Make Believe Melodies For October 31, 2022
*slamming head against wall, but in good way*
rirugiliyangugili — DUMBBELL
Never have I been so happy to be screamed at. Osaka’s rirugiliyangugili excels at being a Strong-Zero-charged angel of destruction connecting the country’s rap, experimental and “hyperpop” corners together via shredded electronics and even more ripped-apart voice. So I was very worried after hearing this summer’s Burr EP, wherein he traded in being an agent of chaos for…being another ho-hum rapper, with familiar flow. No knock against greater ambition, but artistically it felt like someone trying to fit into a square when he’s actually best vomiting all over said square.
Then came “SPIT MY FACE,” pure pulsing venom buried under feedback and random splats of Auto-tune. Ugly young adult nihilism at its finest.
Listening to the accompanying album DUMBBELL, though, made me realize how wrong I was about his flirtation with a more sanded-down delivery. While he’s more immediately relateable as a rapper or STARKIDS-adjacent hyperpop tornado, rirugiliyangugili really feels closer to the country’s contemporary experimental community. He treats thrashing his larynx the same way Foodman approaches percussion or Hakushi Hasegawa uses a piano, or like woopheadclrms warping a synthesizer into sonic taffy. Burr feels less like a mainstream move and more of a new challenge for someone pushing what he can do with and to his vocals. In this case, it was cleaned up and a little more direct.
DUMBBELL takes this to the extreme edge, less thought-providing drama and more Takashi Miike. He snarls, bellows and at multiple points throughout (most intensely, on “T-800”) goes full demonic with one of the better death-metal roars possible. On “riruSKULLMASK” dude sounds like he’s drooling over himself while rapping. He plays around with distortion and tone throughout — like BBBBBBB, rirugiliyangugili seems like a Gen Z mutation on, like, ‘90s noise, “Benzo” being most playful about it — and I think tells you (or “you”) to fuck off on every song here. Dude just loves cutting and mutating his voice like its science-class frogs, and doesn’t mind what spills out afterwards.
There’s no pivots or shifts with rirugiliyangugili — just explorations of what the voice can possibly do, from more tasteful interpretations to the sloshed experimentations of this one, a 2022 snapshot and highlight. Listen above.
Cyber Milk Chan — “Cyber Milk Chan Wa Bosozoku Naritai”
“Cyber Milk Chan Wants To Become A Motorcycle Gang.” Perfect, no edits. Cyber Milk Chan’s latest single rumbles ahead on a garage beat before letting the beat become a touch more pummeling. Not too punishing, though, as the song leaves space for Cyber Milk Chan to dash forward, offering something far more bittersweet than those initial bike revs hinted at. Listen above.
Yukichikasaku/men — “Unbirthday”
Whispy rather than a whirlwind, the latest from Yukichikasaku/men emphasizes their vocals, showing a dynamic range over a more minimal production. Lots of great details still appear within — love the bass burbles disrupting the stroll, and dig the guitar strums shooting through — but this is all about the sweet voice snaking through it. Listen above.
kiki vivi lilly — “Romance”
Sally Cinnamon — “Monogatari Wo Oshiete”
You can always find a cozy corner of indie-pop in Japan to bury under like an especially fuzzy weighted blanket. Here’s two varieties of skippy reminding of the brighter side. Creator kiki vivi lily is a sonic chameleon, so it makes sense she can pull off a twinkly bit of sunny pop, keeping everything centered around a frolicing beat and feel-good chimes. New group Sally Cinnamon go for a classic British take on the style — the name making that clear — that’s more centered on guitars, put still all about a melancholy jog. Listen above.
SERI Featuring BENXNI And Lil Roar — “Wonderful”
Though don’t discount the hyperpop kids ability to get tenderhearted. Last time we checked in on this trio, they were rattling off over a busy backdrop on the verge of fritzing out. Now they’re…at peace, skipping over a mid-tempo beat singing about the joys of love, even in the face of an ever-cloudy future. Listen above.
Anna Takeuchi Featuring Takuya Kuroda And Marcus D — “made my day”
Anna Takeuchi’s Tickets continues to be a personal 2022 favorite, in large part because of her openness to playing around with what’s possible in acoustic-guitar-centered pop. She draws from hip-hop and K-pop construction to turn her songs into some of the year’s brightest fireworks. New number “made my day” is more of a siesta than a big bang, but within it’s easy-going melodies lies a different side of Takeuchi’s sonic explorations. She splits the difference between jazz (via trumpeter Takuya Kuroda) and lo-fi-hip-hop-beats-to-study-and-or-chill-and-or-imagine-sakura-falling (via Marcus D). The song avoids leaning into one side too much (though I think the blurts help more than the beats), and Takeuchi navigates her way through to craft a catchy bit of easy-breezy sweetness. Listen above.
Travis Japan — “JUST DANCE!”
Travis Japan’s foray into the American market feels less like a true all-eggs-in-the-basket international push and more of a happy occurrence following a similarly unexpected turn on U.S. TV. This whole happening is probably most important because it features a Johnny’s group having to truly embrace the platforms and distribution methods of modern times, making all of it kind of an experiment and, at least for certain corners of J-pop, a signal that this is something anyone could try1. Low pressure, and a hell of bragging right for the group themselves.
The song is…good though? OK, the rap most certainly isn’t, but that lasts a whole seven seconds. Yet as afternoon-funk goes, those horns work wonders alongside the strutting speed, and certain moments here hit on real pop delight (“when the kick drum goes…” bursting into the chorus is great). It’s a slightly tamer take on Bruno Mars (the background grunts give it away), but also…this is like, better than similar disco-funk-indebted songs aimed at the American market, to me at least. A little looser, more attention to details in the back and a smooth hook rather than one trying to cram a Dreamworks musical sequence into a few seconds. Plus, pretty sure that’s Kamasami Kong at the beginning of the video.
“JUST DANCE” is much more important for what it signals, but it’s pretty solid for a pop footnote.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of October 17, 2022 To October 23, 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.
AKB48 — “Hisashiburi No Lip Gloss” (317,932 Copies Sold)
You can call AKB48 a lot of things, but “behind the times” wasn’t one of them. Despite most of the attention back in the early 2010s falling on their CD-first sales model despite the global music industry’s shifts to digital and streaming, AKB did do a lot on YouTube, and were sorta ahead of the trends with viral dances inviting users to get involved with. As old-fashioned as Japanese entertainment could be back then, AKB48 actually struck one of the better balances between traditional and of-the-moment, a detail that should be mentioned more.
I bring that up because the only interesting part of “Hisashiburi No Lip Gloss” is that the video is in vertical form, which…I don’t think they’ve done before, but probably have? That’s a detail, for sure. Song is just classic “end of summer” idol fare, peppy enough but I’ve heard this one before.
News And Views
Vice President of Johnny & Associates and President of Johnny’s Island Hideaki Takizawa reportedly will resign from his positions sometime in the near future, according to tabloid FRIDAY. If true, surprising news, as Takizawa had been playing a central role in the J-pop talent agency following the death of founder Johnny Kitagawa. Stay tuned.
Ado inks a deal with Geffen Records that will see her make a bigger push into the US market moving ahead. Full disclosure, I was hired to do her biography ahead of this announcement, so I’m tangled up in it to a degree…but still, I think it’s fair to say it’s a significant step for both her and a new generation of Japanese pop performers.
Netflix greenlit a drama inspired by Utada Hikaru’s music, and that comes out on November 24. Trailer out now, below, which makes it look more about the history of Japan in the 21st century, really. Can’t wait for the episode featuring Kingdom Hearts.
JASRAC takes the L when it comes to collecting fees from music students.
Bunch of people on Twitter, a site that might truly die sometime in the next four months, got angry at idol outfit PLANCK STARS for a promo where the member who sold the least amount of a release would have to do adult video. Well, this is gonna shock you, but turns out that was just a gimmick to raise attention for the group, with the loser being…their dog member. Maybe the goobers who get angry about every little thing online…should be ignored more often than not?
Remember the CD revival in the States? Well, in Japan, after news that many stores won’t buy used CDs anymore, we are seeing the arrival of “what will become of the CD industry?” articles.
This is the most bonkers festival line-up in terms of Japanese acts I’ve ever seen, for an event happening in Thailand soon. I mean that in every sense of the word. Hope this leads to Milli collabing with Foodman.
Advantage Lucy gets some love on Pitchfork’s ‘90s indie-pop list.
Should probably write more about Kenshi Yonezu’s “Kickback” and everything surrounding Chainsaw Man (should probably watch it first!), but do recommend watching the video, which is a trip. Fake-jacked Yonezu is a wild image.
Aimyon at Ghibli Park. Unrelated, please have me cover Ghibli Park, random uhhhh travel editor reading this?
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Follow the Best of 2022 Spotify Playlist Here!
I’m talking about “idols” here, because in reality Japanese artists separate from that tag already figured this out a few years ago. The bulk of internet attention, though, falls on these types of groups, for better or for worse (see also: K-pop), and will be seen as the test case, even though like Fujii Kaze’s TikTok turn just happened.