Make Believe Melodies Logo

Category Archives: Music @ja

New Berserker Children Club: “In The Sun”

Posted on by

“In The Sun” falls somewhere between the pleasant shoe-staring of “I Don’t Know” and the holy fire that was “Someday.” Berserker Children Club here embrace loud guitars and vocals that blur into the noise around it on “In The Sun,” resulting in a strong shoegaze song with a pop center. It is a marked improvement over “I Don’t Know,” thanks in part to how catchy those unintelligible words bubbling underneath are. And it comes with a strobing video too, which is very shoegazey (though not for those with epilepsy). Get the song here, or watch below.

Days Of Homemade J-Pop: Hisamokuden-Kow’s A Desktop Museum

Posted on by

Rare are the times when you stumble across a SoundCloud or Bandcamp page unironically tagging itself as J-Pop. Even rarer…finding an earnest stab at the outright poppy through these sites that isn’t terrible. There are certainly exceptions – everything on Maltine that goes by that, mostly – but try spending some time with that tag. Tochigi-based artist Hisamokuden-Kow falls into the category of making the good stuff. His debut EP A Desktop Museum is a bubbly, bright collection of songs unafraid to be as colorful as possible. Opener “Holland” sets the pace, and pretty much presents the case for or against liking Hisamokuden-Kow from the start. His actual music is chirpy electronics and drum machines tumbling over one another, sounding cheap but still energetic. The vocals, meanwhile, are a bit rougher, but he isn’t afraid to push himself…and he does cover his voice up with Auto-tune later in the track, which ends up sounding even better (shades of Yoshino Yoshikawa there).

It isn’t flawless – the third song, despite its buzzy background noise, veers too closely to J-Pop ballad territory. But then you listen to the stutter-stepping “Bass Basic,” and just how electric it is. EP highlight “Our Song” stands out because it is the one song here where Hisamokuden-Kow just completely lets technology run over his words, everything synthesizing perfectly into a hi-fi bit of pop. It is unabashed pop, and I dig it. Get it here, or listen below.

New Tricot: “Ochansensu-Su”

Posted on by

There are a handful of bands in Japan right now that have been hyped up in the last few years that are capable of good music but seem jussssssssssst short of being something really special. andymori was close, but chose the easy money rehashing indie-pop 101. Kinoco Hotel has the look and live show, but lacks a really great song to push them away from being a novelty. I’m still not sold on Akaiko-en. Pasupie, you are on your way. Tricot have skirted this ground before…they’ve released a handful of great songs in the past, but also never felt ready for the next level. Last month, they released the song “Oyasumi,” which finds them in standard Tricot mood – math-rock guitar playing (always a risk look) combined with overly dramatic choruses. It is a perfectly pleasant song…but that’s all.

Then came “Ochansensu-Su” this last week. The start-stop guitar, along with the pitter-patter drumming, it’s all there. But now the band isn’t overselling lyrics – all three members sing a single intelligible line together, breathlessly but with good delivery. The music, then, fluctuates between fast to slow segments, part technical showcase and part Tricot just having fun with their sound. Before, Tricot were too worried about making proper songs. Now, they just embrace all of their positive traits and come up with their best song to date. Watch above.

New For Tracy Hyde: All About Ivy EP

Posted on by

The first three songs on For Tracy Hyde’s All About Ivy are lovely indie-pop numbers. They continue the sound the group has been mostly working with over the past year, guitar-pop topped off by vocals sung in Japanese. There are individual elements in each song that jump out as especially impressive – the drumming in “World Noise Watch,” the plinky-plonky keyboard on “Portable Parade” – but overall those first trio of songs are just overall lovely indie-pop songs, more thought out than a lot of twee-leaning stuff in Japan this year. Those three songs would warrant a download (free!) all their own.

But then, “Halation.” To close out the All About Ivy EP, For Tracy Hyde has put together a dazzling number that doesn’t rely on stylistic departures (like the chillwave-flavored swirl of “Shady Lane Sherbet” and “Short Silent Sunset Film” or the rapping of “Summered Away”) that has marked the group’s highlights thus far in their career. “Halation” is just a tight indie-pop song – it features woozy moments (see the misty midpoint, or the shimmering part near the end), but those are just brief turns for a song otherwise powered by a rollicking drive and lead singer Azusa Suga’s “whoa-oh-ohs.” Watch the promotional video for it below.

New Ropes: “Panorama”

Posted on by

It’s bare – just a voice and some guitar. But, like may.e throughout this year, the duo Ropes manage to draw out a lot of power from this minimalist set-up. Whereas may.e turns simplicity into sonic ecstasy, Ropes deal in a sort of loving chilliness that is like a whisper to the ear. The main vocals rise and fall elegantly, eschewing any sort of flair in favor of a simple style. It gels well with the guitar playing, which is mostly just some acoustic picking. Yet at critical points, the guitar picks up in intensity, as if more than one note is being hit at the same time. They have a new mini-album out this week, and here’s a great intro to them. Watch above.