Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - [article] Meet HalCali, the duo who put the pop into pop-hop

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"I think maybe it's because we're pretty open to new styles and ideas," says Yucali, 19, the duo's other half, as they speak with The Japan Times in their first-ever interview with English-language press. "Anything goes. So if someone collaborates with us they can add their taste to HalCali."

It might also be because HalCali are incredible.

Launched into the public eye aged just 15 and 16 after forming at an audition held by Ryo-z and DJ Fumiya of Rip Slyme, Halca and Yucali proved immediately that they were more than just pubescent eye-candy in the vein of the mighty-morphin' Morning Musume.

These girls have raw talent, evidenced in their fast and fresh flow as rappers, quirky dance routines and singing voices that, if not spectacular, are at least passable. Fusing old-skool hip-hop beats with full-on J-pop melodies and plenty of genre-hopping, they -- and their producers, of course -- create a sound that is always unpredictable.

2003's debut album "HalCali Bacon" was produced by Ryo-z and Fumiya (under the moniker OTF) and carried a near-flawless laid-back party style. The following year's "Ongaku no Susume" diversified this "pop-hop" sound with high-NRG dance, melancholic-sounding guitars and even a country number. And the most recent singles have taken in Eurobeat ("Look"), jungle breaks ("Twinkle Star") and Shibuya-kei ("Girl! Girl! Girl!" -- one of three download-only singles released over the last few months).

Read it: B-girl boppers
Meet HalCali, the duo who put the pop into pop-hop