YMCK, like fellow Japanese artists Omodaka and the older material of 99 Letters, pulls off a rare thing – being able to make music based primarily around 8-bit sounds and turning it into something beyond novelty. “Sesetsu Shite Usetsu Shite” could be goofy novelty in the hands of someone more interested in playing Mega Man III than music, but YMCK have always put creating catchy pop ahead of simply slobbering over the noises made by a an old Game Boy (to be fair, their visual imagery is entirely devoted to pixels). Critically, they never suffocate their songs with blips and bloops, taking what they need to let the melodies and chorus come through. They are simple in the best way. Here, the key is that easy-breezy chorus, nothing more than the lead singer saying “turn left, turn right” a few times, but with lovely delivery. Listen above.
Category Archives: J-Pop
New Kyary Pamyu Pamyu: “Mottai Night Land”
So this is music blog, and I rarely spend too much time talking about music videos because I prefer for Make Believe Melodies to focus on the sounds themselves. I’m positive I’ve broken this self-imposed rule before…but I won’t do it here, for the new Kyary Pamyu Pamyu single “Mottai Night Land” for two reasons:
1. I’m afraid I would write several thousand words about it.
2. I’m still trying to work out my thoughts on it besides – WHOA, this might be the most Kyary video Kyary has released yet.
You should watch it on loop like I am, and maybe read the Tumblr later, where I’ll think out.
Anyway…here’s an actual cut of Kyary’s latest single, “Mottai Night Land!” It is the least immediately thrilling single she’s released in 2013 – the three tracks that came before this one, though, were stone-cold pop killers though, so no shame in that – but over time it reveals some charms. Mainly, the vocals here are fun, Kyary stretching out syllables more than ever before. And hey, nice chorus. Overall, it is pretty straightforward playroom pop from Yasutaka Nakata…but I love that, so I’m on board, even if I’m not geeking out like the first time I heard “Invader Invader.”
And damn that video.
New Tofubeats: “Don’t Stop The Music” Featuring Chisato Moritaka
Tofubeats already has one great album and a handful of well-produced singles for other artists under his belt this year…and, welp, he has another gem now with “Don’t Stop The Music.” Here, the Kobe producer embraces a more laid back structure compared to the often manic tracks on this year’s Lost Decade, letting the music here take it’s time to unfold. It is a strutting dance number that leaves plenty of space for guest vocalist Chisato Moritaka to do her singing. And she shines, especially on the chorus, where she knows just when to push her voice a little higher (see the little acid breakdown). Watch the video above.
Check The Credits: Izumi Makuro’s “Tokyo Kinkou Rosenzu” (Produced By Sugar’s Campaign)
Look, I don’t want to take anything away from Izumi Makuro. She sounds just fine here, rapping in a relaxed way that sounds effortless and certainly isn’t as, shall we say, acquired as other pop-rap outfits in Japan. If anything, it is easily compared to Her Ghost Friend, except with a more hip-hop bend. It’s good, but she wasn’t the reason I was drawn to this, even if a hook built around the idea of a “Tokyo suburbs map” is intriguing. The production here is handled by Sugar’s Campaign, a.k.a. Seiho and Avec Avec, a.k.a. two people who should be producing J-Pop singles off the strength of last year’s list-conquering number. This seems like a good first step. This is a laid-back groove, sounding ritzy enough for a penthouse suite but remaining funky enough not to end up in the lobby. Features some nice guitar too, and at the end one half of the group (Avec Avec maybe?) actually sings as this one fades away. Listen above.
Bunch Of Artists (Picnic Women, PARKGOLF, Osamu Ansai, Avec Avec) Remix Tofubeat’s Music
Do you feel that, hanging in the air? As chilly autumn winds start blowing in, so does the specter of year-end lists. Tofubeat’s first full-length album Lost Decade is a lock to land somewhere on Make Believe Melodies’ top albums list, and if you haven’t bought a copy yet, get on that. Maltine Records, who have been upping the Kobe producer for a while now, have assembled a crew of Japanese artists to remix songs from that album, and it is a tight collection all its own.
The reworks here take Tofubeat’s original ideas and take them…in most cases…into radically different directions. Producer Osamu Ansai stretches out the formerly party-ready “All I Wanna Do” into a hazy dream-pop number, turning the TGIF-worthy original into a surprisingly longing affair when surrounded by waves of synths. Though it doesn’t best the original mix (it’s my favorite track from Lost Decade, Okadada’s sped-up take on “Synthesizer” takes it to a more immediate place that will probably make many DJs across the country happy. Same goes for PARKGOLF’s synth-happy interpretation of the already-jittery “I Don’t Care.” Ventla takes the short, squiggly “Touch A” and…extends it into a 12-minute talk show that features, uhhhhhh maybe nothing from the original song, just a guy (Ventla?) talking the whole time. Oh, and Avec Avec flexes his pure-pop muscles on his remix of “No. 1.”
The best moments, though, come from totally off the wall musical reworks. The band OK?NO!!cover the peppy, straight-ahead pop of “So What!” and turn it into a jaunty indie-pop exercise that is a total sonic shift that manages to retain the original’s blissful vibe. Charlot creates a mega-mix of the album, stuffing every song into one ten-minute exercise that is surprisingly coherent for something so gimmicky. And then there is Picnic Women, who teams up with, errr, Justin Bieber for his remix (or just some vocal samples of the dashing Canadian). It sounds less like his usual footwork workouts and more like…jock jams, specifically this. Get the album here.