Make Believe Melodies For May 30, 2022
Old Meets New
Nostalgia has always been a fuel powering music, and that feels even more true in recent times when the present day and future appears glum. What happens when one source of past warmth, though, starts to dry up? You gotta drill deeper.
DJ TATSUKI Featuring IO And MonyHorse — “Tokyo Kids”
Beloved Japanese singer Hibari Misora has, technically, been sampled by hip-hop artists before — based on some hastily done research, that has come from an interlude featured on rapper ETO’s debut album and a song by the Italian outfit Microphones Killarz (including the excellently named “Toto Nasty”). “Tokyo Kids,” though, marks the first official use of Misora’s sound to construct a rap number. Hibari Production Co., LTD, worked with DJ TATSUKI and rappers IO and MonyHorse to construct this, a song taking from Misora’s “Tokyo Kid” and referencing — both directly and kinda indirectly, more on that in a second — Tokyo Kid, a movie about an upbeat street urchin portrayed by a then-tweenage Misora. A famous musical piece from the film opens the 2022 music, and is referenced throughout.
It’s really well done, both as standalone rap and Misora anniversary piece. The way the sample gets cut just right, avoiding the usual cinematic unease I expect from IO and MonyHorse’s main collectives Kandytown and Yentown respectively in favor of something more lithe — the strings rising at particularly celebratory moments. The rappers themselves also fit in perfectly, and they just run with all the capital flexing, including a pretty sick baseball reference right away. It’s a Japanese rap highlight of 2022, and that’s before getting to how well it weaves in all the Misora elements, both musically and visually.
What I can’t shake — and what makes it bound to be a defining 2022 number, at least in mood — is how it reorients nostalgia. Here’s the indirect-ish part of the Misora-bration. Tokyo Kid and Misora herself captured attention in the early 1950s because of the sense of optimism she brought to a country devastated by war and being rebuilt by an occupying force. Now, everyone involved with “Tokyo Kids” brings this up in interviews, which makes me think the appeal to this longing is pretty shrewd. But telling all the same — perhaps the lust for luxury represented by the Bubble Era and city pop is starting to lose its shimmer in a particularly ugly year.1 So why not turn to the rough and tumble days of post World War II Japan, when the future had to be bright because the now felt anything but. Listen above.
tofubeats — “Afterimage”
Originally, I wanted to go deep on REFLECTION, the newest album from tofubeats, but then I started reading interviews Yusuke Kawai gave and realized “nope, need more time.” His fifth full-length…first in four years…comes after temporary deafness and carries a strong personal edge to it, while also being the latest example after Sakanaction of an artist trying to rethink the album in a post-streaming and post-pandemic-afflicted world. Much to think about! It’s great though, and every listen nudges me towards a new favorite. “Afterimage” is the current number stumbling around my head, a fragile but kinetic number that works particularly well for hot summer night walks. Listen above.
Chisako & Junta — “Konnan”
A pop song exploding into confetti every few seconds. Osaka duo Chisako & Junta (a member of Casio Toruko Onsen and BIOMAN, respectively) return with a beautiful sounding vocal accompanied by occasional snatches of acoustic guitar constantly interrupted by rumbling percussion and sample bursts. In the wrong hands this could just be annoying, but the pair gradually reveal that each disruption serves a purpose and fits into the overall structure of “Konnan.” Pop shouldn’t be complex but it also is complex, and this one shows just how that plays out. Listen above, or get it here.
Suiyobi No Campanella (WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA) — Neon
Feel like I’ve written about the trajectory of this release for six months now, and it holds across these eight songs — early poking around to see what, exactly, the new Suiyoubi No Campanella could feel off, but they’ve figured out how new frontperson Utaha can excel. Neon feels like continued movement forward, progress being made. The most important detail? Producer Kenmochi Hidefumi continues to get better at the whole pop production game, and these songs sound fantastic (while still being razor sharp). Listen above.
ACID Pyunpyun Maru — Exploration3
A very unscientific finding — I’ve been wandering at night more, and while I’m mostly just passing through places, it looks like nightlife is returning to a kind of normal. Restaurants and bars packed, with the streetside spots featuring folks munching on yakitori and drinking beer once again a fixture of West Tokyo life. Moods…up? Perfect time for acid house to be all over the place. It never really leaves Japan’s electronic palette, but it seems especially prevalent now — it’s all over that tofubeats’ album, NC4K recently released this and now here comes an absolute gem from Kansai’s ACID Pyunpyun Maru. Pure revelatory chug, begging for the newly out-and-about to move even more. Get it here, or listen above.
DJ WILDPARTY And yosumi — “from tomorrow”
Wanna make your mysterious illustrated pop project work? Get DJ WILDPARTY on board, and give him space to just go for it down the stretch. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of May 16, 2022 To May 22, 2022
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.
AKB48 — “Moto Kare Desu” (328,521 Copies Sold)
328,521 copies sold…328,521 copies sold…328,521 copies sold…the downward slope was already taking shape, but now the days of the AKB million-first-week sale can officially be recognized as a relic. The 2010s are truly over.
Alright, this was obviously inevitable…that’s pop music, and any dynasty eventually ends as tastes change and mature. And it’s worth noting 328,521 copies sold for a physical single in 2022 would be cause for celebration for 99 percent of J-pop acts. It’s more about what it represents — a final farewell to the numbers-based dominance of AKB48, and the end of the dominant narrative surrounding the country’s music industry for nearly a decade.
The most bittersweet twist? AKB48’s singles have been pretty good as they settle into six-digit life! “Moto Kare Desu” has a nice energy going for it that doesn’t trample the AKB-ness of it all, and the piano-guided bridge with the stammering vocal samples is one of the most interesting passages to appear in their music as of late. Plenty still here it, but in another time, way more attention would have fallen on it.
News And Views
Idol group ZOC announced that member Jonah Kirano would be leaving the group for various reasons. Kirano took to Twitter to deliver a “well, actually…” revealing she was stepping away due to power harassment from group leader Seiko Oomori. This, of course, follows the incident last year where audio of Oomori verbally and physically abusing Maro Kannagi came out.
It’s pretty clear Oomori should not be running an idol group, because both of these accounts paint her as someone who doesn’t know how to lead other people, and the Kannagi evidence alone shows that can escalate into something really bad. Stick to being a solo artist…though, from a purely “people are complex and wild” angle, her continued desire to be so tightly connected to idol pop is fascinating, even though she’s not equipped for the position.Great Utada Hikaru magazine cover, though looks warm for the summer!
Announced just a few hours ago…idol group EMPiRE — one of WACK’s major label bids — will break up after a performance Thursday night. That’s very sudden! For me, EMPiRE had one of the higher hit rates for a WACK group, so it’s a shame to see this develop so quickly.
Keigo Oyamada aka Cornelius announced that he’s back2 to being an active entertainer after being at the center of the Tokyo Olympic Opening Ceremony controversy last year. Almost immediately, Fuji Rock Festival and Summer Sonic’s Sonicmania event announced he would perform at each. Ignoring the entire ethical dilemma surrounding this — it’s complicated, and has resulted in things like this two-hour-plus Dommune program called “Keigo Oyamada Truth Of Events3” and a bullet point in a newsletter won’t be able to get into any of this sufficiently — I’m surprised they are going ahead with this because…it just reminds me of what a shitshow the Opening Ceremony was! Should have waited one summer, and maybe “can they have a superstar performance featuring Kentaro Kobayashi and the Olym-pig” thoughts wouldn’t have entered my head, along with the bad vibes of 2021.
tricot signed with HoriPro, but all I can do is look at this picture featuring them and TENGA BOT.
Johnny’s Entertainment mentioned in Rolling Stone cover feature on BLACKPINK…gotta love historical accuracy.
One more time…my interview with Takashi Matsumoto.
Denki Groove uploaded all of their music videos to YouTube, get to watching.
Here’s an absolutely intimidating and enjoyable list of “The Greatest/Notablest JPN Albums” on Rate Your Music. Saluting STARKIDS being on here.
Roland, the Japanese instrument company, is changing its marketing strategy, especially abroad, according to this feature in Nikkei Asia.
Can NFTs simplify the Japanese copyright process? One startup dares to find out!
Anime music group JAM Project became the first Japanese music outfit to ever perform in Saudi Arabia. Much more striking to me…there’s an entire “Anime Village” in Jeddah? “Cool, Japan!” in action.
Well…do we? Natalie Music diving into the debate of the day.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Follow the Best of 2022 Spotify Playlist Here!
The war in Ukraine has been ever present in Japanese news, while the past week has seen substantial space devoted to Uvalde. Even if life in Japan circa 2022 is relatively ho-hum, global news has found a way to make it feel pretty gloomy.
In an announcement note wherein he misspelled his own name…makes me feel a tiny bit better about my typos over the years.
Gotta say…this is a fascinating document mainly because of portions related to how they talk about the media and “cancel culture” in Japan. Not sure I’d ever recommend anyone watch a two-and-a-half-hour YouTube video, but there’s a lot going on here shaping…already shaping!…how media and the internet intersects with celebs. And it’s not just limited to Japan.
The Misora tribute is fantastic, also love the new AKB48 song, pretty decent.