As I write this, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and Japan is awaiting the dawn of the not-remotely-authoritarian-sounding Reiwa Era. Here’s a round-up of the music that has grabbed my attention during the first few months of the year. Some of it’s great, some of it belongs in the “shows promise” category, and none of it is Suchmos. I’ve included Bandcamp and Soundcloud links where available.
Daymare Recordings
Friendship’s last album was one of my faves from 2017, and they’re still sounding just as pissed off here, although veteran sound engineer Koichi Hara has given their powerviolence assault added crispness and precision. The first 20 seconds of “Vertigo” are the most exciting thing I’ve heard so far this year – just listen to those drums! – and it barely lets up after that, before checking out after a mere 22 minutes. Why waste time when you can go straight in for the kill?
AAAMYYY – Body
Friendship’s last album was one of my faves from 2017, and they’re still sounding just as pissed off here, although veteran sound engineer Koichi Hara has given their powerviolence assault added crispness and precision. The first 20 seconds of “Vertigo” are the most exciting thing I’ve heard so far this year – just listen to those drums! – and it barely lets up after that, before checking out after a mere 22 minutes. Why waste time when you can go straight in for the kill?
Space Shower Music
After self-releasing a trio of cassette EPs, Amy Furuhara drops any pretence of being underground on her debut album. Body comes with a nebulous concept about the year 2615, but that doesn’t get in the way of some superior synth-pop, which sounds at times like Visions-era Grimes, and at others like Hikaru Utada at the peak of her Aaliyah phase. There’s a reasonable chance that Furuhara will go on to bigger, blander things, but for now she’s good company.
Haruomi Hosono – Hochono House
Speedstar Records
I’ve already reviewed this. The world needs new Hosono albums as much as it needs new ones by Paul McCartney, but I’m not going to begrudge him for having fun. This rework of his 1973 debut LP includes some uncanny virtual constructs and a few inspired makeovers (especially a Juana Molina-style take on “Fuku wa Uchi Oni wa Soto”). It’s hard to detect an overarching concept, though: it’s more a collection of intriguing experiments than a cohesive statement.
The Future Eve feat. Robert Wyatt – KiTsuNe / Brian the Fox
Chai – Punk
Flau
This sounds so incredible on paper – a long-gestating project teaming the electronic music pioneer formerly known as Tomo Akikawabaya with one of England’s greatest living musicians – that the end results feel a trifle underwhelming. More an extended remix suite than a genuine collaboration, KiTsuNe works and reworks a piece that first appeared on Wyatt’s Cuckooland, cladding the original in sheets of metal then gradually letting it slip away into an abyss of reverb.
This sounds so incredible on paper – a long-gestating project teaming the electronic music pioneer formerly known as Tomo Akikawabaya with one of England’s greatest living musicians – that the end results feel a trifle underwhelming. More an extended remix suite than a genuine collaboration, KiTsuNe works and reworks a piece that first appeared on Wyatt’s Cuckooland, cladding the original in sheets of metal then gradually letting it slip away into an abyss of reverb.
Otemoyan Record
I reviewed this for The Japan Times, and it’s been interesting to watch how it’s gone down overseas. By defining themselves in opposition to a concept that the rest of the world at least thinks it understands, Chai have offered a perfect hook for western journos – though to read some of the coverage, you’d think the band were the next Bikini Kill rather than a smart fusion of the Go-Gos, Devo and CSS. Pitchfork’s praise for Punk’s “bluntly feminist message” was just silly, but this is fantastic pop.
Hoge Tapes
OK, this actually came out at the tail end of 2018. Jap Kasai has clearly been sipping from the same grog as Foodman. His tracks are haphazard constructs of crude samples and parping MIDI instruments, delivered with all the panache and polish of a kindergarten crayon sketch. Ngagugu claims to get its inspiration from Awa-odori dancing and Chicago juke, though you'd be hard-pressed to spot the resemblance with either. Whatever: if this came on in a club, I’d probably lose my shit.
Foodman – ODOODO
Ikuro Takahashi – Shirienaimono to Zutto
An’archives
Underground veteran Ikuro Takahashi (Fushitsusha, LSD March, &c.) has amassed a substantial discography, and while I honestly couldn’t tell you how this compares, it’s a riveting set. He alternates between intensely focussed solo drum improv and eldritch electronics, only outstaying his welcome on “Handmade Oscillators.” Shirienaimono to Zutto is given added poignancy by the fact it was created for performances with his late partner, dancer Yoko Muronoi, who passed away in 2017.
Black Boboi – Agate
Kohei Amada – Kyogokuryu-sōkyoku “Shinshunfu”
OK, this actually came out at the tail end of 2018. Jap Kasai has clearly been sipping from the same grog as Foodman. His tracks are haphazard constructs of crude samples and parping MIDI instruments, delivered with all the panache and polish of a kindergarten crayon sketch. Ngagugu claims to get its inspiration from Awa-odori dancing and Chicago juke, though you'd be hard-pressed to spot the resemblance with either. Whatever: if this came on in a club, I’d probably lose my shit.
Mad Decent
Speaking of Foodman, Nagoya’s finest continues to release music at a furious pace, tweaking his approach according to the M.O. of whichever label he’s working for at the time. Not surprisingly, this EP for Diplo’s Mad Decent imprint is more club-ready than recent releases for Sun Ark and Palto Flats. Yet even when he’s riding a straightforward 4/4 beat or cheekily nodding towards EDM tropes, Takahide Higuchi’s schtick is so distinctive that you couldn’t mistake him for anybody else.
An’archives
Underground veteran Ikuro Takahashi (Fushitsusha, LSD March, &c.) has amassed a substantial discography, and while I honestly couldn’t tell you how this compares, it’s a riveting set. He alternates between intensely focussed solo drum improv and eldritch electronics, only outstaying his welcome on “Handmade Oscillators.” Shirienaimono to Zutto is given added poignancy by the fact it was created for performances with his late partner, dancer Yoko Muronoi, who passed away in 2017.
Bindividual
Supergroups seldom amount to more than the sum of their parts, and this trio is no exception. Songwriter-producers Utena Kobayashi, Ermhoi and Julia Shortreed are undeniably talented, but their debut mini-album as Black Boboi tends to default to the kind of tastefully monochromatic mood music that proliferated during the ’90s trip-hop boom. When they shake off the narcotic daze on “I’m Just Into,” it hints at what they might accomplish if they start letting their hair down. Here’s hoping.
EM Records
The latest instalment in EM Records’ explorations of Japanese folklore is small but immaculately formed. The 1970 recording on the A-side starts with a duet between Amada’s koto and Irish harp, then blossoms into a sublime, weirdly unplaceable ensemble piece incorporating shō, taiko and minyo vocals. On the flip, Sugai Ken transforms the material with characteristic subtlety and skewed logic, creating a companion remix that’s every bit as transfixing as the original.
Kahjooe – Koushi, Shitsunai
Kozobutu Records
It’s like a Zen koan: if your label’s first digital-only release is a collection of lo-fi instrumentals released with zero promo, will anybody hear it? Even if it’s no more than a quiet sigh amidst a hurricane of indifference, Koushi, Shitsunai exerts a strange power. Swathed in ambient noise, Kahjooe’s sparse guitar miniatures dimly recall Loren Mazzacane Connors and John Fahey’s ’90s output, and when he introduces an asthmatic organ and hushed vocals into the mix, it’s downright spooky.
Meitei – Komachi
Métron Records
While Japanese artists tend to get way too much credit for their innate grasp of wabi-sabi and negative space, Meitei’s music shows a genuine engagement with traditional aesthetics, and what he calls “the lost Japanese mood.” It’s an approach that risks sounding like reactionary guff, just like the ingredients he wields (crystalline synths, field recordings, wave sounds) could easily have descended into New Age mulch. The line between beautiful and banal is gossamer-thin, and Komachi gets it just right.
Dos Monos – Dos City
Kozobutu Records
It’s like a Zen koan: if your label’s first digital-only release is a collection of lo-fi instrumentals released with zero promo, will anybody hear it? Even if it’s no more than a quiet sigh amidst a hurricane of indifference, Koushi, Shitsunai exerts a strange power. Swathed in ambient noise, Kahjooe’s sparse guitar miniatures dimly recall Loren Mazzacane Connors and John Fahey’s ’90s output, and when he introduces an asthmatic organ and hushed vocals into the mix, it’s downright spooky.
Métron Records
While Japanese artists tend to get way too much credit for their innate grasp of wabi-sabi and negative space, Meitei’s music shows a genuine engagement with traditional aesthetics, and what he calls “the lost Japanese mood.” It’s an approach that risks sounding like reactionary guff, just like the ingredients he wields (crystalline synths, field recordings, wave sounds) could easily have descended into New Age mulch. The line between beautiful and banal is gossamer-thin, and Komachi gets it just right.
Deathbomb Arc
The spirits of Buddha Brand and Simi Lab hang over this debut effort from Dos Monos, a self-proclaimed “experimental hip hop” act with a distinctly old-school bent. If you’re a fan of MCs spitting outlandish verses over discordant jazz samples and heffalump boom-bap – and who isn’t, really? – then Dos City is enormous fun. And much as I’m still trying to parse what (if any) the political message of “Abdication b4 he dies” is supposed to be, I can’t help but applaud the chutzpah.
Moss Archive
It’s worth noting how many of the releases mentioned here are on overseas labels – a way for Japanese artists to reach beyond the tiny audiences they play to at home. Granted, the 50-edition cassette release for Rewritten by the Future isn’t likely to create much of a splash, but Masaki Kudo’s solo project deserves all the listeners it gets. He covers a lot of ground here, and while the influences are obvious, the way he combines them isn’t, at times sounding like Vini Reilly jamming with Chrislo Haas.
Wool & The Pants – Wool in the Pool
PPU
Having been “discovered” by Harajuku hipsters Big Love and played at Fuji Rock (albeit on one of the teeniest stages), Wool & The Pants already have a bit of visibility in Japan, but getting their music released internationally is a savvy move. If they scrubbed up a bit, Wool & The Pants could probably tap into the City Pop 2.0 audience, yet they’d be sacrificing what makes them so appealing. Like the best lo-fi music, the ramshackle, mumbled quality of Wool in the Pool is essential to its charm.
