Make Believe Mailer #100: Make Believe Melodies' 100 Favorite Japanese Albums Of 2023

Good Year

I usually wait until the year properly ends to do any sort of list. December 2023 is already making me nervous that sharing this two weeks before the new calendar goes up is a mistake. Between this yuigot debut album and Spraybox compilation (which does place!), I’m bracing for a surprise release from like PARKGOLF that completely makes the below look silly.

So why break from tradition? The main reason is because somehow the end of December now looks stupid busy work wise (freelance life…where holidays just mean “I can meet deadlines in a different place”), and this pocket of time is the best opportunity to celebrate a stacked year in Japanese music.

It also stems from the ongoing guilt I feel over…never publishing a 2022 list. I’m planning on finalizing that one sometime early in 2024 but because I’m a huge goober, the fact I never posted it haunts me. I don’t want a repeat of that, where I’m like singing the praises of Vocaloid-powered shoegaze in the year 2028.

Though having to dwell on my favorite albums of 2022 for a huge chunk of 2023 revealed something important — it’s not that big a deal dude. The list I would have shared on Dec. 31 2022 would not have looked like the one I initially put together for June 2023, and neither will resemble¹ what comes out in “TBD First Quarter 2024.” So why overthink 2023 too?

The whole point of an exercise like this, for as long as Make Believe Melodies has existed, is to highlight great music that doesn’t get the global spotlight it deserves. This past year in particular was absolutely thrilling in all areas of Japanese music — while J-pop turned to face the world, creators across the country were getting back out there with pandemic-related restrictions all lifted. It’s a year defined by collaboration, the thrill of being out again, new sonic potential, experimentation and pure giddiness.

Here’s my effort at highlighting that feeling, in 100 Japanese albums telling the story of 2023. I’ve noted any releases where I’ve worked with the artist in some professional capacity (bio writing, PR, etc.).

Make Believe Melodies Favorite 100 Japanese Albums Of 2023

#100 Various Artists Moto! Babbi Fes

#99 Blu-Swing Spectre

#98 SNJO care

#97 ♡☆♪ HIJKLSM

#96 toyod ine popwasbroken!!!!!

#95 YOASOBI THE BOOK 3

#94 NaR 12 Dreams

#93 Hiromi Sonicwonderland

#92 usabeni textures!

#91 Foodman Uchigawa Tankentai

#90 SATOH BORN IN ASIA

#89 iri PRIVATE

#88 WRACK FM Chicken EP

#87 Otome Featuring KAFU Cocktail Party

#86 Uilou In My Mind

#85 aus Everis

#84 Various Artists kaomozi compilations vol.2

#83 lazydoll plant + pixel

#82 xiangyu OTO-SHIMONO

#82 kiki vivi lily Blossom

#81 LANA 19

#80 Haru Nemuri INSAINT

#79 showmore + Gimgigam Wonderland

#78 P-iPLE Missing Idols

#77 Helsinki Lambda Club Helsinki Lambda Club He Yokoso

#76 AIR-CON BOOM BOOM ONESAN AIR-CON BOOM BOOM ONESAN

#75 CHANMINA Naked

#74 QUBIT 9BIT

#73 King Gnu THE GREATEST UNKNOWN

#72 KASAI J/P/N

#71 Nishioka Diddley Memory of Tashiro Isle Trip

#70 Looprider Metamorphose

#69 geeker-natsumi ZOO-ZOO-SEA

#68 CHAI CHAI

#67 KOTONOHOUSE moeǝɯo

#66 the bercedes menz the bercedes menz No Shiawase Na Kodomotachi

#65 Kumachan Seal Kumachan Seal

#64 Marianna in our Heads Landscapes

#63 Soushi Sakiyama I Fureru Sad UFO

#62 Guchon GG + Fake House

#61 maya ongaku Approach to Anima

#60 DRUGPAPA The Drugpapa

#59 Awich² THE UNION

#58 Lily Fury Hinemosphere

#57 99Letters Zigoku

#56 Mom Kanashi Dekigoto - The Overkill -

#55 koeosaeme Beige

#54 Texas 3000 tx3k

#53 Kyozo Sasaki Metafuuikushon(-_-)zzz

#52 Imudenpa.wav Foundation System

#51 Stones Taro Ton Tan EP + Stoned Camel EP

#50 lilbesh ramko shumatsu collection

#49 meme tokyo. MEME TOKYO + MEMETIC INFECTION

#48 Yurufuwa Gang Journey + no. 9

#47 Carpainter Retro Music + SUPER DANCE TOOLS Vol.3

#46 MEZZ MEZZ BUNNY

#45 Ryuichi Sakamoto 12

#44 CHO CO PA CO CHO CO QUIN QUIN tradition

#43 iga Aft

#42 botsu vs nul Revolver

#41 Spangle Call Lilli Line Ampersand

#40 Cwondo Tae

#39 rirugiliyangugili YANGU

#38 BD1982 Amaranthine

#37 SAI Suichu Teien

#36 femme fatale fuckin’ sisters

#35 RYOKO2000 Unknown Things

#34 Telematic Visions prohibitions EP

#33 NTsKi Calla

#32 uami Tabi Wo Shite + Watashi Yo De Kaeru + Mizu Wo Ageru

#31 LIL SOFT TENNIS i have a wing

#30 Reol BLACK BOX

#29 Suiyoubi No Campanella (Wednesday Campanella) RABBIT STAR

#28 e5 GIRLS DAY

#27 peterparker69 deadpool

#26 Lamp Dusk To Dawn

#25 4s4ki CODE GE4SS

#24 Sho Yoshimura Cabbage

#23 Milk Talk Milk Talk

#22 perfect young lady PYL 3rd SEASON...

#21 toiret status wolmhore + He

#20 computer fight gushagushavinyl

No better place to start the top 20 than with nine minutes of rock showing just how much the Tokyo live community has bounced back. The songs on gushagushavinyl stagger around like they are two Strong Zeroes deep. It’s part Zazen Boys and part whatever the heck is happening out in the U.K., but computer fight keep the madness tight. Here’s months of pent-up energy released via guitar darts and sing-speak vocals pinballing over the noise. Get it here, or listen below.

#19 Pasocom Music Club Fine Line

Full disclosure: Wrote the English bio for the band ahead of this release

Do you have to choose between experimental urges and mainstream potential? Duo Pasocom Music Club indeed walks a fine line on their fourth album. They balance more pop-accessible tunes featuring friends such as chelmico and Aozora Hayashi providing the hooks with electronic exercises nodding to (and, with “Dog Fight,” kind of directly referencing) their early days on Maltine Records. The pair, though, have long known the two sides can happily coexist, and the triumph of Fine Line is letting them crossover. Assisted by a goofball concept revolving around aliens, Pasocom show their desktop-music playfulness works well with others, whether creating interstellar party starters (“UFO-mie” with a particularly bonkers The Hair Kid appearance) or swift ennui-rich dance-pop (“Day After Day” with Mei Takahashi). Think of it as the two redrawing just what is possible when it comes to ambition. Listen below.

#18 T.M.P Vector

Internet music made for physical spaces. One of my biggest regrets of the year was missing T.M.P live whenever they came to Tokyo, because Vector sounds apt for a big sweaty room full of people hoping to see digital noise delivered IRL. The Kansai duo draw from Hyperpop, years of Nico Nico Douga memes, denpa songs, group_inou and so much more to create an absolutely dizzying set imagining computer-born styles as livehouse fireworks. Listen below.

#17 Metome HORA

Metome wrestles with an entire decade on HORA. The latest collection from the Osaka producer surveys the electronic sounds of the 2010s, with a focus on the sample-warped tracks he emerged with and the thrilling mutations playing out at the city’s INNIT party. Yet he doesn’t corner the sound to just this space, instead stretching out to incorporate (and bend) big-tent EDM, ambient and other nooks to offer something that’s part monument, part time capsule. Get it here, or listen below.

