Great. Just when I thought I was safe from more hours of mind-numbing searches, downloads, and quick listens on YouTube, I have to go and discover Shibuya-kei. It all started with a relatively innocuous but upbeat video by Kahimi Karie that my photographer friend Terry Osterhout shared on Facebook, which led me to look up the artist, which led me to Wikipedia, which led me to rediscover some old favorites like Pizzicato Five and Cibo Matto, and before I knew it I had spent yet another hour of my life on YouTube, in 3-5 minute segments. You’ve probably at least seen Pizzicato Five’s Twiggy Twiggy at some point (if you haven’t, you’ll pick up some smooth dance moves from watching Brother Konishi doing the “Tighten Up”) or their whacked out rendition of Girl From Ipanema. You may have also heard some Cibo Matto because of their Beastie Boys connection. What you may have missed back in the early 90′s was stuff like Flipper’s Guitar, a band that, if they went back and dubbed the songs with a Norwegian accent, could easily pass for one of the slew of Northern Europop bands of the last few years. There’s so much fun stuff in this genre I’m not even going to try to point you in the right direction, but YouTube user PizzicatoMania has a ton of Flipper’s Guitar, Cornelius, and Pizzicato Five to get you rolling, and the Shibuya-kei page on Wikipedia has a good list to start with too. One band I just discovered that I hadn’t heard of is Buffalo Daughter. That linked video has the excellent tune “Daisy” for some reason playing over a slightly pervy Japanese schoolgirl video by Canario Club. Whatever. Can someone please tell me though, WTF is TNX and H!P ?