Make Believe Melodies For Aug. 30, 2020

Japanese music highlights including Tsudio Studio and HALLCA, Turntable Films, Tomggg And More

Via Local Visions

Tsudio Studio Featuring HALLCA “Promise Of Summer”

While plenty of great music has come from people outside of Japan interacting and interpreting city pop, the best updates on the sound of an imagined yesteryear almost always come from Japanese artists because they can work with and subvert neon-drenched cliche into something much more interesting. That’s something vaporwave idol outfit Especia did incredibly well before the YouTube algorithm plastered “Plastic Love” in everyone’s sidebar, and it’s something the Local Visions label manages today. “Promise Of Summer” bridges these two periods nicely. It came together thanks to a simple followback on Twitter, and finds a lot of familiar Tsudio Studio flourishes — Auto-tune splashes, saxophone bleets, a sense of everything being just a little less stable than you’d think — with a great vocal from former Especia leader HALLCA. Like both Especia and Port Island, the bubble-era references come through clearly, but get re-imagined into something fitting for the social media age, with the melancholy still coming through clearly.

DJ Chari And DJ Tatsuki Featuring Tohji, Elle Teresa, Uneducated Kid And Futuristic Swaver “GOKU VIBES”

The names after the “featuring” would make this one a point of interest even if it wasn’t called “GOKU VIBES.” Everyone here is on top of their game, with Tohji continuing to drift into the void and South Korea’s Futuristic Swaver balancing otaku nods with sing-rap.

DJ LHC And Oyubi “Bleeper”

Japanese juke producer Oyubi and Brazil’s DJ LHC connected with one another while stuck in their respective homes during the pandemic, and this friendship birthed “Bleeper.” Oyubi’s garage influence comes through clearly, making for a loose-limbed late summer dance track.

KOTO “Goho Girl”

Idol KOTO dips her toes into synth-pop shimmers, and while she doesn’t go quite as deep into the absurd as she did a few years ago, she still finds a more high-energy take on an ‘80s treat than what a lot of other contemporaries are dealing with.

Caro Kissa “Summer Daytime”

There’s still a little bit of warmth left in the season, and indie-pop duo Caro Kissa come through with a bouncy synth-pop number complete with one of the more charming animated cats I’ve seen lately. Look at how it skips!

Turntable Films “A Day Of Vacation”

If I’m to keep it completely honest with you, part of the reason I started this newsletter up was so I would have more discipline to keep up with Japanese music, and push myself out of familiar comfort zones (though, look at that, a Local Visions release right at the top). In a good bit of timing, this exercise has revealed that Kyoto group Turntable Films have returned after a five year absence to release a new song called “A Day Of Vacation.” This one is slightly shrouded in nostalgia — the group were a REAL early Make Believe Melodies favorite, and I schleped out to Nara to watch them play in a hotel lobby and later interviewed them for The Japan Times. “A Day Of Vacation” truthfully lacks the same stomp or drive that made a lot of those releases click for me, but there’s still a charming approach to seeing how the band can bend these songs, especially in the delightful last half, where they let everything get lost in its own far-off daydream. Maybe it just reminds me of nabbing every flimsy CD release from local area bands at Flake Records, but I’m glad to have these guys back.

Tomggg By Ryahn “Roller Coaster”

Tomggg helped usher in a whole five-plus-years of playroom-appropriate pop sounds in the Japanese electronic community, but he’s been able to stay one step ahead by using the same xylophone plonks and synth swirls to generate more moods. Here he plays the role of producer to Ryahn, turning his usual sonic palette into something helping to get the most out of her singing.

Stones Taro Salt Desert EP

NC4K in Kyoto still stands as one of the best labels going in the country, and founder Stones Taro delivers a highlight from the crew with Salt Desert. The producer glides into house and garage sounds on this three-song set, adding in details like a pinging electronic melody or sliced-up samples to lend it a woozy energy.

Denki Groove “Set You Free”

Feels like a must-list, seeing as this is the long-running duo’s first release since Pierre Taki got busted for blazing up. There’s no hard feelings or jabs at what happened before though, just two creators choosing to get caught up in the euphoria of the moment (along with some puns) and let the joy flow forward.

