Make Believe Melodies For August 3, 2021
The Continued Experimentation Of Vocaloid, And More
Ryu Hanakami — SOREKARA
The current fascination with virtual idols, digital pop avatars and (gulp) the metaverse from the greater music industry is the stuff of Silicon Valley dreams. Yet can these concepts mature into tools producing great art? Vocaloid software — though, really, Hatsune Miku and other characters representing the singing-synthesizer technology — remains a point of fascination for me because of how it continues to hold both great use for creators and how, more than a decade since achieving mainstream popularity, many still find new angles on it. Sapporo-based electronic artist Ryu Hanakami utilizes that familiar digi-sing on SOREKARA, a skittering set of left-field dance pop seeing Vocaloid deployed to near rap and paired against at times delirious backdrops (opener “kawoshin” weaves in a warped Trap-A-Holics sample for an extra dash of the surreal). Whether sturdy but sparse or leaning into glitch, it shows how much is still capable from the technology. Get it here, or listen above.
(((Sssrrounddd))) — “Soap Opera”
A project that began life as one of the better neo-city-pop groups going has mutated into a vocal house project. Thank the every unpredictable mind of member / dance producer Jun Kamoda, who nudges (((Sssrrounddd))) into a new style at a time when what they were doing might actually connect on a greater level. Listen above.
Meme Tokyo — “THE STRUGGLE IS REAL”
CYBER ended so Meme Tokyo could run. Another entry in the “idol music continues to impress in 2021 file,” while also helping make a case that TeddyLoid…is maybe on a bit of a streak right now?
hoon Featuring valknee — “Lobby”
Funk band hoon returns with a new EP later in August, and first taste “Lobby” pairs a pretty laid-back groove with rapping from valknee, which criss-crosses with the band’s in-no-hurry playing. Listen above.
Tomggg And kiki vivi lily — “License Of Love”
Moe Shop Featuring Toriena — “Ghost Food”
Two examples of electronic producers doing what they do best — string-accented prettiness and electro-pop release, respectively — and how they can slide guest vocalists into their sound to up the impact even more. Listen above.
St. Night Pool — “Hyper Green 12”
I was just thinking about night pools, the once ubiquitous summer trend in Tokyo, so coming across an artist called St. Night Pool was some nice timing. Even better — this is a delightful instrumental offering some marching joy for the warmer months. Listen above.
It’s….Showtime!
POD48 returns with episode four, a look at the group battle (and the infamous SNACK performance). We are also days away from the start of Girls Planet 999, and I don’t know how much space to devote to the show…because this newsletter COULD just turn into an in-depth look into what is shaping up to be MNET magic.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of July 19, 2021 To July 25, 2021
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 trip down…the Oricon Trail.
KinKi Kids — “An / Pea” (170,562 Copies Sold)
First off, those stairs return after a little time off from appearing in J-pop videos. Welcome back wacky stairs!
This is way better than it has any right to be, especially for a veteran Johnny’s outfit that could cruise along on whatever style they wanted. The funk elasticity snapping this song ahead manages to muscle past the usual boy band trappings (bell chimes, a pretty forgettable chorus) to give this a looseness rarely seen from this corner of J-pop, at least in the last 10 years.
News And Views
On the topic of Johnny’s, the songwriters and producers they bring into their orbit continue to melt minds. The new V6 album will feature contributions from Tempalay, George of Mop Of Head and…wait for it…KOHH. Excited to hear how he dirts up the group.
I’m just going to direct readers to my tweet thread / mini meltdown over Shukan Bunshun revealing more of the original Olympic Opening Ceremony plan, which would have *deep breath* started with a performance from Perfume.
Speaking of Opening Ceremony fallout, the extreme bullying scandal surrounding Keigo Oyamada carries on, with supergroup METAFIVE (which he is a member of) announcing they will completely cancel the release of their sophomore album, which was originally slated for an August 11. Not to get too ominous, but you can also expect an announcement from Fuji Rock about both Oyamada’s solo set and METAFIVE for this year’s gathering.
Whether METAFIVE perform out in Naeba or not, fans trekking out to Niigata Prefecture for the pandemic-version of Fuji Rock should prepare for a sober weekend, as organizers announced they wouldn’t sell or allow alcohol into the grounds.
For those interested in the gossipy, scandal-soaked side of J-pop, one of the biggest stories of the last week was Shukan Bunshun reporting that singer/songwriter LiSA’s husband cheated on her.
Incredible reading list from the members of JO1.
J-pop store TRIO plans to close later this month. Those near Nakano Broadway, worth a trip!
Continuing in a series on how city pop has been embraced abroad, Cinra looks at how it has taken off in Asia specifically, which is a great angle. As like last time, just start playing those videos!
For Otaquest’s final week of publishing, I wrote an intro to Japanese HyperPop, admittedly a tricky corner to explore, but one full of great music. Don’t even worry about my bloviating, just listen to the music. This piece might also have prompted 4s4ki to tweet out she isn’t HyperPop, but “new punk,” so what a way for the site to go out.
Remember Cryptocurrency Girls, the crypto-themed idol group? They have returned with a song about NFTs.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Presumably no chance of Perfume gracing the closing ceremony… oh, what might’ve been