Make Believe Melodies For Dec. 14, 2020
The "I'm Not Ready To Reckon With New Oomori Seiko Or Ichiko Aoba" Edition
Chisako & Junta — So Goodbye
Here I was, ready to start this installment of the newsletter with something along the lines of “December…always making ya rethink the year-end lists you were 60 percent done with!” Then I ended up thinking…“forget 2020, did I botch 2018?” I’ve been listening to the output of Chisako & Junta, an Osaka project featuring Casio Toruko Onsen member Chisako and producer Bioman (well, Junta), highlighted by their debut full-length from two years back that is pretty fantastic. As a fan of contemporary artists exploring nostalgia from new angles, Chisako, Junta And You is a treat, finding a balance between shiny pop memories and more offbeat rhythms coupled with samples sometimes slicing through the sweetness (best captured on “You know who we are”). Everything is in balance, and you should join me in rethinking the lists of yesteryear.
This was all inspired, though, by encountering So Goodbye, the duo’s latest release and an equally strong set of pop. It’s less throwback in nature, with the pair now more interested in seeing what they can do with modern electronic palettes to construct songs (part of the appeal to me for this one…it brings to mind Spangle Call Lilli Line vocalist Kana Otsubo’s rare NINI TOUNUMA project in how it plays around with pop structures, albeit not quite as loopy). They fit a lot into songs such as “Hokke Seven Metaphors,” including something resembling digital accordion, but always find a way to make sure an actual song emerges from the sounds. Get it here.
Kindan No Tasuketsu — One More Night EP
End-of-year season means time for big ideas…and you better believe I have a few cooking away at the moment…but let’s take a moment to appreciate artists not interested in shifting the paradigm or presenting something new. Rather, they continue doing what they’ve done for years, happy to create from their little corner of the world. For a project so open to shaking their sound up over the past decade, Kindan No Tasuketsu have proven to be among the most consistent artistic endeavors in Japan over this time. They make pop that’s funny and festive, but always underlined by longing. So it continues with the One More Night EP, which gets right to the point on the title track — the whimsy makes way for a slow jam where Kindan No Tasuketsu just declare a desire for togetherness. It’s sweet and the most intimate they’ve gotten — when the jokes get put in the drawer, you know something serious is happening — and the highlight of this brief offering.
kiki vivi lily — “See You In Montauk”
kiki vivi lily’s Good Luck Charm EP starts a little too chill, falling for the same hammock-speed rock so many artists have dozed off with over the last few years. Then she gradually picks it up in the short releases’ latter half, building from the skippy Drums-pop of “The Libertines” to bringing Kan Sano in for “Touring,” a wonkier imagining of funk sounds that refuses to get sleepy. The highlight, though, is closer “See You In Montauk,” where she ramps the drama up thanks to speedier melodies and hiccuping vocal samples to create her version of dream pop — imaginative, but with a sense of urgency.
Seiho — “Beyond Dance Music”
Unfortunate realization of the year — 2020 will be the first time since…2011 where I won’t Seiho perform live. A double shame on the heels of this nervy track, released via LuckyMe, which sees him follow up four hours of music made for sleeping (literally) with a mutating banger that would probably go off at Vision.
Sawa Angstrom — “Traveling Waitress”
Electronic pop outfit Sawa Angstrom hasn’t been quite as productive in 2020 as they were in 2019 — who can relate?! — seeing as they released four EPs last year compared to four songs over the last 12 months. That quartet of music, though? Strong and swirly as ever, with newest offering “Traveling Waitress” morphing from understated to hoppy (RIYL…Sakanaction, but they traded in the guitars for even more computers).
Aina The End — “Niji”
Confession time — I’ve never really connected with BiSH. They’ve always sounded too clean in comparison to peak BiS or the other groups in the WACK universe, but also tend to fail at just transcending the “alternative idol” background and making great pop. They have their moments — including their recent Call Of Duty mobile game tie-up song, an instance where corporate synergy really delivers — but nothing approaching “Niji,” BiSH member Aina The End’s first taste of her solo debut out in February 2021. Everything gets ratcheted up, though most importantly her voice gets space to just creep, crawl and burst open over the guitar screech behind her. Here’s the intensity WACK has wanted to deliver to the mainstream for so long, in full.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of Nov. 30, 2020 To Dec. 06, 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.
NiziU — “Step and a step” (311,774 Copies Sold)
An assortment pack of thoughts on “Step and a step":”
As COVID-19 slowly recedes over the course of the next and we all get vacc-ed up, the true power of “Step and a step” will be truly revealed in Japan as schools across the country actually manage to hold graduation ceremonies and this song becomes a third-year student anthem. This is such an off-season sakura song — referring to a number usually released to coincide with peak cherry blossom season, which is also when kids head to new schools and workers get shuffled about, meaning lots of chances for metaphors about the “briefness of life” — with its “everything will be OK”-isms and general easy-breezy tone. As someone who spent five springs listening to Ikimonogakari and the like blast out of gyms, I can already hear this one reverberating in the halls.
And that’s great, because it’s a jam! I like “Make you happy,” even as it has been played to exhaustion and the fact it basically just takes Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” from College Gameday to TikTok. “Step and a step,” though, reels back the giddiness for something a little more complicated, all while still hitting a great chorus. Bonus points for the stripped-down bridge right before the rap, with some lonesome whistling for good measure.
The rap interlude…sounds like recently New Yorker-approved duo chelmico? Specifically, like Rachel, and listening to “Step and a step’s” dip into hip-hop just makes me flash back to her singing about ice cream sandwiches.
News And Views
Sony Music is just dumping tons of music on subscription streaming, resulting in…just a whole bunch of stuff to sort through. Meanwhile, Mariya Takeuchi’s YouTube-algorithm-conquering “Plastic Love” also got the official upload treatment. Nothing new here but…the idea that Japan is hesitant about streaming is becoming more of a memory every week.
An interview with the person behind the latest Stones Taro, shedding light on all the references jam packed into it? Yes, that’s a recommendation for me.
Natalie asks Vocaloid producers to highlight some Vocaloid favorites, and the resulting list is a great dive into one of the most important musical communities of the 21st century. Credit for them using actual Nico Nico embeds, too.
Speaking of Vocaloid…Hatsune Miku “collaborated” with Ashnikko for a rework of the latter’s TikTok hit “Daisy.” The song…ehhhh, I’m sure it works with a dance or whatever…but the actual collab is interesting, and another welcome example of the surprising reach of corners of Japanese pop culture long seen as niche
Anthony Fantano reviewed the new Ichiko Aoba album and gave it high marks. Slight spoiler alert but…for whatever you want to say about The Needle Drop (there’s plenty! And dude makes himself an easy target sometimes), he’s 1. one of the most prominent music critics going willing to highlight non-English music from outside the five same acts every culture publication places all their “global pop” chips on to get those sweet, sweet traffic spikes and 2. generally spotlights deserving Japanese music. Which…slight spoiler, but the Aoba album is great, and a real late-year list crasher.
Great interview with the Sony team that helped make YOASOBI become a massive hit this year, which also reminds of how much went into this project from the outset. You also learn that this YOASOBI song from the summer was influenced by lo-fi hip-hop beats, which is one of the more prominent examples of that genre popping up in mainstream J-pop. Any songs do that in other pop industries? I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I’m sure I am missing something!
Arama, you are wild for the picture of a horse you used in this story about MISIA deciding to perform at Kohaku despite equestrian-related injuries sustained recently.
Hikaru Utada celebrated the most hallowed anniversary possible — the 22nd — of her professional debut by…having a bunch of people make playlists that consist of their favorite 22 Utada songs.
Hikakin loves Nujabes
END OF YEAR LIST SEASON BEGINS! Ryo Miyauchi shares This Side Of Japan’s 100 Favorite Idol Songs, full of gems I’m big on too (Los An Jewels!). WHAT OTHER JAPAN-RELATED LISTS ARE OUT THERE? Please share them with me! Speaking of 2020 wrapping up….
Make Believe Melodies 2020 Year-End Extravaganza!
Starting…this week, I hope, I’ll be kicking off the blog-turned-email-newsletter-but-still-kinda-blog year-end series. The volume of mails might pick up in the next few weeks, as I’m hoping to write a few short essays on the year in Japanese music as a whole (I’m not doing anything for The Japan Times this year on that front, so why not bring it direct to the fine people who care the most to see it) and also do a few supplementary bits before we get to the proper album list…in early January, since this month is kind of making me rethink a few things.
Don’t want to deal with longform reflections on Eito and gimmick posts where I review DVDs I plopped down $25 for? Well…delete the next few weeks, because I’ll take a break from this weekly round-ups in favor of looking back (though any huge news will definitely get a mention). Thanks again for reading!
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies