Make Believe Melodies For June 13, 2022
Aiming To Do Three Posts This Week...So Two Times To Be Let Down
Rave Racers — SPEED WAY 2 EP
It’s too early to declare victory, but from my personal conversations and what I’ve heard from others more tuned into the industry, live music and clubs are back on in Tokyo baby. I’ve had the chance to go to about four events now in under a month, and the energy at each has been boisterous, relieved and outright buoyant. I’ve yet to indulge in any post-last-train offerings, but from those who have it sounds like the situation has become stable…and the lineups across the capital look packed, complete with trickle of international acts appearing on bills. A year ago, following news superclub ageHa would close, many told me one more summer spent under a State Of Emergency would be a death blow for clubs and livehouses. While obviously not out of the COVID woods (masks, still everywhere at shows and clubs, cool with me!), that worst-case scenario hasn’t happened…and now small spots are flourishing, summer fests are selling out and even a new generation of glitzy tourist-baiting spots are opening up.
Perfect timing for Tokyo dance collective / party constellation Rave Racers to release a new EP. SPEED WAY 2 releases all the pent-up energy from recent times into about 25 minutes of catharsis pinballing between styles but united by an uptempo drive and a bleary euphoria. Part of the beauty of Rave Racers is, despite boasting core members, the group is more like an idea than a set outfit, allowing for a wider range of sounds explored and a sense of this being more like, a vibe check for the capital’s electronic community. SPEED WAY 2 also arrives at a moment where the project itself seems to be crossing over into more mainstream waters — Rave Racer participants contributed to the latest chelmico album, for one, while I’m just seeing more tweets about them (always a great measure of success, of course). Which is fitting…if a new mood really is setting in culturally, then let the escapism they excel at power it. Get it here, or listen above.
Kamin — Ai To Tetsugaku
Pretty much everything above could also be applied to this, a new three track set from young drum ‘n’ bass booster Kamin. Gotta go fast! This song plays with elements of rock and, most importantly, allows vocals to breeze over the majority of songs here (with only closer “Amour et Philosophie” eschewing them in favor of sampled syllables and pure rush…which also works!), adding an emotional depth to creations that also stand on their own via just the production. Get it here, or listen above.
cero — “Fuha”
cero just out here low key releasing some of the trippiest music of their career. The trio takes their usual approach, cuts it up into strips, and then picks them out of hat to create a dizzying song. Listen above.
Takayan — “I Hate Everything”
Probably the most realistic balance of emotions you can have in a song, avoiding the too-glum pits but also sidestepping the idiot Chicken Soup For The Pop Fans Soul optimism animating many lukewarm hits. Life’s often shitty, but hey might as well celebrate the good parts even amidst the crap. This where Takayan excels, playing the role of rapping, realistic life coach, staring into the void but finding a jaunty beat to revel in imperfection over. Listen above.
PAS TASTA And Cwondo — “sunameri smoke”
All-star netlabel/hyperpop/internet music group PAS TASTA scale back the business ever so slightly on “sunameri smoke,” although they give themselves a little treat with one little hi-def burst right in the middle. Mostly though, they construct a shuffling dance-pop number for Cwondo to sing over, with some light vocal manipulation adding to the overall disorienting feeling the song provides. Here’s an argument in favor of the project’s overall songwriting chops, with or without “hyper” attached. Listen above.
NELN — “STMN”
Slow-burning synth-pop from the trio NELN, one that avoids usual pop immediacy in favor of a stomp and gradual build. Bonus points for a nice bit of Japanese-TV-reference-heavy video, which feels like it feel from the lyrical school branches. Listen above.
Keisuke Kuwata Featuring Motoharu Sano, Masanori Sera, Char And Goro Noguchi — “Jidaikure No Rock ‘n’ Roll Band”
One of the pre-pandemic trends I could see emerging quite clearly was the rise of the aging artist celebrating life as a greying individual in a rapidly aging society. Japan, as it often is, sits on the frontier of where capitalist countries are heading, and the nation’s plummeting birthrate is the future for all. Fun! That also means older demographics will become more important for entertainment, and before COVID-19 derailed everything, it was looking like older pop acts singing about how groovy it is to be over 60.
“Jidaikure No Rock ‘n’ Roll Band” isn’t quite delivering on this wrinkly promise, but it’s strolling down that path, and the way it almost instantly crashed into trending rankings points towards a hunger. Nobody in Japanese entertainment boasts a blank check as impressive as Keisuke Kuwata — it took him taking shots at then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was attending a show, to apologize for something — and he doesn’t need to grab on to any trends. Yet this all-star collaboration is a celebration of sorts, of experiencing life, and feeling useless in modern times. “Jidaikure” finds everyone craving peaceful times (ha!) but also admitting they kind of can’t deliver on it, so instead they remember The Beatles and admit they aren’t with the times. It’s…kind of weird, since it’s both concerned with the state of the world (see also: Tatsuro Yamashita) and cynical about the role entertainers play in it. But it’s ultimately…five dudes hanging out and reminiscing? This is like The Avengers, but for my mother-in-law.
Char looks bad ass though, glad he broke up the boringness of the other guy’s clothes.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of May 30, 2022 To June 05, 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.
Hinatazaka46 — “Boku Nanka” (442,416 Copies Sold)
The 46 family of groups have been putting out great videos for a while now, huh? Here’s another highlight, standing out specifically because of the tasteful way it approaches CGI, a feature that I personally believe is absolutely tanking a lot of potentially interesting music clips from all around the world. Here it’s worked in a way that’s not Marvel-ugly and actually connects with the theme.
News And Views
Yahoo! News interviewed Tatsuro Yamashita ahead of the release of his newest album, and it’s a real tour de force. At seven pages long, there’s a lot to go through, though the immediate hook on Twitter was the pop tinkerer saying his music would never appear on streaming sites (until he’s dead, at least). Yet it’s much more complex than that — given how much distrust people generally have for, like, Spotify, along with Yamashita’s belief in valuing music, I kinda think it’s generally righteous — and the entire chat is a great dive into…well, everything on his mind.
Where to start in English? Thank goodness Kayo Kyoku Plus offered up a translation of chunks of the chat, while Masa City Pop channel shared a video looking at some of the interesting tidbits from it.I’m sending this out before Harry Styles’ big appearance on The First Take debuts, but…sure it’s an important moment I surely will have more thoughts on soon!
Elvis Presley…King Of Rock ‘N’ Roll? Or Kind Of A Huge Japanophile? A YouTube video tour of his Beverly Hills home spends significant time in his Japanese zen garden.
I wrote about how Japanese pop culture has influenced Spanish-language entertainment…and how that blooms up in the work of people like Bad Bunny, arguably the biggest pop star on the planet, for Newspicks. Your fun non-Japanese music take from me for the week…I think the new Bad Bunny is pretty fantastic, album of the year contender.
This week in Anime Village….Flow performed, with accompanying report that screws up so many facts it is kind of impressive.
Fuji Rock going cashless, except for merch, where your cash is still very much welcome.
Ado provides the singing voice to a character in an upcoming One Piece film, and on top of that she will collaborate with a really eclectic bunch of artists for the film, including Yasutaka Nakata, Vaundy and Yuta Orisaka among others. Her debut full-length from earlier in the year was already a success in expanding her sound and emotional palette, so this will be an even greater chance to see how she sounds against different backdrops.
Very important DJ Rashad cover.
Man, Sekai No Owari’s “Habit” might end up the song of the summer in Japan, and Hikakin’s version of it is only pushing it higher up the charts.
Look, I could write a million words on this, but META48, a new project from renegade AKS group SNH48 looks incredible in both positive and negative ways. Just…putting on a VR headset and shaking my faves hand for two seconds, what a dream. Anyway, incredible knowing this weird web 3.0 experiment started with an idol group in Akihabara that wanted to get closer with fans.
Ylvis’ “The Fox” is rising up viral charts in Japan. Reason for this? The Nippon Ham Fighters baseball club has embraced the song, complete with a dance that has helped make it viral.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies