The J-Pop Thread

new KOTO record is unbelievable, just too good for this world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7xKs92IMsQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6PO6Eep9NA

also liking this retro tentenko ballad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8mkCgkAB6w

Wow @ "BBQ"!

Another acronym song, "U.S.A." by Da Pump, was subtly dissed by The Japan Times

- https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2018/07/18/music/da-pump-scores-unexpected-summer-hit-u-s

Loving that KOTO record. Someone nominate it for the EOY poll.

i am really enjoying Koutei Camera Girl Drei's mini-album New Way of Lovin'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoVysQLSvrA

driving techno-idol pop epic "Toronto Lot" is the highlight, probably going to make my EOY ballot

yeh Toronto Lot is one of my top tracks from 2018, although I tend to skip the first minute intro
Girlz Can't is also killer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gaof0Urpmp8

Just when you thought the AKB universe couldn't get any more toxic:

Biggest controversy on Japanese internet (and now, finally, in Japanese media) involves the targeted assault of Yamaguchi Maho, a member of the Niigata-based idol group NGT48, a sister group of AKB48 (which I think Westerners are more familiar with). #山口真帆

— Kat Bee (@katbeee) January 10, 2019

I'd never thght I wld post this: my 13 yo is obsessed with k-pop. It's like my dEUS obsession multiplied by pi.

xp Yes, but the reactions since that tweet 8 days ago have also been stronger and different from before, signalling a shift of some kind. The story didn't go away, the company was forced to respond, the manager was removed, Japanese media have had to tackle it

new kyary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9hGYrc0GYI

really like the way this new Chai song gets messy in the middle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoCOh2r6ML0

The more Momoiro Clover Z live clips I watch the less I understand what's going on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsSC_ZCjnZI

i didn't entirely get it, but i feel like i sort of half got it. is the song about feeling unloved and abandoned in a "black day" sense but instead of just moping about it and spiraling, also praying to the shinto god raijin to gain strength from their experience?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZfMQ-ydw28

Rinne Yoshida - "Mu"

fun dance pop produced by Wednesday Campanella's Kenmochi Hidefumi

Oh yeah the ne w Denpa track is a frenetic banger of the old skool style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgUm0xYI6fU&

Sakanaction, delightful as always:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxqYUbNR-c0

^^ love that

Dempagumi reaching next level of brilliance here:
https://open.spotify.com/track/4JOIgA1XHd6BPtv3kkEDzl?si=BoBge8FFTt-MJpU_y5M5HA

tune

that rules

Can anyone give me any insight into this 3776 album Saijiki? It’s getting buzz on Rym. I can only find it on YouTube. I’m new to j-pop and Idol groups in general but what I understand is they were once a larger group now it’s one girl and a producer. The cover and name are all representing mt. Fuji in shape and size. Lots going on musically, sounds like Stereolab with tons of odd time elements at play. Any insight beyond that? I kind of love it but am pretty unsure of exactly what I’m getting into here. Couldn’t find much discussion.

https://youtu.be/Bv-V9tD8gdc

Can anyone give me any insight into this 3776 album Saijiki? It’s getting buzz on Rym. I can only find it on YouTube. I’m new to j-pop and Idol groups in general but what I understand is they were once a larger group now it’s one girl and a producer. The cover and name are all representing mt. Fuji in shape and size. Lots going on musically, sounds like Stereolab with tons of odd time elements at play. Any insight beyond that? I kind of love it but am pretty unsure of exactly what I’m getting into here. Couldn’t find much discussion.

https://youtu.be/Bv-V9tD8gdc

i haven't heard much of the album yet (have been aware of the rym buzz which is usually worth checking out when it's something like this) but there's a long history of vaguely experimental and underground groups that still cling to the "idol pop" form and this seems to be in that tradition, if weirder than usual. i did do a bit of searching and find that there's a few places that claim that Akira Ishida, the songwriter and producer, is the famous voice actor of the same name but i don't think that's actually the case.

yeh I've been following 3776 for a few years now. they started as a "local idol" group to promote Fujinomiya, a city at the base of Mt Fuji, but the group has since become more of an arty postpunk group with the duo of Chiyono & Akira.
they use a lot of Fuji imagery in the lyrics and the number 3776 in their songs e.g. in the below song during the breakdown about 90 seconds in Chiyono counts out measures of 3,7,7 and 6 before 1234ing back into the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2UcGmhVnpI

their discography has all sorts of neat twists & turns e.g. there's a pretty bossanova e.p. so just dig around, there's lots of great stuff to discover. No idea what's going on with the new album though lol, sounds like she's constantly saying animal names?
Oh and Chiyono also made a really solo album (produced by Akira of course)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9x8cIwypFs

ok reading up on the new album's concept and wtf!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saijiki
so it's a chronicle of a year, every 12 seconds is a day (counted out by one zodiac sign per second, hence the animals)
each of the 12 songs roughly the length of that month, i.e. in seconds x 12

er, in days x 12 seconds

Wow. That’s awesome. Thank you all so much. Yeah played through it once and was very next level. But I’m so unfamiliar with idol stuff that wasn’t sure if this was the norm. He seems to be operating on a different wavelength.

didn't realize there was a new 3776 album, not following rym does mean i miss out on some shit... i can always catch up later, i tell myself

It’s definitely cool. A lot going on. I’m just out of my element on the traditions of the genre but I love the bizarre time rules he’s put on himself and the stereolab experimental art stuff happening. Just not sure how out of bounds this is as far as J-Pop Idol stuff goes. Also looks like he’s heavily inspired by akb48 which I’ve seen in here some of you have said is problematic. Didn’t want to accidentally endorse something shitty

don't worry they are pretty way out there as far as the idolsphere is concerned!
also re stereolabesque arty idol stuff you should check out Maison Book Girl, more streamlined but still have the odd time sigs etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBSavADxE3U

i was going to recommend gesu no kiwami otome along these same lines and i sort of started following enon kawatani and found out that he contributed a song to a chatmonchy tribute last year (also included: guitar wolf!) - i am going to have to check that one out!

Amazing. Thank you all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIOiwV1qj-k

this is v v good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTTnyA38NfE

on the topic of dempagumi.inc from earlier this is another great recent single from them. incredible video too

and re: sakanaction their new album's quite good, there was a bit of discussion of it a while ago in the j-indie thread

good japanese indie stuff?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNFzrkp1ME

the clapping at the beginning of this is straight up steve reich's "clapping music"

ok it's v v v close https://youtu.be/lzkOFJMI5i8?t=20

(many xps)

+1 for the Dempagumi.Inc track Jeff W posted the other week.

yeh I've been following 3776 for a few years now. they started as a "local idol" group to promote Fujinomiya, a city at the base of Mt Fuji, but the group has since become more of an arty postpunk group with the duo of Chiyono & Akira.
they use a lot of Fuji imagery in the lyrics and the number 3776 in their songs e.g. in the below song during the breakdown about 90 seconds in Chiyono counts out measures of 3,7,7 and 6 before 1234ing back into the song

track 12 does that too, right from the beginning. have not heard the new one but I remember thinking the first one reminded me a bit of modern Cornelius, not his new album but rather the NHK/salyu x salyu stuff. it's a bit more energetic than that though.

Gonna be in Tokyo for a couple weeks next weekend. Any clubs around town good guarantees of seeing a pop act?

there will be tons of events every day, so probably best to check listings like these:
https://www.tochoh.com/
https://idolscheduler.jp/
https://genvers.jp/event/index/all

and if there are specific acts you're interested in, twitter and so on

and it's cool that 3776 is getting some hype outside the idol bubble. new album rules. but I went to an in-store recently and the crowd was still v much the idol otaku you might expect haha.

Ano has left You'll Melt More with immediate effect. She was their most popular member by miles, can't see them lasting much longer without her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-tXl0gajdc

Air ni ni by Hakushi Hasegawa is a pretty wild album - hyperactive synth-heavy jazz-pop/breakcore fusion

here's a spotify link since the only track from it on youtube is the first which is a little unrepresentative of just how wild it gets
https://open.spotify.com/album/1ikOY8ht1sAQAGuK5dTl4k

the polyrhythmic breakdown in "evil things" is astounding

Oh this sounds interesting! Thanks for the recommendation, ufo.

All prior discussion of 3776's Saijiki is underselling it - this is the album of the fucking year

I love little thought experiments and justapositions of western canon with classically Japanese themes, such as:
https://youtu.be/lxdYQvLeBKk?t=2854

I wonder to myself how much this album is *aware* of it's presence in the west, and why it feels an obligation to create something so distinctly Japanese with aid of western classical canon. A YouTube comment puts it perfectly:

" The production is such a mesh of genres that it sounds like a logical conclusion to music "

I'd argue that it is the logical conclusion to western influence on Japanese ideology and self perception - that the next step will be become something beyond.

i still haven't really been able to wrap my head around it really, it's so dense with ideas

I wonder to myself how much this album is *aware* of it's presence in the west, and why it feels an obligation to create something so distinctly Japanese with aid of western classical canon.

well, there's a lot of japanese music that quotes & incorporates canonical classical music, just as there is a lot of music that does the same everywhere. I very much doubt the artists were aware of the presence of this music in the west where, even now, it is still in the margins. as is still the case in japan. prior to the new one, 3776 was basically invisible if you weren't already following this stuff.

I'm guessing akira simply thinks these things sound cool. if you've heard the earlier versions of the tracks on the unmixed eps, they are certainly less dense even if they are essentially the same songs. the extra stuff got layered in to help create the transitions from track-to-track, giving it its dense, disorienting character. which I love.

it's also my album of the year.

" The production is such a mesh of genres that it sounds like a logical conclusion to music "

― 57mg/20floz

wow what a backhanded compliment, i don't want music to be "logical" or to conclude!

fortunately i don't really get either of those things from the record

yeah, it is more like... a collage of things that sound cool together! not to downplay the work involved because it is significant but the album is kinda messy too. this is one of the things I like about it! imo it's like a fun dj mix, I don't really hear it as a grand lab experiment fusing east and west at all.