Make Believe Mailer #107: Bandcamp Friday Special March 2024
I used to write a feature for OTAQUEST rounding up some Japanese recommendations for Bandcamp Friday. I’ve decided to keep doing that for the remaining installments of this campaign. Here’s a dive into Japanese releases worth your time, attention and money from the last month. Welcome to the March edition!
Fuji Chao — Cult Ni Nareru Yo
How do you reckon with your perceived shortcomings? That’s the subtle theme running throughout the latest from bedroom virtuoso Fuji Chao, an artist who over the last half decade has documented the ups and downs of being a young woman over skittering beats and samples of Steven Universe, creating an achingly personal body of work. Cult Ni Nareru Yo zooms in on the complexes that haunt people — made clear by nearly every song hear ending in “complex,” more a personal examination than home-recorded electronic album.
The lyrical impact remains as urgent as ever with Fuji Chao — here, she’s drilling more into anxieties and personal doubts, delivered sung or in some cases a rapid-fire rap mode that feels like someone packing in as much info as they can until the buzzer hits — but the big revelation with Cult is how well the music works with the words. Beats feel out of time, or downright Moonside in construction, whether manifesting in the bleary-eyed sounds of “Adult Complex” or the more scattered, sample-based madness of “Number One Complex.” Some of the sturdiest pop Fuji Chao has ever made comes through here, with the highlight of the bedroom dancefloor being “Sensai Complex” with its strobing electronic foundation, while a number like “Wakaraenai Complex” uses spoken-word vocals, a vaporous backdrop and samples of machine gun fire to create a disorienting atmosphere. There’s no clean answers here, but plenty of space to wrestle with insecurities and aging, over some of the best music she’s made yet. Get it here.
sng — moratorium
Tiroru — Kiteki No Umi
Label KAOMOZI has impressed over the last year by highlighting contemporary Japanese electronic sounds in all its eclectic beauty. Its two February releases highlight the wide range of sounds they celebrate well. Producer sng offers an updated take on hyperpop/digicore/name-it-yourself-its-fun genre with moratorium, indulging in both the blown-out sound associated with this world on the hip-hop-indebted “teenage dropout(s)” while also crafting something to a bedroom rave-up on “methyl.” Less about capturing a specific scene and more about exploring the possibilities of self-produced electronic music borrowing from multiple styles, moratorium offers a glance into youthful angst and how to best express it. Get it here.
Tiroru, meanwhile, seeks escape through slowly unfolding ambient numbers on Kiteki No Umi. Splashes of acoustic guitar and piano brush over electronic wisps, as do vocals drifting off in the background, like leaves caught up in the wind. At times gorgeous (“Mizu”), Tiroru adds tension throughout by letting these songs build up and release, with moments of intensity interrupting the contemplative. Get it here.
Paperkraft — Not c but k
Let’s go on a quick Kansai dance run, because the region remains at the forefront of Japan’s electronic scene owing to thinking local and staying sustainable. Local legend Paperkraft returns with a new set of songs via New York’s HOMAGE imprint, moving away from the fuzzy lo-fi beats of his earliest years in favor of something a little more solid. He’s still mixing up club-ready sounds from across eras, creating track nodding to the past while showing just how urgent they can sound in the present. Get it here.
Archipelago Soundsystem — SLV005 : Archipelago Soundsystem - Annex J
Kansai label intersection with this one! Selva Sounds links up with head of finestylewest Archipelago Soundsystem for a set of dark-tinged jungle and hardcore tracks that aim for immersion. It’s particularly a percussive highlight, especially when you reach the skittering highlight of “Human Rhythm Translation.” Get it here.
Lewo Chyba And P-H — ARK021
It’s natural, but still funny / surprising to realize the fledgling labels of yesterday eventually become the vets of now. Arkuda Label has now been releasing enough dance music out of Kyoto to fit the latter, and they continue to offer high-energy material, with this set of songs especially clicking when diving into acid sounds. Get it here.
DubGuy — Not Massive EP
The most thrilling part of what’s happening in Kansai? That new names keep emerging, showing the region continues to replenish itself creatively. Emerging producer DubGuy comes in hot via this 85Acid offering, working with skittering sounds and sliced-up samples to create limber club cuts. Get it here.
imkdm — Sample To Hencho
The title delivers on everything it promises (the second word means “modulation”). Music journalist / producer imkdm offers up a playful set of experimental electronic tunes, working best when they add skittering vocal samples to the carbonated club sounds bubbling up underneath (see second track, “Kakusan.” Get it here.
i-fls — EACH SIDE
Full disclosure: I have not listened to EACH SIDE yet. This blurb comes to you a minute before midnight, after a Friday night out. One of the first things I’ll do Saturday morning is buy this and, when time presents itself, I’ll enjoy it like I’ve enjoyed every i-fls album to ever come out. For now, all I can say is…trust me, this probably rules, because few have as consistent an artistic world view as this bedtown creator. Get it here.
Dennoko P — VOCALOID STEW
Somehow, the album title is a perfect summation of the music within. Get it here.
House Of Tapes — Lone Burial
Now that’s what I call constricting electronics! Nagoya’s House Of Tapes has dabbled in a much wider variety of sounds and textures in recent years, but this set of songs is a return to the claustrophobic sound they did so well early on. Comforting maybe isn’t the right word for something so heavy but…you get the idea. Get it here.
Ryosuke Nagaoka & aus — LAYLAND
FLAU founder aus connects with guitarist Ryosuke Nagaoka for a set of rumbling, experimental tracks. For a label I’d most associate with the dreamy, LAYLAND really moves, as aus delivers some of the liveliest beats he’s recorded in recent memory, adding oomph to Nagaoka’s precise playing. Get it here.
N●ile — KEIGAI ST●RIES
A rollicking rock set using the synthesized vocals of Hatsune Miku to add digital life to these numbers. We are currently going through an underground Miku renaissance — while her voice has never vanished from any indie spaces, I’m hearing it a lot more over the last six months, with a new generation of creators taking it and seeing how it can fit into…well, a wide variety of styles. Here’s one experiment, serving as a snapshot of a very thrilling moment in Vocaloid experimentalism. Get it here.
Various Artists — TREKKIE TRAX :branch Vol.03
Going back to something written above…it’s weird to think of TREKKIE TRAX as veterans, but they definitely are. Here’s the label’s latest attempt to highlight the next era of creators, with names already mentioned (DubGuy, getting the love!) and many more waiting for listeners to find. Get it here.
Shino Kobayashi — The Wind Carries Scents Of Flowers
This edition has been very electronic, which is fine — but let’s close out with some sweet, sweet indie-pop via blue-very label. Shino Kobayashi constructs sweet songs that range from acoustic melancholy to more intricate expressions of joy. Whatever mode she takes, it is her voice — light, but a little more husky than most working in this space boast — that adds the humanity to her songs. At times melancholy and playful, The Wind Carries Scents Of Flowers is one of 2024’s strongest pure indie-pop offerings. Get it here.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies