Make Believe Mailer #115: Still Coming

A Defining Netlabel Track At 10, And The Continued Spirit Of Those Times In Modern Japanese Electronic Music

The three artists wearing baboon masks on stage have the crowd bobbing. Pa’s Lam System boot up their set early in the afternoon at Liquidroom, with netlabel Maltine Record’s “Tokyo” party just settling in. Ostensibly, this is a celebration of online culture. Out in the bar area, someone has laid out a blue tarp where the punters can sit and bust out their laptops in case they need to stay connected. Every artist performing here has ended up in Ebisu because at some point they logged on, shared music and found themselves a part of Japan’s leading web-centric music label. It’s May 2014, and little does anyone in attendance know these are the final days where “internet music” could conceivably stand as a concept separate from “music” at large.

In the moment though, everyone packed onto the main Liquidroom floor is ramping up alongside Pa’s Lam System. The trio start slow (by their standards, anyway) before picking up the pace and plunging into the hyperdrive dance tracks that have helped them stand out in recent months. The peak arrives with “I’m Coming,” a song that had been previewed in the weeks leading up to this event but wouldn’t technically be available for free downlaod until May 19. Didn’t matter…when that opening vocal sample emerged, the crowd lost it, and the show reached its sweatiest point.

“I’m Coming,” celebrating its 10th anniversary this past month, is a track not stuck in 2014, and actually boasts quite the odd history after its release. By the late 2010s, a lot of netlabel artists were suddenly getting more mainstream-adjacent releases via Toy’s Factory, including Pa’s Lam System, leading to a slightly updated version of the song complete with a music video leaning into the double entendre in its title. Yet look at the comments section and you’ll be greeted by waves of people in more recent times paying their respects to…computer programmer Terry Davis. Someone placed the song over footage of said programmer dancing, and it mutated into his theme song (or perhaps tribute tune). This on top of “I’m Coming” appearing in an early 88Rising upload, back when that company wasn’t exactly sure what they were.

All of that’s very “internet,” in the way its about contexts being blurred and users getting control of what art means and unlikely combinations. Those are core tenants of what makes Japanese netlabels so special. Yet it’s not the central reason “I’m Coming” stood out as a highlight back in 2014 or why it feels like an era classic (at least to me) ten years later. It’s the physicality of the song. Musically, this is Pa’s Lam System at their most immediate¹ — truly, just hitting the high-energy stuff immediately rather than build to it as they would do on other great tunes — and kinetic. There’s no room for a breather, just varying degrees of speed. It’s joyful release nonstop,with those electro-shrouded vocals lifting the mood up even higher. Though in the end, no need for a pep talk — those syllabalic “oh ohs!” making up the chorus do it all.

Just as important are the physical memories I — and I’m willing to bet anyone who has encountered this song live — have of it. For a three year stretch starting in 2013, no group in Tokyo’s electronic community put on a more fun set than Pa’s Lam System. When they stepped up, there were no lags, just constant energy. It all coincided with my own peak of club fitness, back when my 20-something-self could pogo around with dozens of others and produce buckets of sweat in the process². I’m pretty sure it was “I’m Coming” that served as the final song at a club event held in the now-shutted LOUNGE NEO, during which a member of similarly chop-and-party electronic unit LADY’S ONLY hopped up on stage, dove into the crowd during that second chorus and crashed into me, resulting in a sore back I nursed for the next two weeks. No hard feelings though — I totally get it when that part comes in.

Besides offring a first glance at my own mortality, “I’m Coming” was a vital reminder of the IRL side of netlabels. What initially fascinated me about the world of Maltine and Bunkai-Kei and Sabacan among so many more was the online element, the feeling of something happening in a virtual space miles away from any one club. Of course, I was living in the countryside miles (and miles) away from any club, period, when I encoutered it. What I didn’t know until I actually relocated to Tokyo — and what was super obvious at an event like “Tokyo” — was that connecting online was just a first step. Netlabel aritsts and fans came together in the real world to party and let loose. Sure, they had devoted space for laptop users³…but most people were there to connect. And they just wanted to dance…and blow some minds.

“I’m Coming” always reminds me of that vital fact, that for all the “power of online connectivity” and “ability to build an alternate music landscape on the internet” phrases ushered out by people traying to explain this time (many by a much younger me, I might add) that this community revolved around actual meet ups too…and those get-togethers fucking ruled. In just under three minutes, Pa’s Lam System captured the energy of a netlabel party perfectly. I can listen to this in 2024 and feel the exact same rush I had at Liquidroom a decade ago, practically feeling the sweat running down my back and the taste of Heineken in my mouth.

At the same time, though, I don’t have to go all that far to find the same experience that “I’m Coming” crystalizes so well.

Everything is on the internet now…but the actual long-lasting impact of the late Aughts/early 2010s netlabel scene remains strong. Most immediately, a bunch of names from that time are still releasing new music. You’ve got tofubeats⁴ getting as experimental as ever while still holding on to his club instincts. Just this week, “kawaii bass” pioneer Tomggg put out an album exploring the depth to his cuddely sound. And of course, Pa’s Lam System returned to collab with netlabel-adjacent electronic creator De De Mouse, above…and also get together for club events. “I’m Coming” still works wonders, it seems.

Yet there’s a more important place where once can see this era’s influence play out. A couple weeks ago, I found myself alone on a Sunday. After wrapping up some work things, I decided…hey, it’s a rare moment of freedom, let’s go out. I hopped on a train bound for Shinjuku, my end destination being forestlimit in Hatagaya to see what a generation raised on netlabels got up to live.

SxC Loser Nodding To Vocaloid Classics

While the era where something like Maltine could feel unique has long passed — founder Tomad told me as much — a fresh set of artists raised on its ethos have stepped up. The event at forestlimit found four such creators — YONEDA, NordOst, illequal and Telematic Visions — performing both solo and then as projects (the prior two going as SxC Loser, the other two coming together as Nerdcamp.com…except that night welcoming a special guest one second on that front). Moreson than most venues, forestlimit forces closeness due to its size, but the show took on extra intimacy by the decision to place the decks in the middle of the floor, resulting in guests circling the performers.

I stood behind everyone the whole time, largely becuase I didn’t want to push through anyone to see faces (also beucase of easy bar access…I’m a simple customer). Position didn’t matter though, as everyone…solo or grouped up…got the crowd moving, whether via reggaeton experiments courtesy of illequal or inspired genre-hopping exercises via Telematic Visions (complete with tofubeats tracks…connecting dots). SxC Loser teased pure hyperpop rush before revealing something much more studied, dipping into remixes of Aughts frat favorites and Vocaloid classics, all delivered with aplomb.

Uniting it all was a play-what-you-want energy connected with the feeling of seeing something very online — many of these creators have released via netlabels, including the ongoing Maltine, and they are also extremely internet in that they are on social media and sometimes masking behind anime avatars — bloom in front of you, and channel the same physical energy defining parties a decade ago, all without losing the very-web-born thrill of smashing sounds together.

That excitement reached its crescendo with the final set, which found illequal and Telematic Visions welcoming Gen Z wildcard lilbesh ramko for a set that darted from Daft Punk to hip-hop to remixes of modern-day underground Japanese songs. It would be misleading to say it made me feel nostalgic, becuase I was watching the gap between online and real world bridged in real time by pepole at least 10 years younger than me. Part of me flashed back to the days where “I’m Coming” united these two sides, but I was able to see that it was just a 2020s continuation…the spirit intact, still powering great parties today.

When it finished, I stepped out into the night, swaty and gross and very happy.

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

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1. Will note here that one of my proudest contributions to Pitchfork history is getting “I’m Coming” into the Tracks section, shout out Larry Fitzmaurice for the go-ahead on that one. Also, as the blurb mentions…great example of Japanese artists being on the Jersey Club beat early on.

2. Just watch this video filmed in 2015, wait for my cameo, and note how gross I look. That’s becuase…I had just exited the Pa’s Lam System pit.

3. And, drawing from a memory of the very first Maltine Records party I ever attended, people walking around livestreaming themselves via MacBook which blew my 24-year-old brain at the time.

4. Would be a failure on my part in a post about the power of netlabel club events to not mention the Lost Decade parties put on by tofubeats, Maltine founder Tomad, Okadada and DJ WILDPARTY. Very fun times, and a great example of the “play whatever you want, who cares” attitude animating this whole era.