📩 Make Believe Mailer
This blog hasn’t been updated since 2020. Instead, I now write through a newsletter hosted on Substack. While there’s plenty of free content available, I also publish exclusive posts for paid subscribers. If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me — even just the price of a coffee helps keep the writing going. Thank you!
View More info- Make Believe Melodies’ Favorite 2019 Japanese Albums: #10 – #01#10 Wai Wai Music Resort WWMR 1 If total number of plays need to be considered for any favorites list, Wai Wai Music Resort ran…
- Make Believe Melodies’ Favorite 2019 Japanese Albums: #20 – #11#20 Chelmico Fishing Take a moment to appreciate how timing really is everything, and how many artists could have shot down a different path entirely…
- Make Believe Melodies’ Favorite 2019 Japanese Albums: #30 – #21#30 Snail’s House Alien Pop II + Alien Pop III Near the start of 2019, Yasutaka Nakata shared the theme song he composed for an…
- Make Believe Melodies’ Favorite 2019 Japanese Albums: #40 – #31#40 Universe Nekoko Kimi No Youni Ikiretara Bump into someone walking down the main shopping arcade in Koenji and you have pretty good odds that…
- Make Believe Melodies’ Favorite 2019 Japanese Albums: #50 – #41At some point this fall, Make Believe Melodies turned ten. I’d known this decade milestone was looming — mainly because 2019 also marked my tenth anniversary…
- New blackglassG: “Common Story” EPThe best releases on NC4K have a kind of out-of-body vibe going for them, with the sounds making up their dance tracks feeling just a…
- New Xinlisupreme: “J-Pop”So far in 2019, there have been two prominent J-pop songs about J-pop itself, at least to some degrees. Teenager SASUKE practically gives the industry…
- Higher Than The Stars: Belinda May’s “Everyday In Love”The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are calling it a day! Whatever SoundCloud rapper playing around with J-pop ideas or weirdo electronic texture lover…
- New Yunovation: “Hogaraka Ni”On the one hand — it remains incredible how much Yunovation can pull off with a melodica. The Osaka artist’s calling card is her proficiency…
✍️ Author’s Book

Perfume’s GAME (33 1/3 Japan)
by Patrick St. Michel
This book dives into the rise of Perfume and the creation of their groundbreaking 2008 album GAME, a defining moment in Japan’s techno-pop history. It explores the trio’s early struggles, the production process, and the legacy of the genre that shaped them.
Part of the 33 1/3 Japan series, this volume brings thoughtful insight into one of J-pop’s most influential works.
View on Amazon