Make Believe Mailer #95: Bandcamp Friday Special November 2023
Staying Upbeat!
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 September. Welcome to the November edition!
Bandcamp’s current situation…let’s embrace positivity and say “answer unclear.” Songtradr’s acquisition of the site resulted in half the staff being laid off which does not paint a positive picture of what comes next. Yet at the time being…the site still functions, and happenings like Bandcamp Friday are still going down. While certainly depleted, editorial staff at Bandcamp Daily remains and articles are still coming out (I know this because…I have two on the way). What happens next? Hmmm, we shall see…but for now, we can spend a day spotlighting some great music available on the platform.
punipunidenki — Plastic Tonic
Perhaps it’s not possible for punipunidenki to deliver a throwback. They’ve been a sonic chameleon for years — embracing bubbly future bass on one EP before scurrying over to jazzy city pop ruminations on the next, before going total oddball one upload later — so returning to some specific point seems impossible. Plastic Tone, though, imagines what that could be like. This is the artist re-emerging among the smoky lounges of yesteryear, fully welcoming the return of jazz melodies built out of mini orchestras into their work. Opener “Biman” pairs smooth sounds — check the guitar solo — against far more melancholy lyrics, a tension punipunidenki has long explored against myriad soundscapes, but here feels closer to their origin. “Withering” dips into lo-fi hip-hop beats territory, but their voice carries the day over the submerged sounds, while closer “Plastic Tonic” breaks out the sturdiest groove present (oh, a horn!) for something splitting the difference between hope and pessimism. For a creator so diverse as punipunidenki, this really isn’t a return to anything…but rather, a new angle on the sounds that interest them. Get it here.
Various Artists — THE REMAINS OF WASTED WORLD
“The motivation for this compilation started from a simple question: now that we are in our 30s, what is the situation of people in our generation who are a little older than us?”
We’re seen!
Experimental noise label Creston Club runs a demographic check via distortion and fuzz on new compilation THE REMAINS OF WASTED DAY. As a 30-something constantly turning over their place in the world today, I appreciate the collective acting folks in my demographic to express their tensions and thoughts via bursts of noise, collected here. Song titles like “Spiral into chaos” probably offer hints at what to expect even before the waves of clicking noise envelop listeners. But hey, glad they asked, and let creators rip to express that unique 30-somethings dread. Get it here.
Yakumo — ·̩͙*+. ̊☽ 𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖒𝖆𝖗𝖊 ☾ ̊.+*·̩͙
Pounding and pounding and pounding and just a little dizzying. Get it here.
i-fls — Critical Delay
Let’s see…how do I find some new juice out of the ol’ i-fls fruit after wringing it dry for more than a decade? Oh right…for all of the airy chat about bedtown ennuin and bedroom longing, I do like the moments wherein i-fls introduces some chaos to their world. Critical Delay, on early listens, provides plenty of that. See the guitar stabs ripping through the tipsy “al” or the kitchen-sink EDM of “midori’s speed.” The pace moves just a little faster on the latest i-fls dispatch — “(I never) think about me” very briefly teases funkot, which had me spinning around my living room — while the emotion remains grounded. Get it here.
Native Rapper — Day By Day
As cynical and old as I get, hearing someone just go for it still warms the part of my soul enthralled by what art can offer. Kyoto’s Native Rapper has been a consistent provider of this thrill for a while now — someone all-in on seeing what technological developments like vocal manipulation can do to music, and with an awareness of how liberating the act of creation can be. Day By Day is a three-song set highlighting this perspective in all its vigor, DAW-assisted but human at its core, whether on the violin-assisted dash of the title track or the slippery electronics of “Pretty Sick.” Huge bonus points for a T.M.P. remix…dude knows who shares his worldview. Get it here.
Thant Fancy I & Shunji Fujii — Alloy
Pure dance floor bliss — don’t take it for granted. Get it here.
utsugi — Knew
Niigata-based creator utsugi showcases the power of one across Knew. The album is a reckoning with sudden memories — “I suddenly remember things from the past again and again. I see people in the street who I haven't talked to for a long time now and have no way of talking to again. I think this EP is the result of a pile of such empty and helpless things” — and approaches this onset with a raw reaction. Every song is recorded like it is being transmitted from a bedroom reckoning, with utsugi navigating it all on her own. Better still are the moments of inspired experimentation, like the electronic flourishes of “pathetic!” If you are going to make the painful past your focus, best to make it sound good. Get it here.
Kyogen — Mirage
Very rich to be coming from someone who is still prepping their 2022 best-albums list…but damn, Kyogen had a hell of a 2023. Awakening would have been a 12-month highlight all its own, but now comes a new set of songs further showcasing the creator’s ability to blur pop sensibilities with netlabel curiosity. The best bits of Mirage offer total offbeat developments — the self-orientalizing pace of “Pilgrimage,” the techno-pop vapor of “Michi Shibrube” — but the draw of the whole affair is Kyogen’s ability to create charming electronic numbers featuring guest vocals that draw listeners in. Like Awakening before it, Mirage finds a unique vantage on modern production techniques and milks this new vision for all its worth. Get it here.
Ayu Okakita — Grow, Grow
Slow-moving breakthroughs courtesy of the Osaka artist. The electronic compositions she conjures up on Grow, Grow function as milestones, unfolding slowly but capturing a whole range of dealing and acceptance over sparse synth patterns and piano melodies. The key element is Okakita herself, threading a therapeutic line throughout via singing that is subdued enough to reveal fragility but sturdy enough to move forward without problem. Get it here.
Rave Racers — Overtake 2
Honestly, can’t get over the opening mutation of Yuming’s “Blizzard” by Sinjin Hawke and Zora Jones. Sure the rest of this offering is great, but kind of floored by the magic of track one. Get it here.
Hizuo — Kaukė EP
Feels like a minute since we’ve featured 85acid…so thank god they are back in the mix. Get it here.
Ken Ishii — Morning Light
I don’t remember the last time I made it to sunrise in Tokyo. All-night events have become a rarity due to the aforementioned condition of being in one’s mid 30’s, and even the few-and-far-between instances of catching the sunrise have been in brief (annoyed) glances at that universal global center while shuffling to Shibuya Station. I appreciate the giddiness in which Ken Ishii embraces the day on “Morning Light.” Here’s the electronic interpretation of making it to day’s first light, a commemoration of keeping the energy up until first train and refusing to late anything get in your way of raging. There’s a shine to the song…but also an unstoppable drive, the sort you expect from a punter hurling towards the A.M. Get it here.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies