Make Believe Melodies For Febraury 14, 2022
Super Bowl Sunday...Valentine's Monday...Your Choice
Guchon — Pineapple Groove
Nobody is making better dance music in Japan right now then Guchon. Just…what a year.
The netlabel staple and all-around fun dude has spent the last 12 months hop-scotching around styles, running from vibed-out house daydreams to Miami bass flexes. Pineapple Groove sets course to Parisian coasts, going full filter house over the trio of tracks featured here. Maybe it’s the feeling of being cooped up during winter months or recent work-related stresses, but Pineapple Groove feels especially cathartic right now, even if I can only experience via tapping my foot in a work office. Here’s short cuts and repetition exploited perfectly, something like the title tune never being slow but still managing a worthy rise to full ecstasy once those vocal samples come in. Just a blast, which is Guchon’s standard operating mode. Listen above, or get it here.
4s4ki And gu^2 — “Punish”
I tried to avoid writing about the new 4s4ki EP until it properly came out, but “Punish” is so good, and illustrates what she does so well. The balance between everything — speed and space, noise and quiet — makes for a ride, while also features some of 4s4ki’s finest vocal moments to date (the little swift part that arrives after the song’s most crushing set). Listen above.
lyrical school — “The Light”
J-pop idols have crept towards HyperPop before, but the groups trying it out have always been fledgling. Hip-hop-idols lyrical school might be a better bellweather for where the style is at, and on “The Light,” they let the rock-centered side of the sound (not to mention some warped vocal touches) take the center. That comes courtesy of a pair of creators playing in this space already, KM and Lil Leise But Gold, adding their experience to craft a strong single for lyrical school. Listen above.
Tobokegao — Kodoku Na Fruits EP
Delightful chiptune pop courtesy of one of the best creators in this zone going. The melodies themselves might be the main draw, but credit to the vocals, which offer an extra zip when they step in. Get it here, or listen above.
Tohji — “one”
Tohji has been more on the vapor side lately, but on “one” he finds something to hold on to. After floating in the air and letting his voice stumble over itself, a speedy beat enters and transforms this from liquid to solid. Tohji doesn’t linger on the pace, instead letting it come in when the mood is right. Listen above.
Saint Vega Featruing Babymaru — “Chocolate”
A fitting end for the Valentine’s Day edition of the newsletter…Saint Vega returns to what he does best (embrace melodic sing-rapping over chimey beats) alongside Babymaru, who adds an extra touch of sweetness. Best touch, though, is the wavering delivery Saint Vega allows his voice during the verses, adding a little off-centered-ness to the tune. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of January 31, 2022 To February 6, 2022
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.
Kiyoshi Hikawa — “Gunjo No Ito” (25,901 Copies Sold)
Yeah….cool, enka…very interesting.
The actual most interesting Oricon development recently has been Ado’s debut album, Kyogen. Her first full-length performed bonkers on the physical-only chart…so, not even counting in online, her home field…moving over 140,000 copies in its first week. That’s the first time a female act in J-pop’s debut album moved over 100,000 copies since Superfly did it over a decade ago. Factoring in the following two weeks, she’s probably over 200,000. Offering multiple editions certainly helps on that front…but that’s the global norm now.
It’s far more surprising that a new act like Ado managed it. She might have just locked down her Reiwa-era fame moving forward.
News And Views
I looked at the legacy of superclub ageHa and where the Tokyo club community goes forward after its closing for The Japan Times. Have hinted at this before…and only more confident in it hearing industry rumors since this was published…that the redevelopment of Tokyo is going to nudge a lot of spaces both big and small out of where they are currently situated, and the current wave will be towards smaller spaces, like Asagaya Drift (hopefully, they also adopt fantastic themes).
The real question mark, though, rests in where international acts play moving forward. ageHa offered a space for your Diplos and assorted big-room DJs to spin. That’s gone, and unless traditionally rock venues open up for club events…unlikely, since the capacity will be all off and it just doesn’t fit right…a huge gap emerges in the market. Seimei from Trekkie Trax said festivals like Ultra Japan and EDC Japan would then become the norm for foreign performers…but lord knows when those will start up again.The world is waking up to how good Bad Mode is. Ahead of the CD release of the album, NPR had an interview with Utada, as did Zane Lowe for Apple Music. See a clip of that below. Also, I don’t know what this means, but go wild.
Drive My Car nabbed a bunch of historic Oscar nominations…so good chance to check out the soundtrack by Eiko Ishibashi.
Deep interview with Kenshi Yonezu around the release of his latest single.
Important observations, involving INI’s glowstick.
The Apple Vinegar Music Award aims to honor the best album from a young creator on the rise…and this year’s nominations are out, featuring a few of our faves (top ten coming soon, maybe, who knows!).
Lovely Japanese interview with the producer Telematic Visions, which doubles as a love letter to netlabels.
Are we coming out of the fest dead zone? Lots of gatherings are announcing their summer plans, and now we have a new hip-hop event set for May.
If somebody wants to explain Fujii Kaze’s international expansion plans with me, get in touch. Here’s one of his songs playing at a skate rink.
Fujii Kaze #MoEhWa, the song “positively letting go your attachment”, was played at #BryantPark ice skating rink in New York. #FujiiKazeUS Kaze’s music is reaching more and more people. Thanks for sharing☺️帰国のためのPCR検査のために久しぶりマンハッタンへ行ったのでスケート会場をみにブライアントパークにいったら藤井風の曲でみんなスケートしてた⛸すごい日本語の歌 https://t.co/KuBBYr1nMM
イモ @potatopotato_moNow, a detour into the world of Virtual YouTubers. One of the more viral songs on streaming as of late has been “INTERNET OVERDOSE,” which I had on my “best of 2021” playlist last year (eyyyyy) and comes courtesy of producer Aiobahn. It’s a para-para commentary on the horrors of social media and especially the life of a streamer.
Ironically, it has enjoyed newfound virality mostly because…VTubers are playing the game it comes from, NEEDY GIRL OVERDOSE, on their channels. A member of Philosophy No Dance has a dive into what makes the game itself interesting…basically, dark meta commentary with some vaporwave-ish look!…and it’s interesting to see the song associated itself perform well on streaming. If more English-lanugage streamers get to it, might be really interesting.
While we’re here…VTubers, just like idols, especially all the bad parts! A popular Hololive VTuber was playing a game, but a message came across her screen from…real good twist here…Mafumafu, the Vocaloid-adjacent singer, implying they would see one another later and possibly lived together. This lead to speculation they were in a relationship…and if there’s one thing we know from the world of idols, that’s no good for the fantasies of fans (so…yeah that game above is spot on). This lead to a classic clash of angry / dissapointed fans clashing with those who were like “no big deal, toxic industry.”
NHK takes tax payer money and…makes a show where Hoshino Gen, friends and some puppets talk about classic albums, like J Dilla’s Donuts. I’LL go door to door to collect money if they keep making stuff like that.
And finally, Shohei Ohtani sitting next to Flea.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies