Make Believe Melodies For November 18, 2024
Memory Lane
HALLCA — WAVE
The greatest personal failure of 2024 for me is the inability to finish writing my look back on Gusto. In the grand scheme of things…hey, no biggie, and I guess the last 12 months have been pretty good if that’s my biggest ghost! Yet every time I open up this platform’s “dashboard” I see it sitting there — “Make Believe Mailer #119: Gusto,” which started taking shape in a Family Mart eat-in corner and currently exists in a world where those are vanishing.
The hesitation stems from wanting to say so much, but worrying I’ll fail at capturing anything that makes the full-length album from idol outfit Especia one of my favorites of the 2010s…and ever. Part of that is situational — Gusto could only exist in a specific moment in the first half of the last decade, borrowing from the shimmering sounds of ‘80s “city pop” and then-nascent internet microgenre vaporwave before both enjoyed an online mainstreaming. It was free to develop separate from what those two eventual trends became, while still dipping into their peculiarities. It’s nostalgia conveyed through fake nostalgia delivered by women who were never alive for any of it but who were surrounded by it in a way few others drawn to it were.
Once again, Gusto enters my mind because of WAVE. The latest solo album from former Especia leader HALLCA is not Gusto — nothing can be in the 2020s — but traces of it illuminate her newest set, with a few instances coming closer to hitting on what made that group and time so special.
HALLCA’s solo catalog is kind of a bedroom spin on what Especia got up to, with their former center still fascinated by the funk-and-synth pop of her past project. The main difference is in aesthetics, with WAVE lacking any of the mish-mash defining Especia’s visual side. The video for the bouncy “Romantic” (below) teases a wink, but is ultimately playful cosplay. Compare that to…anything Especia did. It’s reflective of a very different time…and very different scale.
What hasn’t changed is how good the music is. The city pop and fusion touches remain throughout, corralled by HALLCA into songs of longing sometimes melancholy (“Midnight Yuei”) or bold (“Futari No Reason”). The theme of memory still lurks over a lot of her work, but explored from a wide variety of perspectives and at different tempos. It can be a little too sweet, and other times it’s silly in a delightful way (the Italian of “Romantic”). Yet what remains is how HALLCA turns to the sounds of yesteryear to create something her own, this time around more intimate.
The best songs, though, really hit on the Especia magic, while showing how far HALLCA herself has come as an artist. “Airport” nails the ennui of goodbyes over one of the funkiest melodies she’s hit on in her solo career, while the preceding “Night Driver” uses tropical percussive touches to add a lightness to an otherwise dramatic track. Best of all is her collaboration with Funkcuts, full of record scratches, keyboard twinkles and talkbox fuzz. Here’s the retro-leaning transformed into something sturdy for now that Especia did so well, with bonus sample freak-out bridge adding a new touch to it all. The retrospective can wait a little longer, because the spirit is still going strong. Listen above.
LANA — “Street Princess”
The majority of LANA’s debut album 20 simply serves as a re-introduction to someone who hasn’t left the spotlight for even a second. Most of the numbers included within are singles that already solidified her status as rising rap force in Japan, stretching as far back as February 2023’s “TURN IT UP.” It’s a collection emphasizing her strengths — uptempo cuts, anything allowing her to show off her snarl — and weaknesses — be wary of any song starting with an acoustic guitar.
Where album opener “Street Princess” shines is focusing on her mission statement. Set over one of the speediest beats she’s navigated in a while — “PULL UP” where are ya? — LANA offers a statement on how she moves around the Tokyo ecosystem running from flexing her credentials to simply enjoying a “Reiwa night” with friends. Featuring a slight digital twinkle around the edges to give it a little extra sparkle, it’s a succinct summary of everything she showcases after on 20. Listen above.
Milk Talk — “Electric Indigo”
Have you ever just…needed to hear a song live right after hearing it for the first time? “Electric Indigo” certainly fits the bill for me, showing that duo Milk Talk is nowhere close to running out of grooves to build jams out of. Dying to hear it in person, where I think it could be even more charged up. Listen above.
Pee. J Anderson — “Rebu”
As tends to be the case when working on this weekly feature, I listen to everything at night, sometimes well past the point one should be up. NC4K staple Pee. J Anderson’s “Rebu” is a particularly late-night delight, with the beat and synths blurring together to create a woozy dance number…and that vocal skitter sampled over it all adding a touch of the surreal to it all. Listen above, or get it here.
Kyogen — Landscape Design EP
First off…let’s credit Kyogen for one of the strongest creative runs going in contemporary electronic music, previously seen with a fragmented funk collection released via Siren For Charlotte. Almost as if to flex just how versatile they can get, latest release Landscape Design EP explores glassier space, letting more space filter into the work while still using an array of digi-sounds to craft soundscapes. The influence appears to come from, at least partially, Pasocom Music Club’s See-Voice, or perhaps any of the work’s more spacious releases, hinted further by a tweet wherein Kyogen says the difference between the two is that group uses analog hardware to craft its ethereal jams, while they have to rely on plug-ins. Yet Kyogen manipulates software sounds in such a way to create something every bit as inviting, using synthesized sounds to create ambient postcards. Get it here, or listen above.
iri — “Pick you up”
Indeed, this one does just that. Ahead of one of her biggest solo shows to date in Tokyo this weekend, iri offers up a pop number kissed by breezes, but hiding something a little more melancholy via longing for something over (can’t mention a “break up day” within the first few lines and expect the good vibes to flow freely). iri turns the pain underneath into something — at least temporarily — jubilant, a skill she’s used her whole career to stand out. Listen above.
illequal — fault / vapour
The netlabel-adjacent producer demonstrates build and release fantastically on this release. The first half is nearly entirely free of a beat, while the back half adds rumbling percussion to the flurry of synths that made up the meditative passage that came before it. Listen above.
Charismaseven — “Charisma Pizza Party”
First off…only the second best song of the year in J-pop about pizza.
Like last time with these dudes, I’m mostly just left staring at my screen mouth agape. I’m once again not sure what this is…something involving a share house, but also music, honestly this is the rare time where I think choosing ignorance helps out…but I’m greeted with an oddball pop song borrowing heavily from the Tetris theme song (or the Russian folk song it cribbed from, depending on how much Euro-influence you give the folks at King Records) and leaning into the goofiest elements of…everything. Which I love, give me your stupidest pop music over the stuff trying to act overly cool and tough. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of November 04, 2024 To November 10, 2024
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.
Bullet Train — “AwA AwA” (138,447 Copies Sold)
Usually, the Oricon physical singles chart exists in a reality far from what gets tagged as “viral,” though which should be better understood as “enjoyed online, where young people actually find new music.” Yet incredible things can happen…like Oricon being topped by a song that actually has trendy legs, too.
It’s not shocking that male idol outfit Bullet Train topped Oricon. What is surprising is how “AwA AwA” has gone so much further than just that fandom-centric chart. At time of writing, “AwA AwA” sits at number two on Spotify Japan’s Viral 50. That’s almost certainly powered by a TikTok trend involving dancing, which remains the most surefire way to strike gold on that platform in Japan. Yet it’s also in line with the theme of J-pop, albeit opting for optimism of dreariness. The lyrics touch on how defeating existence could be, and how so many wish for a restart button. Yet Bullet Train embrace life as a game — this ends up being both the central metaphor and more direct theme, they shout out “Othello” at one point — and urge everyone to make the most of their turn before it ends.
We’re actually experiencing a very weird week for the charts because…everything feels aligned? “AwA AwA” also topped the Billboard Hot 100, just beating out the global force that is “APT.," which itself has moved to the number-one spot on various streaming charts. Don’t expect it to last — I doubt ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ hit is coming out as a physical single anytime soon, but hey prove me wrong music industry! — but for one weird week everything has clicked together.
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I’m a mess recently owing to other work…but one thing you can count on? One post guaranteed in your inbox (or however you read this) if you go premium. Last week, I made the walk over to Koenji’s Fourth Floor II and ruminated on the importance of true underground spots.
News And Views
NHK’s Kohaku Uta Gassen lineup drops this week! I mean…it should, especially now that the rumors about who will be performing at the year-end bonanza have started swirling. Tabloid Sponichi reported Kocchi No Kento (well, more accurately, “Masaki Suda’s little brother” which…dirty pool Sponichi, give the guy behind one of the year’s biggest hits his own spotlight) will make his debut, while over the weekend tabloids wrote that ME:I and Number_i would also perform at the 2024 edition of the show. None of this is actually confirmed though…I’m flashing back to the “NewJeans definitely appearing on the show” reports from a year ago…so sit tight until the national broadcaster reveals everything in a few days.
Virgin Music Group links with Bushiroad Music to distribute more anime music globally. The accompanying art includes Make-Believe-Melodies-approved album 4 phenomena.
Do you want to own a car SEKAI NO OWARI featured on several album covers? Well, it can be yours via a charity auction being held by the band.
Hoshimachi Suisei announced plans to release her third album in late January, with a live show at Nippon Budokan happening on February 1. While not the first virtual artist to hold a show at the celebrated venue (for one, shout out KAF), it’s still a big moment for Virtual YouTubers as they move into the music space.
We’ve gone from articles being slack-jawed at Japan’s love of CDs…to trend stories about how much less convenient formats are enjoying a resurgence in the nation.
Ichiko Aoba announces a new album and world tour for next year.
Mickey Mouse flexed his Japanese-music knowledge with a new Spotify playlist titled “Mickey’s Mix Tape.” Can’t knock anyone — man, mouse or mascot — with an affinity for chelmico.
WONDERLIVET2024, a three-day festival in Seoul featuring predominantly Japanese acts, seems to have gone off well according to this report. Looked fun!
Collab of the year dropped.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Awa Awa doing well continues to prove out my theory that Bullet Train is only good when they spend their budget on weird ass music videos.