Make Believe Melodies For March 17, 2025

Last two editions have been very alternative, returning to our roots!

cyber milk chan — flesh

If AVYSS’ i.e compilation featured last week in the newsletter drew lines between the past and present of pop, cyber milk chan’s flesh imagines its future. Here some of the most prominent experimental producers in Japan today come together to dig into the sounds both vaporous and rumbling. At its center is an artist capable of pulling these disparate sonic threads closer to form something interconnected, creating an album focused on her individual artistry while also celebrating the scene that she came from in a cohesive work.

The names involved make flesh intriguing all its own, practically an all-star compilation for those who have followed SoundCloud mutations and Bandcamp oddities over the last five years. There’s near ambient courtesy of E.O.U, heart-racing dance rush from Telematic Visions, Looney Tunes whirlwinds via CVN, dramatic rave displays made by LSTNGT and so much more. It’s one of the best deep listening albums of the young year so far, whether sinking into the angelic electronic wash of “supernal form” or taking in the euphoric percussive bombardment of “life kicks.”

The connective tissue throughout is cyber milk chan. She’s not a belter and at times her voice practically blurs into the sounds around her like another layer of texture. Yet it’s this ability to adjust to the music and help shape it into a more well-rounded song that makes flesh work. She helps to keep the pace of the skittering “aqua green” going by being obscured by electronic fog, while she steps up closer to the front on PARKGOLF’s dizzying “born bliss” to center it. It’s downright impressive how she can make the aforementioned cartoon tornado of “puffy thoughts” into a catchy cut, and anyone capable of turning a Toiret Status creation into something vaguely resembling pop has undeniable skills (“mad substance”). Whatever form taken, cyber milk chan unites a community’s sound to offer one of the finest gateways into it. Listen above or below.

Uilou — “Perfect Tokyo”

I do not fault anyone for bristling at Tokyo life. There’s times riding the packed Yamanote Line in the morning I dream of Mie suburbs, and advice I give to anyone settling into the city long term is “try to get out of it once a month, even like a mall in Chiba is like a lifestyle sorbet.” And yet…I still love it, with that hustle-and-bustle coupled with what feels like infinite pathways into everything, an atmosphere where any night could go in a million different directions.

Thankfully, agoraphobic dance-duo Uilou have my back, as they step out of the 1DK to turn their garage-influenced dash to the capital’s streets. “Perfect Tokyo” plays in part as a spiritual update on Pizzicato Five’s “The Night Is Still Young,” a ‘90s J-pop highlight all about the thrill of the Tokyo evening coming into focus. A familiar bump guides this 2025 meditation forward, and now Uilou sounds downright euphoric over it. A bittersweet tinge remains, with an awareness that all these connections and people — plus the city itself, in eternal redevelopment — can be transient. Even with potential sadness in the future, they opt to cherish the moment. Listen above.

Metoronori — “Mei: May that ivy ropes be untied”

Dreams are supposed to feel at least a little off, with the rhythms and motions of regular life turned tipsy. That’s a feeling bedroom creator Metoronori has long captured in her work, building her own sonic world that teeters along the edges. Her latest imagines pop melodies surrounded by swirling vocal samples and off-kilter beats keeping the song on its feet. It at times approaches the disorienting, but Metoronori wrangles these woozy elements together to create something enveloping. Listen above, or get it here.

nate, Purukichi And Dennou.wav — “Starry Night”

Chippy EDM-pop with some wonderful details — I’m a big fan of the 8-bit gunshot sound mixed into the build towards the drop. It’s also a good platform for nate to show off her wispy rap-sing abilities. Listen above.

Veg — “Portside”

I’m not against chilling out, but a lot of young Japanese bands have a tendency to take it a little too easy. Credit to trio Veg for adding some welcome tension to the breeziness. “Portside” moves at midtempo speed and features the kind of R ‘n’ B touches that have dotted “neo city pop” for a decade now, but it’s the way the vocals weave through it all that adds some drama to it all. See the quicker delivery during more minimalist runs, or the sudden turns up a notch before letting a whirlwind of voices takeover the song. Tough to zone out when there’s an element demanding attention like this. Listen above.

CENT Featuring Utaha — “Linda”

The former BiSH member links up with the Suiyoubi No Campanella singer for a skippy if somewhat melancholy number. Both have had plenty of opportunities to showcase a more mellow side of their vocal abilities over the years, but together on “Linda” both of them sound particularly sweet, with the ability to play off one another helping spotlight their range. Listen above.

Takashico Music — Bittersweet Memories

“Techno-pop” as a term takes some people aback. I’m borrowing from personal experience here, but refer to anything as such and certain folks will lecture you about how “old” it sounds. Sure, the days of YMO, Juicy Fruits and clunky drum-machine hits might be but a Bubble memory, but the guiding sonic principles of that style can still resonate today. Takashico Music’s Bittersweet Memories is both tribute to and continuation of the techno-pop sound. There’s deliberate nods to the mechanical drive of YMO on numbers such as giddy opener “Dream Land,” but also stabs at more slow-burning drama on “Monochrome Scenery” (that guitar solo near the end cutting through about three minutes of iciness like a flaming chainsaw). The tracks here draw from the past but the creator puts a modern, eclectic spin on it, with Takashico’s solo techno-pop creations reminding of Boogie Idol’s Hard-Off treasures or the idiosyncratic world of Ventla. On top of that, it reminds how this genre is anything but outdated. Listen above or get it here.

Nagi Nemoto — Mental Breakdance

Try to dissolve Dempagumi.inc all you want, the group’s spirit persists.

Nagi Nemoto has had a weird career, huh? She first made breakthroughs as a member of idol group Niji No Conquistador, though I first remember encountering her in the netlabel space, when she appeared on a pair of Mikeneko Homeless’ songs. Soon enough, she got the call up to Dempagumi.inc, where she stayed until the group called it a day earlier this year UPDATE: Reader @dauragon.com correctly notes that Nemoto actually left Dempagumi in 2022, whoops! Make Believe Melodies regrets the error. Along the way she dabbled in a bunch more as idols tend to and also became a VTuber?!

Her first solo release post-Dempagumi latest solo release finds her creating one of 2025’s more dizzying J-pop releases yet. Mental Breakdance sees her stretching out her sonic tastes with help from friends both old (Mikeneko Homeless link back up with her for an internet-damaged Eurobeat fever dream, while Masayoshi Iimori lays down a chilly phonk-lite beat for her and Nakamura Minami to spit over) and new (Sasuke Haraguchi adds just the right amount of wonk to the otherwise kawaii pogo of the title track, while Yukichikasaku/men uses space and tempo-shifts to their advantage in creating start-stop thrills). The very-online sounds embraced don’t stray far from Dempagumi.inc’s flavor, but Nemoto is going a little further out and challenging herself. Listen above.

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Oricon Trail For The Week Of March 3, 2025 To March 9, 2025

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.

Travis Japan — “Say I do / Tokyo Crazy Night” (143,360 Copies Sold)

A very rare full disclosure for Oricon Trail — I’ve been hired in the past by Universal Music Japan to write Travis Japan’s English-language bio and liner notes for the outfit’s first two albums. The importance of getting these conflicts of interest out there is magnified with this group because I really do think they’re the most consistent STARTO act right now. That’s no small accomplishment — may I direct you to how truly terrible Naniwa Danshi’s latest is? — and the group’s latest pair of songs only keep that trend going. “Say I do” toys with Jersey Club kicks, though it spaces out the energy so more mellow segments give way to more heart-racing sections, capturing the daydream nature and nervous energy of young love. That — both in the genres being played with and the start-stop anxiety guiding it — is a new look for Travis Japan. “Tokyo Crazy Night” is more in line with the neon-tinged dance-pop they’ve been playing with since America’s Got Talent came calling, though it’s a sound they do very well at this point. Male J-pop has higher highs, but few projects manage to be as solid every time as these six. Listen above and below.

News And Views

• Let’s just keep the full disclosures coming shall we. MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN announced all the entries for its initial edition (which, as mentioned in previous mails, is something I’m involved with from the PR side though not voting so I’m sure I’ll voice my thoughts on that later), which you can see by clicking categories found here. It wouldn’t be a Japanese music undertaking if, instead of waiting to list the nominees, they failed to put out long lists of songs approaching the thousands indicating who is being considered.
  
  There’s more from this effort to create a Japanese version of the Grammy Awards, though I’d say the most interesting detail is a “SYMBOL OF MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN” title (which I read as a lifetime achievement award) being given to Yellow Magic Orchestra. Now that’s as deserving as it gets.
  

• CEIPA, the government organization putting on MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN, also held its Los Angeles concert matsuri ‘25 today. Going off of X it sounds…like it went well? I’m sure I’ll hear more about this in the next couple of weeks, so let’s just put a pin in this one for now.
  
  Also this week, SXSW happened in Austin, Texas, and CEIPA also had a presence at that event via a showcase at the Mohawk. Part of me finds that show slightly more interesting than matsuri ‘25. The LA concert was ultimately CEIPA flexing its muscle and declaring “look, we exist” with help from three of the biggest J-pop acts in the global eye helping them. The SXSW gig, meanwhile, actually gave a platform to young artists. It’s great seeing big acts get further help from the government, but the actual best-case scenario for all of this would be this newfound focus on music from the government trickling down to all levels, and I find the pair of shows in the heart of Texas a particularly ideal future.
  

• McDonald’s Japan appears to be putting in just as much effort on the J-pop front, as it appears they’ll share a new song this Tuesday featuring Ado, YOASOBI and…Hoshimachi Suisei?
  

• The MTV Video Music Awards Japan, bless them, have abandoned the facade of the ceremony itself being more than a chance for performances, and announced all the winners of this year’s edition a week before they happened.
  

• Singer and actor Ayumi Ishida died at age 76. She’s best known for her 1968 smash “Blue Light Yokohama,” below, but also ventured into other styles as the years went on, including a collaboration with Haruomi Hosono and Tin Pan Alley.
  

  
  

• One of the pieces sitting in drafts right now is about Kenshi Yonezu’s “BOW AND ARROW.” Will I finish it this week, or have something derail me again? Stay tuned. For now, enjoy a version of the music video focused just on beloved figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu.

• DOUBLE doubles down on virality by sharing all its music on streaming.
  

• I’ve covered Japanese music long enough to see the narrative shift from “that wacky country with their CDs” to “oh turns out young people mostly listen to music on YouTube.” We’ve come far enough now where GLAY plans on releasing an edition of an upcoming best-of album that comes with a special CD player. Whether that’s for the benefit of younger listeners or giving long-time fans the chance to get a new piece of hardware to listen to their favorite tunes, it’s a great marketing approach at a time when interest in physical media remains strong from more youthful demographics.
  

• Alicia Keys joins Fall Out Boy as a headliner for this year’s Summer Sonic. The 2000s win in the end!
  

• Is Nagoya’s status as a sleepy city caused in part by how many major music acts skip the city on nationwide tours? Aichi Prefecture news explores, and while I don’t think it’s the reason for that, it does seem like a symptom of the area’s reputation as being a total bore¹. The glimmer of hope at the end is a reminder that a big ol’ arena opens up in Nagoya this July, followed by another biggie-sized venue a few months later, offering hope for the city’s entertainment stakes.
  

• The LA-based producer her0ism offers some on-the-ground thoughts on J-pop’s growth with Billboard Japan. Nothing too surprising for anyone following this, but I do appreciate a view from America.
  

• Masayoshi Takanaka has been one of the biggest names to benefit from the past decade’s “city pop” boom, with his albums becoming YouTube faves along with performances of him rocking out on a guitar shaped like a surfboard. He played a show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles last week supported by Japan Airlines, and it looks pretty amazing. The crowd comes across as hyped up, and the whole performance feels like a high point for this revival — it’s great so much excellent music enjoys newfound love, but there’s something even cooler about artist and fan crossing paths.

Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Check out the Best Of 2025 Spotify Playlist here!

1. The official Make Believe Melodies’ stance on this — not close to true, Nagoya is actually pretty awesome, boasts one of the best experimental scenes in the country and features local dishes far better than what you’d find in Osaka.