Make Believe Melodies For September 16, 2024
Wherein "Hyper" Takes Many Meanings
HYPER GAL — After Image
Osaka duo HYPER GAL makes chaos sound focused on third album After Image. The songs here tumble forward, the vocals turning towards stream-of-conscious at times or even zeroing in on simplicity when the pair simply count, with synth touches spilling across it all. Moments come close to tipping over — the opening guitar barrage of “Ghost,” the noise increase on “dot dot dot” — yet in every case the percussion keeps everything glued. What could be messy turns united thanks to the drum, all without sacrificing the experimental soul at HYPER GAL’s core.
And man, the way they do let it rip across After Image is a blast. The slow, unnerving build of “OVER FUSSY” erupts behind shout-sing vocals trying to come up for air against the sound. The strut of “unrhymed” is pretty much accurate to the title. It sounds like vocalist Koharu Ishida is about to jump off the track on “FLICKER’s” pulsing melody. There’s traces of other Japanese experimentalists lurking within HYPER GAL’s DNA — the locked-in nature of Nisennenmondai, the playful antics of fellow Kansai creators Afrirampo and CASIO Turko Onsen — yet the strength of their latest is locating their own perspective on the balance between disorder and order. Get it here, or listen above.
pinponpanpon Featuring Kanamil, Miyu Kataoka And Kirara — “Tokyo Sinks”
Wherein pinponpanpon envision flexing so hard they submerge the Japanese capital.
There’s nobody better than ponpnpanpon right now, and for “Tokyo Sinks” they bring pals from the idol sphere (among others) together to offer even more energy to their revelry. Largely oozing confidence with a little bit of summer goofiness worked in (an inspired “aloha / iruka” rhyme), it underlines what makes the project so thrilling. It’s determined to shine over no-chill beats, and not afraid to threaten city-wide destruction in the process. It’s great to see even more taking part in it. Listen above.
Limre — Shiranai Tamashi
Part of the charm of listening to Limre — one half of electronic duo TEMPLIME’s rock solo project — is hearing KBSNK operate in a sonic palette radically different than what one is used to. Yet just as important are the glimpses of similarity. Moments across their latest EP brings to mind instances found on last year’s (still excellent) POP-AID, primarily on the swifter songs, which zoom at a similar pace and feature the same sort of emotionally rich hooks…just minus the club-ready beats. Listen above.
Helsinki Lambda Club — “THE FAKE ESCAPE”
I usually associate Helsinki Lambda Club with wonkier directions in rock. Yet on “THE FAKE ESCAPE,” they are laid-back and happy to let the music around them stretch out. Any melancholy lurking around the edges is sitting in a hammock, because this is the group reminding they can be just as chill as they can be oddball. Listen above.
rirugiliyangugili — “COURAGE”
I find the less abrasive entries in rirugiliyangugili’s songbook to be hit or miss — the times he’s tried to be a typical rapper pail in comparison when he opts to be the human manifestation of a Strong Zero exploding in on itself. Latest EP Kiddo finds a few moments where his efforts to diversify fall flat…but it also includes songs like “Courage,” where he tones down his delivery (while allowing some screams deeper in the mix) to keep pace with the drum ‘n’ bass beat propelling everything forward. The urgency the speed of the track forces makes even a less frantic rirugiliyangugili sound like a force. Listen above.
Lilniina And EAERAN — “oyasumi”
A song that certainly never feels sleepy. “oyasumi” dashes ahead behind skittering beats over which Lilniina keeps up with while EAERAN hops around. Similar to the above rirugiliyangugili song, it’s the urgency at the core of the song that makes it work. Listen above.
LISACHRIS And Ido Kyo — “Mekari Doki”
Now to look at another approach one can take in constructing a song — why speed it up when you can just break it apart? Producer LISACHRIS…away for a while but now starting to get back into the swing of creation…lets her track on “Mekari Doki” crack and crumble into pieces, with her and rapper Ido Kyo’s voices reflecting off the debris. Listen above.
DE DE MOUSE And Milk Talk — “DANGEROUS CRIMINAL”
A collaboration born for this newsletter, Milk Talk and DE DE MOUSE come together for a smooth number leaning into the prior’s sound but adding extra dazzle to the slink via the latter’s hop-scotching percussive touches. Listen above.
Inuama Uru — “Til the Battery Runs Out”
They fucked around and gave Gigandect a DENONBU song to produce. That means a chance to hear a blitz of 8-bit burbles over a cutesy idol song. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of September 02 2024 To September 08, 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.
RIIZE — “Lucky” (213,730 Copies Sold)
My immediate mean opinion about RIIZE is that I watched them at this year’s Summer Sonic festival and was surprised how like…they didn’t even try lip synching while doing the more kinetic choreography of its set. I get dancing appears to be the project’s strength but man you can at least try to pretend to sing.
OK that out of the way, “Lucky” is low-stakes fun. Perhaps the fact it isn’t as uptempo as other songs from the project helps it out, as it is able to establish a groove and not burn itself out. It also sort of reminds me of the disco-leaning sounds of like, Pearl Center, which might be me just getting wistful but I also appreciate the easy-going nature of it.
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News And Views
Megan Thee Stallion brought Yuki Chiba out for her performance of “Mamushi” at last week’s MTV Video Music Awards, which I think makes it the first time the rapper formerly known as KOHH has been on American primetime TV.
Perfume news corner! First, Perfume, along with L'Arc-en-Ciel, will provide theme songs for the upcoming anime BEYBLADE X. I’m pretty sure this is the first time Perfume has provided a theme for a televised anime (they’ve done it for movies before, though, including some absolute heat and some total trash).
Elsewhere, Perfume shared more details about part one of its forthcoming concept album Nebula Romance, including the album artwork. Most of the versions look fine, but the “regular edition” caused some eyebrows to rise. Take a look:
Is it made using AI, or just leaning into a very specific retro style? No clear answers yet (my first instinct was to look at the fingers), but given how tense AI makes people in general, I have noticed the international Perfume community get a little tense about the Nebula Romance cover. I do have it on good source that it was made by the same person who has designed all of Perfume’s recent album art, so it would have been there choice. I don’t come bringing any specific mindset to this…but I do find this interesting, as I think similar arguments (“is it AI or not…and is that bad?”) will become commonplace moving forward.
Shogun won a bunch of Emmys, including Anna Sawai capturing the award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series. She, of course, used to be in FAKY.
“Cool, Japan!” theory continues to strengthen via this One Piece-themed performance by K-pop group Kiss Of Life.
Sony Music launched a new label and management branch called Echoes, highlighted by YOASOBI and MAISONdes.
New 4s4ki incoming! Good times for Patrick.
I missed this but…from a month ago, BEAT CRUSADERS started a YouTube channel, where the J-rock band is sharing all its videos. A few real gems went up over the last week (which is why I assume YouTube directed them to me).
POP YOURS, the Japanese hip-hop-leaning festival, has entered the media game. They’ve produced a documentary about Tohji’s 2024 world tour and performance at this year’s gathering in Makuhari Messe. Will say…charming look at life on the road!
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodiesFollow the Best Of 2024 Spotify Playlist here!