#16 Sasuke Haraguchi Acetone + Screen II

The most jarring reintroduction of the year, easily. Last time we heard from Sasuke Haraguchi, he was a cherubic teen who told us that J-pop would never end. He re-emerged in 2023 tearing it all down. He bent familiar structures and warping common textures across two albums of head-whirling experimental electronics. This is restless curiosity spilled out for all to make sense of, seeing how far pop can be stretched and hammered and beaten up without losing its form completely, with Haraguchi becoming a surprise hyper tinkerer in the steps of Hakushi Hasegawa. Bonus points for the young disruptor somehow scoring an unlikely viral hit along the way, utilizing Vocaloid even! The kids really are alright. Listen below.

#15 Various Artists THE RAVING SIMULATOR

SPRAYBOX topped off a very productive year for the label with a collection doubling as a snapshot of how much intermingling is going on in Japan’s live ecosystem right now. THE RAVING SIMULATOR brings together creators representing all kinds of burgeoning corners of Japanese music — from gal-drill force MEZZ to chiptune-turned-hardcore dynamo Toriena to sad girl saint nyamura to VTuber Peanuts-kun — and slams them up with producers dabbling in just as varied a selection of sounds. The urge to explore and experience everything defined post-pandemic-regulation Japan, and here’s a compilation offering the sonic interpretation of your first super messy night back out. Get it here, or listen below.

#14 kinoue64 Anata Dake Ni Kiite Hoshi + Hokago No Geijutsu Bu + Shumatsu Endroll

Sorry to dwell on this…but by not doing a 2022 list, I’m forced to do a little bit of table setting on a creator who would have made the top ten last year. Vocaloid and shoegaze have crisscrossed constantly since the singing synthesizer software hit the market in 2007, but for me kinoue64 is melding the digi-delivery of Hatsune Miku with guitar distortion better than anyone, and revealing new angles to a style that could use some new wrinkles rather than another revival. Following on the layers of their 2022 highlight, this trio of releases digs in to just what is possible when bringing this technology to this particular emotional spin cycle. Equal parts dashing and slow burning, they capture a creator deep into experimentation, discovering new angles on both Vocaloid and shoegaze without losing the soul of either. Get them here, or listen below.

#13 Local Visions And Yuka Nagase OACL

A cracker-jack team of Local Visions artists bring their finest interpretations of city pop, new jack swing and techno-pop to singer Yuka Nagase, who vocally glides effortlessly over whatever retrofitted backdrops they provide. Besides being another experiment in Local Visions’ ongoing effort to see how the sounds of yesterday can be played around with in the digital age, it’s just absolutely packed with exciting online-born creators showing where they are at right now. Nearly everyone involved put out their own (great) solo endeavors in 2023, but man I think their best work pops up on OACL. Check the groove Olive Ga Aru deliver, or the nervy electronic jitters courtesy of upusen. Anything getting Sonic Module and AOTQ back in the spotlight is worth celebrating…and it tops it off with maybe the most aching Tsudio Studio song to date, featuring huge sax rips. Get it here, or listen below.

#12 Various Artists Xtalline: 001

An international celebration of just what shoegaze can be in the 21st century. Errrr, “angelic post-shoegaze” as fledgling label Siren For Charlotte dubbed this set, doubling as their debut. It’s a hell of a mission statement though — rather than settle for revisiting the familiar, the artists on Xtalline: 001 use shoegaze as a base to build something new. Breakbeats, Vocaloid, synth blurs and spoken-word nuttiness collide with guitar, familiar but much more daring than Loveless recreation. That it does so by crossing borders earns it extra points — Siren For Charlotte opens its gates to creators from the U.S., Brazil and South Korea, including an appearance from 2023 darling Parannoul — but the real thrill comes from a collective desire to get daring with it. Get it here, or listen below.

#11 BBBBBBB POSITIVE VIOLENCE

Few albums ever manage to make me laugh as consistently as this one while also inspiring an urge to break shit. Honestly, I’ll just link to my Japan Times story about the band, because that sums it up best. Get it here, or listen below.

#10 cero e o

A labyrinth of an artistic statement. By my estimation, this is the consensus album-of-the-year according to Japanese critics, and was hailed as a 21st century masterpiece right out the gate. I’m still wandering through its passages and delving into its layers, though it’s clearly the trio’s most ambitious collection to date — whereas POLY LIFE MULTI SOUL threw a party around communal art, e o slips into the cerebral to take in the 21st century Japanese experience of city living, nostalgia and trying to create something new. Like, it’s way more fun than that sounds, especially when “Nemesis” rumbles to life and “Sleepra” hits its stride. But this is cero deliberately creating a complex lyrical and sonic work, the sort that unfolds at its own pace and reveals itself over time³. The highest compliment I can pay it right now is it sounds like something that I’m only just getting lost in, months after it came out. Get it here, or listen below.

#9 SARI Ending

Don’t let the title fool you — former Necronomidol member SARI’s debut solo album serves as a new artistic beginning for the creator and one of the most dizzying pop statements of the year. Working alongside left-field producers such as 5UMUT5UMU and Amenkensetsu, the former idol puts a feverish spin on familiar pop structures while tip-toeing towards synth-pop and drill (see the particularly woozy “Milky Way”). She uses traditional Japanese instruments frequently, warping them so they are less tourist-trap aesthetic touch and more of a way to add an out-of-time element to a collection constantly pushing at boundaries. Yet Ending shines because it’s SARI finding her voice — both literally as a singer, and as an artist with a viewpoint to share. Get it here, or listen below.

#8 Kikuo Kikuo Miku 7

Vocaloid has proven itself to be the most important musical development of 21st century Japan. As J-pop faces the world, some of the biggest names emerging as ambassadors grew up obsessed with the community built around singing synthesizer tech, to the point where someone like Ado developed her sense of artistry through Nico Nico Douga uploads. It’s trickled down to shoegaze, hyperpop and beyond, while also being a global concern (somehow featured in a Marvel movie???). It’s doubly impressive when you realize Vocaloid is an instrument, something serving as a force for creativity. Kikuo Miku 7 reminds of the imaginative juice the tool can provide, and does so on producer Kikuo’s brain-melting-est set of songs yet. Nodding to Japanese folklore, surreal carnival music and indie video games via a bo en cover, this is a flight of fancy showing how much a generated voice can be stretched and twisted into new shapes. Every song delivers surprises, while highlighting the magic Vocaloid has brought to modern music. Get it here, or listen below.

#7 Summer Eye Daikichi

Welcome to the seaside resort of your mind. Longtime Siamese Cats member Tomoyuki Natsume imagines warmer climes and tropical escapes across debut solo album Daikichi, but conjures up these magazine-ad ready atmospheres through bedroom experimentation. At times channeling “new music” breeziness and other times letting loose over acid-touched dance, all of Summer Eye’s music carries a sense of longing underneath the sunniness. Daikichi comes close to being a city pop thought experiment — the closest comparison I can draw is to Tsudio Studio’s similarly fantastical Port Island, but whereas that’s more conceptual, Natsume is digging for something more personal — but it’s that melancholy system passing by that lends it so much more depth. Think of far-flung holidays all you want, the thoughts prompting those visions don’t go away. Get it here, or listen below.

#6 Kyogen Awakening + Mirage + Kureyume EP

We’re now entering the home stretch of this list where a theme truly emerges — besides the thrill of experimentation the restriction-free reality of 2023 provided, the past 12 months in Japanese music really underlined the legacy of netlabels in nation’s music scenes. Producer Kyogen released on two of the most prominent contemporary netlabels going (Lost Frog Productions and Omoide Label) while also dropping a solo effort on their own over the past year, though the real triumph of this triumvirate is the freewheeling approach they take to sound across them. Awakening and Mirage fizz and fade around the edges, but whether boasting a guest vocalist or not, Kyogen lays down a pop foundation regardless of how fuzzy the sounds around it get. Final offering Mirage offered something sturdier and swifter, coming closer to neo 2-step and bubbly electro-pop (shout-out to the contemplative exotics of “Pilgrimage” though, the closest anyone came to channeling Henry Kawahara this year), but with a playfulness intact. One of the most impressive runs of releases this year, and a reminder of how much artistic freedom flourishes online. Listen below.

#5 TEMPLIME And Hoshimiya Toto POP-AID

Virtual singers trip people up. Blame Hatsune Miku — herself more a manifestation of software than digital trick — or all those creepy holograms of dead pop stars, or hey we can pin this on Lil Miquela for scrambling brains. Yet the bulk of “virtual” artists are flesh-and-bone folks playing with identity, and are just as capable of creating great art as anyone putting their real face forward. POP-AID finds virtual performer Hoshimiya Toto linking up with long-time collaborators TEMPLIME, a due balancing fizzy U.K. garage, joyful dance-pop and jagged rock, to celebrate a union responsible for some of the best pop to emerge out of the internet in recent years. Gathering previously released electronic skippers such as “Skycave” and “Cold Tears” alongside playful new additions like the title track, POP-AID underlines an unorthodox trio excelling at turning surprising sounds into sticky jams (and being able to play well with others…see how seamlessly upstart LIL SOFT TENNIS slots in on the longing dash of “Melody Smash”). Here’s a fresh force in songwriting…fronted by a virtual act reminding of the humanity at the center of online developments. Get it here, or listen below.

#4 Homecomings New Neighbors

Homecomings have spent a decade wandering suburban streets, trying to make sense of life through diary-rich indie-pop The Kyoto quartet have never lacked for good stories, sharp lyrics, heavy emotions and catchy melodies, but New Neighbors stands as their best album to date because its the first time they’ve embraced their lived experience. The band stares down aging and everything that comes with it, but rather than dwell on the simple unfulfilled romances and wasted days marking youth, Homecomings explore twistier relationships and greater societal dilemmas. The energetic indie-pop punch they developed as college kids remain, but here is used to highlight empathy, equality and solidarity with one another as the years go on and life weighs on us all. Love creeps in, but isn’t the be-all-end-all emotion, but rather just a shade. Homecomings are older and wiser on New Neighbors, but still have their hearts on their sleeve, and ready to extend a helping hand out on their finest moment. Listen below.

#3 Ohzora Kimishima Eitaisuru Kemuri + no public sounds

These two albums, practically bookending 2023, feature some of my favorite individual sounds of the year. Ohzora Kimishima welcomes all sonic ideas into their world, offering a perfect snapshot of the middle-layer of Japanese music where artists can just…do whatever. Write heart-tugging acoustic folk songs highlighting your voice? Sure, but feel free to throw them up alongside rumbling desktop-music tinkerings verging on collapse. Start an album like no public sounds off with heavy-ass guitar riffs signalling a classic-rock phase, but pivot a few tracks later towards looping experiments featuring manipulated vocals seeking out bliss. Whisper on some inclusions, nearly scream on others, like “c r a z y.” Do what you want, when you want. Kimishima’s pair of full-lengths capture an artist going all in on curiosity, and pulling out exhilarating music by choosing to give everything a shot. Listen below.

#2 Le Makeup Odorata

The taste of wine. The feel of itchy skin. The stink of Osaka’s Dotonbori river. The sight of a beautiful blue flower in bloom. The sound of friends. Odorata is marked by the details of Keisuke Iiri’s life in the Kansai region, delivered with a poetic sweetness and sonic adventurousness that makes his latest under the name Le Makeup hit especially hard. “I wanted to create something reflecting the feeling of seeing the world is getting worse from my living room couch,” Iiri told me back in 2017 when he shifted towards sing-speak diary entries on Hyper Earthy. The attention to detail remains, but the mood has brightened and his circle expanded on Odorata.

There’s a melodic warmth perfuming Le Makeup’s latest, whether aided by skittery percussion bordering on 2-step on “Drive My Car” or delivered clearly on “Dress,” the sturdiest pop attempt Iiri has ever made. It’s the voices he brings in, though, adding new perspectives and sonic texture to his world. Familiar faces from Iiri’s Pure Voyage collective like Dove appear alongside rappers such as JUMADIBA and Tamaki Roy, who provide their own stories to help bring out the humanity lurking in Le Makeup’s achingly personal works. It borders on the surreal when Tohji and gummyboy cross paths with Le Makeup on the shuffling “Play,” but results in one of the liveliest songs anyone involved in it created this year.

Yet it’s always Iiri in the center, whether alone in the countryside or somehow in a hotel room with two wild young rappers. “Before, I focused on presenting the ‘right’ version of me, but now I feel like I can share myself fully,” he told me this year, from the very tatami room shaping the bulk of these songs. It isn’t a journal of a perfect person, but in its embrace of all things Iiri enriched by those surrounding him, Odorata ends up being his all-are-welcome masterpiece. Listen below.

#1 PAS TASTA GOOD POP

GOOD YEAR

Keep the doomerism to yourself — 2023 ruled when it came to Japanese music, especially for those who could actually experience the new mutations at play in person. Which turned out to be a lot of folks. The government tossed aside the remaining pandemic-era regulations curbing live music in major cities, while also opening up the borders to everyone again. The end result? Newfound energy in creating, collaborating and sharing music in Tokyo, Osaka and probably every other city with even one rinky-dink livehosue to its name. The best music had a giddiness surging through it, and an excitement at exploring everything possible.

The best album of the year did all this to the extreme, and urged everyone to come on in and join the fun.

GOOD VIBES

PAS TASTA gathers electronic artists hirihiri, Kabanagu, phritz, quoree, Amane Uyama and yuigot. Each one of them is great in their own right and individually explore different nooks of contemporary Japanese music. Bring them together, though, and you get something that looks like a teen comedy (the Vocaloid one, the hyperpop one, the one with a guitar) but sounds like buds hanging out and having a blast. That positivity pours out of GOOD POP, and also lends it a humor few albums ever approach. I mean, songs are titled things like “peanut phenomenon” and “zip zapper,” that’s definitely in shooting-the-shit territory. They musically explode“sunameri smoke” midway through, and the whole set ends, partially, on a meme.

The best bits of buddy-dom — which only happen like twice, and are very fleeting — are snippets of PAS TASTA together, working on the album. Here’s an IRL connection, and the sound of like-minded creators having a blast blowing up conventional sounds.

GOOD TIME

This one clocks in at just under 22 minutes…great length for any release.

GOOD IDEAS

Within those nearly 22 minutes, the following happens:

• Bouncy electro-pop melody interrupted by shouts

• Metal breakdown

• A Virtual YouTuber taking over a song

• Plaintive pianos giving way to high-energy synth stabs

• Peterparker69

• Anime samples

• A life-affirming guitar solo

• Really creepy cackling deep in one of the tracks

• A tribute to 2010s EDM

• A bossa nova pillow to rest your head on

That’s just a smattering of it, but…there’s a lot pinballing around.

GOOD WEB

If, for whatever reason, I’m ever forced to argue in favor of the internet still being an overall good place culturally in front of some government body and/or tribunal of Substack “web culture” authors, I’ll use GOOD POP as my first and only piece of evidence.

The members of PAS TASTA came up and frequently contributed to Japan’s netlabel ecosystem. Allow an old-ish guy to wax poetic for a second…but that period of time, when Maltine Records and Bunkai-Kei Records and Trekkie Trax and countless more offered an online space for young creators to get weird, represents everything great about digital life. No rules to what you could do or what you could sample — just go for it, whatever it was. Beyond the sound, the ethos was as important. Explore the ideas you have, even if it’s anime-inspired breakcore or theatrical electro-pop punctuated by hip-hop samples. That’s beautiful.

GOOD POP isn’t a tribute to peak-netlabel times, but a triumphant reminder that they never left. The six members of the project came up with netlabels and “internet music” as a default rather than the alternative I remember it as. They absorbed it in a very different way, but the same excitement at sonic experimentation and seeing just how much you can discombobulate a song before it breaks remains. PAS TASTA update it for the modern moment, fiddling around with contemporary sounds and samples, and inviting a giant yellow peanut VTuber named Peanuts-kun to join them in an oddball number that refuses to stay still.

GOOD FRIENDS

Peanuts-kun is just one of many guests appearing on GOOD POP. In the way that random YouTube clips of J-vloggers and cheesy free-to-use EDM colored the sound and gave a specific time connection to peak netlabel, PAS TASTA use the post-pandemic enthusiasm found across Japanese music to invite artists from myriad scenes together under their wonky umbrella. They draw from nervy indie-rock (Cwondo), J-hip-pop (Mamiko from chelmico), the underground turn up (peterparker69) and…like “THE FIRST TAKE” (Soushi Sakiyama).

Beyond simply capturing the intersections going on here right now, it’s somewhat accidentally a perfect peak at where the country is at overall (especially when you factor in Sakiyama landing the Jujutsu Kaisen ending theme after his PAS TASTA pairing, lending this album a sprinkling of anime magic). I’ve said it before but…to get a clear snapshot of Japanese music in the 2020s, listen to GOOD POP.

GOOD TASTE

I love how many people have visited Japan in 2023, allowing for much-needed catch ups and first-time meetings. One constant I’m finding…everyone involved in music flying out here whose taste I respect loves PAS TASTA.

GOOD TIMES

It’s easy to blabber about the internet and “scenes connecting” from the comfort of home…but thankfully, I could witness it happen in-person last May, when I was invited by Uyama to catch PAS TASTA’s first concert ever at WWW X in Shibuya. Simply standing outside of the venue…on that street running between it and Parco…revealed the disparate music communities in place, with plenty of young kids I’d expect to see at a Tohji gig sharing space with netlabel geezers (ahem) and even older listeners. For me personally, this was the show that truly signaled the return of Tokyo’s live industry.

The performance itself was even better. All the guests came out, including a fuzzy-suit Peanuts-kun to bob along to “peanut phenomenon. The group found space in closer “zip zapper” — already the most emotional moment of the album — to work in a tribute to 2010s EDM mini DJ set, which seemed initially like it could be a goof (“oh ahahaha, ‘Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites’”) but soon morphed into something earnest (*room full of people losing it to “Clarity”*). They whipped out a guitar for the big solo in “turtle thief,” and it left me mouth agape for like five minutes, wowed by the moxie on stage.

GOOD POP

Almost every album on this list reflects either the beginnings of post-regulation Japan, or the rush of experimenting in an age where everything — from genres to avatar peanuts — are fair game. GOOD POP blankets both, and captures that energy that I’ll always associate with 2023 perfectly. It’s a collection honoring the netlabel history that made it possible, but one pointing towards a new path forward, with that spirit intact. The country, the city, the internet…it all changes. But PAS TASTA show that the thrill of just playing around with sound never goes away. That’s beautiful. Listen below.

Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies

Follow the Best of 2023 Spotify Playlist Here!

1. Though, to be clear…the album on top of the list has never changed, it’s Utada Hikaru’s Bad Mode. Frankly it ran away with it by such a large margin that I often felt like “do I even need to do this?” Funny enough, that’s also the case in 2023, where my #1 has been a lock since like July.

2. Have previously written her English bios.

3. Weirdly, will note that one thing that put me off to this album initially was how there were like eight deep essays on ~ what it means ~ plus interviews with the band digging deeper into it. I’ll take music journalism and criticism thriving in whatever way it can, but I will admit the rush to explain it all felt like homework, and I’ve only really started getting into this one later in the year.