Make Believe Melodies For January 27, 2025
Blame The British For The One Song Title
Various Artists — NOVA
NOVA is an effort to use modern J-pop trends as a booster behind the nation’s underground community. It’s presented as “breaking new ground within the next generation of J-pop,” and comes coupled with a virtual curator named Cafune, serving as kind of an avatar for the project and nod to the digi-reality-blurring nature of Japanese culture at the moment. It’s clever packaging, but the music at NOVA’s core isn’t shifting to meet trends, but rather highlighting movements long in motion.
The songs here build from the internet-damaged sounds of “hyperpop” embraced by younger Japanese artists during the pandemic and helping to shape their work as the club and live scene sprung back up in recent years, while building beyond the basics of that web-centric style. NOVA pairs creators from this space up with producers along the edges of it, ranging from Masayoshi Iimori (crafting a bubbly bit of club bounce) to Sasuke Haraguchi (with one of his most constricting backdrops, albeit one bordered by a neon pop melody).
It’s a set overflowing with pop experiments, but delivered in a way to remain catchy even as the corners crumble. Think of NOVA as a snapshot of a community in the process of evolving, capturing it in all its moods and modes, whether from dizzying happy highs to sadder places of longing and confusion (see “Internet Crush” and, in the most jarring moment of titling I’ve seen since this KID FRESINO song, “Fag” which is actually an extended cigarette metaphor so we can just pass the blame on to the British here). Listen above.
Matsuo And Palm2ree — P.M. 2:00
Consider this the rest of the above community being represented in one place. This link-up between Matsuo and Palm2ree also features guest spots for BHS Svve, Gokou Kuyt, BBY NABE and more…all of them in the same orbit as the acts on NOVA, but perhaps leaning a little more towards the rap side of the scene (and, it’s worth noting…this one is much more male than the compilation, which primarily spotlights female voices). Still, the quirks of the web bubble up all over, whether on the hiccuping video-game beat of “Kyuubi” to the jittery dance moves of “ONLINE” to the vocal distortion adding a hint of euphoria to “EBISU BATICA” (a song celebrating a venue that helped to foster this all…love to see it). Listen above.
Wang Dang Doodle Featuring Cwondo — “Wonderland”
Cwondo’s presence doesn’t really settle down the ever-rambunctious Wang Dang Doodle as much as it centers it. The duo at “Wonderland’s” core still manage to be as energetic as ever, but the zaniness gets blanketed in their guest’s ambient streak without boiling away any of the group’s charm. Most importantly, it emphasizes the importance of building up. Rather than zoom all over immediately, Wang Dang Doodle save the rap-assisted eruption for the song’s midpoint, making it all the more meaningful. Listen above (and also check out this new sonic sketchbook of sorts from Cwondo, a curio but still a peak into where he’s at).
Creepy Nuts — “doppelgänger”
What makes Creepy Nuts current run of BPM-pushing pop hits so personally exciting to me is how urgent they’ve all sounded. Latest single “doppelgänger” does this better than the rest, because it leaves no room to breathe. Created for some action movie which I saw a trailer for recently but forgot about, this track constricts via its beat and heavier overall sound. “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” and “Otonoke” featured similar moments of disorientation, but both found relief come the chorus (see the silliness of the prior, or the guitar of the latter). On “doppelgänger,” it’s all just anxiety. Listen above.
Various Artists — brutshits compilation 5
Thirty songs showcasing the full range of Japan’s club scene in 2025. Label brutshits shines a light on distorted Jersey Club sprinkled with religious samples, guitar-assisted hardcore attacks, joyful electro workouts and so much more. Get it here, or listen above.
KAIRI YAGI ELECTRIC-PLAY — “Neko Dash”
Singer-songwriter Kairi Yagi primarily dabbles in music fitting of that description. Think slower ballads and slightly heavier rock numbers, with an assortment of acoustic covers of J-pop songs dotting her YouTube channel, which surely helped her land on Sony Music. It’s fine, but nothing particularly special and certainly outside my area of interest.
I’m far more intrigued by her all-caps Electric Play project, which appears to see her join a group to create nervier electro-pop songs. “Neko Dash” shines in part because of how it glitches, with the song nearly crashing at multiple times but always getting it together to continue its head-first plunge. Really though, it’s that pace that makes it an early 2025 pop winner, and such a standout in her catalog to date. Listen above.
Ryugo Ishida — “Blood tear”
Rapper and Yurufuwa Gang member Ryugo Ishida got jumped by two Fukuoka rappers last week, resulting in one of his eyes getting busted up badly and swelling up to alarming sizes. He’s rebounded nicely since that incident, even performing live in the most Yurufuwa way possible.
Yet clearly the incident left an emotional mark too, because it prompted “Blood tear,” part diss track at his assailants but ultimately the best solo song Ishida’s ever put out. Here his flow moves faster like he needs to get the words out, delivering an at-times frantic stream of thought aimed at the pair that attacked him. Rather than throws swipes back…or retreat into the stoned escapism of his main group…Ishida instead opts to set his sights on the hip-hop culture they represent, one defined by aggression and violence rather than art. With them as symbols, he tosses aside that behavior and declares himself a leader for a new kind of Japanese rap, built on the music itself and those who simply want to embrace it. Listen above.
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Oricon Trail For The Week Of January 13, 2025 To January 19, 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.
STU48 — “Chiheisen Wo Mite Iru Ka?” (110,341 Copies Sold)
I sometimes forget that I’ve been doing “Oricon Trail” in some manifestation for more than a decade now, which certainly stirs up all kinds of feelings today. Yet I regret none of it, because it has given me an eidetic memory for odder numbers to top the charts. Which includes Misaki Iwasa’s 2014 number “Tomonoura Bojo,” which found a then-active member of AKB48 score a solo hit via a stab at traditional enka…and getting the Oricon top slot with it.
“Tomonoura Bojo” came to mind listening to STU48’s latest single. While not a one-for-one sonic connection — “Chiheisen Wo Mite Iru Ka?” shuffles along, adding a hop to a style that is often content to stroll with the weight of the world on its shoulders — this Oricon Singles Chart topper certainly carries echoes of enka in its instrumentation and vocal stylings, unfolding slower and more dramatically than the usual hop-scotch of idol pop. That’s all fitting for a song featuring lyrics about longing for what’s now long gone. Save for that beat, this one would sound at home playing out of some shabby snack in the countryside as it does in Tower Records. Listen above.
News And Views
Masahiro Nakai retired from the entertainment industry this past week as the sexual misconduct allegation scandal surrounding him swirls on. More advertisers have pulled commercials from Fuji TV, which might be even more scrutinized than Nakai right now, prompting the Fuji TV board to hold a big meeting Monday resulting in the network’s president resigning, among others.
The Fuji TV scandal has resulted in some unintentionally hilarious moments too. Broadcasts for popular family cartoons now feature one or zero main sponsors, and a deluge of AC Japan ads in between. This results in shots of like, Chibi Maruko-chan looking shocked for about 15 seconds, very funny.
I wrote a big feature for The Japan Times about the legacy and ahead-of-its-time-ness of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi on Cartoon Network. An extremely interesting show to revisit, and was fun to talk with so many people about it.
Snow Man celebrated its fifth anniversary by releasing a best-of album…which sold over a million copies in its first day, making it one of the biggest sales hits of the last…what decade? It really underlines how big the group is in Japan, because while a handful of A-listers can sell a few hundred thousand copies of something in a week, going over a million in 24 hours is something reserved for only the top pop act in the country. It’s also a reminder…happening at quite the time…that the talents under STARTO Entertainment remain pop and general culture forces, and it’s impossible to capture the state of J-pop without factoring them in.
A bunch more Japanese artists set to appear at this year’s SXSW in Austin. Feels like after slightly more quiet years, this event is becoming really important for Japanese acts again? Latest additions include Psychic Fever (touring the States soon too) down to personal fave Sai (formerly of Ms. Machine).
North West (Ye’s daughter) popped up on the new FKA Twigs’ album to…rap in Japanese.
Ano not a fan of Ano (as in, her stage name).
Great feature over at Resident Advisor on an album of Tekken jungle remixes.
Tokyo Weekender has a guide to listening bars in the capital.
The world gives us something to look forward to…or fear, I’m not quite sure.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Check out the Best Of 2025 Spotify Playlist here!