Make Believe Melodies For February 4, 2025
For Synthesized Voice Freaks!
Various Artists — POST DAISY BELL
One of the most important musical developments of the 20th century arrived in 1961 when an IBM computer became the first machine to sing a song. Thank the fine folks at Bell Labs for finding a way to make a bulky piece of hardware offer up a cover of the 1892 smash “Daisy Bell.” In this moment — later referenced in 2001: A Space Odyssey — a future of synthesized singing came into view.
Now, it’s far more common, manifest in 21st-century developments like Vocaloid (whose fans know about this lineage) or AI music. Experimental pop label KAOMOZI turns to the prior scene on the synthesized celebration / subversion that is POST DAISY BELL, a set of songs from Vocaloid producers featuring only synthesized voices — some familiar and others warped.
“Who would have imagined a future where rock would be treated as an old-fashioned music like enka? Synthetic voices, which were once revolutionary and innovative, now seem to have become common in our lives,” label founder Ren Komasawa says of the compilation, while also hoping to find ways to flip the style on its head. Fitting for a label that, up to this point, approached pop from a similar angle, eager to see what was possible with this term (including the deployment of synthesized voices) without losing the catchiness and charm core to the sound. Here, KAOMOZI tries the same with Vocaloid and other digi-singers, moving in a more experimental direction not tied to the character’s associated with the software itself but rather interested in the sonic possibilities machine-generated voices still have.
Here, synthesized singing gets buried under layers of digital sand (opener “Tamashiigoto”) or sliced up to be tossed into a flurry of electronics (“Sakuretsu”). There’s plenty of stabs at more conventional applications, including thunderous club bangers with an aggressive side (“Farewell, Hateful Summer”) and downright bubbly synth-fizz (“Magical Banana”). At times disorienting and others as immediate as modern J-pop, the songs on POST DAISY BELL aim to highlight the musical possibilities these voices contain, freeing them of niche “lore” and instead celebrating what’s possible. KAOMOZI shows that, decades after the IBM breakthrough referenced in the title, that there’s still plenty to explore in this space. Get it here, or listen above.
Various Artists — THE RAVING SIMULATOR 2
I’m currently preparing for a night out. Owing to my advanced age, it’s one prominently featuring an enka singer, but surrounded by the type of dance sounds that once soundtracked the times when skipping last train felt natural and not like a huge mistake. SPRAYBOX’s sequel to a 2023 highlight / virtual club experience arrives at the perfect time for me. THE RAVING SIMULATOR 2 builds on the original’s dream lineup set of contributors by bringing together a variety of top-notch producers across Japan with vocalists able to offer melancholy sweetness (Lilniina) or swagger (South Korea’s The Deep, who definitely should be on your radar if you read this newsletter). Whatever emotion gets shoved to the front, SPRAYBOX makes sure the energy stays up, for your night out or imagined take on one. Get it here, or listen above.
AMUNOA — Wonderkind
The right balance between a floor-pleaser and a headrush. Producer AMUNOA returns with two new songs happy to add some unease to blanket their rhythms, whether in the tempo-shifting wavedashing of the title track or the more minimal chants of “Utsushimi on the lotus.” Get it here, or listen above.
4s4ki And YULTRON — 44th Dimension
There’s a moment on “Cranky eyes,” off this new collaborative EP between 4s4ki and LA electronic artist YULTRON, where it feels like the familiar build to a drop is coming, something anyone who has attended an EDM festival can identify by the rollercoaster-like chug upwards. Before it hits though, 4s4ki’s voice melts down into digital puddles, offering a moment of disorientation before a more familiar beat rattles in.
It’s moments like this that make 44th Dimension a welcome detour for 4s4ki (and, I imagine, in the catalog of YULTRON). She’s always been good about using her voice as an instrument, but here she’s much more present as texture than pure singer, with her delivery adding a spike to the swift “trance train” and a tension to the rock-accented “you are gone but…,” wherein the edges of her voice fray and mutate. Listen above.
nyamura — “When the Linalia blooms”
Sometimes, you just need straight-ahead melancholy. That’s exactly what nyamura provides here, avoiding the digi-distortion or internet touches of those in the “hyperpop” community she emerged from, but instead using acoustic guitar plucks and a beat as a backdrop to share some longing. Simple, but with a voice capable of getting the ache across effectively. Listen above.
Carpainter — SUPER DANCE TOOLS Vol.4
Quite possibly the most consistent series going in Japanese electronic music right now, the latest installment of Carpainter’s SUPER DANCE TOOLS continues to deliver club-ready thrills that probably wow in a set but also sound amazing on their own. Can you tell I’m prepping for a night out in like a week? Get it here, or listen above.
Tim Pepperoni — R2D
The beauty of culture writing is the space one allows themselves to be wrong about previous decisions…and to be able to amend major oversights down the road. It’s not “a job failing” but rather “a lesson in constantly listening and learning.” Which is to say…I totally missed that rapper Tim Pepperoni released an album in early December, featuring some of my favorite songs from 2024. I was not aware of this until the past week, when he shared a video for the woozy “ROX,” which I’ve written about before but realized after clicking on also appeared on a release that…I had zero idea came out.
This is Top 50 album material, easily, so I guess slot it in the Make Believe Melodies’ list wherever you think it deserves to go. What really gets me about R2D is how much fun Pepperoni and go-to producer Puckafall have with the sounds of their respective voices and production. Throughout, they let themselves ripple, start-stop and generally bounce all over the place in a way a lot of Japanese rap avoids, less worried about flexes when flying all over the place is more enjoyable. A 2024 highlight…discovered right near the start of 2025, but hey that’s why you always, uhhhhh, keep your ears pointed in all directions. Listen above.
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Oricon Trail For The Week Of January 20, 2025 To January 26, 2025
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.
MATSURI — “Aventure Nakameguro” (51,481 Copies Sold)
I can’t decide whether this underlines just how worthless Oricon is in 2025…or makes a hell of an argument for why it still matters.
Weirdly, this week is pretty stacked across the Oricon Charts. The album side features the official million-selling moment from Snow Man, followed by a tight contest on the physical-sales chart between KID PHENOMENON from EXILE TRIBE and Hoshimachi Suisei, with the prior squeaking by the latter…until you toggle over to “combined sales” (ie includes the internet) and see the VTuber easily clearing the boy band. When the same all-sales-counted metric is counted for singles, a battle between two heavyweights comes into view, with Mrs. GREEN APPLE puffing out their chest and beating Kenshi Yonezu.
And yet…and yet!…the song topping physical only and actually forming a wedge between GREEN APPLE and Yonezu (it finished second thanks to CD sales) is this smoky enka-scented throwback completely out of step with everything outside of a karaoke bar full of retirees. Seriously though, this is the debut song from a group whose sole purpose is to bring back those Showa feelings. Yasushi Akimoto is behind it!!!
It’s so out of step with the zeitgeist…which does make it kind of beautiful. Thanks to Oricon, MATSURI can score a win for the nostalgia set, and I guess that’s better than the usual names hogging this spot. Listen above.
News And Views
Japanese music organization announced matsuri ‘25, a night focused on a new era of J-pop, set to happen on March 16 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Produced alongside Goldenvoice, the event spotlights Ado, Atarashii Gakko! and YOASOBI…not to mention the nation’s newfound embrace of pushing its music industry into the global spotlight. I wrote about this shift in government attitudes a couple weeks back…here’s another example of it on full display.
The next season of idol-centric anime Oshi No Ko is slated to come out in 2026.
Speaking of idol-centric anime…the newest season of Pretty Cure debuted this past weekend, boasting an idol-tastic theme. I have not seen it because I was on vacation the last two days and my daughter will get around to it later this week.
We’ve yet to hit peak music reality show, as HYBE is rolling out another one in Japan.
I went to the newly re-opened Ginza Sony Park to write about the J-pop-focused experience for The Japan Times. Unfortunately, Hitsujibungaku did not teach me anything about finance.
Speaking of, Creepy Nuts will drop a new album this week. I think it’s interesting that it is coming out digitally first, with a CD release arriving a month later. This has been happening more lately, and underlines the importance of streaming in modern J-pop.
When Nante calls upon me to appear on the year-end podcast, I heed the call. Want several hours of Mrs. GREEN APPLE smack talk? We have you covered.
Nariaki Obukuro releasing a collection of essays at the end of February, complimenting January’s Zatto. Related…this sentence comes from a Doutor, where I’m waiting before I interview Obukuro, so stay tuned.
This week in stories that don’t pass the smell test…Kanye West’s stunt with wife Bianca Censori cost him a $20 million USD gig at Tokyo Dome scheduled to happen this May. So immediately, this is being reported by The Daily Mail via “a source” who does not sound like someone I trust knows anything about Japan, live music, or Japanese live music, so red flags all over. You have to schedule Tokyo Dome like months (if not years) in advance (especially during baseball season), so immediately this sounds sketchy both given no info about this prior (there was a rumor he would play Tokyo Dome…this week spread last year and that sure isn’t happening) and the fact West operates spontaneously. I don’t know…sounds like bullshit. But Kanye in 2025 is someone who wouldn’t surprise me doing anything so…I’ll leave a little space here despite all my doubts.
Been a second since a good “Everything Is AKB” example, but Travis Scott topping the Billboard charts in part thanks to selling CD singles certainly fits the criteria.
THE FIRST TAKE features Shinsei Kamattechan.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Check out the Best Of 2025 Spotify Playlist here!
So bummed the pillows are disbanding, but 35 years is a pretty good run