Make Believe Mailer 35: Bandcamp Friday Special February 2022
It's Back, It's Back!
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 February 2022 edition…hey, Bandcamp Friday came back! I thought it might have ended in December, but here we are. I’m all for it, more chances to be like “hey, listen to this Japanese music, pretty cool right?”
Boris — W
Boris’ W shares a connection with Buffalo Daughter’s 2021 offering We Are The Times. This is largely because of the presence of Buffalo Daughter member suGar Yoshinaga, who plays and produces the latest from the never-static trio. That’s a collaboration making perfect sense, especially because of, err, the times. Boris and Buffalo Daughter both rejected easy pandemic-era sounds and themes (alone, but together; I miss my friends; something something cloying desire for “normal”) in favor of pure mosh and wonky escape, respectively. Neither have time for assessing now — they’d rather dig into whatever occupies their minds right now.
W unfolds at a much slower pace than No, allowing the band to let ideas and impulses bloom without forcing them. It’s not a meditative affair — “The Fallen” bodychecks in at the halfway point — but does allow time to think, with ample use of space and room for singing to come through clearly. Like We Are The Times, W lets songs go off-kilter (and, most notably, on “Drowning By Numbers,” basically make a Buffalo Daughter song complete with uneasy singing and percussion) while also letting sweetness to sneak through, even if it’s a bit warped (“Icelina”). It’s solid reflection from Boris taken on its own, but becomes better when exploring the album it feels in conversation with. Get it here.
Stones Taro — Seed Man EP
The latest solo release from the NC4K founder offers plenty of propulsion. Stones Taro can turn any tempo and set of breaks into an exhilarating ride, and the three original tracks here go from heady (the bubbly synth bounce of “Auto Translation”) to head-first (the title track’s jungle sprint). Get it here.
Master Thunderous — Green Ice Cream
Constantly burbling-up excitement courtesy of…a sorta mysterious project? Hey, embrace the intrigue. Get it here.
Boys Age — Music For Micro Fishing
Lo-fi beats to lose your mind in Moonside with. Bedroom rock act Boys Age strips down to an oft-kilter electronic project here, turning otherwise cozy backdrops into fever dreams full of pitched-around synthesizer and a NyQuil haze. Get it here.
Perfect Young Lady — PYL 2nd SEASON...
I swear, the top ten albums list for 2021 is just around the corner, and within this not-at-all-hypothetical-I-swear draft exists plenty of words about Perfect Young Lady, a project merging bedroom pop dreams with Aeon realities. PYL 2nd SEASON… further underlines this creator’s sharp ear for songs that wow from the Bandcamp player and would also stun while walking down the frozen food aisle. The highlights on an initial listen move just a touch slower, crafting something downright dreamy (“Nayami No Otane”) or they really embrace the jingle quality of their tunes while weaving in an understated vocal (“Shinpin, Kooryo, Ki Hazukashisa”). One that we will be talking about all year. Get it here.
House Of Tapes — Phantom Of Eden
Nagoya producer House Of Tapes remains a Make Believe Melodies’ favorite thanks to an ability to always find the disorienting in whatever soundscape they choose to explore. New album Phantom Of Eden switches between softer moments of prettiness and more buzzing inclusions (“Synapse” being a highlight), with whatever mode they go for revealing an unpredictability…and a prettiness that helps fully flesh them out. Get it here.
Swimming Sheep and OddSong — “Candy Crush”
Swimming Sheep continues to be both a musical ambassador between Japan and Korean indie scenes, and a top-notch emerging songwriter. Just soak up all the nervous energy running through this one! Get it here.
kinoue64 — Kukan, Jijo, Jikan, Jishoo
Vocaloid shoegaze…not a totally new concept, but done really well on this album. Get it here.
Wogokoro — Spell The End
Nervous, jittery pop with a lot of drama built in to its structure. Playful at times and almost always adventerous in how it approaches desktop pop. Get it here.
Ultrafrog — Snatched Sun
Mid-day electronic daydreams punctured by acoustic guitar strums. Sweltering, but it a surprisingly welcome way. Get it here.
T5UMUT5UMU — Bantha / Jawa
What The Mandalorian and The Book Of Boba Fett do really well is capture the desolate feeling of being on a desert planet like Tatooine. Weird, oddly exciting but ultimately lonely. Not to dig too much into my life, but having grown up in a town that was almost certainly on the shortlist to be Tatooine back in the ‘70s, I find the best parts of both shows is when the episodes are simply allowed to linger on the vast nothingness of the sand, slowly revealing what’s going on there.
Oh, uhhh, right, music newsletter. Two great tracks from an always-busy producer, both of which make great use of space. Get it here.
Kazuki Koga — The Summit Of The Gods
Isobel Bess wrote a nice intro to the Japanese genre of “gorge,” and I’d recommend reading that before ascending up The Summit Of The Gods, an album that transforms that niche microgenre into a big (but very fun) artistic statement. Get it here.
bringlife — prrr / Tripp / Sakuragicho - EP
Hip-hop bordering on pure chaos…until a song like “TRIPP” comes around and shows a peak at beauty. Get it here.
upusen And PEYODA — “Traffic Info”
Wherein upusen’s synthwave, previously just conjuring up faded images of yesteryear and Windows 95 start screens, is joined by another voice and…it works well! A strong argument for collaboration. Get it here.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies