Make Believe Melodies For January 30, 2024
Aging Up, Without Losing The Feeling
ZAZEN BOYS — Rando
Shutoku Mukai already sounded like a time-battered, middle-aged uncle two Cup Sakes deep when he was in his mid 20s. Whether with the teeth-gnashing rock group Number Girl or repetition-focused project ZAZEN BOYS, Mukai has seemed perpetually wise beyond his years. He drew from youth — for teenage backdrops surrounding his lyrics, thematic concerns revolving around angst, horniness and hope, or the more abstract energy of adolescence to power the band — but viewed them from the vantage point of someone much older. The adrenaline could flow, but dashing forward or indulging some silliness, Mukai’s protagonists always seem to be looking back. Aided by a love for traditional references (the band’s called ZAZEN BOYS!) and a map-like specificity for locations, Mukai’s works felt like they were coming from a man sitting alone in the park, with lots of times and stories to share.
Rando, the first ZAZEN BOYS album since 2012, finds Mukai and company in new territory — actual middle age. The group sounds a little more relaxed, a touch more OK to go with the flow, Mukai’s voice a bit more worn. Yet this gives the group’s sixth full-length release a fresh vantage point, being able to explore memories both wistful and pleasant while also grappling with modern realities. The same rock energy that has defined the band — and Mukai — still come through, but with greater depth not erasing the force of their music.
Which isn’t to say ZAZEN BOYS’ structures have gone away. The group has always excelled at creating math-rock-like stabs of guitar, drums and, eventually, synthesizer centered around Mukai repeating certain phrases. Between those mantras, he would fit in details, crafting short stories before he screamed at you again. Opener “DANBIRA” presents a ZAZEN BOYS in its groove, Mukai opening with a familiar call gracing most of the band’s songs before yelping and swinging into a song about letting pent-up anger accumulated over a life in Tokyo roar out. This attitude appears throughout Rando, linking the angry teenage power source of Mukai’s art and the clever grumpiness of the mid-life man.
Yet the band is also changing, mutating their familiar sound and viewpoints. Rando sounds like friends getting together to jam, with the steeliness of early ZAZEN BOYS’ releases replaced with studio warmth. There’s less noise, and more instances approaching a melancholic kind of rock centered around nostalgia. They still let moments of aggression spike songs about Tchaikovsky and teen boys heading home while munching on cold karage, but they match it with sweet melodies and lyrics tinged with melancholy. “YAKIIMO” strolls through suburban Tokyo (read: Nerima Ward) with the shouts of yesteryear’s street vendors ringing in one’s head. One song here finds Mukai in a park — alone, only with the stars and his thoughts, over one of the most skeletal pieces of music the band have ever laid down.
It’s the intersection of the two modes that makes Rando standout. Libido has always driven Mukai’s work — both as a pure human instinct and sometimes more chauvinistic — and again it fuels songs such as the snappy “Barracuda.” Yet the lecherous main dude strutting around town over the band’s guitar riffs also stares down the regret and emptiness their lifestyle brings, making for a richer character study working in tandem with the tipsy sounds. For a band long being goofballs, they become serious on highlight “Eien Shojo,” which references — in gory detail — World War II casualties and the pain of knowing about this brutality, while still somehow finding optimism out of history’s ugliness. This is growing up — not changing who you are or the fury you contain, but rather your perspective and how to deploy it. Listen above.
This Friday will be a Bandcamp edition so….I thought just focus on ZAZEN BOYS this week.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of January 15, 2024 To January 21, 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.
STU48 — “Kimi Wa Nani Wo Kokai Suru No Ka?” (20,502 Copies Sold)
Savor these last couple of January Oricon weeks, before the chart goes back to being predictable. You aren’t getting chaos like this week anytime soon.
The physical-only singles side sees STU48 climb to the top of the chart, beating out DIR EN GREY’s latest release, which finds the rock band revisiting some of its earliest songs. You’d think the -48 attached to the group name would be the story as to why this song hit number one…until you double check why it doesn’t say “new” next to it, but instead a pink arrow. This single came out all the way back in November, and debuted at the two spot, well below the latest from Naniwadanshi. Yet now, a couple months later, it has taken the top spot.
I’m…not sure why? Perhaps it’s a late graduation gift to former member Takino Yumiko, as this served as her farewell number? Did people feel touched that the group’s former boat theater is helping with relief efforts? Maybe fans just realized they had an opening to score a number one given the wacky environment of January? Whatever the reason, it has offered up one of the nicer surprises on the chart in recent memory.
STU48, however, is nowhere to be found on the combined chart, which takes into account…all the ways people listen to the music in the 21st century. None of the physical entries this week make that list, highlighting just how far the gulf is between physical sales and digital / streaming plays. The latter feels right — YOASOBI, Ado, Mrs. Green Apple, Creepy Nuts, King Gnu, number_1 and NewJeans are way closer to current pop trends in Japan than STU48, ASP and ACIDMAN. Physical sales still matter, but hardly tell the whole story.
Especially when it comes to this week’s number one on the combined chart, and among the sneakier hits of 2023.
Coming courtesy of 15-year-old artist tuki., the above song has been an online hit since coming out in September, proving to be a sticky hit that finally went on top of Oricon combined and currently sits at number two on Spotify’s Top 50 Japan, behind only “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born.” Falling somewhere between the shadowy post-Vocaloid aesthetics of an Ado or Natori (emphasis on youth, identity hidden, anime visuals) and the heart-on-sleeve clarity of an Aimyon or Yuuri (very singer-songwritery arrangement, extended metaphor about serving a “full-course” of love), it’s a pretty perfect balance of larger trends in modern J-pop, while still sounding quite familiar. However you view it stylistically, its path to becoming a hit — purely digital, no physical release in sight, propelled by the online — is the most important takeaway from its success.
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News And Views
I wrote a preview of the year ahead for Japanese music over at The Japan Times.
New ALFA / Yen Records compilation coming soon, documenting one of the most important periods in Japanese music history (when Yellow Magic Orchestra basically got a creative and financial blank check to do whatever).
Utaite and J-pop performer Mafumafu revealed he had been married and eventually divorced with a celebrity (thought to be popular Virtual YouTuber Mikeneko, though not confirmed I believe). He shared his experiences, and it’s a reminder of the many entertainment forces at play in relationships in Japan…and how so many of them have emerged in the world of VTubing too.
Good guide to the recent embrace of siinamota abroad, transforming a ten-year-old song by a late Vocaloid producer (also known as Powapowa-P).
Very nice interview with Yuka Kitamura, who has done soundtrack work for various popular FromSoftware titles (none of which I’ve played but have certainly come across!).
Here’s a small feature about JO1 done by Kyodo News Agency. Here’s my feature about JO1 from 2021 that’s much better. Hey, allow me to flex sometimes.
Taka from ONE OK ROCK and Ed Sheeran appeared to have a fun time in Shibuya this week.
The Pop Yours fest lineup…looking good! Tohji as a headliner is wild.
In other rap news…YZERR of Bad Hop responded to a viral diss track aimed at the Kanagawa group from last December with is own counter-diss, that is also trying to be a “bigger man” about it but not totally there.
Here’s an entire breakdown of the history of this beef, for curious parties.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Hot damn do I ever love Zazen Boys. Haven't had a chance to listen to Rando yet beyond Danbira; I need to sit down for it.