Make Believe Melodies For October 18, 2021
Yasutaka Nakata Imagines The Club
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu — “DODONPA”
“Is Yasutaka Nakata having a mid-life crisis?” I asked a few months ago. Maybe, but the more I listen to his 2021 output, the more I’m convinced he’s at least had a lot of time for introspection during the pandemic. His work with Perfume and his return alongside Toshiko Koshijima as Capsule have been throwbacks to earlier electronic styles once central to Nakata’s sound, approaches he slowly drifted away from as his status grew and the siren call of big-field EDM reached his ears. He’s clearly reflecting on his career, and his role in Japanese music to some degree too.
It’s a real twist that Candy Racer, the forthcoming album from Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, serves as his reflection on the club. Of all the acts Nakata works closely with, Kyary exists furthest from the dank Strong-Zero-can-littered streets of Dogenzaka and way closer to the spacious tree-lined paths of Aoyama.1 And yet! Candy Racer — I’ve gotten an advance copy, full disclosure — plays around in this space, largely filtered through familiar J-pop-isms but with night-out energy coming across clearly. It’s never more upfront than on “DODONPA,” where Kyary transforms into an instrument spewing out syllables while Nakata lets a hi-hat rattle off. This sounds to me like a dance cut constructed in a span where nobody really had the chance to dance, with Nakata imagining what a main floor could be like and how phantom customers might lose it to these twists and turns. An obvious swerve for Kyary, but equally glorious for Nakata in a highlight year. Listen above.
Various Artists — P-VINE & PRKS9 Presents The Nexxxt
This isn’t marketed as a “hyperpop” album and plenty of moment lean closer to more “traditional” rap structure…but this is a hyperpop compilation offering a snapshot of what that sounds like in modern Japan. It’s curated by PRKS9, a blog capturing this sonic movement better than anyone else right now and an essential bookmark for the curious. The Nexxxt plays like a “breakthrough” playlist, spotlighting emerging names in this spot, ranging from newsletter fave e5 (here moving at syrup-speed, for her at least, on lead-off number “KUNOICHI”) to new-to-me maximalists AOTOx329. Like any good reporter, PRKS9 went and provided extra context on these creators with links and other songs in a separate post. But The Nexxxt on its own excels at serving as a crash course in the different musical influences and texture shaping this corner of Japanese music. Listen above.
No Buses — “Yellow Card”
Just enough touches of dance present without losing their nervy indie-rock origins to make this one a standout from a consistently “pretty good” band. If I hadn’t written so much above maybe I’d pontificate why they went with all English lyrics, but hey I got a schedule to keep. Listen above.
Reol — “White Midnight”
Reol should be a natural fit in the Vocaloid-indebted pop moment here in Japan, but she creates songs existing outside of what’s trending. “White Midnight” is the latest example of her embracing her own pop proclivities, working with KOTONOHOUSE (a 4s4ki regular contributor) on a rumbling number choosing cautious optimism over modern glumness. Listen above.
Denobu And KOTONOHOUSE — “Inverted Pyramid”
Just for good measure, another song KOTONOHOUSE contributed to Bandai Namco’s anime EDM project Denobu. One of the best producers in the country, and their style is starting to bleed over into the mainstream more and more.
E.O.U — E21
Kyoto producer E.O.U flirts with new age calm and escape before deciding “nah, making noise is way more fun.” E21 soothes over its first three tracks but ratchets up considerably — and turns into an experimental highlight — come the darty “Kofu,” with bubbling drama and ASMR-worthy pricking percussion. The artist themselves explains this EP as a “tremendous natural flow,” and at its best this brief collection lets it all out. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of October 4, 2021 To October 10, 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.
King & Prince — “Koi Furu Tsukiyo Ni Kimi Sofu” (441,973 Copies Sold)
King & Prince is one of the more interesting J-pop projects going, owing to the weird tension between wanting to be domestic heavyweights while also flirting with global audiences built into this Johnny’s offering. This single offers no chances to dwell on the strange place the agency find themselves, because it’s a boilerplate feel-good number geared towards local listeners and hardcore fans. It’s a reminder that…right, Johnny’s hasn’t totally re-imagined itself yet, and they can still lean in on the same sound they’ve been turning to for nearly three decades when they just have to get something out.
News And Views
For the first two years I lived in the Japanese countryside, I’d watch Music Station almost every week. Real seasoned readers might even remember “Station To Station,” the weekly blog section where I’d listen to every featured song and review them…here’s one example, featuring me at age 23 “feeling old” because of listening to a band made up of teens…wooo boy. As time went on checking in became a sometimes treat, but the show has always been important both for me (once as education, now as barometer) and the country at large (salute to any weekly television show…just celebrating music!).
Music Station marks 35 years on the air this year, and last Friday saw a particularly celebratory episode, which I happened to catch a bit of this weekend. It featured some real choices…most notably, they hosted a “MIKIKO medley,” allowing the globally celebrated choreographer to put on something approaching her lost Olympic Opening Ceremony plan albeit at terrestrial TV budget. Sheena Ringo formed a special band of “artists she likes” including Aina The End and the drummer from Gesu No Kiwami Otome. There was a Disney section my daughter went bananas over. King Gnu had a bunch of children go out and air perform their newest single. Wild show, and I’m glad it’s still going strong, to the point where host Tamori broke a world record for consecutively hosting a weekly music program.
HSU, the bass player in Suchmos, died recently, according to the band.
Sony Music Japan uploaded 12 Tommy february6 music videos to YouTube, go watch them.
For most of the summer, BTS have dominated Japan’s Spotify charts, as you’d expect. Yet recently, they were finally nudged out of the top spot (for now) by…a band who has written music for them this year. Note the continued presence of YOASOBI’s “Yoru Ni Kakeru” and MAISONdes breaking the top ten.
On that note, J-pop act ØMI released a new song produced by Suga of BTS. It sounds like an EXILE b-side. Read the Arama comments if you want to feel the urge to go off the grid sometime soon.
Choose your fighter, annoying condescension or repulsive smarm
Why is Johnny’s group Snowman so popular? Real Sound speculates, and Arama has the translation. Pretty much boils down to YouTube and “every member has a personality” which aren’t huge revelations…but seeing as Johnny’s has just started dipping its toes into the world of social media, still important.
Buffalo Daughter shared some very nice songs over at The Glow.
Daoko removed the original upload of her (very good!) new song “groggy ghost,” in order to share a version with much better audio. Listen below.
Of course, in the age of algorithms and ~mystery metrics~, giving fans a better audio experience was actually a bad move for Daoko, because it wiped out existing views and disrupted any momentum she could have earned on YouTube. On the one hand, none of that ultimately matters in the grand scheme of things, but it’s also a small reminder of what a bummer the modern online music landscape can be, when delivering better quality hurts you on tech platforms.
Need something positive to end the week on…uhhhhh, here’s a very good remix of the “Vanilla” song you used to hear blaring out of trucks whenever you went to Shinjuku.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
She’s not tied to club music, she’s pop, sorry people who don’t live in Tokyo and also those who look at these metaphors and think “what the fuck, Patrick.”