Make Believe Mailer 36: Bandcamp Friday Special March 2022
Lots of stuff for those looking to slam their heads against something (in a good way!)
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 March 2022 edition…will you find baseless speculation on Epic Games recent purchase of the platform within? No way, that’s why we have Twitter. Instead, here’s some music to check out!
BBBBBBB — Victory Hardcore
I’m not a religious person, and I personally avoid astrology, but one “it just feels right” leap of faith I’m willing to take is…when seasons change, people’s brains get all scrambled. Spring is here, and everyone is acting dumb. Personally, I’ve been nearly blindsided by distracted high schoolers riding bikes twice this week and been witness to wild behavior on busses and trains. More globally…hey, go ahead and open your preferred source of news and tell me what you see. Minds are turning to mush, and it’s because we all flipped the calendar to March.
Perfect time for Victory Hardcore, the debut album from Aichi Prefecture’s BBBBBBB (“mixed by woopheadclrms”….dear god). Digital hardcore meets dank Koenji basement noise show meets Death Grips meets what happens to your computer when you download a corrupted file.
Just a nonstop jolt, with BBBBBBB going all gas no brakes as they let machine beats pummel ahead and the members themselves scream into the void. They constantly teeter towards just turning into a pure noise project, before dropping a well-timed sample to cut through the abyss, or pivoting to hip-hop beats to give their blown-out voices a new surface to somersault over. There’s no shortage of paths to go down with Victory Hardcore — like how it’s “hyperpop” turned inside out, or the streaks of J-rock staining it (lot of Number Girl taken over the edge here) — but I think what’s making this one stick for me as an early 2022 highlight is how it adds swagger to Japanoise, most reminding me of an internet-damaged Gagakirise.
Well, that and how it’s just perfect for this instance where a new season sets in and everyone subconsciously loses it. Trust me on that. Get it here.
Various Artists — JUKE SHIYOUYA ~ There Will Be OMOIDE Everywhere In Juke ~
Omoide Label comes through with a 59-track juke spectacular that offers one of the more wide-reaching glances into how the Chicago-born genre is mutating in Japan today. Given the nearly five dozen tracks on display, it isn’t surprising to find a ton of variety weaved in this comp, from cacophonous cuts (SOFTKILL’s “Splash Variation #3” being a particular crusher) to more stripped-down affairs (DJ Strawberry’s “dontjudge”) to the downright giddy (the horn-accented kayokyoku-slice-and-dice of “0083” would have been a highlight even if it hadn’t come from an artist named World Penis Organization). That’s barely scratching the surface — Omoide Label has come through with an essential snapshot of Japanese juke in 2022, and just how many branches it has sprouted. Get it here, or listen above.
Ryuki Miyamoto — MIDNIGHT DAYDREAM EP
A bouncy and bleary-eyed set of dance-pop topped off by some of the better vocal performances to appear on a Trekkie Trax release in a second. Everyone involved stands out from Ryuki Miyamoto’s production, whether that’s by adding some sweetness to the party or, in the case of Saint Vega on “I’m So Waiting,” getting uncharacteristically loud. Get it here.
Various Artists — Hina Fes. Breaks Gems
Happy belated Hinamatsuri to all! Celebrate with some sick breaks topped off by vocal samples to get your energy racing. Get it here.
emamouse — 10106
Our household recently acquired a Nintendo Switch, at the exact moment Earthbound appeared on said console’s online store. I haven’t downloaded it because 1. I don’t have time to play through it and 2. I played through Earthbound nearly 10 times while growing up, so I don’t need to dip into that nostalgia pool because it never really left. What I have done is revisit the soundtrack, a delightful and dizzying set of tunes helping maximize the game’s oddball surrealism, always feeling off but also maintaining a groove or melody you could latch on to, regardless of how many abstract paintings you had to fight.
emamouse’s 10106 dabbles in the same familiar-gone-loopy atmosphere, with the artist eschewing vocals in favor of keyboard melodies that hop and mope about, simple but also just a touch otherworldly. Besides being a strong argument to let emamouse soundtrack an RPG, it’s a welcome dip into the off. Get it here.
i-fls — Season Protector EP
Another longtime favorite, the same sense of melancholy listening to beats breeze by and feelings of bedtown ennui bubble up. i-fls has always been a master of squeezing drama out of Garageband tunes, but early returns on Season Protector point towards “slowlight” and “from there” as being especially tension-rich strolls around the block. Though let’s not ignore the pure party-starting joy of “from there,” one of the most fun things they’ve ever done. Get it here.
machìna — Trusted EP
Tokyo-based electronic artist machìna returns with a new EP of some of her most aggressive material to date, letting a little ooomph sneak into her synth creations on the title track and “REM-S.” Get it here.
Various Artists — Ashigakari Volume One
Sticking to the floor a bit longer, Tokyo label Diskotopia exits their tenth anniversary to face the far more awkward eleventh year of life. To mark this step into less exciting double digits, they’ve launched a new sub-label focused on “music designed for the dancefloor.” The first volume of this endeavor delivers on that wonderfully, with an eclectic mix of creators offering various moods for a night out, from RGL’s locked-in house grooves to A Taut Line’s catharsis. Get it here.
Various Artists — Lost Tribe
Let’s stick to Tokyo after dark, shall we? The artists collected under the USI KUVO label draw from modern African dance music, like gqom, to create tracks nodding to the places that birthed them while finding a local angle on them. Lost Tribe finds space to appreciate the original scenes while letting Japanese creators play around with the style. Come for that Amps song, an instant energy blast. Get it here.
Various Artsits — VIXLATIXN V.A.
For those wanting to see a really fresh Tokyo community, here’s a gaggle of hardcore and gabber kids providing the cement-encased beats you might want when staring down the world of today. Get it here.
mizuirono_inu — TOKYO VIRUS LOVE STORY
A sort of social-media-age rock opera about being young, in love and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic? Should be a disaster, but mizuirono_inu avoid the pitfalls of most “the times, they are a tough” art by instead going as extreme as they can over the course of TOKYO VIRUS LOVE STORY. This is a mish-mash of styles and samples — most surprisingly, vaporwave plays a central role in this chaos — clicking together to conjure up a big blob of messy music. Which might be the most appropriate way to try to capture the last two years. Get it here.
Yasuaki Shimizu — Kiren
“Unreleased Yasuaki Shimizu album” look I don’t need to do any extra work on this one. Get it here.
Professional Hamburger — FAST FOOD TRACKS Vol. 1
What better way to close out this edition of Bandcamp Friday than with a gloriously dumb and fun set of songs that asks — what if you mashed Showa-era detritus up with EDM-era bangerz? Professional Hamburger is here to conduct just that experiment. Get it here.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies