Make Believe Melodies For Dec. 7, 2020
The "stuff I discovered on Bandcamp Friday" edition
OZIGIRI — OZIGIRI Nara Shini Mashitakedo?
Part of me always feels guilty about wanting to stinkface the very existence of Spotify…despite exploiting artists and using millions of people as unpaid PR, I am also aware for many it really is a great way to discover new music and have access to songs that, like 10 years ago, they’d have to shell out for despite worsening economic times.
Then I remember Spotify has never recommended me something like this OZIGIRI album — a Bandcamp Friday delight, spotlighted by others on the platform and friends on Twitter — and it’s kind of like “oh right.”
This, the first release from hardcore/grindcore/EDM creator OZIGIRI in six years, is just so much fun. Throat-tearing screaming and chugging guitar thrashing collide with big dumb bass drops, like Download Festival and Ultra accidentally booked their 2016 editions at the same venue on the same weekend. It’s two of the most fun genres of music to just throw yourself into smashing into one another, giving fans of BABYMETAL or Gagakirise or even stuff like High Rise something to mosh out to (bonus points to “Schizoid Fantasia” doing a great electro-pop imitation too, at least at the beginning). Slot this alongside other “Japanoise” releases, capturing a mish-mash of the 2010s at its most giddy. Get it here, because Spotify Weekly isn’t going to tell you about it.
SARI — a u se
Former Necronomidol member SARI — the one who always wore white face paint — released this left-field charmer at the start of December after launching her solo career in the spring. She’s hit on a disorienting sound all her own here, working with an assortment of offbeat producers (including a member of Seiho-cohort QUINE GHOST) to create a catchy, at-times uneasy set of songs sometimes evoking a less chart-friendly mason book girl, at other times a funky vision quest (“tojikome ta”). Get it here.
audiot909 — This is Japanese Amapiano EP
A free one for any daring freelance writers in Japan looking for some early 2021 story ideas — be bold, be less lazy than me! — is to look at the artist community emerging around African dance music in Japan, primarily through gqom but also manifesting itself in other styles. Here’s one recent entry to help your trend story out, riffing on another South African style that’s reverent but also willing to see what they can add to the conversation. Get it here.
Koh-Gaku — Opto1: Takano Yuniko
Gather three of the best artists to release music via Local Visions, and have them work with a single vocalist who can make helium vocals sound super sweet, and you’ve got a release I can’t ignore. Each creator highlights their strengths well, but Tsudio Studio steals it with the giddy synth-pop of “Night Walk Party,” an ode to late night strolls at the end of evenings out. Get it here.
Boogie Idol — Digital Tequila Sunrise ~ Boogie Idol OVERTURES ~
You know how The Weeknd and Oneohtrix Point Never are best buddies now? Some J-pop star should do the same with Boogie Idol, who remains ahead of everyone with their interpretation of dusty sounds. Anyway, this is a 13-track release consisting primarily of overtures…and it is better than 80 percent of the music that has come out in 2020, which seems about right. Get it here.
Various Artists — empty hours 1
I’ve still yet to go back to a live venue since February, and if my sources can be trusted, that’s probably the right move, especially with smaller clubs — which, I’ve heard through the grapevine, have been attracting enthusiastic crowds totally open to foregoing masks in poorly ventilated spaces, a Yuriko Koike nightmare. So join me in the next best thing, which is buying comps of songs produced by ~mystery artists~ to support vital parties, in this case K / A / T / O MASSACRE at Forestlimit. After that sweet, sweet vaccine plunges into my veins, I’ll swing by, but for now…just drain my PayPal account, please. Get it here.
Nana Yamato — “If”
The one non-Bandcamp entry this week comes from the artist formerly known as ANNA, who had some solid stuff I blogged about over the years. Now she’s Nana Yamato, and she’s getting attention in the New York Times and has Pitch Perfect PR behind her. To riff on something the prior mentions…she has gone from this non-SEO friendly name to what appears to be her real name and…suddenly has attention! Sorry to drag you down into the thrilling world of behind-the-scenes Japanese music writing, but artists refusing to give their full names has been the bane of my existence for a decade now, sinking all kinds of great stories and creating a lot of unnecessary headaches. While I get why some would want to conceal who they are, others…are just being controlling. Seeing an example where a previously annonynouys act finally gets more attention after going by a full name…just saying…
Anyway, pretty good song, interested to see what the full-length is like!
Oricon Trail For The Week Of Nov. 23, 2020 To Nov. 29, 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.
=LOVE — “Seishun ‘Subliminal’” (99,573 Units Sold)
The hook with =LOVE is they are a group produced by former AKB-verse titan Rino Sashihara. This song fails to offer anything all that interesting beyond “I guess Sashihara was awake while doing all those AKB48 videos back in the day,” though I’d say this number from earlier in the year is far more worthy of your attention, and imagines them as a genuine jolt to idol music.
News And Views
Welcome to the NiziU news dump! They released their official “debut single” in the (very good) “Step and a step,” and that means a lot of dominoes have fallen! Perfume covered the group’s newest dance on TikTok! Nikkei’s business reporters took a moment to pretend to understand the music industry and got a little right along with a lot wrong. There’s also growing murmurs on Japanese social media that…gasp!…maybe NiziU is getting forced down everyone’s throats a little too much? Blame that on their TV presence…nobody cares if a group is omnipresent on Twitter because people tend to see what they want to on that platform…but ram them into a midday variety show and watch out! Pro baseball Rakuten Eagles, meanwhile, put their own spin on it!
End of year stats galore! Spotify shared domestic numbers and which Japanese acts did best overseas…looks like anime trumps TERIYAKI BOYZ, as several songs jumped ahead of “Tokyo Drift” this year. Billboard also offered up numbers, and not too many surprises…Official HIGE DANdism, YOASOBI and Kenshi Yonezu cleaning up.
Speaking of Spotify charts…I’m always hesitant of putting too much stock into the “Viral Charts” on that platform, but still, seeing Miki Matsubara’s 1979 debut single “Mayonaka no Door / Stay With Me” top the U.S. Viral Chart was…shocking, to say the least.
Of course it is because of TikTok. Somehow, this city pop gem has become the soundtrack to…all kinds of videos. I feel both ahead of the curve and like a million years old. Thanks to @mitchell_n_hang for attempting to explain this to me, seriously! This is also one of the things I do love about TikTok, even if I don’t know where to start with it.
Kicking myself for not trying to interview Koda Kumi after seeing a VTuber grill her tonight.
A drama inspired by Hikaru Utada’s “First Love” and “Hatsukoi” will debut next year on Netflix. What’s going to be the evil secretary for this J-pop-ish title?
Meant to post this last week but…an interesting article about a Thai YouTuber who is giving it a go as a J-pop anime singer.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies