Make Believe Melodies For September 9, 2024
Get That Body Moving
PAS TASTA — “BULLDOZER”
A personal highlight this summer came after making a 20 minute gondola ride up a mountain to catch PAS TASTA perform live. This was midday during Fuji Rock’s Saturday, and despite a light drizzle going on and off, watching the electronic artist collective smash tracks together to create a genre twister that swept the crowd up, whether dropping mutant EDM or reworks of Beatles’ songs. I did not need to be reminded why I love PAS TASTA — still responsible for the best album of 2023 — but here was what makes the outfit special on full display. A total openness to stylistic experiment, but not so much about “breaking down borders” as much as having a blast with friends.
PAS TASTA’s trip report from Fuji Rock
New song “BULLDOZER” served as the climax for that set, and it’s a fitting gateway into the sonic party these guys always put together. Set to come out as part of Eastern Margins’ forthcoming Redline Impact compilation, it’s pedal-to-the-metal rock-dance, blasting off behind all-together now hollering before electronic elements wobble in. The energy never lessens up…and then, they hit you with a metal breakdown bleeding into a bass drop, making the final dash all the more triumphant. Yeah, there’s a lot going on, but it all works towards a unified euphoria. Listen above.
Rikon Nozaki — Gunzo
What makes a Rikon Nozaki release such a delight is truly having no idea where they are going to go this time around. I’m still not totally over the direction gone on 2022’s We Are Alive, finding Nozaki embracing “hyperpop,” garage rock, chillwave-lite and so much more to create one of the decade’s most charming works.
It doesn’t take long for Gunzo to deliver a similar sonic sucker punch. After a relatively straightforward-ish rap to start their latest broadcast, Nozaki finds himself vocally flexing over a discombobulated electronic beat courtesy of Telematic Visions, the producer transformed into a hip-hop producer for an off-kilter track. That thrill plays out throughout these 22 minutes, this time Nozaki focusing more on disorienting electronics rather than integrating rock elements, resulting in stream-of-conscious darts (“n Gatsu”) and foggy beat experiments (“Over Night”). Listen above.
Nodamn — “alarm”
Okinawa trio Nodamn add a layer of gunk to contemporary shoegaze on “alarm.” I’ve seen Japanese sites describe this as “grunge-gaze,” though I think the verses are a little too clean for either, but man before the singing comes in, I love how smeared and downright dank the feedback can be. It’s a welcome twist to the familiar shoegaze sound, while still connecting dots between styles to offer a fresh perspective. Listen above.
YRi Ko — “Sunset”
A song that sounds like rubbing the sleep out of your eyes feels like. There’s enough of a bounce to “Sunset” for the fully awake to vibe with, but it’s the way YRi Ko’s voice ripples between reality and dreams that give the song its longing core. Listen above.
kafuka — Folsom EP
Producer kafuka aims to take it slow and easy on the Folsom EP, though thankfully the energy still flows through. Coming out of Osaka’s vibrant electronic scene, the creator has played around with the uptempo and the rubbery in his tracks, but this time around he’s seeing how close to “ambient” he can get without turning to vapor. The four tracks here burble and bounce and clatter (I mean “Inheriting” is club workout made with broken cathedral glass, nothing “ambient” about it, thank goodness), but leave just a little more space, whether for touches of the natural world (birds chirping on the title track) or more focus on waves of synth (“Leakage,” which still gets physical in its final half). Get it here, or listen above.
MPC GIRL USAGI And Acidclank — “MOMENT”
An example of how two approaches to disorientation can come together to make something just as loopy but from a new angle. MPC GIRL USAGI’s signature instrument provides a fragmented bump across “MOMENT,” but it’s bedroom shoegazer Acidclank who gives it a heady quality courtesy of waves of synthesizer. The key, though, is the pair’s voices coming together in the middle to hit on emotional sweetness right in the middle. Listen above.
NUS_0x40 — “Nakayoshi Island”
I’ve largely felt left out of the wave of “Y2K Playstation 2 Drum ‘N’ Bass” celebration because I only had an N64 during my formative years. So credit first off to creative unit NUS_0x40 for leaning into Wave Racer 64 visuals for debut track “Nakayoshi Island.” Brings back a lot of memories…including this being the only game to ever prompt me to break a controller out of anger.
The sound of the song is, in some way, also trying to play around with a sonic palette from the same period. That’s the intention of this project — “We create music, CG, and items influenced by the gaming culture of the late 90s and early 00s” goes the bio, and I think it’s fair to say this lines up nicely with an interest in all things “Jungle in Gaming.” There’s a danger here in leaning too much into the image of a past, in the same way a lot of “city pop” creators get lost in visions of neon lights. Yet listening to the tropical tinged dash of “Nakayoshi Island,” I see this less of a pure dive into memory (largely because no game sounded quite as sun-dappled as this track) ever and more of an experiment in mood similar to what Yuka Noda tried to do in the late 1980s. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of August 26 2024 To September 01, 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.
Naniwa Danshi — “Koisur Hikari” (400,104 Copies Sold)
Naniwa Danshi want to know “can a STARTO male group replicate the sound of default AKB48?” With “Koisuru Hikari” and its horn-peppered push ahead, they offer a definitive “yes, we kinda can,” and make me type “Gingham Check” into the YouTube search bar right after so I can hear it done beyond middling. Listen above.
Go Premium, Get An Extra Post (Even When I’m Busy!)
This week…I’m absolutely taking a break from a regular post, because I’m in Nagoya to kick off the week for a family trip and then I have an avalanche of deadlines to hit over the next seven days. But if you jump to the paid level, you will get a post this week! So go for it if you need even more, I’ll find a way to get that out to your inbox somehow.
News And Views
I dislike a lot of things…but I’m not sure I dislike anything as much as Anna Sawai appears to have disliked her time in FAKY. The Emmy-nominated actor talked to W Magazine, and once again her time in the J-pop project came up.
There’s a half-hearted attempt to try to soften this — the author mentions “silver linings” — but lolz c’mon she clearly hated this time of her life. “I would never recommend to anyone, ‘You should go join the J-pop industry.’” Avex…what were you doing????
RYUTist calling it a day in a bit. This album still goes extremely hard.
Zedd helped out on the new theme song to the latest version of Dragon Ball airing soon. Nobody can resist the pull of anime.
I talked to Pasocom Music Club for The Japan Times about 2024 highlight Love Flutter, among other topics. With a tofubeats cameo!
I talked to Hakushi Hasegawa for Bandcamp Daily about 2024 highlight Mahogakko, among other topics. With Tomad and KAF cameos!
I also went to Magical Mirai and wrote about it for The Japan Times.
Sorry, be right back, buying the group_inou pajamas.
Tickets to YOASOBI’s forthcoming concert in Hong Kong sold out in one second.
K-pop KISS OF LIFE does One Piece-themed intro at some music awards show, I continue feating on “cool, Japan!” theory, just waiting for some think tank to give me a million dollars to tell them “yeah, manga…very popular.”
OK, here’s a collaboration I wouldn’t have guessed if you gave me…a thousand chances.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies