Make Believe Melodies For August 14, 2023
Gold Sounds
Hikaru Utada — “Gold -Mata Au Hi Made-”
Hikaru Utada knows nothing can shine forever, and it’s this awareness making the ecstasy at the center of “Gold -Mata Au Hi Made-” twinkle so brightly. No pop star today — no artist, really — synthesizes the feeling of growing older and wising up to the inevitabilities that follow. That’s been the inner arc of all their post-comeback work, starting with the personal emotional reckoning of 2016’s Fantôme, before morphing to something more studious and outward on 2018’s Hatsukoi. Then they balanced the rawness with the attention to detail to create their masterpiece. Last year’s Bad Mode1 dives into the pain life refuses to stop sending your way…but hardened and accepting. Utada sees the gradual dimming we have to face, and chooses to revel in the kisses, French rendezvous and anxiety medication left.
A sense of impending disaster lurks in all of Utada’s recent work, however. Sure, ordering Uber Eats with the object of your affection rules in the moment, but two days from that plastic container getting to your apartment it could all be finished. Those worries…the sort even your Diazepam can’t quell…bubble up again on “Gold,” a song opening with ample space thanks to the slightest piano melody over which Utada can reflect on life, acknowledging how close joy can be but how quickly it can sour. They are well aware of the way time bends — what sucks now eventually becomes a sweeter memory down the line — while also keen to how suddenly the pains of the past can come. Here, it’s background music (BGM) playing…somewhere, the emotion associated with the tune so much more important than the present. It’s a disruption, the kind that, to someone still learning to move forward gracefully in life, would fuck them up.
Yet that’s not Utada, who has weathered a lot and channeled all of life’s gunk into the highlights of their career. So when the memories rush in, Utada doesn’t continue to turn outward, but rotates the other way, their voice rippling off like a safety measure against melancholy until the beat triggers. Let’s take a moment to appreciate A.G. Cook, back once again working with Utada on “Gold.” Early PC Music offerings remain vital to understanding the trajectory of modern Western pop and I’ll always respect him being one of the few people outside Japan aware of who DJ Kaori is, but I think Cook’s best production work has come with Utada, who prompts him to move away from his maximalist electronic sounds in favor of seeing how he can pull the same emotional weight from minimalism…without losing the pop edge (see “One Last Kiss”).
On “Gold,” that’s by letting the song transform into a triumphant thump, the ideal backdrop to tell those downer memories past and future to piss off because they have good times ahead before staring them down. Utada isn’t ignoring them exactly — even as the beat rollicks along, they acknowledge the sadness they’re brushing off will come back one day, and that whoever inspired them meant a lot to them — but refuses to let those vibes sink them in the now. “I’m gonna fill my calendar with lots of fun plans / my tears are on hold, ‘til the day we meet again.” There’s a touch of denial within, but Utada isn’t hiding. You can’t outrun the bad feelings…but you can certainly make the most of the time before they dull you. Listen above.
Hikari Mitsushima — “Shadow Dance”
The two collaborations between actor Hikari Mitsushima and Shinichi Osawa’s Mondo Gross project prior to 2023 emphasized escape, with “Labyrinth” and “In This World” pinpointing a drama in beats zooming forward. “Shadow Dance” — the first time these two have swapped spaces in the song title — slows the proceedings down a bit for once, milking the emotional pull of the song from Mitsushima’s vocals floating in electronic space and eventually sing-speaking over a particularly woozy passage. It makes the eventual break into the upbeat — familiar ground for the pair — all the more exhilarating. Listen above.
TOSHIKI HAYASHI(%C) Featuring Rachel — “Have a nice day”
Primarily a great chance for Rachel — the half of chelmico who doesn’t get as many opportunities to show off her solo abilities — to showcase her skills, delivering a melancholy rap over a woozy-enough beat. Listen above.
Miii — redemption EP
What a nice surprise to start the week with! Electronic producer Miii returns from a year-and-a-half silence (at least on my front) with an EP kicking off with a study in slow burns. It’s less a redemption and more of a revival, with a producer who always applied a headier take on EDM returning with a song fiddling around with soft-loud dynamics on opener “slow redemption” before really exploring the idea of letting a song bloom at its own pace on the 20-minute-plus “kar.” Get it here.
Hercelot — “Dequench Cicalas”
Speaking of welcome returns…new Hercelot! Always can use some cartoon tornadoes in musical form in my life. Listen above.
BBBBBBB — “Go”
Look, I try to avoid begging around these parts, but I’m going to go for it today…if you want an interview with BBBBBBB. whose newest release via Deathbomb Arc is perfect in the way the deeper levels of hell are surely flawless, let me know editors of the world. patrickstmichel@gmail.com. I love these guys and they are the absolute next evolution in Japan’s experimental community, but I’m also lazy about pitching (or writing a proper review of the album). So get at me…and listen above.
Mika Nakashima — “We are all stars”
The hook here is that this song and video was inspired by RuPaul, but while I think that’s a nice-enough gateway into this self-acceptance romp, I’m mostly impressed by how sturdy this number is. This is pre-2010s electro-pop filtered through reality-show binge sessions, with the best bits being when Mika Nakashima gleefully runs her voice through filters to create a whirlwind effect. The vaguely trap-inflicted interlude is a nice change of pace, but Nakashima wows best when letting the digital run wild over this call for empowerment. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of July 31, 2023 To August 6, 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.
THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE — “Summer Riot ~ Nettaiya ~ / Everest” (228,245 Copies Sold)
Finally, THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE top the Oricon singles chart. The ranking company should throw them a parade, too, because the battle between this LDH project and Johnny’s stalwart Sexy Zone back in May was truly the last time Oricon has meant something outside of the K-pop press releases I get. Back then, they came up just short but delivered a hell of a David-like performance. A few months later, no Johnny’s groups are in sight, allowing the one-two punch of these songs to give the group the milestone moment they craved. Not bad ones to accomplish it with either — “Summer Riot” is a galloping Reggaeton mutation marked by some nice traditional Japanese touches that blend in surprisingly well, while “Everest” teases drill before settling on tense electronic rap (not sure you need the guy asking “are you ready for the second verse” though…I clicked play, I’m committed).
News And Views
Daigo Nishihata of Naniwa Danshi allegedly met a woman who is his girlfriend according to Shukan Bunshun reports. Now, that’s a classic J-pop story — and the sort of scandal Johnny’s would probably love Shukan Bunshun to focus their attention on right now — and normally would be pretty ho-hum. Yet! Nishihata was seen in disguise to do this, and my god look at this wig. It’s like he turned a bucket of spaghetti upside down onto his head.
THE LAST ROCKSTARS returning to LA this November. Will they do anything before that, or will it remain a kind of spectacle deal? Time will tell!
South Korea’s DJ Soda performed at this past weekend’s Music Circus festival in Osaka, and afterwards shared that she had been groped and sexually harassed by fans in the front during part of her set (warning at those images). The event organizers have yet to comment, while Soda herself expressed how terrible she felt after this happened.
ISSAY of the band DER ZIBET died suddenly this week. A longtime staple of the visual kei community, ISSAY also crossed over into other entertainment areas.
ROCK IN JAPAN, the biggest music festival in the country, celebrates 25 years strong next year. To celebrate, the event is basically doubling itself. Already a five-day experience spread over multiple weekends, the 2024 edition will feature an August leg happening in Chiba…followed a month later by another stretch going down in Ibaraki Prefecture’s Hitachinaka, where the event was held for most of its existence.
A small detail to all this that’s both minor in the grand scheme of things but also very telling of Japanese media is the day before ROCK IN JAPAN announced this, Ibaraki’s Mito city NHK branch released this info early, prompting the festival to post one of the angriest responses I’ve ever seen from a music company in Japan. NHK followed up by saying it was an accident, but it’s pretty telling that ROCK IN JAPAN lost it because the news (which, in theory, should not be a pure promotional arm for anyone!) shared this info early.In the latest signs of continental intersection, LE SSERAFIM recruited Ado to join them on the Japanese version of “Unforgiven.”
Yuki Kashiwagi of AKB48 posted a very informative video going over many aspects of life in the idol project, including a reminder that the group itself doesn’t have a “dating ban,” that’s just something fans get caught up in.
Worried about the collapse of Twitter…errrr X, who gives a shit, fuck you Elon Musk…anytime soon? Well, take solace in knowing Susumu Hirasawa just started an English account on the platform.
Someone decided to see what all the members of Foorin(of “Paprika” fame) are up to now and…honestly, doing pretty well!
Not sure why Vocaloid producer Siinamota has gone viral with a song that I thought was trending on TikTok a year ago…but they are currently in the Viral 50 Global on Spotify so something is up.
Newsweek Japan…still going strong on this side of the world!…included XG in part of a “young people to watch” feature that ran late last week. Nothing too nutty with that, but I am fascinated by the group framing what they do as “X Pop” rather than J-pop or K-pop (or, uhhh, just pop). Really adds to the discussion to have around them about their stateless ambitions, and what it means for a group to try to remove as much cultural context from themselves as possible2. They’ll have their first solo show in Japan later this year, though!
Takahiro Kanazawa (who I met at Fuji Rock…great guy!) talked to Yuma Abe of never young beach and various solo outings for Metropolis. I’m personally not big on his music but this interview is great, offering great insight into life in Tokyo and how he approaches creation.
Up Front uploaded a bunch of high-quality videos from Morning Musume legend Aya Matsuura to their YouTube channel…a blessing! Classics abound, including this one.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
It’s hardly the main reason for it (that would be laziness), but I will admit one factor for the slowness of sharing a 2022 list is because the top spot has been painfully obvious since like March 2022.
Though it’s worth noting that what they’ve done so far is nothing new in Japanese music history…they are just another example of a “reverse import,” of a Japanese group gaining attention abroad first and then parlaying that into home (???) success in the style of tricot or even BABYMETAL. The key difference is all in marketing and communication…which, sorta depressingly, really is the frontier of all entertainment now.
Hikaru Utada has an incredibly beautiful voice.