The J-Pop Thread

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.

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

I'm fine with music concluding, gives me a chance to catch up!

oh man this is wonderful. thanks for the heads up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-CML7Afw_o

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-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXSCR7vpF28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqzIuiLBBc4

nice creepycute MV for a song from the recent Maison Book Girl album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtrx_eov524

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

this record rules

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.

Title track, WOW WOW WAR and Go Out are all brilliant. I guess focus isn't really their watchword and I can respect that

yehhh really loved freestyle zenbu too

on constant repeat :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eevf7k8Chps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqBUTHdZa-Q

really enjoying these

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrggLg_hGE0

some kind of new peak for mashup pop?

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku5-YnZwe7o

i like these singles from kalen anzai a lot

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.

finally got around to the dempagumi.inc album and i agree about those being highlights. still adore "inochi no yorokobi" too

An EP appeared on Spotify last Friday too. Not sure what that’s about. Haven’t had a chance to listen yet.

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.

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

prominent p-model sighting @ 0:37! wish this sounded more like p-model tho.

toriena goes digital hardcore/breakcore/prob some other things with 'core' at the end:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0IKpDSa4UJRYexL2bW1oGU?si=ybzk5I5ISBetyNdgu1xDSA

Definitely enjoyed that Toriena album!

Here's CHAI with a cover of Mariya Takeuchi's Plastic Love, ie the song that started this thread.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhkQgyxzRzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvB9WaEzF9Q

i don't know if i exactly like this but it's an impressive level of kitchen sink chaos