Issue #15: Nomake Story
Highlighting the new RYUTist album, pondering about Perfume's alternate timeline and evaluating Asako's music with much consideration as the more edgy J-pop
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There’s currently no place that would commission a review of Asako’s Nomake Story. Her singles like “Kocchigaii” and “Mirume Naina” aren’t bad pop in the slightest. It’s just that, as catchy as they are, these typical singer-songwriter tracks just don’t really push the envelope creatively. But even if the record lacks any interesting musical innovations, I still want to advocate for potential space for coverage not just in this newsletter but also in bigger, Western-based music publications.
The pursuit to uncover innovative music—for lack of a better word—seems like an obvious mission of a music publication. And an unique narrative that goes with said music plays important, especially when introducing records from a foreign culture, such as ones from Japan, to a Western audience. It would help if there’s something about the material that either connects with what the audience is already familiar with or compels them enough for the material to transcend the unknown.
The latter goal tends to make publications favor the edgy or the bizarre. It lets records attached with radical ideology, exotic styles and backgrounds or some commercial novelty to rise more to the top of the pile. This process helps focus the coverage to the most trailblazing music, but it also filters out the more conservative music that actually lay more in the center of the scene. While it narrows down the scope, it doesn’t necessarily make for an accurate survey of the culture.
An impression of Japan as a place home to unique, forward-thinking music is not at all a bad one to leave upon an audience, but a look into Japanese music would also feel largely incomplete without acknowledging the actual everyday pop music of the country. It just seems off to talk about J-pop and not touch on music by singer-songwriter types like Asako or other names like Aimyon or Leo Ieiri. Even if they don’t push the envelope stylistically, not only should there still should be space in the conversation for them but also an awareness of their presence. Nomake Story may not sound like fashionable music to a certain ear, but it’s still undeniably J-pop.
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I’m currently stuck on this quote from an interview with Kazumi Nanba, head of the record label Penguin Discs, about a single from our Album of the Week: “You know how the world split with corona? I really, really felt this feeling of a spring experienced by people where corona didn’t happen.” The singles for this issue feel very summery, and I can’t help but think about how it fits into the summer of an alternate timeline, where we can freely enjoy the outdoors without consequence. I also ponder about what-ifs and a possible change of course for a big-time pop act in our look back into the Oricon.
This issue comes with reading material! I translated an interview via Cinra with the staff of idol group RYUTist as well as Shuta Hasunuma of Shuta Hasunuma Phil about the making of “Alive,” a single from the group’s new album, Falsetto. They talk about the history of RYUTist, how the wonderful song came to be, their vision for the new album, and how the idol business might look like post-coronavirus. You can read that here.
Album of the Week
Falsetto by RYUTist [Penguin Disc]
Recommended track: “Alive” | Listen to it on Spotify
RYUTist aren’t little anymore. The idol group turns 10 next year with now four albums under their belt, so they haven’t exactly been the rookies of the scene for some time. The four began to acknowledge their tenure, too, with 2017’s brilliant Ryutogeigi seeing the group solidifying their freshly defined pop sound. Falsetto marks another exciting step in their growth by not only reassuring the shelf life of RYUTist but also aiming for whole new ground far beyond their local idol roots.
The music of RYUTist stylistically recalls their Niigata forebearers Negicco but also the aesthetic pool familiar to the latter group’s home label T-Palette. While the soft AM pop base links the two peers together music-wise, they also share an earnest, sometimes twee sensibility. Much of Falsetto looks to light funk and retro boogie pop as well, widening their already-well-established aesthetic but also their comfort zone. RYUTist haven’t sounded as extroverted as they do in the disco-friendly “Jikan Dayo” while an unexpected collaboration with synth geeks Pasocom Music Club ends up making great sense in “Haru No Yubikiri.”
The cozy softness of the music teases out the charming innocence of some of the album’s teenage narratives. “Look over here, I’m taking a picture so don’t make any weird faces,” the idols sing in the jubilant “Nice Pose,” where they try to capture a significant other in a perfect photograph. Accompanied by a sunny piano riff, it’s easy to imagine them fooling around in the music room or during their walk back home through mentions of crosswalks and passing trains. “Kitto Hazimari No Kisetsu”—or “Maybe the Season of Beginnings”—essentially bottles up that feeling of butterflies from first-time thrills into a swooning piece of pop.
The story of “Nice Pose,” though, gets at a rather bittersweet feeling of this desire to forever preserve a precious moment after realizing that time is quickly passing by. The heart-tugging moments throughout Falsetto touch upon this very feeling, with the idols well aware of how ephemeral everything is. The music of “Aozora Signal” may be driven by an exhilarating rush of strings and guitar, but the chorus taps into the same sensation of velocity to highlight the fleeting nature of it all: “‘I like you,’ just that one phrase / not being able to say it / I don’t want to regret it,” they sing. The music reinforces this understanding that it’s now or never, and the narrative of fading youth hits especially poignant delivered by the idols’ prim voices.
The best song of Falsetto, then, acts as part wish fulfillment to satisfy those desires to slow down the hours so the idols can appreciate everything around them. The music of “Alive” brings to life this field of pastoral beauty while time magically sits at a standstill. The arrangements patiently bloom throughout its seven-minute running time while every second seems to introduce a lush sound that’s full of life. The idols of RYUTist sounds in awe at what they see, gaining a newfound appreciation from witnessing the everyday in a whole new way.
Singles Club
“Odorasenaide” by Eill [Space Shower Music]
Perhaps already foreshadowed by the wistful R&B keys of the otherwise inviting midnight funk, Eill sings about a more moody kind of Friday evening in her latest single. The night offers escape not so much in the sense of romantic possibilities but rather a outlet for the singer to simply check out from reality. “Let’s throw on whatever T-shirt / and go out to the city tonight / away with this rowdy world,” she begins about how things just aren’t going the way she wants. Thankfully, dancing lets her immediately forget, if only for a moment, and she sounds the most carefree during the liberating chorus: “don’t make me dance/ to someone else’s steps, to a set rhythm,” goes her final word, trying her best to take back the one thing she can.
Listen to the song on Spotify.
See also: “Sweet Spot” by Claquepot; “Leeloo” by AAAMYYY
“Space Ship 2094” by ONJUICY ft. Utae [Trekkie Trax]
I don’t know what it is exactly about the pulsing deep-house synths or the slinky drums, but garage house just sounds better during the summer. ONJUICY and producer Carpainter seem to understand this, too, as they link back for another tribute to UKG in “Space Ship 2094,” this time more timely a release to suit a dance-friendly season. The two also call up singer Utae—who’s not new to sleek, kinetic dance-pop—as the sweet vocal counterpart to ONJUICY’s emceeing. They also offer an instrumental version if you’d rather let the beat ride, but honestly, you’d be missing out a full, lively experience.
Space Ship 2094 is out now. Listen to it on Bandcamp/Spotify.
See also: “Rep Me” by FNCY; “Emome No Natsu” by Lucky Kilimanjaro
“No Paradise” by Seventeen Years Old and Berlin Wall [self-released]
For the lead single of their upcoming mini album, Abstract, Seventeen Years Old and Berlin Wall rid the heavy fuzz that shrouded their shoegaze-indebted indie rock to reveal a shimmering piece of dream pop. What takes place of the ringing guitars is an glistening keyboard line while Eriko Takano stretches and basks in its comforting warmth especially come the bursting chorus. With the rest of the listed tracks given similarly evocative titles, perhaps this new record will be one glowing follow-up.
Abstract is out Aug. 5. Listen to “No Paradise” on Bandcamp/Soundcloud.
See also: “Good-bye My Bloody Days” by Nourushi; “Statue” by Say Hello to Sunshine
This Week in 2008…
“Love the World” by Perfume [Tokuma Japan Communications, 2008]
No. 1 during the week of July 21, 2008 | Listen on YouTube/Spotify
The mainstream was barely getting to know Perfume when the pop group released “Love the World.” “Polyrhythm” shot them into success a year prior, and their TV appearances of the time often came with a brief primer on what they then called “technopop.” Though the electronic beats may have sounded somewhat familiar, thanks to video-game music, the public could’ve used some explanation for the vocal manipulations in which producer Yasutaka Nakata used liberally.
While the world was busy trying to understand the group’s whole deal, Perfume themselves also seemed to be still figuring out exactly what they wanted to be. And “Love the World” offers one possible option where the three pursue a more traditional pop mold. Whereas “Polyrhythm” abandons the pop form about halfway through, Nakata follows a proper verse-chorus structure for “Love the World.” Not only does he provide a full chorus, he writes it as if it’s an idol song with built-in moments for the three to appeal their sweetness. They call out to “you,” referring to “you” as “darling,” and it ends with the trio alluding to kisses on the cheek.
Perfume have made straightforward pop songs since “Love the World,” more than a few also intentionally gesturing at cuteness, but these types of songs in retrospect stick out as outliers in the group’s catalog. Though it doesn’t hurt to see them try, these more formal attempts at pop ends up sacrificing their production side. Their best songs bring out both their pop ambitions and electro-beat savvy, using their production magic to amplify their message or narrative.
But imagine if they fully pursued the idea pitched in “Love the World,” easing off or even completely ditching the production side in favor of more accessible pop writing. The group released a few more in a similar vein; “Natural Ni Koishite” in particular comes to mind. While it would later be balanced out with works heavier on spectacle, like “Laser Beam” or “Nee,” what if they didn’t bother to make those kinds of songs? It’s a likely possibility if they ever deemed the music to be too complicated for the public to comprehend. While it’s sweet whenever Perfume decide to go more for the safe center, it’s ultimately for the best to see the group try something left field.
Next issue is out August 5. You can check out previous issues here.