Make Believe Melodies For April 24, 2023
There Goes The Neighborhood!
Homecomings — New Neighbors
Homecomings have been zeroing in on the everyday since their first official release, nearly a decade ago. Back then, they were offering a snapshot of collegiate life in bustling Kyoto, marked by unfulfilled romance and the drama of days off. In the ten years after, they’ve offered sketches of simple life with the emotional ennui within on full display — this is a band with a song called “Hurts” and “More Songs Of Pain” on the same album, all centered around the painfully relatable. It’s almost too easy to find the arc of young-adult-to-oh-just-adult life playing out across their discography — all that youthful nervousness gave way to slower, more reflective numbers, which then became an albums-worth of new beginnings in the form of 2021’s Moving Days. Whatever the time in life, though, Homecomings zeroed in on the feelings embedded in even the simplicity of, say, reading a book.
New album New Neighbors is about the complexities of aging — of staring down issues beyond just yourself while still having to deal with like, insomnia and constant change. Fittingly, the songs here sound urgent, closer to their early indie-pop days on Kyoto label Second Royal Records but colored by forces larger than love and loss1. The personal ebbs and flows of life continue to animate Homecomings, but now it’s more complex — “US” (above) jogs ahead on the need for greater unity and the importance of connections of all sorts. They go even bigger across the album, pining for a place where anyone can be with anyone without judgement (“Hikari No Niwa To Sakana No Yume”) and dreaming of a world of equality and kindness (“Shadow Boxer”). Even the intimate details come across as grander — multiple songs here detail the experience of not being able to sleep and of feeling depressed when alone. “Euphoria” tackles both while also nodding to the TV series of the same name that offered comfort to guitarist Yuki Fukutomi during rough times.
At their core, these songs are about the mundane — life and love — but surrounded by greater forces, acknowledged by the band and given appropriate weight.
What makes it their best to date is how the music matches this maturity, whether using slower songs as a time to explore more dramatic themes (or as space to experiment in a way to offer the sonic equivalent of insomnia…see “Drowse”) or moving at a quicker pace than Homecomings have been used to over recent albums. That speedier tempo also just happens to suit them better — Homecomings make their best art when dashing ahead and having to write catchy hooks. New Neighbors finds the band continuing to turn to the everyday for inspiration to create those songs, but age has changed just what their definition of familiarity is, leading to their richest collection of songs to date. Listen above.
WOOMAN — “Face”
Great Silent Harbour — “This game is alive”
The bedroom spirit of Japan’s early 2010s indie scene still floats ahead, albeit on the margins of contemporary scenes. It’s tricky offering any this-feels-right summary of those unnerving mixtures of rock, dance and ambient — my comprehensive “Setagaya Backstreets After Last Train” post wastes away in drafts, waiting for sometime later this year to emerge maybe — but it’s the sort of period that really can’t happen again (blogs felt nascent, it seemed entirely possible to create something on your own using the internet, being compared to Ariel Pink was a good thing). The sound can carry on, with these two projects offering a reminder of those shadowy times.
WOOMAN returns after three years with a bleary-eyed rock number turned tingling thanks to vocal samples and electronic sounds, disrupting the fuzz with a smattering of the modern day (complimenting lyrics about…staring at a screen). Members of that band also take part in new project Great Silent Harbour, also featuring members of Kyoto chillwave band Hotel Mexico. “This game is alive” leans closer to Cuz Me Pain, layering synths over one another while vocals spill out overhead, turning trance like. Memories of a time well past, but still carrying a ghostly charm. Listen above.
Ako — “Sinister”
Ako returns with hushed funk-pop featuring a constant groove rubbing up against near-whispered lyrics. Really, not far off from the early 2010s bedroom stuff I prattled on about above — plenty to bob along with, but with enough off touches to make it a little more tense. Listen above.
