Bonito Generation

Bonito Generation is the debut studio album by British indie pop band Kero Kero Bonito. A follow-up to the 2013 mixtape, Intro Bonito, this album was released via Double Denim Records on 21 October 2016. Bonito Generation produced six singles: "Picture This", "Lipslap", "Break", "Graduation", "Trampoline", and "Fish Bowl" (the song "Forever Summer Holiday", initially released as its own single in 2017, was later included as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of the album). Music videos were created for "Lipslap", "Break", and "Trampoline".

Background
In 2011, the producers and multi-instrumentalists Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled posted an advertisement to MixB (an online bulletin board for Japanese expatriates) seeking a musician interested in "Japanese rap". One of the first respondents was Sarah Midori Perry; Lobban and Bulled were intrigued by Perry's artistic background and her fluency in both English and Japanese, and the three agreed to form a band that they dubbed "Kero Kero Bonito". After a string of singles, the group released their debut mixtape, Intro Bonito through Double Denim Records in August 2014.

Writing and recording
Following the release of Intro Bonito, Kero Kero Bonito began working on their debut studio album, which they intended to release in 2015. The band wanted this release to be "a bit more songwriter-y, rather than just disjointed basslines and riffs", and they had hoped to collaborate with underground pop musicians, such as the producers affiliated with the PC Music art collective. By October of 2015, however, the album had not yet materialized, and the band disclosed to Stereogum journalist James Rettig that they were still "figuring out what kind of statement they wanted to make" with the record.

When conceptualizing the record, the members of Kero Kero Bonito placed great care on ensuring that the recorded had "flow" and that "all the right elements [were] in the right places". In an interview with DIY magazine, Lobban likened this challenge to solving a tiling puzzle: "You start off with a few pieces, and think 'oh that’s the corner', and 'that's this guy's hand', and then as you come up with more things, and end up only needing one more piece that looks kind of like this. It's very much like a jigsaw, actually."

Bonito Generation was completed at the beginning of August 2016, having been in the works for over a year.

Composition
Bonito Generation has been described to be an electropop, J-pop, and synth-pop record, with influences from electro, dancehall, video game music, '90s dance, hip hop, and K-pop. It has also been compared to the hyperpop sounds of PC Music and Sophie. Themes of the record also touch upon Instagram, hearing a catchy song on the radio, trampolines, waking up, childlike perspective upon day-to-day existential crises, and the curiosity of youth.

Commercial performance
Bonito Generation was released on 21 October 2016 by Double Denim Records, whereupon it peaked at number nine on the US World Albums Chart (Billboard). On 12 July 2017, Bonito Generation was released for the Japanese market by the Sony Music Entertainment Japan subsidiary label Around the World. Following the band's signing to Polyvinyl Record Co., Bonito Generation was re-issued on 11 January 2019, whereupon it peaked at number 15 on the US Vinyl Albums Chart (Billboard).

Critical reception
Bonito Generation was met with positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the release has an average score of 81 based on seven reviews, meaning that it has received "universal acclaim". Fellow music aggregator AnyDecentMusic? likewise gave the album an average score of 7.4/10, based on eight reviews.

Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Heather Phares wrote, "Packed with breezy, witty, should-be hits, Bonito Generation is a winning mix of subversive art and genuine heart." Joe Rivers of Clash stated, "The production is disarmingly joyous and, thanks to a predilection for early '90s dance, some of the tracks here are absolute bangers." Jamie Milton of DIY magazine opined that the band had "perfected the quick fix formula" with the album, which included "a dozen giant would-be singles". While Milton wrote that the album "crams together a bunch of massive singles, melted into a sometimes grating dose of glucose," the review concluded that "that's the compromise for penning twelve monster hits." Milton also complimented the band for not "taking the piss" with the album and instead earnestly embracing their act.

Kate Hutchinson of The Guardian wrote that "Their no-fat nuggets have the hyper-slickness of kawaii J-pop, while harking back to an era (the 90s, obv) when high-concept chart hits were as ubiquitous as boy bands' curtains". However, she noted, "Their songs are best when they stop being so satirically cutesy and zip somewhere else."

Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Bonito Generation.

Kero Kero Bonito
 * Gus Lobban – keyboards, sampler, background vocals, production
 * Jamie Bulled – keyboards, sampler, production
 * Sarah Midori Perry – vocals

Technical
 * Dreamtrak – mixing ("Lipslap", "Picture This")
 * Anthony Lim – mastering