Make Believe Melodies For June 26, 2023
Looking Back To Look Forward
Kumachan Seal — Kumachan Seal
Back in the winter of 2019, I described a song by Kumachan Seal as a “breezy number heavy on vibe.” While not going as far as to urge anyone reading the blog to put that on their summer playlists, “Radonamin” absolutely boasted a warmer-climes bounce and overall atmosphere of brightness. A good gauge to see where the project — the solo moniker of Sairi Ojima, Kyoto rock-and-experimental staple appearing in groups such as Neco Nemuru and Casio Toruko Onsen among others — is at is to listen to the “Radonamin” appearing on first proper full-length Kumachan Seal. She’s cut into it, creating something more disorienting but with a familiar hop, even if it is a little wobblier a few years later.
Kumachan Seal finds Ojima dissecting and re-stitching a handful of existing songs while crafting new ones to signal where she’s at today. Assisted on the mastering side by new-generation-Kansai-creators Le Makeup and Takao, she crafts a dizzying and intimate album where her voice multi-tracks over itself and songs skitter ahead, often over ample space until all the scattered voices, synths and beats converge for angelic release (see “Namagaki” and “Okami No Niwa” being standouts). Yet just as often Ojima is happy to see what she’s capable of with repetition, whether through slightly off-kilter melodies (“China Sandwich”), manipulated voice (“Atsumono”) or rhythm (the dub-indebted space float of closer “Tinycell”). Kumachan Seal is the sound of an artist in love with sounds, both of what she has made before, and what remains possible. Get it here, or listen above.
Ako — “Atashi No Zenbu Wo Aisenai”
Ako delivers a sneer as a whisper. Musically her most straightforward song to date — a deceptively breezy rock number, complete with organ wooze and a horn solo (!?) — allows her a chance to deliver emotionally twisty and ultimately unnerving lyrics ('“even you won’t love me / I want you all to myself”) in a pillowed way. It’s a nice change of pace at a time when every artist influenced by Sheena Ringo tries to imitate her snarl and everyone else sounds unflinchingly monotone. Ako flips positions, and reveals new tension. Listen above.
QUBIT — “G.A.D.”
Speaking of…DAOKO’s version of a Tokyo Jihen appears, with a disorienting blur that totally cuts against what I expected a group featuring DAOKO and a member of Soutaiseiriron among others to sound like. The start-stop percussion and electronic waves turn this one chaotic, though the la-la-las offer a melodic lifesaver throughout, regardless of where the tempo goes. Biggest shock? DAOKO is flexing range here, and revealing new sides to her own voice that haven’t come out before. Listen above.
LAUSBUB — “Michi-tono-Sogu”
LAUSBUB stand out in Japanese electronic music circa 2023 because of how effortlessly they work vocals into their experiments. It would be a waste of words to try to talk about this balancing pop with left-field fiddling, because this is way more the latter than the prior. Singing, then, is another texture for them, not something they can use as a springboard to wider appeal but something to set against acid bass and synthesizer whiplash. Listen above.
figure — “I’m Crushing My Life”
Wow, it has been a while since suffocating rock artist figure put out new material, but the wait is fine when the same constricting sound comes. “I’m Crushing My Life” starts loud and only goes up in volume as more feedback enters the mix, offering a thickness to otherwise catchy indie-pop. Listen above.
lil soft tennis And chelmico — “Bicycle”
It’s interesting realizing that chelmico offered a glimpse of where a whole decade of underground and eventually surface-rising electronic artists would end up. This collaboration with lil soft tennis underlines it, though — they were goofballs like a decade ago, open to playing around with an assortment of sonic ideas while using rap as a base, an approach they didn’t abandon even as they found themselves on a major label. “Bicycle” finds the duo fitting in just fine with the youth, creating a silly albeit charming number that connects one generation to the next. Listen above.
ponika — “imaginary line”
A rollicking number from one half of Dr.Anon and a rapper who was out in front of the whole SoundCloud rap blow up…and everything that came after. She’s still got it. Listen above.
Dempagumi.inc — ONE NATION UNDER THE DEMPA
There was a stretch their in the late 2010s where I kind of checked out of Dempagumi.inc, but man recently, the group seems like they’ve gotten back to what made them so discombobulating and thrilling back in their early days. The thematic ambition and straight-up silliness of something like ONE NATION UNDER THE DEMPA is everything about this unit I loved back in the day, but now with a…creeping longing for the golden years of the internet and otaku-dom? Songs before this EP laid down a future-gazing celebration of Nico Nico culture, and on this EP Dempagumi continue crafting future nostalgia for their home turf and online memories, including a whole song about “the lost kingdom of Akihabara.” Helping out is that this is a collaborative EP, with the group bringing in an absolute grab bag of artists to help craft these songs, including members of Guitar Wolf and, swerviest of swerves, French rockers (and beloved-by-Japan band) Tahiti 80 for closer “THE LAST DEMPASTARS.” This feels like a era for Dempagumi worth celebrating right now. Listen above.
Emerald Four — “To Dream”
To bring it full circle…another Kyoto project, one which Kumachan Seal worked with in the past. Emerald Four continue to reposition themselves as a proper band, but still find ways to play with space, with this featuring passages of guitar fuzz followed by sudden room for the vocals to float. And, they still have a playfulness about them…just listen to the percussive choices here, adding a junkyard feel at times. Listen above.
Consider Subscribing! I’ll Do Dumb Stuff!
First, as always, thanks to all subscribers free and paid…and anyone just reading this.
I made a promise when I started a bonus level that, if I got to 20 paid subscribers by the end of June, I’d go to Robot Restaurant and write about the experience. Now, it appears Robot Restaurant is once again closed…though it might just be because of mechanical issues with the robots, which seems fixable but also a pretty important thing for a robot restaurant…but I’m still happy to engage in some kind of similar gimmick (suggestions welcome). Key is, we are TWO away from making this novelty real. Now is the time to consider upgrading, to get access to some real stupid shit.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of June 12, 2023 To June 18, 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.
SixTONES — “KOKKARA” (494,854 Copies Sold)
While officially described in as clumsily a way as possible (“It's a [HIP HOP/Break beats] x [Live band] mixture base song that shows off the criss-crossing mic relay with a rooting on message”), the latest massive-selling single from SixTONES highlights one small sonic change few Johnny’s songs attempt that actually adds some welcome oomph to their sounds. Instead of pure synthesized sparkle, the attempt / approximation of “live band” sounds on “KOKKARA” gives extra urgency to this song, and helps make the group’s fast-clip rapping all the more punchy. A small but significant change that raises this one up the ladder in the year of Johnny’s monopoly on Oricon.
News And Views
Billboard Japan shared its midyear charts for 2023, and nothing too shocking to report on this front…while “Idol” has been dominant since dropping, this does remind how before it “Subtitle” was like the only song in the air. Funniest (and best) development is how well the fictional band from Bocchi The Rock! performed. Most baffling is how back number is doing so well this year, prompting the logical follow-up question “who the heck chooses to listen to back number?”
Wrote about the boom in Japanese music playing out in South Korea powered by imase’s “NIGHT DANCER,” and how it is part of a stronger exchange between the two countries, in The Japan Times.
Get your Jamiroquai action figure, everyone!
Look out late Aughts, Kanye West and Dov Charney are in Tokyo, browsing Don Quijote.
Tokyo-based electronic artist Akira Complex has passed away.
Bonnie Pink releasing her first new album in 11 years this September.
Mmmmmm, new Tatsuro Yamashita single artwork looking nice. Pensive dog!
chelmico going to update one of their earliest (and best) songs for 2023.
Never know whether to give bad articles attention or just ignore them…the number of links to terrible Nikkei Asia pieces I’ve deleted over the last year of this round-up!…but this Economist piece about Showa revivalism is a pretty great example of why you should be hesitant about any economics reporter (and most general news journalists, honestly) trying to cover pop culture. They are like, worse than out of touch, they are dumb! You don’t read this blog for takes on imports and exports, so don’t read econ types airballing on what city pop is and implying the presence of English lyrics reflects internatilization (what???? also check out the ‘60s / every decade after). Extra funny that they don’t credit any single writer for this…I’d be embarrassed too!
Ano has officially collaborated with McDonald’s, including releasing a song. Pretty good tune, though the part where she breaks down how to make a cheeseburger is maybe a touch too much. Anyway, please release a special meal, as I’d eat it because my diet is abysmal.
In one of the wildest collaborations I can imagine, animal-centric anime / manga BEASTARS recruited Eurovision winners and one-time saviors of rock music (maybe still are, who knows!) Måneskin for a special tie-up, featuring anime-style art of the group. It follows an initial tie-up they did last fall, which I’m blanking if I wrote about but probably not if seeing this pop up sent me into such a tizzy. “Cool, Japan!” theory in action? Oh you bet.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Crazy how LAUSBUB have become one of my favorite musical acts in the world within a matter of a few years. Love the stuff they put out!
Jealous much? back number has been a top act for the last 8 years (and will continue to be so for many more years to come) while all their 2010s peers have flopped. Their streaming data is only behind Higedan and Yoasobi while their physical sales can chart among a bunch of new gen boy groups. I know popularity does not equal quality but the fact that they can keep being relevant while doing minimum activities definitely means they are not as bad as you are trying to make them out to be. You may not be intellectual enough to get their music but stop pretending like you know them and really listen to their works. It’s just ignorant and stupid.