Make Believe Melodies For November 1, 2021
Featuring Reboots, Retirements And Just Plain Giving Up!
Suiyoubi No Campanella (Wednesday Campanella) — “Alice”
The idea of Suiyoubi No Campanella without KOM_I makes me uneasy. She was the animating breath of the project, a human whirlwind standing as one of the most captivating and charismatic people to flirt with top level J-pop…ever. She’s off fighting polluted water and sharing ancient maps of mountains now, but the group she broke out in perseveres, with a new face at the center. Can it really be the same group though?
The first post-KOM_I single has arrived, and it’s…complicated. Here we get our first look at Utaha in the spotlight. In an interview with Spincoaster, she says how she wants to forge a new identity for the group while preserving the spirit of what KOM_I did for nearly a decade. It’s going to take some time…watching her tackle older Suiyoubi songs live feels disorienting, like watching a deep fake programmed to avoid copyright infringement. More important are the new songs, of which we get two.
Suiyoubi No Campanella (Wednesday Campanella) — “Buckingham”
It helps a lot that producer Kenmochi Hidefumi’s experiences with femme fatale and top-level J-pop acts have sharpened his skills, because both songs sound great. He’s improved as a shapeshifter, and gives Utaha chances to slip away briefly via instrumental passages (“Buckingham,” above, especially excelling at it with buzzsaw segments).
Yet she’s still the focus and on both she showcases her strengths and weaknesses. It’s a little unfair because I’m mostly caught up on a name…if they rebranded themselves “Kinyoubi No Campanella,” I’d be celebrating how they’ve found a way to carry on the spirit of the original in a new form (and god bless J-pop in 2021 trying to be fun and weird at the same time). Yet they are playing with an important legacy, and all of Utahara’s shortcomings will factor in just as much as her personal strengths.
Which is a long way of saying…I think her singing voice is great but her rapping is trying too hard to be like KOM_I. “Buckingham” features more breakneck music (and, in the most on-brand detail, lyrics that are just naming off famous places before celebrating some England-themed restaurant in Setagaya…that’s beautiful) but feels at times too imitaion-ish, while “Alice” suits her far better and offers a more convincing plan forward. I think it could work…but some of that reverence for what was has to slip away to find space for what can now be.
miraie And 4s4ki — “TOMARE”
The irony to all of the above…there’s more than enough young creators in Japan carrying on that frantic, genre-skeptical approach to music that Suiyoubi No Campanella embraced from the get go. Here are two standouts. Listen above.
Perfect Young Lady — “Nendo No Ningyo Hime”
Little reminder ahead of list-making season that jingle-pop extraordinaire Perfect Young Lady made one of the best albums of the year, and continues to share just-eschew jams for all to enjoy. Listen above.
AiNA THE END — “Sweet Boogie”
Who has time to be so dark all the time, you know? AiNA THE END lets just a little sunlight into her creaky sonic mansion on the new DEAD HAPPY EP, to the point where she’s experiencing her first mid-life crisis by creating a ska song. “Sweet Boogie” stands out the most, though, thanks to a bubbly electronic backdrop that allows her to show off a different kind of vocal range than she’s done up to now. The throat ripping is replaced with quick little adlibs and a swift techno-pop plink-plonk that brings her closer to her predecessors than even she might realize. Listen above.
Yoyou And Efeewma — PISS
Yoyou and Efeewma’s PISS provides a different angle on the SoundCloud-centric sound of young Japan. Both creators aren’t afraid to let their songs dissolve, letting a bubbly (literally, bubble sounds popping alongside it) melody melt down into a sudden speak-rap section before reforming into a brief ambient passage (for longtime followers: reminds me mostly of Metoronori and Neon Cloud). At times disorienting and at others blissful, it’s a brief but beautiful set using space to its advantage. A 2021 highlight. Listen above.
HALLCA — “Labyrinth”
HALLCA, formerly of Especia, has a new album out at the end of the month, and here’s a horn-filled taste of what to expect on the mellower end. Listen above.
Haruko Tajima Featuring Yuukyun — “King Diva”
First off, I’m happy to see that bright white hallway featured in SKY-HI and Suchmos’ videos of yesteryear still going strong.
Yuukyun attracted some online attention earlier this year with “DIVA ME,” a solid song offering them a chance to showcase their star potential — the clip drips charisma — but the music feeling just off throughout. This featuring spot on a new number from Haruko Tajima gets at correcting that, mainly by just being louder. The blaring backdrop of “King Diva” brings out more energy from Yuukyun, and finds them hitting another gear (with boost from Tajima’s boisterous “haaaaas!”). Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of October 18, 2021 To October 24, 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.
STU48 — “Hetaretachi Yo” (185,975 Copies Sold)
Oh hell yes
Leave it to AKB48’s nautical-themed sister unit to produce a perky number about giving in to mediocrity. Alongside “Now Now Ningen,” STU48 are out here poking at the fabric of Japan’s give-it-your-all culture and basically offering an actually earnest (and fun!) pandemic pop song. This would be the subject of at least half a dozen thinkpieces about the “state of the country” if any foreign correspondent in the country followed entertainment. Also, they’ve got hammocks in the video!
News And Views
Long-running J-pop group V6 officially called it a career today, on the date of their 26th anniversary. Compared to other Johnny’s groups stepping away from the spotlight, V6’s bow went pretty smoothly, with no drama or confusing crossover attempts. Just a few months of saying farewell to fans, some live shows and a best-of compilation. Sorting through their actual legacy will take time, but I will say…few groups debuted with a series of singles that were just covers of Italian Eurobeat songs. Strong first step, plus they had a video game.
Event attendance limits are going to be phased out, as COVID-19 case counts remain low across the country. Based just off Twitter reactions, a lot of folks are expressing worry…but man, at some point the situation has to be opened up a bit. If the States can have EDC, Japan should have, uhhh, Ringo Festival.
Perhaps some of those hypothetical huge crowds will flock to foreign acts, who might be able to come to Japan…soon? King Crimson still scheduled to play later this month, while Christopher Cross “possibly” might play the country next year.
Paper has an interview with YOASOBI ahead of their English-language album. I was worried from this tweet that this would be some kind of “J-pop…ready for the world!” thing but thankfully social media is one huge illusion, because it’s a great chat and intro to the group. This bit near the end is especially interesting, in terms of where the Japanese music industry is now and how YOASOBI is approaching a global audience.
Elvis Costello loves an anime series and indirectly praises chelmico in a recent feature.
Good dive into Phew’s discography over at Bandcamp Daily. Plus a Hidden Gems on Naivepop or Petitfool.
Can not emphasize enough how wild this Sanrio Virtual Concert lineup is…and this is only a snippet of it!
Great snapshot of soft power in action via this Gendai article with a headline basically saying “what K-pop stars dressed up as anime characters for Halloween?” There’s a bit more to it…we get to see Japanese members of groups dressed as, say, Jigsaw the scary clown puppet (Jigsaw’s puppet?) and the final page is teased as “of course, ‘Squid Game,’” delivering just the right amount of exhaustion.
Speaking of…JO1, also into the spirit of “Squid Game”-ween.
Best costume of 2021 goes to NTsKi
Speaking of scary stories…here’s the spoooooooky tale of an ‘80s idol song and the gh-gh-gh-ghostly lyrics of…an ‘80s idol song.
I talked to SKYE for The Japan Times, and also broke down some of the member’s overlooked solo efforts around these parts last week. Now that’s synergy!
Let’s end by looking back…on a time when Jun Togawa would just pop up on variety TV shows.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies