Make Believe Melodies For November 14, 2022
Come, Melt Your Brain
Okuyukashiki — Poko
One of the many things I love about the internet — it allows a homebody like myself to still scoop up all of the cool releases shared at M3, Japan’s largest independent music market event, via Bandcamp. It’s a seasonal tradition — wait a week or two after the IRL event, boot up the ol’ browser and pray the PayPal account has enough stashed within. I should try to go to the actual event more, but when I can’t, I’m thankful it’s possible to still get a sense of what went down.
Seems like fall 2022 was pretty twisted. Or at least that’s the impression early MVP Poko gives me. This compilation, put out by Fukuoka’s Okuyukashiki — part party, label and “imagined internet radio station” — is pure whacked-out fun, featuring feedback-dunked reworks of funk-turned-meme classics, plonky rap numbers, blown-out idol scrum, and so much more. There’s no connective sonic through line, and that’s why it’s such a fantastic snapshot of experimental music in the country today. The cartoon cut-em-up of woopheadclrms coexists with the cryptic spoken word of Emerald Clitoris, which slides in nicely next to the shelter-centric-sample stampede of noripi. It’s a great time to just do your thing, whatever the fuck it is. Get it here, or listen below.
emamouse — FIRe
A ripple in the emamouse universe still allowing their original style to shine through. FIRe features some of the most floor-ready screwballs the Japanese experimental artist has thought up yet, highlighted by a title track offering a dizzying interpretation of what “dancehall” means in their hands. There’s returns to the familiar — the slow-burn synth chug of “Blue Fire” is pure emamouse, as is the vocal turn on “Distorted Bayer Song” — but even these familiar haunts can take on new properties, primarily in how they utilize their voice or what kind of electronic backdrops they let it skitter over. Get it here, or listen above.
TOYOHIRAKUMIN — Sleep Music
Certainly calming, thought I’m not sure I’d go as far as to classify it as sonic tryptophan. TOYOHIRAKUMIN bridges the distance between vaporwave and ambient — not a huge chasm, but one nonetheless — together over these five calming sketches. Some are far breezier (“3”) than others (“4,” way too funky to zone out with), but the overall calm and collected-ness here make for a cohesive listen. Or maybe I’ve just been staying up too late. Get it here, or listen above.
e5 — “Scale (Demo)”
A rougher side of e5, who in recent months was exploring house and disoriented…pop? The left-field energy courses through all of those songs, but on “Scale” she adds a harsher edge via some guitar feedback, which roars up at the start of the song and sticks around the rest of the way…adding extra bark to the hook. She’s added a new sonic tool to her workstation, and already showing how it fits in to her space. Listen above.
Satanicpornocultshop — Shit Shit Pitchan
So great to see these guys still going strong. Long-time electronic hooligans Satanicpornocultshop stress latest song “Shit Shit Pitchan” is a dance song not at 160 BPM, but rather a much more laid back 159. What remains is a number barrelling ahead on club-ready sounds, with enough wrinkles (the vocal sample, mainly) to make it all the more disorienting. Which is what these dudes have been doing well since the ‘90s. Get it here, or listen above.
Masayoshi Iimori And crp. — “CTS”
Give me the full aural assault of this — EDM as battering ram. Listen above.
cvel — Shinjo Henka
A clattering collage of anime voices, spoken-word interludes and watery reflections collected in a 10-minute package. It’s a different angle on the contemporary Japanese experimental scene, leaning into many familiar sonic markers (especially over those first two songs) but with a more tenderhearted and day-in-the-life spirit underlying it (the spoken word samples and the general emotional trajectory of the last two songs, going from “thoughtful” to “aching drum ‘n’ bass diary”). A burst of creative energy mixed with the personal. Listen above.
99LETTERS — Kaibou Zukan
Already wrote about this one for Bandcamp Daily, which was a double treat because 99LETTERS is one of the earliest artists I ever wrote about for Make Believe Melodies, back when they were turning chiptune claustrophobic out in Osaka. Still, another nod to the latest from him, which finds the producer transforming Japanese traditional sounds into a whole new sonic lexicon. Get it here.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of October 31, 2022 To November 06, 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.
SixTONES — “Good Luck / Futari” (391,796 Copies Sold)
I wrote about the recent Johnny & Associates’ shakeups over at The Japan Times, specifically how it says more about the company being in a transitional period (and eternally being an object of media fascination). Further evidence of that — this double single, featuring the tepid cup-of-coffee pop above and a more aching ballad on the backside, easily topped Oricon, despite an actual challenger in the form of Jin from BTS’ collab with Coldplay being in the field. As long as they still pull these numbers off domestically, Johnny’s won’t be stepping away from the J-pop spotlight anytime soon.
News And Views
Who said rock music is dead? Definitely not the nation of Japan, where guitars reign supreme and bands still tower over the landscape. Here comes another one, and a particularly juiced one — the boldly named The Last Rockstars, a supergroup featuring Yoshiki, Miyavi, Hyde and Sugizo. Besides offering a bite-size history lesson in visual kei, it’s the savviest move yet at actually capitalizing on Japan’s continued love of rock as a way to reach international audiences — I’ve been bellowing this for a bit, even during the pandemic, but one of the biggest advantages artists in this country have when going outward is they’ve stuck with rock and actually have something different to offer audiences. Now comes a group designed to tap into that, featuring four names fans around the world already love, set to debut in New York and LA after a few shows in Tokyo during January next month.
Also, shout out Yoshiki, lining up cans of his energy drink around every member of this project for the introductory press conference.Johnny’s threatening Shukan Bunshun with legal action over recent reports…times returning to normal.
Yama returned to The First Take to sing the ending song to SPY X FAMILY…
…though I mostly post here because I also saw Billboard Japan write about “EGAKU - draw the song” a similar YouTube-first project combining music with another element (in this case…drawing). A few other efforts like this have succeeded in Japan — sorry to keep bringing them up, but Johnny’s does deserve credit for +81 Dance Studio, a clever way of bringing older songs still locked out of streaming to the masses — but I’m mostly just struck by how many of these larger efforts have appeared, a sign once again of the industry’s shift to digital and social. A decade ago, you took your Goose house and were happy about it.
Rino Sashihara only bets on losing horses…until she doesn’t.
Speaking of the 21st centuries defining idol, she also went on a Hawaiin vacation with talent / YouTube oddball Fuwachan…and both of them uploaded video postcards from the islands. Legitimately few better ways to spend nearly an hour.
NiziU held first shows at Tokyo Dome, becoming one of the youngest acts to pull that off.
Kizuna AI anime coming next year? Wonder if they regret pulling the plug on that project (to do…NFTs, which I don’t think happened?) too early…
Real Sound investigates as to why 2022 breakout act Tani Yuuki attracts listeners from so many different generations. Let me spend more time with this one, especially so I can figure out why I don’t feel that way.
Writer namahoge has a fantastic essay about internet rapper Takayan, one of the most streamed artists out of Japan for foreign audiences. A lot of looks into his connection with audiences, topics related to mental health / depression, use of animation and much more, plus a great reminder of how important the internet has become for this generation of artists.
Generally not interested in virtual music festivals anymore now that the live industry in Japan is functioning again…EXCEPT for the Sanrio Virtual Festival, an event making me crave for kawaii singularity.
Great time to be reminded that internet classic “Dramatic Chipmunk”stems from a Hello! Project-associated variety show bit (also, it is a prarie dog, for you youngins’)
How ubiquitous has The First Take become? Welp, now you can see the porn parody of it, out now! I checked the preview for this one (journalism) and the twist is this is actually more of a YOASOBI adult movie more than anything else. Still, wild that this YoUTube series sparked…uhhhh, this.
(for the record, agree with the people in the Tweet saying not calling this “The Fuck Take” was a huge missed opportunity)
PROGRAMMING NOTE
I’m debating doing a post later this week on a topic only barely related to music (in this case, a movie celebrating its 30th anniversary this year). How angry will you, reader, be at this decision? Will you unsubscribe and hurt my fragile ego, or will you be open to what is surely going to be some super stupid shit? Sound off!
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies