Make Believe Mailer Vol. 50: Country House
It's a long weekend in Japan...thank you, Health & Sports Day...and I'm away from Tokyo, spending three days out in the countryside of Tochigi. This is partially vacation, but because of deciding "freelance writer" was a career path to pursuit, I still have plenty of work to do. Because...October is super busy! I have a lot of stories in the pipe that I'm excited about (one story in particular that is hopefully going to be especially great), and am trying to get through all the necessary details in making sure those come out OK. And, yeah, trying to get some peace in the process too.
what I'm aiming for this long weekend
Which is to say this week's edition of the newsletter will be a bit more relaxed. Tune in next week for the usual deep-dive into...something. But for now, just the usual sections,
News And Views
To follow up on the saga of Boku No Lyric No Bouyomi from last week...a friend of his logged into the account to let the world know that his mom had confiscated his phone. Dude turned himself into an internet pariah in record time...the next-generation Enon Kawatani is really going to have to work fast.
As kinda predicted a couple months back, Mr. Children's new album isn't on streaming services in its first week of release. This, again, is one of the biggest obstacles to streaming platforms gaining any real ground in the Japanese market...when the biggest acts refuse to put new releases on their the first week (and, really, given how many people will pay for a Mr. Children album in 2018, they should withhold), you know this new reality has not taken hold quite yet. Right now, streaming's one success in Japan has been getting older artists to put their music up on their services...but even that has its limits.
The Yellow Monkey joined Warner Music Japan, which would be huge news in 2001 if they had any real intentions of promoting abroad.
A massive typhoon passed over Tokyo last weekend, cancelling shows by TWICE and X JAPAN originally set to take place in nearby Chiba. But one of those groups...the one not part of a hyper-controlling music label...went ahead and put on a show in an empty arena.
Sheena Ringo teamed up with Hiroji Miyamoto, and made the "most trending" music video of the week in Japan.
BTS tweeted about shambling Japanese rock act Tempalay, which was...unexpected.
The best part of October? It isn't the crisper weather or proliferation of chestnut-flavored desserts everywhere, but rather the fact Secret Songs is sharing a new Taquwami song everyday this month.
James Hadfield talked to Foodman, and it is well worth your time. Speaking of, Foodman also got a nice Pitchfork review today.
If 2018 is to be remembered for anything besides "U.S.A." -- which, maybe, it shouldn't be -- it might be for the fact all the stodgy pop groups of the past realized they needed to embrace the internet at long last. Folks, Morning Musume answered your questions on YouTube!
Oricon Trail For The Week Of Sept. 24 2018 To Sept. 30 2018
Talk about good timing...the Hello! Project All Stars (not to be confused with the Cartoon All Stars) went to the top spot on the Oricon singles chart with a number that teases something excited, but decides "ehhhh, mid-tempo is fine." Worse ways to be in the news. iKon took the top spot in the album charts.
Perfume GAME (33 1/3)
My entry in the 33 1/3 Japan series is out now! Get a copy at Bloomsbury or Amazon. Or at Kinokuniya bookstores in the US.
Look At Me!
I wrote about Japan's juke community for Bandcamp Daily. Lots of interviews involved in this one, and very happy with the end result...few corner of Japanese music remain as exciting as juke. Highly recommend checking out every artist featured here.
Volunteering for the Olympics...a mess! And that's before you get to the online application that looks like a shady dark web fixture. Wrote on it for Pulse in the Japan Times.
Blog highlights: Pasocom Music Club, Taquwami, NC4K
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
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