Make Believe Mailer 28: Bandcamp Friday Special November 2021
Have Some Recs This Friday
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 the November 2021 edition, looking at some personal Japanese highlights available on the site.
RECENT JAPANESE RELEASES
Rhino Kawara — Tsuyu No Temae, Madoromi No Ato (artwork above)
Jazzy and clattering beats to confront ennui / the transience of life with. What continues to pull me into the music put out by Local Visions is its ability to find fresh angles on the familiar. Rhino Kawara’s new album for the label exists in the same relaxed space occupied by “lo-fi hip-hop beats,” but with beats moving at an uneasy speed, transforming what could be chill-out sessions in to reflections playing out at the hurried place of everyday life. Guests like Setta bring off-kilter drumming that transform the daydreams of “Ungen” into…math rock for confronting the melancholy? The best moment comes when a voice rips through the atmosphere completely on “Sugaru Ato,” allowing some perspective to creep out of the bedroom. Get it here.
Phew — New Decade
If what Rhino Kawara does is let discomfort sneak into the corners, Phew uses that same unnerving energy to build…every second of New Decade. This feels like the proper sequel to 2017’s stunning Light Sleep, with Phew focusing her noise and voice to sing-speak about banal chit-chat and sitting by the window and make that sound horrifying. She’s using space to maximize the creep, getting the most out of the minimal. There’s no huge catharsis or sonic jump scares…just continuous, fascinating intrigue from one of Japan’s best. Get it here, or listen above.
Various Artists — Asagaya Drift Compilation
For half an hour in early October, life felt normal-ish. I decided to make the sub-10-minute walk over to Asagaya Drift, a new “music bar” venue in my neighborhood on the first of its many “pre-opening” nights. When I walked up and pulled open the heavy front door, I was greeted by pure pre-pandemic overload — electronic music blasting, people leaning in close to one another to chat, drinks flowing, and a guy passed out in the corner sans shirt. This whole spectacular started at 3 p.m., after all, and everyone was going hard. It wasn’t smooth sailing…within three minutes of getting there, someone who had been hanging around since doors opened revealed they’d already received a noise complaint, partially wounding the buzz. Yet at this point of the part — 7:30 p.m. — the vibes and booze had put the crowd in a good mood, and for this brief slice of my weekend, I experienced joy in the club for the first time in two years (developing no COVID-like symptoms in the weeks following helped).
Anyway, fantastic comp from a bunch of electronic creators celebrating Asagaya Drift. Go support local business (near me, at least). Get it here.
IOSYS TRAX — New Normal Party Music I/O/P Selected Vol. 6
Though hey, people remain hesitant to head out to live events, even as Japan eases out of a State Of Emergency and shifts into a more “living with the virus” period. Credit to Hokkaido collective IOSYS TRAX for continuing to re-imagine what a “home party” in COVID times can sound like, with a high-energy set of songs touching on bedroom attempts at Yasutaka Nakata pop (“#Home_Music_All_Night_Long”) and pure rave outs (“EGO APOCALYPSE”) among much more. Get it here, or listen above.
Aice room — Sugar Swing Sorbet
This list has been lacking in sucrose, so let’s take a pause to cram Sour Patch Kids in our mouths and listen to project Alice room present two sickly sweet electro-pop songs to get nerves standing up. Get it here, or listen above.
PellyColo — Mind Flayer
The former Especia producer continues to take their sound to the cosmos with Mind Flayer, featuring some of the more experimental synth explorations they’ve indulged in yet. Get it here, or listen above.
Noah — Étoile
A very small, all things considered, dilemma I face doing this newsletter comes from the desire to feature more interviews. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since launching this endeavor, but surprise surprise, interviews take a lot of work, and it’s tough to make time for them with so much work that actually pays the bills to tackle first (including…lots of interviews).
Which is to say…I have the opportunity to interview Noah, which I want to do, but it’s been hard to actually get around to making it happen. That’s a bummer because this release is especially pretty. Hopefully more words on it soon? For now, get it here or listen above.
Various Artists — MIDNIGHT CULT Original Soundtrack vol.1
Just a stacked lineup of artists — noteworthy for featuring a new Foodman track at the very end, but the whole stable of artists here delivers high-energy tunes for post-state-of-emergency life. Special salute to Guchon, who has been on a tear in the second half of 2021. Get it here, or listen above.
Max Dahlhaus And WRACK — No Hiraeth
A collaborative work between Tokyo’s WRACK and Berlin’s Max Dahlhaus that finds their styles intersecting just right and with plenty of steely bits sticking out. Get it here, or listen above.
Fruits — Fortune Me
Big throwback energy here. Duo Puffyshoes caught some attention in the early 2010s thanks to raucous garage rock with a stomping beat behind it. One half of that group, Neko Meows, continues to release music as Fruits, and it has the same feedback-glazed sound with earnest lyrics as her original outfit. Get it here, or listen above.
Gezan And EYE (Boredoms) — GZN RMX
Last year, rock band Gezan released the blistering Klue. Now comes a remix album done entirely by EYE of Boredoms, who is more interested in dissecting the individual elements of these songs and mutate them into something pulsing with a new kind of energy. One of the better remix albums you’re bound to find this year, largely because of how alien from the source material EYE gets. Get it here, or listen above.
House Of Tapes — Crunch EP
Long been a fan of this Nagoya’s artist’s ability to merge the pulverizing and gleaming together, and this three-track offering is a nice catch up with the prolific creator. Get it here, or listen above.
V:SiTOR — SQUARE
Sometimes you just need to massage your brain with gabber. Get it here, or listen above.
VOLZOI — Bad Dream / Skin
Let’s close this out in this blog / newsletter’s classic mode of operation, indie-pop, in this form hidden behind a layer of scuzz. Get it here, or listen above.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
That Fruits record is great, thanks for the recommendation!