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
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 14 September 2019 11:29 (four years ago) link
ok reading up on the new album's concept and wtf!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saijikiso 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
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 14 September 2019 11:57 (four years ago) link
er, in days x 12 seconds
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 14 September 2019 12:01 (four years ago) link
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.
― gman59, Saturday, 14 September 2019 12:06 (four years ago) link
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
― sock fingering, baby (rushomancy), Saturday, 14 September 2019 14:31 (four years ago) link
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
― gman59, Saturday, 14 September 2019 15:36 (four years ago) link
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
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 14 September 2019 15:51 (four years ago) link
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!
― sock fingering, baby (rushomancy), Saturday, 14 September 2019 16:14 (four years ago) link
Amazing. Thank you all
― gman59, Saturday, 14 September 2019 16:32 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIOiwV1qj-k
this is v v good
― wario in the streets, waluigi in the sheets (m bison), Saturday, 14 September 2019 17:35 (four years ago) link
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
― ufo, Saturday, 14 September 2019 21:40 (four years ago) link
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?
― ufo, Saturday, 14 September 2019 21:44 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNFzrkp1ME
the clapping at the beginning of this is straight up steve reich's "clapping music"
― wario in the streets, waluigi in the sheets (m bison), Tuesday, 17 September 2019 02:10 (four years ago) link
ok it's v v v close https://youtu.be/lzkOFJMI5i8?t=20
― wario in the streets, waluigi in the sheets (m bison), Tuesday, 17 September 2019 02:12 (four years ago) link
(many xps)+1 for the Dempagumi.Inc track Jeff W posted the other week.
― breastcrawl, Wednesday, 18 September 2019 17:55 (four years ago) link
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.
― frogbs, Thursday, 19 September 2019 13:53 (four years ago) link
Gonna be in Tokyo for a couple weeks next weekend. Any clubs around town good guarantees of seeing a pop act?
― 57mg/20floz, Saturday, 21 September 2019 05:05 (four years ago) link
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
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Friday, 27 September 2019 18:59 (four years ago) link
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.
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Friday, 27 September 2019 19:03 (four years ago) link
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
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Monday, 30 September 2019 10:27 (four years ago) link
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 getshttps://open.spotify.com/album/1ikOY8ht1sAQAGuK5dTl4k
― ufo, Saturday, 23 November 2019 11:46 (four years ago) link
the polyrhythmic breakdown in "evil things" is astounding
― ufo, Saturday, 23 November 2019 11:58 (four years ago) link
Oh this sounds interesting! Thanks for the recommendation, ufo.
― fragglerock, Monday, 25 November 2019 03:15 (four years ago) link
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.
― 57mg/20floz, Wednesday, 11 December 2019 02:25 (four years ago) link
i still haven't really been able to wrap my head around it really, it's so dense with ideas
― ufo, Wednesday, 11 December 2019 02:41 (four years ago) link
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.
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Wednesday, 11 December 2019 23:29 (four years ago) link
― 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
― Agnes Motörhead (rushomancy), Wednesday, 11 December 2019 23:57 (four years ago) link
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.
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Thursday, 12 December 2019 00:15 (four years ago) link
I'm fine with music concluding, gives me a chance to catch up!
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 12 December 2019 11:07 (four years ago) link
oh man this is wonderful. thanks for the heads up.
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Thursday, 12 December 2019 12:48 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-CML7Afw_o
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 11 January 2020 10:48 (four years ago) link
recently got around to last year's final Koutei Camera Girl Drei releases (Dawn By Flow and the Be There EP) and they're very very good, wish i'd heard them in time for eoy stuff. Dawn By Flow adds in a dancehall influence to their pop-techno on a few tracks. it's not on youtube but i really recommend checking out "it's no go" which is a weird-but-great dancehall/drum & bass fusion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-pxZa-M7-khttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXSCR7vpF28https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqzIuiLBBc4
― ufo, Tuesday, 28 January 2020 19:42 (four years ago) link
nice creepycute MV for a song from the recent Maison Book Girl album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtrx_eov524
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 15 February 2020 21:39 (four years ago) link
Lol wow that's amazing!
The new You'll Melt More! album is out and sounding excellent so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIR31yk4cdc
― tangenttangent, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 09:37 (four years ago) link
this record rules
― nxd, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 10:05 (four years ago) link
The first half is their lovely brand of pop-punk and then the last few tracks are free reign for whatever weirdness you want to put at the end of a 70-minute album.
― tangenttangent, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 10:46 (four years ago) link
Title track, WOW WOW WAR and Go Out are all brilliant. I guess focus isn't really their watchword and I can respect that
― strangely hookworm but they manage ream shoegaze poetry (imago), Wednesday, 4 March 2020 13:31 (four years ago) link
yehhh really loved freestyle zenbu too
― nxd, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 14:21 (four years ago) link
on constant repeat :D
― nxd, Thursday, 5 March 2020 13:04 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eevf7k8Chpshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqBUTHdZa-Q
really enjoying these
― ufo, Friday, 6 March 2020 09:03 (four years ago) link
dempagumi.inc's "moshi moshi internet" (the second video there) is so intriguing, it feels quite retro but in a way i can't really place and it's kinda proggy too
― ufo, Friday, 6 March 2020 09:12 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrggLg_hGE0
some kind of new peak for mashup pop?
― ufo, Wednesday, 11 March 2020 14:34 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyhcardbgiA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku5-YnZwe7o
i like these singles from kalen anzai a lot
― ufo, Sunday, 15 March 2020 14:28 (four years ago) link
Nice of Dempagumi to drop their album internationally on my birthday. Moshi Moshi Internet and Nemadempa (which has been reworked) are the most radical things on it, and I’m slightly disappointed there isn’t more in that vein. Still an amazing collection though.
― Jeff W, Friday, 24 April 2020 00:59 (three years ago) link
finally got around to the dempagumi.inc album and i agree about those being highlights. still adore "inochi no yorokobi" too
― ufo, Tuesday, 19 May 2020 11:33 (three years ago) link
An EP appeared on Spotify last Friday too. Not sure what that’s about. Haven’t had a chance to listen yet.
― Jeff W, Tuesday, 19 May 2020 12:07 (three years ago) link
4s4ki’s stuff has been doing it for me lately, and this track in particular, which sounds a bit like if OPN went jpop
https://youtu.be/mQGEv3SgLQE
her full length is solid too. it’s all in spotify.
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Tuesday, 7 July 2020 15:58 (three years ago) link
hey look Ano is releasing solo stuff, I thought she might go full hikki after leaving YMM so pleasantly surprised
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqhVE_m1nfU
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Thursday, 3 September 2020 18:19 (three years ago) link
prominent p-model sighting @ 0:37! wish this sounded more like p-model tho.
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Thursday, 3 September 2020 23:28 (three years ago) link
toriena goes digital hardcore/breakcore/prob some other things with 'core' at the end:https://open.spotify.com/album/0IKpDSa4UJRYexL2bW1oGU?si=ybzk5I5ISBetyNdgu1xDSA
― (⊙_⊙?) (original bgm), Sunday, 27 September 2020 00:37 (three years ago) link