Make Believe Melodies Logo

Category Archives: Music @ja

New Jesse Ruins: “Laura Is Fading”

Posted on by

Finally, Tokyo trio Jesse Ruins’ debut album will come out on May 21 via Lefse Records. In advance of the album A Film, the imprint has released a new song called “Laura Is Fading” from the group, which you can hear below. It’s more immediate than many of the songs Jesse Ruins has played before, mostly because the song wastes little time building atmosphere, “Laura Is Fading” introducing a drum bit from the 13-second mark. The beat brings to mind “Dream Analysis,” especially when it really hits it stride midway through and even more so near the end when it kicks up and sprints to the end.

Turned Up: Mioriyuri’s Plastic Feather

Posted on by

“Hey! Fake ass Japanese! Listen to real Japanese girls shit before you guys lie!!” This was a tweet by Tokyo hip-hop duo Mioriyuri aimed at BenZel, the most fake pair of adolescent Japanese girls making music today. Still, reading the background story about Mioriyuri makes one raise an eyebrow post-BenZel – the duo are sisters, made up of Yuri and Miori (get the name???), the prior being 23 and the latter being a high school student. Tough to swallow, yeah? Same here – which is why I e-mailed the pair asking if they did, in fact, live in Tokyo. “Yes we do live in Tokyo 🙂 日本人だよｗ,” they wrote back. I’m going to take their word – and hope it’s true, because they’ve put together a hell of a debut album in Plastic Feather, an 11-song collection of beats that would sound great paired with rapping, but stand strong by themselves.

I also asked Miori and Yuri what artists inspired the music on Plastic Feather, and their lists are revealing – Miori takes cues from the likes of Lex Luger, Seiho and Yasutaka Nakata, while sister Yuri ups m-flo, Lil Sad and Lil-B-associate Keyboard Kid as just some inspirations. All of those influences shine through on this album, as the tracks here split the difference between heavy-hitting Southern Rap and swirling psychedelics. A song like “Miti” features a snapping beat begging for inclusion on a Bricksquad mixtape, but the duo offset the hard-hitting percussion with synths that swirl about and lend a slightly softer edge to the song. Their best songs strike this balance – the dizzying Nakata-esque construction of “Twinkiez,” the synth-drunk stumble of “Night In Osaka,” and the woozy “Cassettetapes n Cake” which is only a few notches away from “The Age Of Information” beat. What separates Mioriyuri from other producers in Japan, though, is the menace they bring to some of the songs on this album. “You Are Still Inside Me” pulses with unease, the pair matching the slowly unfolding beat with distorted voices breathing underneath. “Love Like Ice,” meanwhile, turns a sampled line like “all night baby/all night baby/baby love me love” into a mechanical command. The beats here could be fire on a mixtape – but they also standout in the Japanese beat scene, and congeal into one of the strongest albums of the year in this country. Get it on iTunes, or listen to some tracks here.

New Cuushe: “I Love You”

Posted on by

Flau recording artist Cuushe has a new album out this summer, and she has a European tour going on…right now. This is all great news, as Cuushe most certainly deserves it following the heck of a 2012 she had. But I really just want to talk about her new song “I Love You,” especially the second half of it. The first half is pretty enough – a spritely bounce leading into Cuushe’s vocals swirling over themselves, the whole track seeming to be a little more lively than any of the new material she put out last year while still sounding like a very specific headspace. Then…the midpoint of “I Love You” comes and just bursts into a simple refrain repeated on loop until the song fizzles out – “I love you,” Cuushe intones, the music picking up in urgency ever so slightly. It’s a basic sentence, but the repetition coupled with the directness of the delivery makes it sound far more dramatic than it should be, a big revelation after Cuushe spent half the song muffling her own voice. Listen below.

New Post Modern Team: Nite Life Lounge EP

Posted on by

Kansai outfit Post Modern Team’s first song made available to the world’s ears was a little ditty called “Never Let You Down.” It was one of 2012’s finest tracks, a breezy song featuring one of the sweetest hooks to come out of Japan’s indie-pop scene – “never let you down,” they sang, like whispering into a lover’s ear. It was such a sentimental start – and a high peak – that it has gotten hard to remember nearly everything that has come after has bit a lot sadder. Despite sounding upbeat as heck, “Heartbreak” was still about heartbreak, while cuts like “She Does Something To Me” were about unrequited love. Now comes a new EP on Ano(t)raks called Nite Life Lounge, and it might be the outfit’s most bummer-worthy set of songs yet. It also is another example of how good these guys are with just some guitars and drums.

All three tracks here are as simple as everything else Post Modern Team have done before, but they’ve proven that’s not a bad thing and simple repetition can heighten the emotions at stake. The title track sets the scene in a disco, and the main character is having “good times” but something happens where said protagonist needs to make a decision – set against surprisingly dramatic playing from the group. How it ends, we don’t know, but it sure sounds good. The other two songs are a bit more outright about their moods – “Fade Away,” the band’s best stab at shoegaze yet, features the line “thinking about those high school days” and it becomes pretty clear it’s a track about thinking about good times…”before you fade away,” which adds an ominous touch to the song. “Betterdays” is pretty clear from the titles, but the music itself is the closest Post Modern Team come to new sonic territory, as it features a build-up towards something, even if the conclusion isn’t anything huge (plus, the vocals sound like the dude from Built To Spill). Get it here or listen below.

Happy To Have You: Dustin Wong And Takako Minekawa’s “Party On A Floating Cake”

Posted on by

Dustin Wong – formerly of frantic Baltimore outfit Ponytail and also Ecstatic Sunshine, and currently operating as a solo artist signed to American label Thrill Jockey – recently moved to Tokyo. Which means…he’s fair game for us at Make Believe Melodies! His first bit of new material since relocating in Japan’s capital comes as part of a special collaboration with longstanding artist Takako Minekawa, which has resulted in an album due out in May. “Party On A Floating Cake” is the first hint of what to expect, and it’s predictably pretty (and mesmerizing, like the above video). Wong himself operates much as he does on his solo albums, creating whimsical yet precise guitar loops and slowly expanding them. What’s new for him is the inclusion of a voice other than his own, here provided by Minekawa. She drifts through the fantastical music, her words hanging between the notes and adding an extra dreamy layer to the song. Listen above.