Make Believe Melodies For June 7, 2021
CAPSULE Returns
CAPSULE — “Hikari No Disco”
Yasutaka Nakata loves trends, and within the comfort of the duo CAPSULE he’s long tried his hand at Shibuya-kei, Euro-electro and EDM before introducing it to other projects. His alchemy, though, is finding a new angle on these buzzy styles most overlook in favor of flat imitation. Plenty of artists were trying to sound like Daft Punk and Digitalism in the mid 2000s, but Nakata saw how adding a touch of vocal sweetness could reveal something entirely different.
“Hikari No Disco,” the duo’s first new number in five years, taps into all things retro — most clearly through the night-drive-through-Tokyo video, but sonically via a dappling of 8-bit notes and particularly elastic synth lines throughout — to create a vintage CAPSULE song. It pulses forward from the start, Nakata building up the groove with synths and Toshiko Koshijima’s voice — sometimes chopped up and redistributed into the shimmer around her — while also letting his love for digi percussion shine through, adding a little more to that “throwback” feel even though he’s been indulging that itch since the mid Aughts. CAPSULE’s big return is them underlining everything that makes them one of the finest Japanese acts of the 21st century, nodding to certain musical and aesthetic trends but ultimately reminding of the importance of staying true to what you do best. Listen above.
ZOMBIE-CHANG “Granny Square”
Speaking of staying true to yourself — here’s ZOMBIE-CHANG returning with a delirious dance record seemingly about sewing, featuring echoing vocals and a non-stop chug that transforms embroidery into something trippy. Listen above.
Okinawa Electric Girl Saya And MIKISARA — Itteki No Sekai
Idol-turned-experimental-wildcard Okinawa Electric Girl Saya has been hard to keep track on over the last year, fitting given her two musical backgrounds — idol and experimental discographies can get knotty really fast. Keeping tabs on her is worth it, though, especially when she tiptoes out of her usual zone like she does on this collaboration with MIKISARA. They craft delicate numbers bordering on balladry, but sprinkled with a gluten-free-like assortment of Saya’s wonkier tendencies, from patches of noise to pitched-around vocals. Listen above.
Ushio — Oyasumi Enseikan
Creators who came out of the Vocaloid community run J-pop right now, but it is just as important to explore the dimmer spaces of that community to see what younger makers are up to. Ushio pulls one of the better tricks possible with singing-synthesizer software on Oyasumi Enseikan, by crafting a delicate and darty indie-pop collection anchored by the digi singing of utau Elu Amaga. The roughness of the vocals against those upbeat melodies is part of the charm — this is indie-pop, a playground for the awkward sounding, don’t close it off to the machines! — and this set reminds of the creativity flowing through all levels of Vocaloid fandom. Get it here, or listen above.
Utada Hikaru — “Pink Blood”
If “One Last Kiss” marked Utada accepting the ups and downs of life while celebrating the transience of it all, “Pink Blood” allows her a chance to look back a bit towards the Utada of yesteryear. Which is to say — this is a very Utada song, featuring co-production from Nariaki Obukuro and a general R&B sound she’s long excelled in. A few of her current thematic focuses come through — like she brushed aside the Louvre on “One Last Kiss,” here she’s done with well-written novels, while touches throughout play with the same memories-fading-away feel of that last single, albeit as smaller details — but ultimately hitting on all the big pop points she has turned to over the years. A lovely compliment for those looking for empowerment rather than existential questioning. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of May 24, 2021 To May 30, 2021
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 the 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 “Kimi Shika Katan” (486, 974 Copies Sold)
The song itself is a chipper bit of melancholic idol pop, hands clapping to hide the sorrow within. Above average from Akimoto Yasushi, though it also dredges up a debate I’ve had multiple times in my life (says more about my existence, really) — are songs that just list the days of the week cute, or lazy? I too own a calendar.
Far more interesting is the video, which looks…familiar. The clip, featuring visual tricks and gags in a cavernous studio, delivered heavy early-2010 vibes, immediately bringing to mind a handful of Perfume clips along with memories of peak Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Turns out that latter thought made a lot of sense — the video was directed by Jun Tamukai, who did pretty much every Kyary video up until like 2015, among many others. Look at this Wikipedia page! Bonus points for chelmico’s “Easy Breezy,” another one bleeding over a bit into “Kimi Shika Katan.”
News And Views
Billboard Japan shared their mid-year charts…mid-year already, thanks a lot 2021!…if you need a snapshot of how the last six months in Japan have gone. No huge surprises here, with their biggest hit belonging to Yuuri’s “Dry Flower,” LiSA topping the download song chart with last year’s “Homura,” while YOASOBI earned the title of top artist thanks to the success of their The Book EP. Connecting line between those three? All got huge boosts from The First Take. Outside of that, SixTONES boast the “hottest album” via their debut offering. Going through the lists helps flesh out the picture, with high placement to BTS, NiziU and Ado (an artist who, I’d argue, cornered the market on takes, which to me made it the most omnipresent culturally song of the year so far).
Speaking of The First Take, CHAI appeared on the influential YouTube channel last week for a charming rendition of “N.E.O.”
Nikkei put out their annual “Entertainment Power Ranking” for male and female idols, with TOKIO and Perfume sitting on top of their respective lists.
Continuing on a thread from last week…Johnny & Associates push beyond their comfort zone continues, as they launched an official English-language Twitter account last week.
Matthew Hernon interviewed LiSA for The Japan Times.
Folks, get excited for a video game devoted to managing idols. Hope it is a real attempt at turning Dear-Stage-sized pop into a Winning Eleven kind of game.
Hakushi Hasegawa to appear on a Brainfeeder Twitch show next week.
The passing of the high-octane torch…like Teriyaki Boyz before him, JP The Wavy to appear on the soundtrack to the newest Fast And Furious film. Fun fact — this forthcoming installment in the franchise is called Wild Speed: Jet Break.
Utada Hikaru granted an interview to Billboard Japan, in Japanese. Still need to dig in, though a lot of it underlines how much Western music as of late has captured her attention, with a lot of talk about Drake and Frank Ocean.
Well here’s a wonderful example of Japanese pop culture’s continued low-key boom — Bad Bunny’s new song “Yonaguni” comes with a video heavy on Japan-inspired visuals, from opening in a ramen restaurant to ending with a pretty anime-style section. He also gets a Pokemon Go tattoo.
It carries over to the song proper, with references to Naruto characters at one point and the title referring to…the westernmost island of Japan? Now that’s a heck of a geographical pull, and one with incidental geopolitical heft. Even more surprising is…Bad Bunny singing in Japanese at the end of the song itself. This interest / crossover in Japanese pop culture has bubbled up in Spanish-language pop from the last few years several times now — see this Bad-Bunny-featuring anime clip, or Ozuna heading to Tokyo for a video, or J. Balvin working with m-flo. Add “Yonaguni” to the chain, perhaps the most interesting of all.
It also guided me to the YouTube channel of a Japanese guy who speaks Spanish reacting to the video, which is a similar delight.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
I think 沖縄電子少女彩 is actually Okinawa Electric Girl Saya.