KiWi “Daydream”

The end of August means the Halloween displays are out in force at malls and Costcos across Japan. Perfect time, then, for the Mad-Decent-gone-Adams-Family duo KiWi to return with a number full of them imitating crows cawing and lyrics about being disconnected from the world. Even without the Halloween Horror Night lyrics, KiWi just continue to have fun mashing club sounds up with something you’d hear playing behind Jack Skellington.

Oricon Trail For The Week Of Aug. 17, 2020 To Aug. 23, 2020

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 the 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 drip down…the Oricon Trail.

Kanjani Eight “Re:LIVE” (325, 888 Copies Sold)

I’m starting to get the sense that, in a very different timeline, Arashi could have possibly managed legit international success if they had access to the internet. This week, the group’s pre-hiatus flirtation with the world continued via an appearance on Cosmopolitan’s “TikTok Challenge Challenge,” wherein they attempted to recreate meme dances set to…mash-ups? I’m not here to judge the Gen Z Girl Talk who decided Post Malone and “September” were begging to come together, but rather to note how Arashi, always more talents than musicians, do well in the modern internet ecosystem, where being relateable and just skillful enough can go a long way. Their entire online presence in 2020 — including the genuinely charming Sweets Club — meshes well with the global pop ecosystem, and while it probably wouldn’t have held quite the same impact during their heights in the late 2000s, Arashi really do seem like a group that would have benefited from Johnny & Associates letting the roster log in every once in awhile.

This isn’t the case with Kanjani 8, whose official music remains hidden from YouTube or subscription streaming, and that’s alright. They remain the talent agencies most bland offering, with this single being another midtempo snoozer offering nothing you couldn’t have experienced ten years ago. If Arashi underline how shortsighted Johnny & Associates was in sticking to a pre-Web mindset, Kanjani 8 offer a pretty convincing counter argument.

News And Views

• I’m a cynic, especially about music media, so I’m not sold on W Magazine’s argument about how global pop is forging a new world (a new world still centered entirely on how well artists can do in America). Maybe more on that some other time, but it’s also funny that the J-pop representative is…Hatsune Miku. She’s definitely one of the most important developments in 21st century music, but not sure “wow a hologram” works in 2020.
  

• One of the most shared music stories on Twitter in Japan this week was about NexTone, a copyright challenger to the largely reviled JASRAC.
  

• Arashi aren’t just busting moves on TikTok…they’re busting up ticket resellers! Well, OK, it’s the law doing that, but a woman trying to sell Arashi tickets at jacked-up prices was found guilty, one of the first cases of a ticket re-seller being punished in the country.
  

• St. Vincent featuring Yoshiki is definitely not something I’d ever expected to see.
  

• This week in live music in Japan during COVID-19: Sam Byford at The Verge has a nice feature on Miyavi and his efforts to elevate the livestream performance, which echoes what I wrote about last week regarding Sakanaction. For those who can’t afford drones and access to a teamLab’s art installation, they can play in front of a bunch of cars in Chiba. Though maybe a new normal is emerging — Rush Ball in Osaka became the first music festival to go through in the country during the pandemic, with organizers using green nets and yellow ribbons to promote social distancing.

  メタボくん @mitotan_

  スタンディングエリア思った以上やった 右から左への一方通行しかできんらしい で、等間隔に付けられてる黄色いリボンの前でしか止まってはいけない ただ地面にバミられてるだけじゃないんだね ラシュボの本気度が感じられる 関西邦ロック勢の民度の見せ所やな #ラシュボ #RUSHBALL #RUSHBALL2020

  

  

  

  

  
  

• Nihongaku Radio has a new episode out, with a very nice shoutout to this newsletter!
  

• I talked to Chelmico for The Japan Times. Bonus detail for subscribers — I wanted to know what they thought about fans from all over the world drawing fan art of them, and also mentioned the existence of the song “We Like Chelmico,” created by someone named philnico (“young Rachel / stuntin’ on these hoes / young Mamiko / shinin’ with the glow”). They instantly knew what I was talking about, burst into laughter and said they have never received any reaction like that, and it has left the deepest memory on them (and they’d love to play it before a live set, as like intro music). So, if you know philnico…tell him Chelmico likes his song.

  Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
  Twitter — @mbmelodies