TAMARIN — “Game”
Rapper TAMARIN’s CITYBOY Starter Kit is largely stuck between wanting to hang with the country’s traditional hip-hop crew and the gnarly hyperpop kids gathered outside of WWW on a Saturday night. Closer “Game” is the one time this tricky in-between position works in their favor. Over a fittingly pixelated beat, TAMARIN runs through game analogies (shout out Pokemon) in a clear delivery, striking a balance between the rougher sounds around him. Rather than become one with the sound, TAMARIN works against it, and makes it work. Listen above.
Limre — “Kikoete”
I’m open to a good sonic blend as much as any internet-addled individual, but Limre makes a pretty compelling argument for keeping genre separated…or at least less obvious about the stylistic smashing taking place. A band fronted by KBSNK by speedy electronic duo TEMPLIME, “Kikoete” sees the producer bringing his same swift approach to song towards a traditional rock set up…and nailing it, without any of the punk-pop splatter thrown across so much “genreless” music in 2023. The trick, of course, is that high-energy bend borrows a lot from the very dance music TEMPLIME focus on, but rather than jam together like misshapen LEGOs, Limre hides the influence under guitar squall, keeping the energy. Listen above.
Chanmina — “I’m Not OK”
Though sometimes that punk-pop splatter can work wonders. Chanmina embraces the adolescent rock flair of Avril Lavigne on “I’m Not OK,” which sounds very good in your preferred streaming service, but hits way harder in the live video above. Key is Chanmina commits to it rather than treat it as a texture to smear alongside other sounds for the too-online crowd, which speaks more to her warranted pop ambitions than anything else. Listen above.
Imudenpa.wav — Foundation System
This entire release is stellar, but closing head trip “b0rn us Interstella” is the must listen here, wonky enough to fit into Japan’s current experimental sound collage but featuring an irresistible vocal (sometimes hiccuping) sewn in the center. Listen above, or get it here.
Telematic Visions And iga — “unicode”
Rare is an eight-minute-plus runtime worth it, but when you can pack so many ideas into a song while holding onto an emotional core mostly powered by skippy vocal samples, you earn that length. Listen above.
De De Mouse And YUC’e — “MAGICAL DREAM”
Though keeping it tight and getting to the shimmering joy at the center of your song works too. De De Mouse continues exploring a fascination with the tempo and ~vibes~ of future funk without giving into that genre’s general laziness. Dude just loves exploring the joy of those speedy sounds, and alongside YUC’e delivers a miniature journey complete with spacious sing-talk breakdown and string-assisted jaunt (!?) that launches right back into dizzying end-of-day electronic dreams. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of April 10, 2023 To April 16, 2023
Back in the day, the Oricon Music Charts were the go-to path to music stardom in Japan. Acts of all sorts traversed these lands, trying to sell as many CDs as possible in order to land a good ranking on a chart choosing to only count physical sales, even as the Internet came to be and the number of versions offered for sale got ridiculous. Today, with the country finally in on digital, these roads are more barren and only looked at by the most fanatic of supporters needing something to celebrate. Yet every week, a new song sells enough plastic to take the top spot. So let’s take a trip down…the Oricon Trail.
SixTONES — “ABARERO” (429,179 Copies Sold)
Easily the most musically interesting single to come out of any Johnny’s group so far this year, with enough electronic jags and moments of shimmering prettiness (the pre-chorus) to nudge it just ahead of most boy group fare. Fitting, as SixTONES is surprisingly the most musically curious J-pop male outfit going right now…they dabble in reggaeton and “emotional Afrobeats” among other styles.
While a hit — anything from a group with this media attention is bound to be — “ABARERO” also has the misfortune of being involved in the year’s first great bit of Oricon confusion. That’s because of YOASOBI’s “Idol2,” an undeniable breakout hit attracting millions of views on YouTube, dominating streaming charts and on top of the Billboard Hot 100 Japan.
On Oricon’s combined chart, it debuts at…fifth? Despite efforts to include more digital metrics, Oricon still weighs physical sales heavily in their rankings…and when you’re single only exists digitally, it won’t be able to zoom past the idol groups boasting a physical emphasis, even if your digital-only song is shaping up to be the hit of (at very least) first-half 2023. Oricon is a fandom chart, after all, and broad hits don’t play well.
News And Views
PRODUCE 101 JAPAN returns for a third season later this year, focused on creating a girl’s group for the first time in the franchise’s history, having previously given J-pop JO1 and INI. They even put together an anime-style video to get dreamers hyped up.
Music Business Worldwide interviewed Sony Music Japan CEO Shunsuke Muramatsu. The headline offers some slightly misleading bait (Muramatsu talks a bit about how digital and streaming are actually making headway in the market, alongside the presence of physical, despite a class “Japan sure loves CDs!” cliche), but most of the interview is great, and features a lot of familiar topics (anime…vital gateway).
DAOKO entering her Tokyo Jihen era, by forming a new band called QUBIT. Includes Soutaiseiriron guitarist Seiichi Nagai, a natural fit given how similar DAOKO’s sing-speak style is to Etsuko Yakushimaru’s delivery.
Yusuke Chiba of The Birthday has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Quite secondary to that, this has lead to a lot of scheduling changes for the band.
Hitomi Honda granted an exclusive interview to Nikkan Sports and…it’s pretty underwhelming. Talk to Japan Times! But I do find it interesting how she uses her experience in IZ*ONE as a teaching tool to younger members of AKB48, and would love to learn more about that (especially as AKB continues to change in the 2020s).
You should always take a Planck Stars-centric controversy with a dash of skepticism. Trust me, having interviewed them…they know what they are doing, and I think their strongest ability is fully understanding how people getting angry at you online leads to the best publicity possible. This week, member Anaru Rairai shared a photo on Twitter of what she claimed was “the [monthly] salary of a popular idol,” presumably herself. People were shocked how low it was (a little over $500 USD). Whoever runs the group’s official account clarified that this didn’t include all of fan and merch-related sales, which to be fair is where idols make the bulk of their money, but again with this group who knows what’s going on. Anyway, this buzzed online and even inspired some articles…helping get Planck Stars (who giddily shared it) more attention, which is probably a plus for them in the end (though hey, throw the members some more scratch, they deserve it).
Need to break up these bullet points with media but Twitter is out of the picture…have a Thai artist covering Fuji Kaze’s “Matsuri.”
Ichiro Yamaguchi just popping up in Shimokitazawa to do a surprise signing session.
XG shared “episode zero” of a new documentary series about…XG…on YouTube that mostly serves as an intro to the outfit. As you would expect from an in-house “documentary,” this is more about producer Jakops puffing out and declaring that “we are paving a new path in this industry,” which is then followed by a bunch of vague declarations about how they offer “a new form of entertainment” and transcend any labels like J-pop or K-pop (i.e. don’t stick us on any one playlist, Spotify).
Lot of talk about “doing this on our own” with no mention of Avex?
Future episodes look much more…interesting, as they actually detail the ups and downs of putting this group together, which based on the previews up front feature a lot of men screaming at teenagers, said teens crying and a lot of talk about “not giving up.” As someone who loves Produce 101, I’m here for this in all its problematic glory, though really my main takeaway is “oh XG is just every idol group ever, again.” Maybe we’ll see the “new” part later on.Brad Sanders looks at Japanese metal band Metalucifier for Bandcamp Daily.
Thu-Huong Ha went to a new music festival in Kyoto and tried to figure out who it was for.
Pour one out for the “virtual avatar candidate” from the bizarro AKB48 political party, a loser in Sunday’s election.
Marty Friedman sat down with Rick Beato for an expansive conversation, including talk about the guitarist’s time in Japan.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Thanks to the essential band liner notes for this album, available online, which offer an achingly personal view into this album.
It is funny to note that “Idol” and “ABARERO” share a ton in common musically, from integration of hip-hop rhythms to vocal warping for disorienting effect.
The Homecomings songs sound great, gotta hear the album!