The J-Pop Thread

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

cute song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SCbb297oJM

absolutely love the new yuki single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSVWpPK8yaY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDd2gQWYRv8

Kids, don’t try the 🧠 in the microwave thing at home yeah?

whoa, gooooood vid

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

haven't paid attention to Dempa for a while, had no idea who most of the girls were (lol) and the song wasn't very denpa until it suddenly was. awesome that Mirin is married and still an "idol" at (looks it up) age 34!

Yeah I think this is an introduction to the new line-up

yeah, I saw they became, like... DMP-10 recently, heh

that's pretty cool about mirin. wonder if those factoids are still taboo with the otaku?

dunno, maybe Dempa otaku are less subhuman than the others? i hope so.
reading up about it Mirin married the guy who writes & draws her fav manga, is a twitch streamer as well as an idol and is currently pregnant. living that otaku life to the fullest!
also Pinky is 9 years younger than Mirin wtf

yep, pretty cool that mirin is marrying a mangaka. I'm prob mostly just buying into the hype but dempagumi did always come off as pretty legit to me, this interview with neum probably my fave example:

https://asianbeat.com/en/icon/yumeminemu-1.html

lyrical school's new album Wonderland came out last week and it's really great, consistently creative kitchen-sink pop-rap. "fantasy" is on it, here's the other singles which are all just as cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b9OQfimGXI

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcZ74O53AOc

those are cool

for anyone interested the French label that has put out Haru Nemuri, Suiyobi no Campanella, Charisma.com etc LPs in the past has a 2LP Oomori Seiko set out at the moment. only 500 copies pressed, just got mine in the post this morning.
https://specific.bandcamp.com/album/alchemy

Nice. They're also selling all 56 of their digital releases for €8.50?!

noticed that on the Campanella release page.. that release is just pay-whatever-you-want for the files. Anyway thanks I'm gonna check some of this out.

just did represses of the nemuri records too

still kinda hurts to think about how charisma.com turned out after that sick first record

keep going back to this new dempagumi single. looks like hyadain wrote it, which man, of course he did. hope there's more...

have we talked about Atarashii Gakko no Leaders yet?
I love their cartoonish energy, how much fun they seem to be having.
I believe they do all that insane choreography themselves too?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3venzR3TnQ

thanks for that. i love it. i feel a tokyo jihen influence