Make Believe Melodies For Feb. 9 2021
Featuring 2021's First Album To Beat
Ms. Machine — Ms. Machine
There’s something unsettling listen to the constant churn of Ms. Machine’s eponymous first album, like staring out a window as bad weather settles in overhead. The trio bridge the dank rock-centric clubs of Koenji with weirder sonic laboratories like Forestlimit (so they take that bus from Asagaya to Hatagaya, you could say), adding electronic disorientation to rock emphasizing repetition to get its hard stare across. Phrases become hypnotic, hiding heavier emotions (“I sent you message / the night I lost hope” goes part of “Var”) or revealing knotty paths (“Lapin Kulta’s” skittering pace and klaxon-marked backdrop leads to seemingly innocuous lines like “I want orange t-shirts,” before dropping a bit about “does it make sense to you / have you ever listened to our 2nd ep?” which is the type of myth building I can get behind). A feminist viewpoint runs through all of Ms. Machine — one they are happy to point out, having appeared in documentaries on the subject (featuring footage from Forestlimit, natch) — and it is strengthened by the sound, a heaviness allowing for some release (“Nordlig Angel,” pit-starting closer “Girls Don’t Cry, too”) but which most lurches ahead, unfazed and powerful. Here’s 2021’s first great album. Get it here, or listen above.
WRACK — Narimasu EP
One of the more exhilarating artistic communities going in Tokyo right now is the subset of creators offering their take on African electronic styles such as gqom and amapiano. This has been brewing for a few years now — and isn’t a fully underground phenomenon, as producer Kenmochi Hidefumi has sprinkled elements of gqom into his work with Suiyoubi No Campanella and just flat out started crafting the sound for Xiangyu — but feels like it is really blossoming over the last few months. Usi Kuvo Records has become the go-to digital space for this cross-continental exchange, and latest offering via producer WRACK continues their strong streak. The Narimasu EP offers one of the better interpretations of gqom, adding elements of traditional Japanese music alongside the hallmarks of the genre, offering a different angle that doesn’t pretend to be anything else. Get it here, or listen above.
AVV — Fugitives
AVV — formerly known as And Vice Versa — continues crafting dancefloor slow burners. Fugitives gathers three of his longer tracks as of late together into what makes for a fantastic front-to-back set, one that uses space as a way to make the mutations (and eventual shift into acid house on closer “Fallin’”) all the more sticky. Get it here, or listen above.
AiNA THE END — “NaNa”
If you wanted a crash course in everything happening in J-pop right now, turn to AiNA THE END’s debut album, along with its roll-out campaign. She dabbles in every major trend going right now, to the point she’s hanging out with Shin Sakiura and wading into the animated-video-supported world of YOASOBI and Yorushika. As a snapshot of Japan’s music industry, THE END beats any Billboard article. As a debut album from a hyped up performer, it’s disjointed, largely because it’s 46 minutes of a young artist trying to figure out what she actually wants to be. It’s a fitting session with all sounds available for her to try, if she’d like.
I’m not sure if it’s the way to go going forward, but “NaNa” is the standout of her first full-length, largely thanks to her commitment to Sheena Ringo cosplay. For all the talk of figuring out who the next Utada or Hamasaki is, the hunt for the new Ringo has been going on even longer, and AiNA THE END figured the best way to move ahead in the pecking order was to recruit Ringo’s go-to producer Seiji Kameda to work his magic. And it works, to the point where I wonder if Ringo herself should be asking Kameda like…can you spruce up my last couple of albums. The imitation is obvious, but done so well and allowing just enough room for AiNA’s own voice to work its magic (really, this is the direction she should latch on to). Listen above.
Gaburyu and Nyankobrq Featuring Hatsune Miku — “Sweety Glitch”
Largely just charmed by seeing two netlabel bright spots from the back half of the 2010s — Gaburyu, responsible for a Vocaloid-centric banger of an album from Omoide Label among other works, and Nyankobrq, offering some of the better representations of what “kawaii” electronic music could actually sound like — get to work with the official Hatsune Miku for a springy number offering summer 2017 feels. Bonus points for being about what all great Vocaloid songs are actually about, which is the process of using the software and the possibilities it provides.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of Jan. 25, 2021 To Jan. 31, 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 drip down…the Oricon Trail.
Nogizaka46 — "Boku wa Boku o Suki ni Naru" (589,338 Copies Sold)
The song itself…ehhhh, a pleasant ode to discovering self-confidence, a theme that is definitely not my speed (boo me!!!) but hey if it cheers up a junior high school kid out there, that’s great. Far more interesting is the video, a very light breaking of the idol fourth wall to offer a little peak at the Japanese entertainment machinery in action. Don’t expect any takedowns here — idols have to do lots of work! TV shows use green screen! You’re gonna get pranked! — but seeing something peel back the fantasy elements of idol pop in favor of offering viewers a reminder of what this world actually entails, even if it is a chocolate-coated version of it, is an interesting little tweak. Speaking of…
BEYOOOOONDS haven’t been around long enough to really deserve a meta musical number about their very existence, yet boy do they earn it here! This madcap bit of theater pokes a little fun at the absurdity of this corner of J-pop — aspiring to be “like a factory” is the type of line Hello! Project excels at, making the more casual listener wonder if this is some Marx-read subversion or true aspiration (or somewhere between) — without turning cynical, despite the presence of multiple spoken word interludes. Yet this, another peak-behind-the-scenes video and song, ultimately ends up at the same place as Nogizaka46, celebrating the very act of idol-dom wherever it may take you (and whatever goofy lines nodding to AKB48 and Momoiro Clover Z you have to sing).
News And Views
The biggest news of the week is that Suchmos announced plans to go on hiatus. While not a huge presence now, they were at one point the biggest breakthrough act in Japan. Thinking of going a bit longer on this later this week (or, I want to take a breather from slogging through the 2020 list).
A bunch of electronic producers met up in a Clubhouse room and made a song together, capitalizing (or maybe getting a boost from) the current king of apps in the country.
Japanese advertising company and wrecker of culture Dentsu was the main financer of the doomed Woodstock 2019 concert, which ended after they pulled out. A court ruled that Dentsu owes damages over all of this, which is sure to leave a dent in a company suffering big time.
Would be remiss if I didn’t share City Pop Sushi.
tofubeats shared a lovely playlist over at The Glow.
Mariya Takeuchi and Ryoko Hirosue reunited!
This article on Fuji Kaze has some alright analysis on Kaze himself, but I think the framing as a paradigm shift in Japanese music is…off, seeing as a lot of other artists over the last few years were already on the digital-first front. Also this headline is a doozy.
The story itself basically says “well, he hasn’t quiteeeeee matched Utada (at all) but still, maybe he could!”
Wanted to write about Nana Yamato’s debut but uhhhh already playing dangerously with deadlines so…read Pitchfork’s for now!
“Japanese Pop Star Talks About Her Facet as Crypto Investor”
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)Twitter — @mbmelodies
that wrack ep just shot to the top of my to-listen-to list