Make Believe Melodies For December 16, 2024
Can I Get The Year-End List Out This Week??? Well, Hopefully A Shorter Round-Up Will Help
HITOMITOI And Wild Nothing — “LIKE A FIRST KISS”
Two artists offering different perspectives on well-worn sounds join forces for a fittingly dreamy number. HITOMITOI traditionally plays with the glistening sounds of city pop, but here she connects with American artist Wild Nothing whose best work explores the blurrier synth-pop of the ‘80s. “LIKE A FIRST KISS” bridges the two side, featuring the familiar smudge of Jack Tatum’s project, but with a persistent groove that keeps everything moving along without losing the longing both artists deliver via their vocals. Listen above.
Stones Taro — Clutch
One of the most pleasant surprises of the year has been Kyoto producer Stones Taro’s embrace by more mainstream forces. With production work delivered for bigger names such as MFS and chelmico, the dream of NC4K becoming a sonic foundation for a new generation of J-pop came a touch closer to reality. And that came on top of an excellent album from the label’s head honcho, too, plus an ace collab with Kaoruko.
How to close out a hallmark year? With an EP offering a nice swerve to his sound. On Clutch, Stones Taro goes in a more aggressive direction without loosing the club-ready energy. The vocal samples and beat on the title track are a bit more frantic, while “Busy Lips” finds buzzsaw electronics throw the rhythm off just a little bit. Even the rave-out of “Stealthy Meow” seems a little more high octane as it reaches it trance peaks. A great closer to 2024, and a reminder of how many more tricks he has. Get it here, or listen above.
MFS — “Mind”
Speaking of…MFS found a sweet spot to her music in 2024 by exploring more dance sounds, thanks to collabs with Stones Taro and Pasocom Music Club among others. She closes out the year with the smoother “Mind,” which finds her linking up with house staple Keita Sano for a slightly more laid-back track over which she can flex her vocal skills. Listen above.
littlegirlhiace — MISS THE GIRL
The plus side of holding off on year-end lists until December is you often end up with lots of great music arriving to you in the final month. The downside is you end up with a lot to sift through, and it isn’t always easy to gather thoughts on albums. That’s the case with littlegirlhiace’s bedroom rock epic MISS THE GIRL, which is definitely a lot to unpack…which is where I’m at with it. Yet I think it’s one to spend some time with, so consider this a preview of more thoughts to come. Get it here, or listen above.
OLDUCT — “Ototsu”
The thrill of Vocaloid remains the way creator’s explore the inhuman quality of something originally envisioned as something to replicate a real person. Producer OLDUCT shows how its done with “Ototsu,” using the digi-fried voices of Hatsune Miku and Kaai Yuki as a compliment to the nervy drum ‘n’ bass rhythms of their music…especially when they make the singing synthesizers start really spitting. Listen above.
Honoka — “Asashi”
Icier rocks from the young artist Honoka, letting the guitars swell a bit more and the music around her unfold slightly slower. What remains the same as her earlier songs from 2024 is her voice, light but with enough flexibility to add urgency even at a slower tempo. Listen above.
YIKO — YIKO
Consider this your usual update on former Especia members. Young band YIKO features vocals from Monari Wakita, and the highlights of their debut offering make the most of her. This is very much a group still figuring itself out — the really perky and upbeat numbers fall flat, including the very first song here which gives off the sort of positive vibes that sour quickly — but when they move a little slower and let songs unfold at a more laid back pace they hit on some good stuff, such as on the Tatsuro-indebted stroll of “utopia” or the jazzy “Cho Tenjiku,” which really makes the most of Wakita’s voice. Listen above.
KUROMI — “Kuromi No! Kyurukyun Mode”
Damn, even the Sanrio family is picking up the tempo.
This is a delightful and surprisingly on-trend song coming from Hello Kitty’s prankster friend, but it becomes a lock for this list after learning that Yuppa — otherwise known as HNC — created the music. Sanrio, keep giving great artists the chance to make your character’s songs bop along. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of December 02, 2024 To December 08, 2024
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.
TWS — Last Bell (Last Festival) (73,699 Copies Sold)
A peak into the process of this week’s round-up…I was leaning towards going on break starting today with this feature, owing to a lot of deadlines this week plus a forthcoming trip back to the United States for the holiday which, honestly, I’m hoping to actually relax during. The nagging worry I had? Can I skip Oricon Trail? For a split second I felt relief…oh thank goodness, a K-pop male group, this corner of Asian pop has been garbage in 2024, looks like I can take it easy.
Well well well, guess who ended up getting extra work. This single from young HYBE outfit TWS is really good, and gives me actual optimism for 2025 on the K-pop boy group front. There’s no extra pivots towards chest-puffing or grating sounds meant to simply showcase budget. Rather, the song finds a limber groove and sticks with it, letting its strongest element stay in the center.
Scheduling Update / Consider Going Premium!
While TWS prompted an edition this week, I am planning on taking a break from the round-up until early January (barring something wacky happening). I might still get on some bigger essays, but I am hoping to rest a little bit heading into the New Year…and start figuring out 2025.
That said, one way to definitely get more posts during the break? Become a premium subscriber, and you’ll get a few extra during the winter break.
News And Views
NHK announced Kana Nishino will perform at this year’s Kohaku Uta Gassen. This will be the singer’s first appearance on the year-end bonanza in six years, and also underlines how the public broadcaster now rolls out notable names rather than dumps them off all at once.
Officials ruled Miho Nakayama’s death accidental. On the topic of her career, I wrote about it for scrmbl.
Yuki Chiba…who surprise-dropped an album last week (below), I gotta get around to that one…is also set to hang out with TV talent Matsuko Deluxe on the latter’s new Netflix show.
Look, we live in shifting social-media times…but X is still coming through with incredible Japanese memes.
Good interview with the organizers of rockin’ on sonic, who correctly identify that while Western music has lost a lot of popularity in Japan in recent times, there’s still a lot of folks now in their 40s who want to see Pulp and Weezer.
Snail’s House remixed an NCT Dream song.
Warner Music Japan teams with NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan to work together in promoting anime music (which…is kind of all music in Japan at this point, if you look at it a certain way).
Nikkei X Trend looks at Spotify’s Gacha Pop playlist, which in and of itself is old news (at least around here). Yet I’ll mention it due to an IRL occurrence I had recently during a conference presentation (long story), where the speaker talked about Gacha Pop and noted how he didn’t like the name because “you have to explain gacha.” Strong disagree, and I think as Nikkei reports that it’s mainly young non-Japanese checking it out. I think plenty of people understand what that word means…and I actually think it underlines how there are many in the Japanese entertainment industry who don’t understand just how well elements of Japanese pop culture have been embraced abroad.
I don’t know if we are close to a true idol revival in 2025…but the success of group’s like CUTIE STREET, who appeared on THE FIRST TAKE and have recorded a lot of attention for it, makes me think it’s a possibility.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Bluesky — @mbmelodies.bsky.social
Follow the Best Of 2024 Spotify Playlist here!