Make Believe Melodies For October 16, 2023
Guitars, Trumpets And Anya
Vaundy — “Todome No Ichigeki”
The thing about “neo city pop” is a lot of it isn’t really adding anything new to the ‘70s or ‘80s template. Right before algo-powered paths emerged outside of Japan, the nation’s music community was trying to make it stick as a marketing term, but with bands lumped in to this New Coke-in-ing admitting it wasn’t their speed. Suchmos became the representative for this new city-centric sound, but as they told me they were more into Jamiroquai than Junko Ohashi. Even as the years past and nodding to the Bubble became a viable strategy, a lot of artists more earnestly trying to channel, like, Niagara Records were just building dioramas to a time they might have barely remembered1.
What’s striking about Vaundy’s “Todome No Ichigeki” is how obviously city pop it all is, but still manages to sound modern. The funky guitar groove, the horn blurts, the Yamashita-lite emphatic ad libs (“c’mon c’mon c’mon!”), the flute…it’s clear where the fledgling J-pop star is drawing from. Hell, the video is the first I’ve ever seen where the accompanying pre-production vision board for it had to be the YouTube “Plastic Love” picture of Mariya Takeuchi pasted like seven times, with maybe a handgun added at the end.
Yet whereas a lot of J-pop songs trying to capture some long-faded bubble charm would have settled for that, “Todome” updates the formula. There’s a rap, but one born from the 21st century, not the 1980s. There’s a “woo!” buried within that I thought was like a sample the first 10 times I listened to this. The lyrics are about a complicated betrayal (more on that in a sec…) rather than focusing on pure love or being a city dandy. It features Cory Wong, formerly supporting Vulfpeck and (important to our situation) Dave Koz2 and doing all sorts of things on his own, adding a kind of out-of-time quality to the song. It carries the same celebratory energy that’s made so much city pop click in the 21st century…but actually feels apt for now, rather than a recreation.
I think that’s all due to the artist at the center of this song. Music writer imdkm recently tweeted about “Todome” that (paraphrasing) it’s hard to say anything about it beyond “you are so skilled,” but hey…that’s Vaundy after all. I agree completely with that, except I think I come out of it feeling much more positive about the artist. Twenty or 10 years ago, Vaundy would be a studio or session wizard, helping other artists realize their chart-topping pop sound. In the fragmented 2020s, he gets to be the star because…why not? His best ability is recreating other sounds…and he knows it, his next album is called Replica for goodness sakes…whether they be arena-ready rock, louder guitar churn or my entire memory of 2000s indie-rock in a single track.
In another time, Vaundy would be…a city pop pro, excelling as a session player and helping to turn songs into something truly popping. Here’s a little bit of a stretch but one that I think is spiritually on point, if not when it comes to overall quality — he’s a bit like Tatsuro Yamashita, in that he’s someone who in theory should be a songwriting legend but somehow ended up in the lime light. So it only feels natural for him to tackle something so clearly indebted to a period when artists like him thrived, updating it for the 21st century but without losing the sparkle at its center.
“Todome” has been on repeat for me since it dropped, and I’m just bowled over by how well Vaundy captures the big optimism of city pop, but in a way that doesn’t feel like cosplay. This is one of the most ecstatic songs of the year, re-imagining bubble opulence for now, without losing any of the glittering pomp or silly optimism.
There’s another reason, though, I am fascinated by / love this song…
I first heard “Todome” as the ending theme for the second season of SPY X FAMILY, via the ending sequence shared by Toho Animation right before the debut. I’ll spare you my gushing about the series — that’s premium content, baby — but happily admit that Vaundy’s contribution worked so well with the above animation3 to basically put me into a trance for an hour after it dropped. I’ve ended up transferring all of that to the official video…but in part because it too nods to the anime responsible for its existence, with lyrics / narrative about double crosses and mystery.
I’ve been, for various reasons, thinking about the way Japanese music has come to be over the years. City pop songs flowed from commercial demands to sell cars and cassette tapes. J-pop in the ‘90s existed to soundtrack J-dramas and movies. Some of my favorite songs of all time only came about because people needed to learn about recycling. Let’s get brainier about it — “Kankyo Ongaku” only exists because Muji stores and model houses needed soundtracks. The entertainment and marketing of the day plays a heavy role in how Japanese music comes to forms.
We are living through the “Anime Ongaku” period. Apologies for those with the weeb-y jeebies, but in the 2020s anime is helping to both spread and cultivate J-pop for a new era. It isn’t all good of course4, but I think in the same way we look back on whatever they played inside Spiral during the Bubble and the theme to Long Vacation, the 2020s will be defined by anime facilitating the most memorable music of the period. For me, “Todome” will be a gold-encrusted cherry on top, a time-bending take on well-worn optimism only existing because of a show centered around a six-year-old telepath. If crossovers with animation create songs like this, we are living in a lux time with a sound all its own. Listen above.
Peanuts-kun — “Gordon Kill The Thomas”
OK, that was a lot of words…let us cleanse them with this braincell-killing bit of rave up fun. Virtual YouTuber Peanuts-kun returns with a song about train-on-train violence (among other things), which is as loopy a song you’ll hear all year. This is what I want out of our legume-themed artists…pure silliness with a lot of energy to spare.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of October 2, 2023 To October 8, 2023
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.
NMB48 — “Nagisa Saiko!” (205, 228 Copies Sold)
I was in Osaka last weekend, and walked by the NMB48 theater while out with a friend. “They still do stuff?” he asked. Yep, mostly pretty straightforward idol pop, like above.
No offense to the still-doing-it Kansai staple, but second place this week is much more interesting. That comes via a continental collab between groan-inducingly-named BALLISTIK BOYZ from EXILE TRIBE and Thai artist Gulf Kanawut, which sold a modest 30,000-plus physically but has performed much better on YouTube. I think this is a perfect example of the weird place J-pop finds itself as it truly tries to move abroad in a way never seen before
BALLISTIK BOYZ spoke with Lifestyle Asia about “All I Ever Wanted,” and how it functions within their efforts as a group “hungry for global expansion.” By the broadest definition of that hunger, this is a great idea — Gulk Kanawut is an established name, while this comes out via High Cloud Entertainment, a Thai company creating new domestic names and then finding ways for them to collaborate with other Asian acts. They’ve had a close relationship with LDH for at least a year now, as fellow EXILE FAMILY branch PSYCHIC FEVER has released music featuring Thai acts via the company. If they wanted to spread the LDH brand across the burgeoning Southeast Asia market, they’ve chosen the right way, and I do think that to at least some degree that’s part of the plan5.
Complicating this though is the pretty blatant idea in “All I Ever Wanted” and previous High Cloud releases by BALLISTIK BOYZ that this is all a springboard to the market that really matters. All of their verses are delivered in English, which makes it sound pretty clunky, especially set against these kind of workbench toolbox dance clangers. It really stands out in contrast to Kanawut’s Thai, which flows a lot better. One of the greater existential dilemmas facing artists in the region is how much to bend towards the Western world, particularly linguistically — go full English, split it in half a la “Cupid” or stick to your native tongue? It seems particularly vexing for Japan, where the past three years have underlined that you absolutely can develop an audience abroad in Japanese…but, hmmmm, well still, English. It’s complicated…K-pop of the last five years has demonstrated English is the best way to break through, and as much as I hate their global pop gloop, XG sorta proved it too with “Left Right” performing so well. “All I Ever Wanted” finds itself square in this industry crossroads.
One wrinkle to it all…High Cloud excels at these kinds of cross-cultural crossovers, but I’m struck by how every K-pop one doesn’t find them jumping to English but…singing primarily in Korean. Same with Chinese artists who pop up…and like JP The Wavy. Maybe it’s not the way to break the States…but looking at how well these songs and videos due, I find myself wondering if obsessing over the West is the way to go when there’s so much potential going the other way.
News And Views
Shinji Tanimura, member of folk-rock band Alice and a prolific songwriter for himself and others, died on Monday at age 74. He had a very successful solo career — one which he spun into a later-life career as a talent — and wrote songs for many big-name idols, most notably Momoe Yamaguchi. Here’s a clip of him leading the band Alice.
The agency still currently known as Johnny & Associates is continuing to scrub the “Johnny” out of its brand. With a name change forthcoming for both the company and several groups in their stable, they’ve also started going back and reducing the prominence of certain songs that celebrates their founder’s name. Hey! Say JUMP announced they will no longer perform the song “Ultra Music Power” live, and videos of them performing it (which features a shouty bit about “Johnny’s Ultra Music Power”) will be off YouTube as of 11:59 p.m. Monday. Meanwhile, The Japan Record Awards took back an honor they gave Johnny Kitagawa, which they award him shortly after he died in 2019. Kinda just another reminder that despite being talked about since the 1960s, few took this seriously until they had to.
Boy, what other headaches could this talent agency experience, right? Uh oh, don’t look at this video…
The hell is that Wave Racer-core intro music…
Yuta Kishi, former King & Prince member, joined fledgling agency TOBE. He links up with fellow group mates Hirano and Yuta Jinguji to form a new group called Number_i (one constant between the pre- and post-Kitagawa world…terrible boy group names). That trio instantly becomes TOBE’s powerhouse pop offering, and adds some intrigue to the J-pop landscape.
Meanwhile, for all these scandals and intrigue centered around male groups…it’s a very different set of artists demanding equal attention, at least if the Billboard Chart is anything to go off of.
Moneypost JP offers up another article about the boom in J-pop playing out among South Korean youths, relayed via interviews with a variety of Korean students. Pretty familiar stuff…it’s because of streaming services like Spotify (which, important to keep in mind, only arrived in the nation two years ago) and anime…but I do like the individual stories, which include a sweet story about a guy getting into Aimyon6 via streaming and then hooking his girlfriend on her too, or how like everyone loves SPY X FAMILY (who among us doesn’t???).
Connected…LE SSERAFIM’s newest song will soundtrack some kind of bawdy (to these eyes anyway!) J-drama, and is written by imase…their second song. Very cool partnership they have going.
In unsurprising news…Joshua Minsoo Kim coming through with a fantastic review of the reissue of Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Surround.
chelmico eating pizza? chelmico eating pizza! This is also usually my Domino’s order, so salute to like-minded folks.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Follow the Best of 2023 Spotify Playlist Here!
There are exceptions of course — one jumping out to me being Tsudio Studio’s Port Island, a 2018 masterpiece melding city pop flourishes with modern technology to imagine a utopian Kobe never struck by the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake. A gorgeous listen, and an incredible mental exercise in memory and what gets lost in time.
Deep lore: In high school, I car pooled with other students, and one parent exclusively played 94.7 The Wave, a smooth jazz station that, in the mornings, was helmed by Dave Coz. This has stuck with me for two decades.
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH SPY X FAMILY EVEN IF YOU AREN’T INTO ANIME / A HUGE GOOBER LIKE ME #24: While the primary focus of the show is on geopolitical drama and fabricated family life established to maintain world peace, one of the most compelling elements of the series is how it captures family dynamics. Most importantly, and as demonstrated by this ending sequence, through the character of Anya it presents a kids-eye view of childhood in all its fun and weirdness, rendered through an imaginative filter only an elementary schooler could have.
You hear some of these ambient albums from the ‘80s…
Very much related-ish industry insider gossip…pretty much every major label in Japan now has gone Indonesia-crazy in 2023. This is the new buzzed-about nation everyone is eyeing, so keep an eye on that.
Completely unrelated to global moves but…I’ve been listening to a lot of Aimyon lately for boring work stuff, and I don’t think we appreciate just how great Excitement Of Youth is, both as major pivot point in J-pop history and just as 2010s masterpiece. Like, you can hear Ado, Yoasobi, Yuuri, Haru Nemuri and many more in the shadows of this one, directly or indirectly, kind of a staggering album in retrospect.
Second Aimyon. All the way up to her recent works too. In terms of labels, are there any Japanese labels you see as the equivalent of the larger indie's in the West who are heavily influential even in the mainstream? Or are the netlabel / subculture scene very separate from the mainstream in Japan?
I'm also going through a bit of a Vaundy phase (only it's the first I've heard of him, thanks to SxF) and I never thought of it as city pop, at all. I suppose it's a good thing.