Make Believe Mailer Vol. 16: Cooking Up A Trend
Last week, I wrote about the current "city pop revival" bubbling up in Japan's rock scene for The Japan Times. After talking to the band Suchmos...along with a little digging plus an interview with Kai Takahashi of Lucky Tapes which arrived just a little late to be included...I came away with the impression that most of this stems from non-Japanese trends rather than a bunch of artists trying to be the new Toshiki Kadomatsu. In other words, the artists themselves have been inspired by foreign sources...the lead vocalist of Suchmos pointing to Daft Punk was the a-ha moment, while Takahashi wrote to me that the song "Love Never Felt So Good" left a deep impression on him in regards to Lucky Tapes...while its the media and music industry pushing the city pop angle.
One corner I didn't dive into that further confirms this is a recent rush of boy bands under Johnny & Associates connecting themselves to the city pop boom. Last week's number-one single on the Oricon charts was Arashi's "Fukkatsu Love," a song whose promotion has very vocally pointed out that Tatsuro Yamashita and Mariya Takeuchi wrote. This Monday night, meanwhile, not-broken-up-and-not-miserable-at-all-no-way outfit SMAP welcome the band cero to their weekly show / cooking extravaganza SMAP X SMAP to perform their "Summer Soul"...with SMAP themselves. We are Sexy Zone covering "Misty Love" away from having a legit trend-within-a-trend on our hands.
They've already made a pro-Dubai song, and that place is like bubble-era Japan so....
Despite their reputation for being a factory of bland pop, Johnny's has a long history of getting big-name producers and artists to work with them. Niles Roger has written and produced music for SMAP before...and even appeared on their show in 2007...while Yasutaka Nakata has worked with them too. Yet getting the guy from Chic to work with them wasn't a selling point when it happened. With Arashi's latest, the fact Yamashita and Takeuchi -- two of the most famous artists associated with city pop -- has been trumpeted loudly, such as when they performed it on the TV show Music Station recently.
And just look at the backdrop they used for it! Would have brought a cabaret club in studio if they could have (note: they actually sorta did this on another show?). In SMAP's upcoming situation, they aren't settling for a twinkly background, but rather bringing on the band many consider at the forefront of this trend (and been around long enough I blogged about them when they sounded like Grizzly Bear). Never mind they take more obvious cues from Fishmans...cero's breezy style has made them the poster group for this style aimed at becoming youth culture. And I suppose it's working, because SMAP are welcoming into their awkward world of "we know what cool is."
Japanese Music Highlights From The Past Week
Far and away the worse news of the week is that Jesse Ruins is calling it quits at the end of March. They have one last single to share, though, allowing me a little over seven minutes to recall the ~glory days~ of Tokyo indie music.
On the plus side, Nobuyuki Sakuma's (half of Jesse Ruins) solo project CVN shared a new album via Orange Milk Records, as did wonderfully chaotic producer DJWWWW. Check them both out.
Producer Chocoholic made a great song late last year, and a bunch of folks put their spin on it.
News And Views
Turns out shaming talent that pull in 20% of your total revenue isn't a good business strategy! But Sun Music is suffering from the Becky scandal and subsequent drying up of bookings for her. Thankfully, they have plenty of other top-notch talent to see them through this.
Utada Hikaru's comeback that isn't really a comeback according to her dad chugs on, as she will do the theme for a news show.
Perfume have a new album out next month, and they'll also return to the U.S. this summer for a five-show trek to promote it. Check the schedule here.
Very good essay about The Plastics over at Neojaponisme. Meanwhile, Ian Martin continues exploring Japan's music scenes.
Please enjoy 15 seconds of a new Sakanaction song in the commercial for a cream. In other news, Sheena Ringo will be in charge of music for a Japan Post insurance commercial. Between this and helping with Rio torch-passing shows -- if they can find somewhere for the torch -- she might as well be her own branch of the government.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of Feb. 22 - Feb. 28
Every week, I'll share the top-charting single from the Oricon Charts, a deeply flawed ranking system offering a somewhat skewed look at the J-pop scene. Will I ever learn!?
#1 Arashi "Fukkatsu Love" (485, 006 Copies Sold)
So how does the actual revival pop song -- title translates to "revival love," by the way -- sound? The twist to all of this is "Fukkatsu Love" is definitely the best Arashi song in a very, very, very long time. A very low precedent, sure, but this beats everything else that instantly goes to number one when these guys are involved. Ultimately, if you need a fix of Yamashita or Takeuchi, you should go listen to their actual music from the peak of the city pop years. But this is snappy enough, a nice bit of retro-pop that isn't too dusty.
Look At Me!
I reviewed Especia's Carta at Pitchfork. An idol group on Pitchfork...what a time to be alive. It's overall a very good album that improves drastically on last year's forgettable major label debut, even though Gusto still reigns supreme.
Interviewed De De Mouse over at MTV 81. He was a delight to talk to, and very opinionated about EDM. Not featured -- me trying to teach him what "tropical house" is. Also at MTV 81, I went to the Space Shower Music Awards. The winner of "Best Vision" was Mr. Children and this collection of swamp creatures were positioned as the next big thing, if you were wondering how it went. Tofubeats looked dapper though!
And fresh off the presses, I looked into the high number of Japanese groups touring the U.S. in the next two months, highlighted by Babymetal and everyone at SXSW. Of course significant space of this is devoted to the total failure of Cool Japan! Who do you think I am?
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
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