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Oh, man, I bet the fans hate this album.

Japanese artists attempting to crack the US market have all seemed to run under the assumption their latest work is the one that needs to be performed in English.

The assumption, of course, is the latest work is the most representative. But history is full of such assumptions — Pink Lady, Matsuda Seiko, Nakamori Akina, Dreams Come True — all of which failed.

Creativity, more often than not, follows a wave pattern with crests and troughs, rather than a trajectory. And when it comes to bad timing, these Japanese artists tried to break into the US during a creative trough.

It’s somewhat murky whether Utada Hikaru has followed the same pattern.

One thing is for certain on her English-language debut, Exodus — she and her producer dad have drastically remade her sound.

Exodus is buried under a lot of bizarre synthetic sounds, some complex beats and a really heavy-handed production. And Timbaland shows up on the two most straight-forward tracks on the album!

Exodus is also the most dissonant work Utada has every produced. If some of those synthetic sounds were transcribed to orchestral instruments, it would probably sound like a mistranslation of Bela Bartok or Igor Stravinsky.

“Hotel Lobby” is a case in point. A song about prostitution, the bass line forms a dark interval, and the hesitant beat never quite marks the start of a measure.

A sample of what sounds like wind through a congested tunnel threads itself through “Animato”, while a synthetic chorus spells out a chord progression that sounds almost classical. Maybe some of Shiina Ringo’s Karuki Zaamen Kuri no Hana has rubbed off on Utada?

Check out “About Me” — acoustic guitar accompanies Utada during the verses, but on the chorus, the pop beats come in, only to dissolve.

It’s heartening to see Utada really stretch, but some of those experiments fall a bit flat. That weird sound that punctuates “You Make Me Want to Be a Man” is annoying, and “Kremlin Dusk” seems to take forever before it really develops.

Her single-worthy material, however, is missing in action.

Nothing on Exodus matches “Wait and See ~Risk~” or “Hikari” in terms of hooks. “Devil Inside” comes pretty close, and “Tippy Toe” seems to have a bit of the Utada golden touch on it.

But the rest of the album isn’t her strongest writing, and as such, the heavy production feels like it’s attempting to mask those shortcomings.

Utada is poised for a breakthrough on the level of Absolute ego-era ACO or pre-Tokyo Jihen Shiina Ringo — just not with Exodus.

Let me be upfront about some personal taste — I wasn’t too fond of Nirgilis’ single, “King/Lemon/Ice Skate for Life”.

It’s not that they’re bad songs — I just didn’t think they rose to the level for a single release, especially compared to some of the band’s previous singles.

(Notably, “Vuna”, which didn’t make the album cut. My guess is a licensing issue — it was released on the band’s own Chukuri label before Nirgilis signed to Toy’s Factory.)

“King” and “Ice Skate for Life” anchor the first half of Nirgilis’ second album, New Standard, and for that reason, it was difficult to warm up to it.

Sure, “Byosoku Highway” does a great job of opening the album, while “Eregiba” mixes folk guitar, funky drumming and synthetic textures quite nicely. And “Mayonaka no Schneider” is one fun, quirky tune.

But some bands feel the need to stash singles at the start of the album — which Nirgilis did with its debut album Tennis — and it has a tendency to backfire if the singles aren’t terribly strong.

Then something happens for the second half of New Standard — Nirgilis stretches out.

“Bourgeois Brain” is a dischordant piece with some off-key vocals by singer Iwata Acchu and producer Hoppy Kamiyama. Iwata screeches with total abandon, and it’s grating in a good way.

On “Akai Asayuke”, members of Art-School join Nirgilis in evoking the spirit of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” for the song’s conclusion. It’s a pretty dramatic moment.

For the rest of the album, Nirgilis employs its whimsical mix of programmed beats and post-punk guitar, but this time out, it’s scaled back, perhaps even introspective.

“Subako” employs an acoustic guitar and only a few synthetic flourishes, but the rhythm section provides a sturdy foundation. “Mule” moves at a leisurely pace, building up with a string orchestra toward the end.

New Standard shows Nirgilis maturing with its distinctive sound, but the writing itself doesn’t seem to possess the same kind of wild catchiness of its last album.

Once Nirgilis can build on the ideas of New Standard with the hooks of Tennis, it will yield an incredible work.

It wasn’t just the frog costumes, the space-age theatrics, the angular music or the incredible live shows that made discovering eX-Girl in 1999 a revelatory experience.

It was the palatable chemistry between its members.

Fuzuki with her stand-up drum kit, Chihiro with her expressionistic but stoic playing, Kirilo with her exuberance — the three women created a tangible energy.

And it shows in the trio’s earliest recordings — Kero! Kero! Kero!, Big When Far, Small When Close, Back to the Mono Kero.

Starting in 2001, the band’s line-up went through some major transformations. Chihiro left in 2001, followed by Fuzuki in 2002. Keiko from Super Junky Monkey replaced Chihiro, but before the release of the band’s fifth album, Endangered Species, she moved on in 2003.

Now, bassist Kirilola, as she calls herself now, is joined by drummer Chapple and guitarist Zorek.

And all that upheaval has had affect on eX-Girl’s music.

Endangered Species is the band’s most scattered album to date, which says a lot considering eX-Girl’s music incorporates a myriad of influences.

Save for Chihiro, every one of those members, past and present, plays on the album. On the surface, it sounds like business as usual on Planet Kero, but on an instinctive level, the clarity of the past is missing.

The band has expanded its sound to incorporate more synthetic effects — keyboards and weird noises. But the material seems to range from weirdly complex (“Hettakorii no Ottokoku”) to uncharacteristically simple (“Dodo”).

The opening track, “E-Sa-Ya”, is something of a dud, and “New Pulse” has no substance going for it.

In live shows, Chapple is an incredible performer, able to sing and play a full kit at the same time. Strangely enough, her sound in the studio isn’t as forceful as Fuzuki’s.

The first half of the album possesses all the eclectic energy for which eX-Girl is reknowned — the garage rock spirit of “Pretty You Ugly”, the operatic dissonance of “Pujeva”.

The second half of the album, demarcated by “New Pulse”, seems to peter out. The songs aren’t nearly as complex as the band is capable of.

If anything, Endangered Species sounds like a band working hard to refamiliarize itself. It’s the same eX-Girl we know and love — but it’s an eX-Girl still adjusting to a new set-up.

There ought to be medical warnings on this album.

“Do not play while under extreme emotional disturbance.”

“Do not play during rush hour traffic.”

“May cause increased blood pressure.”

“Do not drink with milk.”

Actually, I’m joking with that milk warning. The rest of them apply.

downy’s fourth untitled album — let’s nickname it Mothership — epitomizes the meaning of the word, “agitated.”

It’s the sound of a nervous breakdown, of loose ends coming apart, of a person’s state of mind just before he goes utterly bugfuck.

It’s also the loudest album downy has yet released.

The band’s previous untitled album — which I nickname Cloudbursting — was meditative by contrast, no less tortured but far more introspective.

Mothership is balls out.

The opening track, “Ishi”, is mixed so loudly, all the instruments bleed into a mess of distortion. It’s “Meitei Freak” jacked up tenfold. The tension doesn’t let up on the robotic rhythm of “Δ” (i.e., “Delta”.)

“Underground” offers the album’s first moment of reprieve, on a song that could qualify as a single, if downy actually released singles.

But no track epitomizes this nervous state of mind than the free jazz of “Fresh”. downy comandeers a Bitches Brew style of be-bop, and man is it nerve-wracking.

The rest of the album plays out in a similar, albeit slightly less frantic feel. “Thank you Raishun” thins out the packed textures on the album, while “Kurayami to Sanka” rivals “Underground” for single-worthy status.

The rhythm section of drummer Akiyama Takahiko and bassist Nakamata Takuhiro really stands out. Throughout, the pair navigate some precarious, syncopated rhythms with laser precision. “Mokuren” is a workout for Nakamata alone.

Mothership breezes by at a brisk 32 minutes, but given the intensity with which downy jams into each track, half an hour is lengthy enough.

Any more, and this album would be a health hazard. As it is, it’s just crazy. Good crazy.