Make Believe Melodies For June 5, 2023
What The Hell Season Is This Blog On?
Perfect Young Lady — PYL 3rd SEASON...
Perfect Young Lady explores the absurdity of everyday life while also offering a surreal alternative, somehow making both ends work by playing them out over some of the catchiest bedroom-pop melodies coming out of the 1DKs of the country today. Across a set of demos and two year-end-top-ten-worthy albums1, PYL has established themselves as a true treasure in the Japanese indie scene. Now, with their 3rd SEASON, PYL expands their world view, matching catchy music out of guitars and dusty keyboard presets on the verge of malfunctioning with lyrics tightroping between sitcom-worthy observations on daily living with surprisingly poignant feelings. Here, PYL rises up and becomes the Socrates of Saizeriya, creating art for the crowd who consider a new pudding varietal from the local convenience store a luxury (hello).
PYL’s music remains as charming as ever across 3rd SEASON, both thanks to the simple joys of a bright melody and PYL’s ability to turn potential junk into gold. Keyboard presets play a huge role, and sometimes they sound like what a robot trained on soap operas thinks “drama” sounds like (“Mood Maker No Tameiki”) or like a synthesized interpretation of a Wild West saloon interrupted by MIDI horn (“Hadaka No Watashi”). There’s also some of the prettiest material PYL has written to date, with a supermarket sheen helping make “PYL No Sokonn Tokoro” and “Table Manner Kyoshitsu” highlights. Other songs find PYL revisiting…older PYL songs, discovering fresh angles. Yet the beauty of 3rd SEASON is, whether sparkly or janky or new or well-worn, PYL can create something memorable out of all materials.
What really elevates it all, though, is PYL’s worldview. 3rd Season is marked by small-time observations — family restaurants, secret menus, the taste of various energy drinks (Gatorade is delicious, Real Gold resembles breast milk), stuffed animals, the attractiveness of Akiko Wada — and more jarring mentions, like throwing up in cars or imagined crimes or post-apocalyptic landscapes. The final song here takes place in a cactus sanctuary in space built around PA announcements. This is like if Soutaiseiriron took inspiration from shitposts instead of teenager’s blogs.
Yet for the flights of fancy, PYL’s goofiness also reveals poignancy. Songs dwell on connection, the challenges of growing up, the importance of kindness and stepping out of your comfort zone. There’s a silly little Casio-guided ditty about going to Sumida Ward in Tokyo to see their aquarium because it’s good to go places you usually don’t visit…which, right on. Another song looks at the exhausted side of the “mood maker,” the type of person always keeping others spirits high, but who can be just as vulnerable to bad spells as anyone. That’s not the reason to fall down the PYL rabbit hole — it’s the bedroom-pop quality and creativity of it all — but those resonant moments are what make 3rd SEASON special. Get it here, or listen above.
De De Mouse And Hitomitoi — “Love Groovin’”
Swerve of the year…the art, title and artists involved point towards some type of disco / city pop revivalism, which in their hands would probably work out well, as has been the case before. Still, a huge part of the ongoing tilt for all things retro is aesthetic, so seeing an anime lady standing in front of some records seems like a fair signal of what’s to come. Yet it doesn’t take long to go in a different way. The understated groove, Hitomitoi’s measured delivery and especially those static vocal samples skipping alongside the beat. When it picks up and this clearly reveals itself as French touch, the twist is complete. Listen above.
levi And ROAR — “I wanna know”
Similarly, two names from the Strong-Zero-fuelled hyperpop / Gen-Z hip-hop / Shibuya-Not-O-Kei scene drop the chaos in favor of…smooth guitar melodies looking for an indie-pop song? Sure, the voices retain digital distortion, but “I wanna know” skips ahead on music closer to early 2010s indie rock than anything today (definitely not pop punk, the preferred guitar sound of this world). It works though, underlining a sense for catchiness often hidden under aggression, but here on full display. Listen above.
Chilli Beans. — “you n me
This is the sound that works best for the trio, at least to my ears — driving, sweet, electronic touches adding to the heart-race of the main guitar melody, great backing harmonies to boot. A song showing why they are worth the hype mainstream music media has given them. Listen above.
