitarist and usually uses some live instruments, but its music is largely composed and arranged by Konishi from a combination of prerecorded sound effects, sampled music, and electronic drum tracks. With a snappy sense of fashion overkill, the band parodies mass infatuation with commercial entertainment as a bright, dizzy cartoon. Its silly lyrics and resurrected riffs notwithstanding, Pizzicato Five must be seen to be appreciated. The message projected behind the band was one of dozens edited almost subliminally into footage of rocket launches and old Japanese movies. In front of the screen the Japanese dance group’s singer, Maki Nomiya, preened in her third wig of the night, a blond beehive twice the size of her head, while songwriter and arranger Yasuharu Konishi circled her and shook a pair of maracas.

“Pizzicato Five Is a Joke, Don’t Believe the Hype,” flashed the screen onstage at the Metro. Best of Chicago 2022: Sports & Recreation.Best of Chicago 2022: Music & Nightlife.

Pizzicato five twiggy twiggy