Make Believe Melodies For April 29, 2024
bala-llel bala-llel bala-llel
bala — bala-llel world
The thrill of bala-llel world comes from the feeling of what’s possible. Trio bala’s first EP isn’t so much a mission statement as it is an attitude reveal, building on a trio of singles from last year standing as among 2023’s best pop period (with debut number “barla,” below and from back when they were a quartet, being my personal number one). Part of what bala aims to do is nudge elements of the underground closer to the mainstream, and like any good group of pop surgeons trying to stitch sub-culture into something new for a larger audience, they are experimenting and expanding their field of view.
What made those 2023 singles so special was the balance bala struck between capturing now, nodding to the past and envisioning something future facing. They could link up with Shinichi Osawa for a French-touch throwback, but make it sound urgent, less an exercise in Y2K nostalgia and more about retrofitting the style for today. They could team with in-demand producer Kenmochi Hidefumi and adopt his patented sing-speak sprint, but use it to express their Tokyo-based worldview. Even something like playing around with gyaru culture could feel invigorating when placed alongside the rave-pop of BodySync. The past fascinates this group, but as something to mold rather than just stare at.
The new songs on bala-llel world finds them in part digging into the sounds of early 2010s netlabel culture by recruiting LLLL to produce two swift songs here, including the dreamy drum ‘n’ bass rush of “Kimi Ga Mitsuketa Kono Hoshi.” Yet look deeper and you find even more echoes of the past helping to craft bala’s present, with songwriting and lyric assistance from names like HNC, Lil’ Leise But Gold and Saori of THE SUZAN among others. Also present…the group’s first total airball with “LIKE THAT,” which finds them trying out chelmico-type rap to deliver some self-confidence building…and all of it sounding clunky, very much a group not playing to their strengths. But then again…it’s almost heartening to see them flail a bit, because it shows they are still pushing towards new ideas, the very thing that made bala an exciting proposition in the first place. Listen above.
Honoka — “Yasashii Kaminari”
Honoka supplies emotional theatrics soundtracked by math rock flair on “Yasashii Kaminari.” Imagine a Daoko more interested in the sounds of American Football than whatever she found on Nico Nico Douga, and you’ll have the twists and turns of this one, musically switching things up constantly to add extra tension to Honoka’s metaphor-rich observations on life, delivered in more hushed tones. Listen above.
Lucky Kilimanjaro — “Jikkan”
Few bands seem built for a specific instance quite like Lucky Kilimanjaro. Since the start, this has been an outfit making euphoric dance-pop built for moments of sweaty physicality, often found in some kind of music venue (club, livehouse, you could probably fit bars or those little listening cafes under this umbrella if they are playing uptempo music) and ultimately life affirming. They’re the “dance like nobody is looking” version of Sakanaction, and they continue to do it very very well. Listen above.
Acidclank — TOXIC
Acidclank has been seeing how club sounds can intersect with shoegaze for nearly a decade now (if not longer), continuing to find new ways acid house and guitar fuzz can coexist on last year’s Abduction. With the TOXIC EP, they allow themselves a chance to fully dabble in their electronic side. The emotional heart long animating the project remains, but now it plays out over nervous synth melodies on “DAWN.” or a barrage of breaks on “Surge (TOXIC mix).” Even when guitars come in on the final song, Acidclank lets twinkly keyboard notes float to the top, giving the Shimokitazawa indie-rock pace a little fizz. Listen above.
Uuilou — “Brew”
Dance-pop-for-homebodies project continues to offer jams for the introvert set. Listen above.
May J. — “Gold”
A pop start I’ve long had little interest in takes a turn on new album AURORA towards away from sappy R&B towards inhibitions-to-the-side dance-pop. The whole album is worth a dive — highest compliment I can pay it, she’s kind of doing her own Therapy with this — but opener “Gold” works as a great greeting to what follows and a past-last-train digi-funk come-on. Listen above.
Satsuki With Hatsune Miku And Kasane Teto — “Mesmerizer”
When I saw Hatsune Miku perform at Coachella a few weeks back, I really wasn’t bugged by the screen. Now, I was covering a festival featuring roughly a million other acts, and hadn’t shelled out a lot of money for one of the Miku Expo stops where I imagine my financial commitment would have resulted in a different feeling. But no…I’m a freeloading journalist of sorts, so the LED Miku wasn’t a non-starter for me. Rather, what rattled around in my head while watching the Vocaloid avatar run through hits from across their vast, user-created catalog was…is this music outdated? I loved most of the songs, with the bulk coming from the late Aughts / early 2010s period where Miku as digi singer was being fully explored, with songs focused on familiar pop / rock structures all about the joy of creation possible with this software. But I don’t think that matches up with what’s really shining through in the Vocaloid world today.
It’s way more chaotic, with “Mesmerizer” being a great example of the social-media-age wildness informing so much of this music. Bringing together two prominent avatars from the history of Japanese singing synthesizers, producer Satsuki creates a headrush of a song featuring guitar attack, heavy electronic elements on the verses and an assortment of textural beat details (Jersey Club squeak is buried in there! The breakdowns sound like EeL or some other neo-Shibuya-kei prankster!). It’s a natural step from the double-whammy virality of DECO*27’s “Rabbit Hole” and Sasuke Haraguchi’s “Hito Mania,” while also making sense in a context where Kikuko has become like, even more prominent in the space and folks from outside this world like Mega Shinnosuke play around with a Vocaloid flavor.1 That the vocal concern is like…existential dread coupled with tech anxiety with horror (!?) only goes to separate it further from the era of Vocaloid I saw on stage. That’s the beauty of this community, in the end — you can revisit the classics while someone else tears the idea of the instrument apart. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of April 8, 2024 To April 14, 2024
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.
ME:I — MIRAI (232,688 Copies Sold)
Last week, I pontificated about the state of classic peppy J-pop idols in a post…about desserts. What about the other side of the girl group coin? Well…weird times. K-pop still runs this corner though…hey, let’s keep an eye on the NewJeans’ situation. The era of new projects emerging from TV shows hasn’t stopped, but feels in flux. NiziU is still chugging along, but this week saw LDH and HYBE unit MOONCHILD announce plans to disband in May. A shocker for a group less than one year old and seemingly with solid industry sway despite some big controversies in recent months. Is ending better than entering LDH girl group purgatory? Who knows. The Out Of AKB winners in UNLAME are still going, though the buzz has definitely lessened. Weirdest of all is XG, which I probably should devote a whole post to, but seem pretty…lost right now2.
And yet, here’s ME:I, becoming omnipresent in the span of like a month here in Japan. The 11-member group emerged out of Produce 101 Japan The Girls, the first female outfit from the program, and one carrying a lot of excitement around them that…they appear to have cashed in on. They topped physical-only Oricon charts, but are doing well on YouTube and streaming. I swear I see them on TV daily, and they already have a big ol’ display in Tower Records Shibuya. A lot can change in the Japanese girl group sphere quite quickly…but here’s the new great hope for it.
It helps that the music runs from solid to great. “Click” is the main hit right now and it represents the prior — great pace, sonic details that get stuck in your head (the high-pitched notes in the hook) and an overall bright mood, hurt a little by a feeling of repetition and (it always has to be this) superfluous sounding rap interlude. Look at the b-side for the real winner. “Sugar Bomb” keeps the general energy up with a little more shadowy energy — the bass! — and actually makes the rap feel like a natural development rather than something a focus group thumbs-upped. Listen to that one below.
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This week…a report from Ado’s show at the National Stadium.
News And Views
SMILE-UP sent a letter to the BBC saying Higashiyama Noriyuki’s interview featured in the network’s recent follow-up documentary on founder Johnny Kitagawa’s sex crimes distorted what Noriyuki said. I mean…I don’t know, there’s no way to say this without sounding extremely cynical but…like, why would you even risk bringing more attention to a documentary that has been largely missed by audiences in Japan? I commend the BBC for actually following up on it, and I have already said that I think it was smart for SMILE-UP to actually cooperate with the filming, and think it’s good the documentary exists. But also…it just has not been visible here at all. It hasn’t come close to registering any of the same urgency or even spectacle of last year’s dives into this case. That’s not a good thing necessarily3! But if I’m SMILE-UP…why risk making this a bigger story? I guess we shall see…
The Economist found out…the Japanese love CDs! Wow, how fresh! I do applaud them for using a picture that is from 2013, which…doesn’t help your argument really, but made me turn on Surfbank Social Club so something good came out of this.
While we look back on the past…I wrote about Avril Lavigne’s “Hello Kitty” video on its 10th anniversary for The Japan Times. Ahead of its time!
I also profiled Serani Poji for The Japan Times, very charming interview and I hope it means the early Aughts Shibuya-kei mutations get even more attention. I also watched hours of Dreamcast game footage to truly understand the context of this project.
Sachiko Kobayashi will celebrate 60 years in the biz this year. Can’t wait to see what floats she stands on.
This isn’t related to Japanese music directly…but it brings in some familiar names, and will absolutely have an impact on a group that is very popular here in Japan. If you haven’t followed it, please read up on everything happening between Min Hee-jin and HYBE, because wow this is pop story of the year by a mile for me…and that before Hee-jin delivered a tear-stained, attorney-frustrating press conference last week. During that talk, Hee-jin brought up Sakura Miyawaki — once of AKB48-verse, now of LE SSERAFIM — several times, all in a way I’d politely read as “very negative.” More importantly, this will almost certainly impact NewJeans in some way…right ahead of an even bigger push into the Japanese market. Big ripple effects forthcoming.
Last…a new episode of ANGURA!
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Follow the Best Of 2024 Spotify Playlist here!
I think the connective tissue between all of these is they are electronic-based songs…I think you can still find traces of older sentimentality in rock creations, though even then the first thing that comes to my mind is “Vocaloid Shoegaze.”
Oh also…like, Atarashii Gakko!! clearly has the actual most global appeal of any of these, and the fact one doesn’t immediately associate them with any of these groups might be their strongest asset.
I think the reason for this is simple…everything leading up to the September press conference where the company acknowledged its founder’s crimes felt shrouded in secrecy and even conspiracy like. The agency was trying its best to distance itself from it, which made reporters and observes feel like something shady was up, making the story get more attention (helped by a lot of media companies who ignored this for decades now having to really care about it all at once). This time around, none of that intrigue remains…SMILE-UP appeared in the doc!…so the sizzle is off, forcing those following it to only face the aftermath…or find something else to cover.