Koh-Gaku Featuring Mandark — “Yume”
The Koh-Gaku collective — Tsudio Studio, SNJO and HiRO.JP — go international for the forthcoming fifth installment of their experiment in retooling classic synth-pop sounds to modern times. Taiwanese artist Mandark comes on board, and first taste “Yume” finds her strolling through HiRO.JP’s bleary-eyed boogie backdrop, with her lovelorn and scarred lyrics (inspired by a Chico Buarque poem) offering a sourness to the neon sweetness around her. Listen above.
Charles.A.D — “Drive recklessly”
Few do bleary-eyed dance music quite like Charles.A.D, and here’s another one to get swept up in. Listen above.
ermhoi — Junebug Rhapsody
Artist ermhoi adds a touch of experimentalism to everything she does. As a part of millennium parade and the trio Black Boboi, her vocals carry songs and can be sticky, but always with an unnerving, manipulated edge. Even the most straightforward guest spots take on a dizzying atmosphere. Now, imagine what she can do with her solo work.
Newest album Junebug Rhapsody is ermhoi taking her time to imagine what a song can be, and just what warped elements can be building blocks towards that end. For someone always tinkering on their solo works, this stands as her most left-field offering to date — voices, of ermhoi and sampled people and maybe-ermhoi-but-manipulated-but-maybe-not-who-knows, trip over themselves on these songs, standing as the dominant sonic element of “Strenuous Blur” and becoming malleable as taffy on the rumbling “The Bird’s Lie.” Most of Rhapsody’s songs unfold slowly, though the moments of sudden rush (the synth stabs opening “Nile River,” the electronic tempo shifts of “The Bird’s Lie”) make the build all the more satisfying. It’s a document of an experimental artist having space to really drill into their work, and see what is possible, and come up with a personal highlight. Listen above.
uami — Mizu Wo Ageru
Speaking of, Fukuoka’s uami does something similar, albeit at a much faster clip than ermhoi. This is her latest experiment in warping pop into new shapes, but whereas ermhoi focuses on how her voice can be bent towards this goal, uami sees how a more straightforward (well, less manipulated…she’s drawing from the delivery of Bjork here) vocal can fit with music in a constant state of jitters. Get it here, or listen above.
Reol — “GLITTER”
The J-pop history books should make space for Reol, even if I fear they won’t. She’s an artist who was out in front and arguably on the frontier of where the country’s mainstream sound would go in the 2020s, just a few years too early — here was an “utaite” turning Vocaloid-born success into a pop career, offering a youth-eyed view of the world for an industry that wasn’t always open to that. That became the norm — and she’s certainly had moments backed by the sort of numbers making the data teams at major labels hoot and holler — but she frequently feels outside of the YOASOBIs, Ados and Zuto Mayos that came after.
“GLITTER” reminds of what sets her apart though. Produced by past collaborator Kenmochi Hidefumi (another trend she was a little ahead of the curve on), the song showcases her swagger, informed by American hip-hop (detail that has stuck with me for nearly a decade since interviewing Reol…she like absorbed Nicki Minaj when embarking on her solo career) and coming through in ad libs and boasts about million sellers. Rap appears in other contemporary music in the same zone as Reol — Ado dabbles in it, and “Idol” kicks off with it — but often as a compliment to more traditional singing. For Reol, it’s both sonic and character building block, fully on display here, and reminding of what has always made her stand out, even as everything else adjusts to where she was. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of May 22, 2023 To May 28, 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.
INI — “DROP That (FANFARE)” (345,519 Copies Sold)
K-pop is having a fantastic 2023 when taken purely on musical terms. Personally, it stands out after a few years where results were much more mixed, with the gems being blocked out by a lot of straight trash. What changed? Simple, I think — K-pop stopped trying to do rock music. Clearly attempting to ride the artistic wave of Machine Gun Kelly, Korean groups suddenly incorporated guitars and chugging melodies and ~ emo looks ~ into their releases. Forgive my lack of a link, but I recall Rolling Stone Korea sharing an article proclaiming a new era of K-pop, merging the pop perfection the country’s music industry made its name on with the aesthetics2 of rock ‘n’ roll. The writer never asked themselves, “wait, is any of this good?” To be fair, this was before Xdinary Heroes debuted, confirming “absolutely not.”
Thankfully, the industry has largely moved on…and I guess they sent the surplus to the J-pop groups in the K-pop family tree, because INI gets saddled with the sonic equivalent of a “Hard Rock Cafe” t-shirt on “Fanfare.” Just…totally empty interpretations of what rock energy is, in favor of “sweet, guitar!” Like those sweaty K-pop efforts of 2022, there’s no actual interest in exploring what’s possible or even playing with iconography…it’s a costume change.
Though here’s a potential mea culpa…the next song on the release, “Let’s Escape,” embraces the breeze of Aughts indie-rock and…it works??? The softer jog melds with the electronic touches, and I think the emotional ache here fits way better than the posing of “Fanfare.” Looks like the 2000s really are the place to be….
News And Views
Most important news first…you can buy a Negicco first-aid kit now.
OK, actual most important news of the week…Perfume are in Europe now, and as part of a show in England, they shared a new song called “Love Cloud.” Joining the Twitter masses in declaring “release that, now now now!”
Pop Yours 2023 went off without a hitch last weekend, and this Natalie live report makes it sound like the Japanese rap gathering was downright amazing and overflowing with good vibes. Important both as a mark of where the summer festival industry is heading…we’re so back, as they say…and as a triumph for hip-hop. Recall Namimonogatari2021, the rap fest in Aichi Prefecture that nearly caused live music to become the Omicron-era scapegoat for spikes in case numbers. Now, Pop Yours can shine…we really got the good ending, at least when it comes to music fests.
Atarashii Gakko! did a TikTok dance with Rosalia.
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Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserChorareii has an incredible interview with Tohji, looking at his career, his artistic approach to music and why he idolizes Ayumi Hamasaki, among many other points. Extremely well done stuff, with the biggest surprise coming via how much they focus on the business side of Japanese music…and how smart Tohji is about it. He has a very even-handed view on the industry, recognizing the positives and negatives of the insular nature of Japanese music that few actual reporters ever come close to encountering (here’s where I would meanly link to the thousandth Nikkei Asia business piece about “J-pop isn’t as popular in [x country] unlike K-pop” which adds nothing new to the discussion…make Tohji a business reporter).
Jude Noel looks at the rich history of Galaxy Train over at Bandcamp Daily.
PLANCK STARS apparently had a fan at one of their shows drink detergent of some sort, which is something you should not do! There’s video of the incident on YouTube, and good for the guy, he appears to run off and spit it out. Two important points: 1. Make Believe Melodies once again urges you to not drink detergent of any sort, regardless of what I or anyone else might urge you to do. 2. PLANCK STARS name is once again trending and talked about thanks to the stunt, which is how they have operated for years now.
People out here still talking about Sorb3t….Rolling Stone wrote about them, and I’ve seen multiple YouTube videos amounting to “this is cringe…but also, drama!?” I thought Cal at Homicidols had one of the better essays about it, wrestling with a lot of moving parts and offering something more personal and human (read: less online) than the majority of junk churned out in the last two weeks.
Shy Thompson reviews Satsuki Shibano’s recently re-issued 1984 album Wave Notation 3: Erik Satie 1984.
YOASOBI’s shows at Saitama Super Arena look like they were a blast.
Assume it was filled with Gen Z kids, who love YOASOBI the most according to new half-year data. What’s going on with back number…what sickness makes people across three decades like their music?
Tatsuro Yamashita will release a new single later this month. You can hear a bit of it in a new tea commercial.
Last, and gazing inward…this newsletter will officially introduce paid posts starting at the end of the week, though round-ups and the usual essay / interview (!?) will remain free, as will the archives. More details to come later this week in a stand-alone post, but for now…
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Follow the Best of 2023 Spotify Playlist Here!
Hint for 2022 list?????
The obvious problem being…Korea is full of fantastic rock artists on every level, but K-pop is, surprise surprise, mostly interested at a surface level reading of a trend. Nobody was saying “should we get Parannoul to write for us?”