Make Believe Melodies For Nov. 7, 2020
*whispering* I kind of zoned out on the election, Biden win yet?
eill — LOVE / LIKE / HATE
Riri, iri, Reol — there’s a lot of artists trying to become the defining woman of J-pop for a younger generation, and some of them go by more than just one short name. It’s a smart play, considering how closely J-pop as an industry and concept is tied up with upbeat creators such as Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru (and how the actual holder of this space right now, Aimyon, doesn’t fit the diva-ish image many associate with this lane, causing a lot of online friction). So…why not be the voice of Gen Z J-pop? eill is one of many vying for this distinction, and her latest mini album is a pretty interesting snapshot of just what being the sound of the 2020 might sound like.
LOVE / LIKE / HATE is a pretty disjointed mini album — but that’s pretty in line with her career so far, as eill swings from J-pop cliche to something approaching subversion of the familiar, like on last year’s “Succubus,” a nice take on the whole neo-city-pop sound that mixes in darker lyrics and generally great touches…that brief flute flutter! Most of this new release, though, leans more on the we-have-budgeted-some-brass-for-you sound that has become standard over the last five years, rounded out by bouncy acid spits like “FAKE LOVE/” which still sound very much like advance singles (above, charming but too “Happy,” cool bazooka though). The highlights here, though, are memorable and sticky. “Into your dream” serves as a more wonky take on jazzy pop, while Shibuya club bill regulars 80Kidz pop up to produce “Night D,” a throwback ‘80s jog that’s better than Dua Lipa’s “Physical” but not quite as good as TWICE’s “I Can’t Stop Me.”
There’s two other songs, though, that point to a far stranger (but pretty fun) future both for eill and J-pop in general. Closing number “with U” exists as a soundtrack for what appears to be a YouTube dance troupe (above), but features production from PARKGOLF who delivers an absolute dizzying fizz-pop sensation with this one. Alongside his work with Negicco earlier this work, this seeming throwaway (tacked on after a remix!) shows a thrilling path forward that only Enon Kawatani seems to grasp at the moment. The other notable one is “Yume No Tsuzuki,” which is a cover of a Mariya Takeuchi jam a lot of people probably know through TANUKI. Besides being a weird reminder that eill is signed to the same agency as Takeuchi and Tatsuro Yamashita, it also feels like an experiment in reverse-importing of trends, trying to tap into the algorhythmic boom in actual city pop via a (very good) take on a Takeuchi number that has enjoyed online success. Is recreating the past the future of the present? Well…
CHAI — “Plastic Love”
Maybe! CHAI sit at one of the weirdest intersections in Japanese music right now, as they’ve managed success greater than most rock contemporaries internationally, but feel like they also might be stuck in purgatory in their home country*. So why not cover the ultimate example of the city pop boom for your Sub Pop debut, doing a nice recreation that doesn’t get too wild with the source material? Win over the online audience and maybe impress those back at home too.
*There was a moment a couple years ago when CHAI seemed ready to blow up domestically, a bit before Pitchfork wrote a feature about them. Then they went on the weekly TV show Music Station in 2018 and…wait for it…didn’t show enough respect to host Tamori via how they talked to him during an interview segment. CHAI still have a strong following, but I also haven’t seen them receive much mainstream attention since this incident so…they are kind of in a weird place here.
AVV — Gaga
My dark Bandcamp Friday secret is, for November, I didn’t really participate because my PayPal balance hovered around $12 this time around, and expected deposits haven’t hit yet. One release I was willing to go out for? This one, from one of the consistently best dance producers in the country.
4s4ki — “35.5”
Happy the best song from the last 4s4ki EP gets a video — and I’m glad a song built on pure energy gets a clip built around people just fucking living and enjoying themselves. It’s a crime that in a year where “HyperPop” is a thing that she’s not getting more attention for being so far ahead of that trend.
Metoronori — “flesh alone”
Feel like I accidentally channeled this new song out into the world last week, which…happy to do. Metoronori’s music has always been spellbinding for me in how she creates her own world, operating at its own pace and rule yet inviting anyone to stumble down into its speak-sing depths. It’s personal but otherworldly.
T5UMUT5UMU And Laenz — Unsleep
The latest winner from Eastern Margins, this album joins Japan’s T5UMUT5UMU with New York artist Laenz for a set matching the prior’s jittery approach to dance music with the latter’s melodic singing. Get it here.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of Oct. 26, 2020 To Nov. 01, 2020
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 drip down…the Oricon Trail.
LiSA “Homura” (31,565 Copies Sold)
Three weeks in a row at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart…this is basically “Old Town Road” for 2020 J-pop now. I’m glad she’s the one who has managed it, though, and also happy she could meet Doala in the process.
News And Views
So there I am, on election night 2020, trying to find alternative programming in Japan…only to stumble across a Twitter trend that is almost infuriating as the American electoral process for me personally. Arashi, as part of their still somewhat inexplicable venture into the world, sat down for an interview with Variety, which featured the following passage.
This revelation — that the K-pop training system takes cues from the Johnny’s & Associates playbook — isn’t anything new, as other articles have laid this out and SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man has referenced how his approach to pop was influenced by it. This is how all music works — exchanges and borrowings from other places, at its best hitting on some new angle in the process, but replication can work just fine (key differences generally between Johnny’s and K-pop: the latter embraced the internet while the other pretended 1991 never stopped, and the latter seemingly opted for the “grade-A” package from Swedish producers while the prioer went with “budget friendly”). Oh, enter Twitter! This became something nationalistic-leaning Japanese netizens harped about, and something K-pop fans could get hyper defensive about because K-pop can never be seen as taking influence from…gasp…other places. This made me feel better about staring at county voting results for Nevada.
Katsuyuki Mori left SMAP early on in the boy band’s career to pursuit a career in motorcycle racing. Not sure if that was ultimately the best move financially…but dude won a national championship last week, so he has managed to reach the peak of his sport at least.
Remember Produce 101, the Korean talent competition that blew up thanks to a scandal warranting its own Wikipedia page? Well, season two of Produce 101 Japan is going ahead, so there is at least one place where the brand isn’t tarnished!
Avex going through some rough times, and asking people to take “voluntary redundancy.”
Speaking of tough times, the Save Our Space campaign shared survey results from venues in Japan related to COVID-19, and the main takeaway is that…most only have so much money to operate moving forward, which explains why so many are starting up shows again even though the whole pandemic thing is still ongoing.
Help I’m watching the anime where the high school girls become DJs.
OK, nothing to do with music, but feel like I have to tell somebody that Indian YouTubers have discovered Bagelheads nearly ten years after that “weird Japan” trend.
James Hadfield coming through with a great list of music recs!
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies