Issue #7: Group Sounds

Quick thoughts on Last Idol's new single, Haru Namuri's new album and... a Bee Gees single?

Hello! Welcome to This Side of Japan, a newsletter about Japanese music, new and old. You can check put previous issues here.

Last Idol’s new single “Ai Wo Shiru” is their most bizarre release yet. The shiny power-pop intro should sound familiar if you already follow Yasushi Akimoto’s 48 idol group series, but then the idols start blurting lyrics like they challenged each other to see who can sing it the fastest. “I’ve never even thought about my dreams for my future/ it’d be better if school just didn’t exist,” they sing without a pause anywhere in between the lines. Musically and thematically, the song suits more of a pop-punk band formed in high-school keion clubs.

A few recent Last Idol singles have also featured more experimental vocal takes such as the one in “Ai Wo Shiru.” Written by Bugbear, the same songwriting duo who worked on the group’s new one, “Ai Shika Buki Ga Nai” from late 2018 sports similar run-on verses that are given a tightened shape by a heavily percussive, post-trap delivery. The idols also refuse to take a breath in “Otona Survivor” as they sing about moving forward despite opposition.

A clear line of influence for “Otona Survivor” can be drawn to Keyakizaka46 and their signature anthem, “Silent Majority,” another Bugbear creation. Akimoto’s lyrics about fighting against forces bigger than the idols get carried by a robust string arrangement in the Last Idol song; the string hits cuing the chorus is taken almost directly from the Keyakizaka track. “Ai Shika Buki Ga Nai” is built upon similar foundations inspired by Keyakizaka with its wordy verses, stern vocals and accented delivery, handed to the franchise’s second generation who’s dressed with an edgy, all-black image.

Since Akimoto took full producer duties of Last Idol, the group admittedly has yet to escape the shadows of his other projects. The guitar-happy cheeriness of “Ai Wo Shiru” could potentially suit HKT48, if not Akimoto’s actual rock-band unit The Coinlockers. But if the group is a repository of ideas that didn’t quite fit other 46/48 groups, Last Idol has so far pursued the odd, creatively adventurous ones. That slight, strange quirk present in otherwise standard 48-group pop continues to make Last Idol one of Akimoto’s more intriguing pet projects.

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I’m going to change it up a bit starting from this issue. In addition to the usual three picks of new songs for the Singles Club section, I will also provide a couple other songs related to the chosen single as a bonus recommendation. Though I would love to, I don’t have the time or energy to write about every single noteworthy release, so I think this is a good way to share a bit more.

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Album of the Week

Lovetheism by Haru Nemuri [TO3S]

Release date: March 20, 2020

Recommended track: “Ai Yori Tashikana Mono Wa Nai” | Listen to it on Spotify

Haru Nemuri most likely did not anticipate Lovetheism to coincide with the current epidemic crisis, but her messages within the mini album only grows more vital and even life-saving as it exists during such a dire time in the world. Her life-or-death urgency present in her last full-length, Haru To Shura, has yet to simmer down. If anything with Lovetheism, she’s more than willing to step up to the plate as a positive voice after amassing a bigger crowd than her last outing.

The music of Haru Nemuri continues to be more bound to the digital realm with rock-sourced sounds flattened, compressed and arranged in a beat-minded layout. The machine-like drive often reach for the industrial or post-punk realm, like the crunchy drum loop of the title track or the metallic sheen of “Umi Ni Natte.” But it’s far from robotic with the instruments screaming like the singer herself, the sounds constantly bleeding to the red from the musician pushing them to their physical limits.

And scream, she does, but Haru Nemuri mostly speaks in varying cadences and speed. The melodic moments are rap-inspired for certain—she once went by the title of a “poetry rapper”—but she’s not afraid to discard form entirely to instead straightforwardly recite her thoughts at a given moment. She rambles in a rapid burst in “Riot” after frolicking about in the chorus; her hairpin turns into a blood-curdling scream in “Ai Yori Tashikana Mono Wa Nai” (There’s Nothing More Certain Than Love) remains her most effective weapon.

Sounds, styles and form run secondary to Haru Nemuri if they don’t aid the delivery of her message. Her screams in “Ai Yori…” deeply resonate partly through the sheer volume but mostly thanks to the intensity poured into her performance. She’s ready to sacrifice herself for another to see life in a better light: “I can give you my all/ make it a piece of your heart,” she sings in the chorus. It reads earnest and serious to a slightly dramatic degree but only because she knows the worst that can happen if she fails to save a life.

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Singles Club

“Toumei Clear” by Haruka Fujihara [Sony]

Seiyuu-turned-film actress Haruka Fujihara collaborates with electro-pop beatmaker Snail’s House for “Toumei Clear.” While she gives the impression of someone who’s too busy to keep up with internet-bred bass tracks as she stars in blockbusters like the Kakegurui live-action film, she did also lend her vocals for Yunomi’s similarly sugary bass-pop single last year. “Toumei Clear” with Snail’s House and his maximal beats simply follows that logical next step.

Though it’s a more restrained take compared to Snail House’s own releases, he still offers a burst of sweet electronic pop. Bright rave keys skitter about; string plucks and Fujihara’s own voice get heavily filtered. Despite all of the embellishments, the actress remain at the forefront, sounding crystal clear as she sighs about trying to stay upbeat while living in a cruel world. It’s not without a sappy happy ending—“I was looking for something, that invisible thing/ your voice, your love, your tears/ your smile until the end of time” she closes out the single—but it’s perhaps apt for such a candy-coated piece of synth-pop.

Toumei Clear is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.

See also: “Puchiagirl” by Neo (ft. Moe Shop); “Moonlight” by Neko Hacker (ft. Punipuni Denki)

“Humor” by Pearl Center [RALLYE]

Former PAELLAS vocalist Matton regroups with his friends in Pearl Center to continue a new way forward. It was easy to pin the band as his side gig with the mood of their latest Near Dawn EP mirroring the 3 a.m. funk of PAELLA’s Sequential Souls album almost to a tee. However, the title track of Pearl Center’s upcoming mini album, Humor, finds them cutting out a separate, vibrant pop identity with a starry-eyed New Wave sound. The new surroundings inspires Matton to shake off his heartbreak, stop being so shy, and grab a lover close. “I just wanted to get over that phase of setting up what looks like ‘romance,’” he opens the track, yearning to get on to that next level already.

Humor is out April 8. Listen to the single on Spotify.

See also: “Over the Hill” by The Fin.; “Why Can’t” by SIRUP

“Slumber” by Stereogirl [Chigakushitsu]

Stereogirl can kick a sharp dose of adrenaline through speedy punk riffs, but their more tender cuts, like last year’s “Aiwana,” has had more staying power for me. The indie-rock band stake out a sweet middle between the two poles in “Slumber,” the lead single from their upcoming full-length, Pink Fog. Strictly on paper, frontwoman Anju Mouri sounds antsy to get a move on: “When I’ll learn about love is still ahead of me/ so hurry, hurry, let’s get out of here,” she sings, scoffing about the change of season as some grand metaphor. But the rest of the band approach their usual punk rock at a more casual, comfortable pace, reminding their vocalist that it’s sometimes better to relax and take in the scenery.

Pink Fog is out April 15. Listen to “Slumber” on Spotify.

See also: “Cream Soda” by Inner Journey; “Rendez-vous” by Laura Day Romance

This Week in 1968…

“Massachusetts” by The Bee Gees [Polydor/Atco, 1967]

#1 during the week of April 1, 1968 | Listen on Spotify

Hey, what gives? Isn’t this supposed to be a newsletter about Japanese music? The same week of April 1 welcomed Pink Lady’s “Southpaw” (1978), Kyoko Koizumi’s first number-one (1984) and Utada Hikaru’s “Hikari” (2003) at the top of charts. Then why are the Bee Gees, a U.K. band, a topic of discussion?

Because Japanese people listen to Western pop, too, and they’ve been listening to music from the U.S. and Europe for a long time. The charts might not give that impression with foreign artists largely absent at the top spot throughout Oricon history. But Japanese people enjoyed, like, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” by Dead or Alive while they got into rock songs by BOOWY (that was actually my dad growing up) or loved Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden as a regular staple (that was my uncle).

By the look of Oricon in 1968, Japanese people sought after American music as much as the U.K. audience of the Bee Gees, who also shot up their single to number one in their home charts a year prior. That same year “Massachusetts” hit the top in Japan, Oricon observed the rise of Group Sound, a band-pop genre inspired by American folk, blues and rock. Just a couple weeks after the Bee Gees got on the charts with their English take on San Francisco folk, The Tigers occupied the spot for seven weeks straight with “Haru No Kubikazari” that also took cues from American hippie-folk and psychedelia.

It’s not wrong to describe the Group Sound bands as Japanese musicians trying to make American music because that’s what is more or less happening. But dismissing it merely as derivative work would be missing the point as much as discounting Bee Gees’ “Massachusetts” as derivative and nothing else. Instead, like “Massachusetts,” itself a response track of sorts to a song like “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair),” the Group Sound bands are trying to join the larger conversation happening in other music scenes.

I see criticism being made of J-pop and Japanese artists playing with Western styles as if it is a bad thing. I sometimes see the result being described as cheap, unoriginal or not Japanese because the artist in question borrows from Eurodance, punk, hip-hop, American R&B or whatever style not native to the country in origin. But that ignores the prevalence of Western pop in Japan and its influence on audiences as they consume it as a part of their daily lives. Japanese people are listening to the same pop records as Americans, and the charts reflect that, so why is music inspired by those records less legitimate?

Next issue is out April 15. You can check out previous issues here.