Make Believe Melodies For March 13, 2023
"Love & Cults" Being A Good Theme For This Edition...
yahyel — Love & Cults
Recent times and world events clearly did a number on yahyel. Lead singer Shun Ikegai says as much in a recent interview, both for the members of the electronic project and the scene they developed in (“The last few years in the music scene, especially the indie scene, have not been all good. It was a difficult time. I think it is necessary to look back on this time from the perspective that ‘that’s all there was.’”). New album — first in five years — Love & Cults isn’t a direct reaction to anything pandemic related, but rather forged by the unease and clarity allowed by recent times.
The group has long been skilled at weaving a sense of dread into their art, but everything on Love & Cults sounds more jittery and ominous. That’s thanks in part to letting the electric edges of the vocals be more pronounced along with songs such as “Highway” and “ID” embracing skittish percussive patterns lending a nervous energy. The clearer they get, the less compelling they become — but yahyel blanket almost every single number here with unnerving details, where even moments approaching familiar structure become disoriented (“Slow”) or add tension to otherwise sturdy pop (“Four”).
There’s moments of light let in throughout — including closer “Kyokou,” the first song the band has ever done entirely in Japanese and one of the few instances here where everything sounds a little too clean — but mostly this is yahyel reflecting an emotional dizziness into their music, treating it as something to build with rather than ignore. Listen above.
e5 — “Aladdin”
A crossover attempt warping at the edges. Former Dr.Anon member and Japanese HyperPop standout e5 has teased potential shifts towards neater sounds in the past — “Mine” presented a then-on-point house-pop number — and “Aladdin” certainly entertains the idea, with a similar electronic groove. Unlike previous efforts, e5 happily lets the rougher elements of the song come through. That’s mostly conveyed via the smudged singing, which bleed together at first over the bleary-eyed beat before becoming a little more focused — but not too much, because e5 loves smearing her own vocals across the track. And it becomes particularly wonky in its final stretch, with e5’s voice malfunctioning as she seemingly nods to TWICE’s lesser-celebrated singles. Listen above.
valknee — “WHITE DOWN JKT”
The combination of valknee and hirihiri always works wonders, with the former fitting in just right amongst the fractured sounds created by the latter. Here’s the pair’s latest pulverizing pairing, whirring and whizzing when it’s not making room for sudden “damn son” samples and burps. As uneven as the surface gets, valknee vocally hops along above it all. Listen above.
WRACK — “Gore Max”
Note to self — write about WRACK more. “Gore Max” comes from the forthcoming FM Chicken EP, and is the latest reminder of how effortlessly the Tokyo producer blends global dance styles together, while still being reverent to where they come from. Listen above.
Lilas Ikuta — “Midnight Talk”
The vocal half of YOASOBI goes solo on new album Sketch, and it’s mostly forgettable exercises in pop designed to showcase a voice and not much else. Here’s the one exception — “Midnight Talk” gives Ikuta a plinky-plonky electronic melody to hop over, teasing ~city pop vibes~ but sounding way too modern and lithe to be a nostalgia piece. There’s no huge payoff either — no “wow, listen to her voice” display holding back the rest of the album — just a bunch of “oooohs” and a simple, sweet reflection on wanting to stay up to talk with the one you love (and, in the best detail to pop up in J-pop so far this year…go out after midnight to buy ice cream from a convenience store…too real). Listen above.
harmoe — “VOICE”
This Toriena-produced idol track is alright…and then they let Toriena GO FOR IT a little over the midway point and it becomes a scorcher. Listen above.
machìna — Action I
Tokyo-based electronic artist machìna introduces a new series of dance tracks with this two song set, and it’s all about movement. The producer picks up the pace and lets her electronic palette go into attack mode for over 10 minutes of physical tunes prioritizing action over thought. Get it here, or listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of February 27, 2023 To March 5, 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.
King & Prince — “Life goes on / We are young” (28,402 Copies Sold)
A question I saw posed multiple times online after the BBC announced Predator: The Secret Scandal Of J-pop, a documentary focused on Johnny & Associates’ founder Johnny Kitagawa’s alleged sexual abuse of boys and men in his talent agency, was “why now?” Thing is, I think right now is the perfect time to take a closer look at Kitagawa and what he built…the BBC, though, doesn’t spend any of the feature’s runtime looking into that very “why.”
Predator is very much a Matryoshka of a documentary. It works best when journalist Mobeen Azhar and his crew center on the story in the middle, looking at the allegations leveled at Kitagawa and the ways it has been muzzled. Azhar interviews former trainees, talks to Japanese journalists familiar with the case and touches on the legal aspects. It surprised me in even contradicting the hyperbole of its title — Predator: The Secret Scandal Of J-pop features Azhar saying “Johnny’s abuse was no secret in Japan” (which, true).
These parts aren’t flawless — I think The Idolcast’s review does a good job touching on them — but the topic is at least so narrow as to avoid spiraling out of control. And I think the final segment — where Azhar and crew attempt to get a shotgun interview with people at Johnny’s office in Nogizaka — works well, even if it is Michael-Moore-esque documentary dramatics1. As I wrote two weeks ago…the agency might never stare Kitagawa’s allegations down, and maybe they don’t have to. But it’s something that will always be pushed into their faces rightfully, because they are Johnny’s after all.
The further away from Kitagawa Azhar goes, however, the emptier Predator becomes. The people involved in this seemingly have zero interest in the context or history of Japanese pop music, entertainment or people living in the country…which would be annoying but potentially not derailing if the documentary focused just on Kitagawa. Problem is, this wants to be a commentary on what it all means for Japan, and that makes the slapdash research all the more glaring.
The background on J-pop, Japanese entertainment and even the fluffier side of Johnny’s airballs so much basic info, running from the popularity of the agency’s groups (Predator implies Kitagawa ran entertainment since the end of World War II which…not even close) to the popularity of J-pop at large (a minute into this show, Azhar implies J-pop is…a global force? Johnny’s is beloved by millions outside Japan? Isn’t the narrative Johnny’s single-handedly held back J-pop?). I think the BBC does a good job dinging mainstream media’s failings at covering Kitagawa’s story due to the desire to have their acts appear on their airwaves…but it’s kind of mind bogglingly that the internet is never really mentioned, seeing as social media alone has allowed anyone to bring up the case, as folks on Twitter and elsewhere do constantly2. It isn’t even Japanese entertainment…this seems totally oblivious to how entertainment anywhere works. Early on, Azhar expresses shock at all the commercials and tie-ups Johnny’s talent are part of…despite this being standard operating procedure for pop acts dating back decades.
Azhar wants to tell an important story, but has little time for the entertainment around it3. By phoning that part in, though, he’s not giving the story the total seriousness it deserves — at its core, this is an entertainment story, after all.
The above clips underlines the aforementioned lack of pop awareness hurting Predator (do you think they all have a common look because…that’s what the target, female audience wants?) — but also accidentally hits on that “why now?” question. Azhar offers up a theory on Johnny’s talent after looking at some pictures, which amounts to “for the brand.” Yet he’s not far off from an important quote Kitagawa himself shared during the ‘90s.
Kitagawa’s story is important in 2023 because Kitagawa’s approach to pop has become the global standard. It’s quite literally a major inspiration for how K-pop — an actually successful global endeavor — functions, while the idea of “idols” has become the norm all over, where presenting an image of a performer fans4 can latch on to trumps music or performance. This is where the program’s pop ignorance hurts it most — they approach all of this as if Johnny’s and Japan are the only problems here, and if the media would just report on it maybe everything would be fixed. The truth is, it isn’t that simple, and Johnny’s history should be a warning of what could happen in the current pop ecosystem rather than an isolated case.
News And Views
BABYMETAL appeared on THE FIRST TAKE. Hoping the second upload…there is always a second upload…features an actual backing metal band.
I am not equipped to write about Japanese politics…but I am qualified to write about AKB48, so as a result I can comment on the insanity of the NHK Party (they don’t like NHK) merging with the “48 Party,” which includes former members of the -48 universe in its ranks. My take — lol wtf.
Night Tempo out here remixing Pokemon theme songs.
I dug into the career of Dave Rodgers, whose Eurobeat sound shaped J-pop…and countless memes, revivals, rhythm games and more.
Ado covered “Overdose.”
I’m a very anti-awards person in general — I was stressed out about work this morning, then realized that because of my to-do list I won’t have to pay attention to the Oscars, thank god — but The Japan Gold Disc Awards somehow manage to be even stupider than most. These are awards…based on sales. That’s called making a chart from data, not honoring art! Anyway, here’s some “winners” for you.
Usually try to end the round-up with something “light” and perhaps “silly” but not finding much this week…but you know what did resurface on my feeds? The below video, an internet classic and a message we could all use from time to time.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
I like this scene as metaphor, but was presented a good counter view on it by a friend today — the drama of it all becomes way flatter once you realize that Azhar isn’t going to follow up on any of this, he’s off to do a documentary on something entirely different (Kanye West) once this wraps. All Johnny’s has to do is sit through this for 10 minutes, and they won’t have to deal with this again until another documentary crew swings by.
If anything, we’ve reached a point where social media makes it easy for serious allegations like the sex abuse ones surrounding Kitagawa to get lost in the digital stream — it’s easier than ever to express your anger at Johnny’s defense of their founder, but you have to compete with fans complaining about fan club access and other nitty-gritty stuff.
This is a problem across English-language coverage of Japanese entertainment…and becoming more of a problem in general culture reporting all around, in my opinion.
Way too long already…but another example of where this stumbles is how Predator approaches fandom. Which is to say…barely at all, save for a few interviews near Shibuya Station. Part of me appreciates how this accidentally offers a totally different perspective on pop — after the suffocating “the magic of fandom!” angle of the past decade, encountering something completely unaware of that is kind of great. But still…wild how barely any women are interviewed for this despite being the primary fans of Johnny’s groups, and also assuming many hardcore fans don’t know about Kitagawa’s scandals…which seems quite naive.
In the end the BBC documentary was quite impactful and Azhar did do a follow up. However your criticisms are very valid.