Make Believe Melodies For April 3, 2023
WACK Stuff
ExWHYZ — xANADU
There’s no question what ExWHYZ’ goal is — they are an effort at out-the-gate mainstream success, and have been since many of the members were in the Avex and WACK project EMPiRE. Whereas the latter idol agency’s projects prior to that started from the underground and found themselves sometime awkwardly elevated up, EMPiRE emerged right away as WACK’s most ambitious experiment, featuring WACK-appropriate attempts at attention-grabbing (Mad Max themed video, a huge butt running all over the place) but with a much larger budget and overall cleaner sound. EMPiRE created plenty of good songs, but they didn’t quite manage that BiSH-like breakthrough (see below) by the time they switched labels and became ExWHYZ.
With ExWHYZ, efforts have been streamlined. WACK is still involved, but the stunts have been pulled back (or are so tame as to be negligible if they exist). Rather it’s about music and performance. The early signs of success are there — solid views on official music videos, a planned gig at Budokan in May — but the music complicates everything. I loved first single “Wanna Dance,” but the subsequent debut album largely lacked any of the tension that Shinichi Osawa-produced track boasted. You can usually count on WACK groups to at least catch you off guard, even if they do so in a bad way. This felt like…wallpaper.
Second album xANADU isn’t going to answer any questions about the commercial viability of this group — but save that for the industry nerds for now, because what it does do is present much more interesting musical developments from ExWHYZ. That’s not consistent — there’s a chunk in the middle here where the group slows down to their detriment, the synths around them turning sleepy rather than swift, and “FIRST STEP” swaps all of that out in favor of overly sweet J-pop-rock, marking a low point1. Yet when it clicks, real potential pours out.
ExWHYZ seemingly work best with a shifty house sound, here highlighted by another Osawa production (the aerodynamic bounce of “Des Speeching,” complete with tongue-twister lyrical segments) and more rumbling electronic tracks with a little more force behind them (the sweltering near-trance of “BLAZE,” the big-tent release of “ANSWER”2). They’re tapping into a nascent interest in all things Y2K — see also “barla”3 — without losing the pop core. It’s these songs that present a wining formula.
But when ExWHYZ get exciting is when they deviate from all that. The two best songs here — and what makes xANADU a noteworthy 2023 full-length — go in different directions. “DIVE” finds the outfit working over a funkier production by Shin Sakiura, but one with enough disruptions thanks to touches of guitar and electronics to keep everything unpredictable. Better yet is “Metronome,” finding ExWHYZ speeding up even further thanks to a swift UK-indebted track (those sped up vocal samples! A thrill!) courtesy of TEMPLIME’s KBSNK. It’s these instances that go against commercial goals…but produce some of their finest moments. Listen above.
nate — “Blue Roar”
An old favorite meeting a name to keep an eye on. Young producer Purukichi revels in busy beats and tracks stuffed with twists, and the sound of “Blue Roar” shifts between bursts of future-bass fireworks and speedier passages dusted by vocal hiccups. As busy as it all gets, early SoundCloud rapper / HyperPop dabbler nate finds her way through it all, adding a humanness to Purukichi’s digital spectacle. Listen above.
BHS Svve — stealth
Sometimes you get on a creative run, and you just keep on pushing so you don’t squander any of the mental burst. This is BHS Svve’s third album in less than a year, but they’re clearly not out of ideas when it comes to jamming rock, rap and electronic sounds together to create something of the moment. This one’s really all about speed, as the highlights of stealth skip along over digital blowout (“Aincrad”) or shuffling beats (“dpnd”). Listen above.
Cuffboi and ibu — Vinylspace
Speaking of speed…boy, these two sure love fucking with their voices. Vinylspace largely captures ibu and Cuffboi working in the style they’ve been mining for a while now — especially the latter — which is generally enjoyable in its digi-chaos, but over the past year has revealed a few cracks, primarily in how the vocals can start sounding samey after a bit. The best moments here, though, find the duo speeding up or slowing down their singing (to a practical screw on “Envy”), which adds a bit more tension to the music and reminds how effective they can be when they return to their main delivery. Listen above.
Ruby Lemon — “We Can’t Get Enough”
Bleary eyed but attentive enough to their emotions, bedroom producer Ruby Lemon offers a slightly more shadowy take on the synth-pop from the project that first caught our attention a few years back. While not quite sinister, the keyboard hits and singing offer a sense of unease, sending chills through whatever daydream could have been. Listen above.
yuugen, MEZZ, kohai And Cabo Artico — “Deja Vu”
A rollicking group cut connecting creators from around the world together for one party. Producer yuugen appears to largely make future funk, but here’s a great example of how that sample-centric style can be a great springboard as long as you don’t get too caught up in the imagined neon nostalgia. The speedy tempo of “Deja Vu” makes for a great trampoline for the guest vocalists, most notably MEZZ, who flexes a different vocal delivery revealing some very welcome range. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of March 20, 2023 To March 26, 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.
BiSH — “Bye-Bye Show” (138,149 Copies Sold)
BiSH marked the moment one era of “underground” idol stepped into the light. It wasn’t meant to be that way necessarily — the group’s initial purpose was to be a sort of follow-up to alternative idol agency WACK’s first breakthrough group, BiS, a project emerging during the AKB48-powered heyday of idols in the 2010s. The labeling could be misleading — BiS were signed with Avex after all, and the world of “underground” idols often mirrors the overground. Yet they offered something different — a touch subversive, at times edgy, sometimes years ahead of the curve.4 BiSH seemed set to carry on that legacy, and early performances didn’t look all that far off from what their predecessors were up to, as were constant member shuffles and a sprinkling of controversy.
Yet J-pop trends changed. BiSH offered the perfect backdrop for experimentation — early songs dabbled in Celtic rock, punk and Disneyland covers — but by the time they signed with Avex in 2016, there was no central, AKB-like idol figure to clash up against5. Instead, BiSH could sneak towards that middle, playing with alternative signifiers (artwork inspired by Odd Future, songs titled “NON TiE-UP,” a generally more unpredictable live presence) while still having the resources to create higher-budget videos and, like, work with Tetsuya Komuro. They weren’t EMPiRE, as mentioned above to approach J-pop in a traditional way, but BiSH found a side road leading them to huge arena shows and Kohaku Uta Gassen appearances — sure, they wore shirts vaguely looking like penises, but they got to that center.
“Bye-Bye Show” offers one final bow, an Oricon-topping one at that, with a touch of that familiar WACK energy — the song’s a standard “thank you so much” memento referencing THE YELLOW MONKEY with one notable nod to “a punk band in my heart” and a video featuring a final messy portion nodding to one of their earliest attention-grabbing clips. They still have a Tokyo Dome show to end on this June, but their real legacy might be found in the smaller spaces dotting the country, where a new generation of “underground” idols draw from BiSH, BiS and other WACK outfits and put their own spin on it. In a weird way, BiSH became that center, helping to inspire…but also offer something to clash against to find something new. Listen above.
News And Views
Ryuichi Sakamo died at age 71. Sponichi reported the news last night — specifically that the celebrated and prolific musician passed on March 28 — which Sakamoto’s official Twitter account confirmed shortly after. There’s too much to look over in this space — absolutely warrants a whole post, so stay tuned — but easily one of the most important Japanese artists of all time with a massive global reach and influence (revisit this classic look at the fandom surrounding him in China). He also made some sick ringtones.
BABYMETAL has a new member…and will you look at that, she was on Girl’s Planet 999.
Kenshi Yonezu’s “Lemon” made history last week by becoming the first Japanese pop song to amass over 800 million views on YouTube.
AiNA THE END of BiSH offered an update on the head injury she sustained last week…it sounds way more serious than first reported, and required 30 stitches, visible in a photo she shared on Twitter.
New Pasocom Music Club with outer space theme (!!!) forthcoming.
Mannequin pop duo FEMM announced they are calling it a day after ten years together. A career that definitely deserves to go under the magnifying glass at some point…one thing that I think about immediately is that they had the right idea about where a lot of trends were going (this is better than 90 percent of “girl crush” songs despite shout outs to Shane Victorino) but the whole “doll” concept — while interesting — probably limited them as the world entered an era where people wanted to connect to a performer, and stuff like this felt alienating.
I talked to idol group Planck Stars for The Japan Times. Great example of an “underground” idol outfit emerging in the wake of BiS / BiSH (they cited them as an inspiration), though what makes this group special is definitely is their total embrace of freedom. I also love their playful, borderline trolling approach to promotion — they’ve made so many people angry with their live shows and campaigns, AND YET they continue to move in an upward trajectory, almost as if internet anger doesn’t actually accomplish anything. Still, the heart of this story is something very idol-centric — how fandom can connect a group with people all over the world.
You can now watch a big ol’ documentary on ageHa, below.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
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Naturally, it’s performing best of all so far, though that might be boosted by the presence of a BiSH member.
Produced by Seiho, which introduces a slight ethical dilemma into this.
Though this song is just a masterclass and something ExWHYZ haven’t come close to yet…critically, ExWHYZ still very much feel like an idol project trying to figure out the fastest path to a mainstream breakout. bala feels like a group where every member’s own self comes across clearly, at least very early on.
A topic that might be worthy of a whole other post or deep dive…BiS’ “IDOL” shirt is easily the most important piece of J-pop merchandise of the 2010s, distinct and still prevalent like…everywhere. Rare can a black and white tee with a single word on it sum up an entire mindset…this might actually be WACK’s biggest triumph.
The -46 groups would be the counter here, but I don’t think they loomed over J-pop the way AKB did five years earlier…plus Keyakizaka46 was way closer to BiSH thematically, if not sonically, which helps explain why BiSH got as big as they did.