Kero Kero Bonito – Artist Spotlight

We’re less than 3 weeks from Second Sky, which means it’s time to start doing my lineup research. Considering that Second Sky only has 9 artists, much easier undertaking compared to the 158 artists profiled on my 2018 Electric Forest study guide.

This week I went deep into Kero Kero Bonito. Spoiler alert: prob not for everyone. If you unilaterally hate anything J/K Pop on principle, you should probably skip to the next section. Or, you know, have an open mind and give Kyary Pamyu Pamyu a shot.

KKB is actually a British indie pop band, though a lot of their vocals are sung in Japanese. I was curious where the name came from, some Wikipedia editor got a little too hoity toity for my tastes in her description, but hey…she went for it.

KKB has been a big influence on Porter for a long time. He’s talked about them in interviews, hyped his crowd at Coachella that “emboldened the group’s debut with rapturous cheers and happy sing-alongs,” and included them on curated playlists like This is Good.

They joined fellow Second Sky artist G Jones on top of Porter’s top albums of 2018:

Porter’s enthusiasm for their sound is infectious. I remember when I first heard Trampoline a few years ago and feeling like it drew from the same creative pool that birthed the AVANNA vocaloid on Worlds.

My top recommendations for anyone looking to catch their vibe:

Sick Beat – Almost has a little Get Schwifty vibe to it.
Flamingo – Biggest song in terms of streams, lots of bass.
Break – For when you need to put a smile on your face.
Only Acting – I get Weezer vibes out of these guitar lines, love how this still has their trademark sound but goes into an almost alt rock place.