OPEN POST: Manor Music Monday With Miss Maki Nomiya And Pizzicato 5!

DJ Li'l Scratch is all over it, especially tonight at the Manor's exclusive "Sausage Slap" after-hours club. Why? Because he knows you like to start the week with a jolt - or the musical equivalent of cocaine, or dirty low-down booty sugar, as the kids call it. Ride that wild white pony all the way till Friday, amireet? Wheeeeeee! And the best way to do that? Pizzicato 5, of course. 

In the late 90's, I was all over Pizzicato 5 - or P5, for those in the know - a gleefully screwball Japanese group that was labeled, in America, at least, as "electronic," though I liked the label I once heard a DJ give them, "electro fizzy-pop," because I thought it best described their freakishly happy music.

I didn't get them at first, not until a friend told me to think of them as the musical equivalent of Godard on ecstasy cut with speed (and without the politics). That sounds a mite pretentious (and how!), but it's really not, because in a vein similar to Godard, Pizzicato 5 grabs at every bouncy, disreputable, joyful, sleazy element of pop and turns it all into something glittery and new - and way beyond camp or mere satire. The camp is there, of course, yet it's their breathless sense of fun-fun-fun at any cost that really makes listening to them such a blast.

Their few American-released albums, sadly, were thrown-together compilations, and like most groups, their music is best enjoyed in its original context. One of my favorites is 1988's "Bellisima!" The slogan for the CD is "Let's Get Stoned With Pizzicato 5!" You really ought to, though even without herbal aid, it's pure delight.

Years later, their music became even more deliriously batty. It's almost impossible to keep a straight face when you're listening to "Playboy & Playgirl" (and I don't recommend you try) (just surrender).

Sadly, the group disbanded in 2001, but various members have gone on to create wonderful music, including Miss Maki Nomiya, seen below performing in what I believe are tiny, knitted squares of Reynolds Wrap and a polarized car visor (because why not?). 

Her 2005 album, "Party People," is exactly what you think it will be (thank goodness); a hyper-stylized collection of sleek dance songs with 80's-inspired beats and grooves. Plus her voice seems to have no real limits to what it can do. She's like an up-to-the-minute Lady Miss Kier - a soulful, believably earth-bound element amidst all the electro beeps and blurps.

What are you listening to this week? DJ Li'l Scratch wants to know.
Till next time...purr, bitches, purr! 🐾

Photo Credits: Columbia Records/Getty Images

Peckerwood's Weekly Lunocracy Post is RIGHT HERE.