Make Believe Melodies For July 31, 2023
Abbreviated Because My Body Is Wrecked Post Fuji Rock Festival
Hakushi Hasegawa — “Kuchi No Hanabi”
It’s easy to pick up on the disorienting quality of Hakushi Hasegawa’s music from the comfort of home, but you don’t really register how loud their music is until you see it live. Perhaps I was zonked by the effects of little sleep the night before and over 12 hours of wandering around a ski resort in boiling heat, but seeing Hasegawa perform at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday at Fuji Rock revealed the force flowing throughout their dizzying works. This wasn’t a “normal” set necessarily — it was Hasegawa’s first show since joining Brainfeeder, an announcement sparking some of the most widespread “whoa!” excitement I’ve seen from across the Japanese music community, and also featured a heavy visual element playing out behind them. It warranted a whole credit roll at the end. Yet before that white text zoomed up, I was mostly just pummeled by Hasegawa’s sound.
“Kuchi No Hanabi” (“Mouth Flash”) might have been the purest bone-rattler of the bunch. Hasegawa’s first for Brainfeeder is actually them operating in a pretty straightforward way, powered by huge booms of percussion. There’s synth whirlwinds and Hasegawa’s vocals, though it’s best to think of them as another element of the music rattling around. It’s a rush, close to other high-points in their catalog, and when I tuned into the debut last week I was mostly pleased to see Hasegawa’s vision unchanged.
But standing in the Red Marquee Saturday night, the physicality of “Kuchi” became much more clear. Again, great sound system and special moment, but the way the beat slams ahead here — nearly trampling over every other element but keeping jusssssst enough space for them to squeeze in and add to the spinning sensation the song creates — left the strongest impression personally. It fits perfectly into what Hasegawa does, after all — take seemingly disparate parts, and create something mesmerizing from their tense relationship. Listen above.
Toriena — ♡GOKIGEN♡
Speaking of artists whose live shows turn already frantic music into sonic body blows…new Toriena! This cat-centric offering lines up well with the hardcore rush of this year’s BLOOD DEBUG, with a slightly goofier vibe running throughout (the vocal rush of “GOKIGEN NEKO SONG” is cartoony, the samples on “squish time” are…what the hell is going on here). Listen above.
PLASTIC GIRL IN CLOSET — “Ramune River”
I’m most certainly out of this after Fuji Rock, so all I can muster is “good ol’ shoegaze.” But hey, this group has been doing it a while…they have it down, and continue to do a solid job of it. Listen above.
GEZAN — “Shangri-Ra”
Sorry, let’s just stick with Fuji Rock a little longer…the latest album from GEZAN hasn’t really clicked with me, feeling a little too “Up With People! Koenji Version” for my liking. Turns out that’s another project thriving live — GEZAN opened up the biggest stage at Fuji Rock Saturday morning, and the actual all-together-now force of the Million Wish Collective became clear when cloistered together on a single stage, making that full-length much more effective (and doing something no snooty writer wants to admit…maybe I was wrong in the first place). “Shangri-Ra” technically doesn’t feature the punch of that dozen-plus project — though it was played as such out in Naeba — but it channels it well even if less people are in the booth, with this number boosted up by the moments of the band coming together to shout together. Listen above.
Half Mile Beach Club — “Flowing”
Zushi’s finest collective have a new EP out at the end of the week, and first listen “Flowing” finds them operating in a more instrumental mood. Here, they jam, but sprinkled throughout are the slightly disorienting touches that have made them a favorite around here — the vocal samples, in particular, nod to their earliest work. Listen above.
LE SSERAFIM — “Jewelry” (Live Clip Version)
KIRINJI and SE SO NEON — “Honomekashi”
Continued adventures in greater collaboration between Japanese and South Korean artists, an all-around great development for both sides. KIRINJI and SE SO NEON are kindered indie souls, so them coming together for a plaintive funk jam where everything is a little subdued but with enough emotion bubbling over to keep it compelling…something both groups do well individually too. K-pop group LE SSERAFIM enlisting J-pop upstart imase to produce new Japanese single “Jewelery” feels a little more opportunistic — imase made history in South Korea with his own “NIGHT DANCER” being the first Japanese song to break onto the Melon charts, and has generally managed a profile in the country long eluding (but now becoming possible) for Japanese acts. Bringing him together with a Japan-Korea mixed group just makes sense all around…but dang, I think he kind of nailed it with the song itself. I think LE SSERAFIM work best when either slowing down or embracing a straight-ahead dance-pop sound. “Jewelry” falls in the latter category, with a slightly elegant edge provided by some nice string sections building up to the bouncy hook.
What I love is the “live clip” above, featuring the aforementioned dance-pop goodness but with imase himself being pulled in to sing some lines too. Fantastic! Let the producer get a little love, and join the group in bringing the song to life. Even if it’s in an effort to juice YouTube views, the nod to the folks who create this music…who often get ignored when the industry is talked about…is great, and a nice twist.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of July 17, 2023 To July 23, 2023
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.
=LOVE — “Natsumatope” (179,544 Copies Sold)
Yep…a summer idol song. Perfectly OK and upbeat, but a genre of J-pop rarely offering room for new insight. Uhhhhh, I like the parts where they break into sing-speak, and this shot in the video of a member holding a bunch of shrimp skewers is pretty good.
News And Views
I’m going to be completely real with you…I barely paid attention to Japanese music news last week because of summer festival coverage and having to hit like seven deadlines before shipping out to Niigata. Next week…probably better!
The virtual idol revolution comes to the -48 family, with JKT48 teasing a new virtual group, the first of its kind in this corner of idoldom.
Oomori Seiko says she’s planning on making a male idol unit. Are you a bad enough dude to apply and potentially be screamed at by Oomori Seiko. I feel I know half a dozen people who absolutely would put up with verbal abuse to do this…godspeed, I say.
Almost as importantly…Nocchi went to Kojima Productions and stared longingly at Death Stranding suits.
Back to the K-pop colliding with J-pop front…Stray Kids’ forthcoming Japanese release will feature LiSA.
Dreams do come true for some idol fans…specifically one idol fan who was the only person in attendance for his faves’ birthday / graduation show in Nagoya.
I talked with Ginger Root for The Japan Times ahead of his performance at Fuji Rock.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies