Make Believe Melodies For October 26, 2021
The Sound Of Now, Inspired By Then, For Later
Pasocom Music Club — See-Voice
A thought experiment I indulge in far too often is running over what contemporary Japanese musicians will enjoy newfound attention a decade or two down the line. That ties in to how I think Japanese music moves in the world today — on my mind recently, sure, but something I contemplated about back when the 2010s were ending — but also to how art capturing a very specific time ends up being embraced way later, oftentimes by audiences the original creators never could have imagined.
Label me pessimistic, but I think 21st century music fans — especially the extremely online ones — will be gravitating towards “the past” for years to come, thanks to a seemingly bleak “now” coupled with the eternal good vibes of “then.” Many contemporary artists try to recapture the glow of this imagined yesteryear…but the best take cues from these times and add a modern flair to them, drawing lines overlooked. Two Japanese creators have offered up stellar examples of this approach in October.
Duo Pasocom Music Club have always approached the music of the past with a smirk. Since their netlabel days, they’ve fiddled with city pop textures and imagery while mixing in robo dog barks. They “covered” Toshiki Kadomatsu’s Sea Is A Lady but with a smog-like layer reflecting the downer realities of today that feel absent on the original. Their full-lengths are a bit more focused, but are still eager to play with the sound and imagery of older sounds while still putting a digital twist nodding to their “desktop music” origins.
Third album See-Voice marks the pair playing within a more pop-appropriate structure. Nearly every song features a guest vocalist — from singer/songwriter ayU tokiO, Aughts-era performer Erino Yumiki, and Mitsume vocalist Moto Kawabe among others — and at times Pasocom Music Club appear to be showing off their songwriting range, with slower numbers emphasizing the lyrics of the guests instead of their zig-zagging production (see…voice).
This is the pair playing internet-age city pop perfectly, assuming the role of studio wizards and calling on a mix of guest players to come in and play in their world (an approach that is becoming more common in Japanese music…ominous note that you are like a week away from seeing an album tracklist from a rising online favorite that takes this to the extreme).
Those voices usually fit in great among Pasocom’s music — though I’m surprised how off Kawabe comes off on his solo cut, maybe his Spangle Call Lilli Line guest spots spoiled me — but for me it’s still all about the duo’s sound, and their attention to detail. The intro and intermissions here are worth the listen alone, featuring fantastic synthesized sounds, manipulated voices and on “Aqua Glass” downright giddy keyboard flourishes begging for JRPG placement. It’s the little touches throughout, like the racing piano melody on “Listen” — especially the jazzy segment midway through — or the synth flutters cutting through the fuzz of mellow highlight “Tokumade.” It also makes the finale, “Uminari,” all the better, when the pair just gives over to beat-centric release.
Soshi Takeda — Floating Mountains
Sonic past is referenced much more directly on Soshi Takeda’s Floating Mountains, released through 100% Silk. The artist — responsible for one of my favorites from last year as well — used only hardware from the 1990s to create the songs here. That could have been a clever enough novelty to get some attention, but Takeda’s ability to turn a potential gimmick into something that doesn’t sound stuck in the past.
Echoes of that decade, though, come across clearly. The general softness of the synths touches on the “new age” boom of the early ‘90s (“Water Reverberation” being the best example) while the clear nods to house bring to mind a wide array of producers (for me, a lot of Ecstasy Boys vibes) from those early years.
It never falls into pure nostalgia, though. Sam Goldner’s lovely review over at Pitchfork gets at this, drawing connections to video game soundtracks (hey, I did that with Pasocom!) and likening it to “a post-vaporwave take on deep house.” I think that’s a great call — in the social media age, it’s hard to truly be looking back without playing some kind of game or riding a trend. The sounds came from ‘90s machinery, but the spirit stems from the 2010s.
And that results in a spectacular album, a 2021 highlight for sure. Takeda can indulge in glistening reflections (“Hidden Wave”), stomping melancholy (the title track) and pure floor-eyeing release (“Lantern Reflection”). He builds a world with familiar touches — house, Balearic, the ‘90s, reflection — but untethered to anything coming before.
The past isn’t going away, but artists like Pasocom Music Club and Takeda show how one can exist in nostalgia-drenched times without turning into musical reenactors. These two albums capture what is to make something new while still wrestling with older ideas, and though they certainly deserve love now, I also think they’ll enjoy plenty of attention in the future, when people try to make sense of our cultural tendencies.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of October 11, 2021 To October 17, 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.
Sakurazaka46 — “Nagaredama” (375,970 Copies Sold)
Remember when J-pop was scared of the internet? Now we have chart-topping singles about the internet.
If the idol group ends in a number starting with “4,” it’s probably worth checking their lyrics out. For all his faults, Yasushi Akimoto and the songwriters following him in the extended 48/46 universe have a knack for writing singles touching on current events or concerns. The finest representation of this was Keyakizaka46 (now Sakurazaka46), and that legacy carries on in “Nagaredama,” a song about life on social media and how bad it is.
They aren’t holding back either — the double-take moment for me was when they sing about a “lynch party,” which…look, like that Nazi host club, is a great example of people not double checking their history. Perhaps it’s ironic, considering the song itself is about the perceived glee in people take online in going after those standing out from the crowd, and how that often results in splash damage to people not involved (“stray bullet” being a go to reference). Totally in Sakurazaka46’s zone though…this is a group that has always been about touching on actual topics that real teenagers in the 21st century have to deal with, and the unease of online feels perfect for them to tackle.
Especially backed by a vaguely Showa funk horn arrangement…internet dread sounds pretty fun here!
News And Views
Very nice interview with Akiko Yano in The Guardian recently.
Gunma to the world, as a famous local studio in the prefecture launches a label.
Time to check in on the state of music festivals and tours in Japan and beyond, because we are in a weird period. The State Of Emergency…which the country has been under for the majority of 2021…has been lifted, meaning it’s more likely for large-scale events to happen. And more biggie-sized (well, biggie-sized with reduced capacity…reduced biggie) events are on the horizon, most notably ROCKIN ON’s Countdown Japan spectacular, which plays out in Chiba’s Makuhari Messe in late December. That’s an especially important one, because ROCKIN ON needs a financial win after having to cancel their big summer showcase.
Meanwhile, CHAI will open for Mitski on parts of the latter’s 2022 North American tour, while Haru Nemuri…who has seen her debut US tour postponed over and over again…is set to appear at next year’s SXSW in Austin, an actual in-person gathering. A handful of Japanese acts are still slated to appear at Spain’s Primavera Sound next spring, while Coachella has rescheduled meaning…Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Hatsune Miku (yes yes, I know, she’s a hologram, her team) can come out?
I mean, this is what an EDM event in Las Vegas looks like now…hey, even Zedd, great way to compare the hoopla around Supersonic and the state of the States.
That’s noteworthy because The Mainichi ran a piece about the state of fests in Japan this past week. It starts as a simple revisit to Fuji Rock and all the (in retrospect) insanity surrounding it, but becomes a much more interesting story when looking at regional fests in the country and how they might be a model for shaking off the confrontational attitude currently greeting events.
This should be in the song section, but I’d feel intense guilt if I didn’t share that Zombie-Chang has a new song called “PaRappa The Gabber.”
I found this editorial from the South China Morning Post about what China needs to do to become a soft power player pretty good. Mainly, I like how it actually approaches Japan as a success story (the country is often seen as a failure compared to South Korea, but that’s just a sign the person spouting off has no clue what they’re talking about…Japan is responsible for massive pop culture success, and Korea has just become an even bigger one in the last decade), while also offering fair criticism. Also correctly identifies porn as a Japanese soft power superstar.
I want to write something about the second half of Girls Planet 999 and especially the finale (Mnet…finds a way…) but here’s the final group emerging from the show, which positioned itself as bringing together Korea, Japan and China to form a new hybrid force. OK, keep that in mind, right? Let’s meet *shudder* KEP1ER
Quite possibly the best The First Take? When he actually uses that second microphone….
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
