This Side of Japan: September 2018

Japanese music found on YouTube, from Koutei Camera Girl Drei, Rinne Yoshida and more

For this column, I try my best to share a range of Japanese music that YouTube tracks for me, and yet it’s inevitable for the bulk of my finds to be idol records. I certainly blame the results on my own interests skewing far more into what’s coming out from the idol community than, say, the country’s indie-rock scene. But it’s arguably proof that it’s also responsible for a wide variety of exciting pop music, enough to fill spaces such as these features almost solely on what’s being released from there.

So it only makes sense for an online publication like Pop’n’Roll to be launched this month. While many Japanese music sites post about the idol scene within its broader coverage of general music news, Pop’n’Roll dedicate its space solely on content about idols. What separates it apart further from both major publications and idol-specific fan sites is the editorial board, with editor-in-chief Yufu Terashima assisted by Mizuki Hasegawa of Tsuri Bit and Rana Matsui of Kirameki Anforent. It’s truly idol media by and for idols.

A month after its launch, the contents of Pop’n’Roll so far resemble other sites like Natalie with its daily news posts and live coverage. A promising feature to come, though, are the special interviews done by the editors. They may sometimes ask typical questions like about pre-show routines, but it can also lead to very candid responses and insights with idols chatting with another fellow idol. Here’s one favorite pull quote: “This might sound very selfish, but if I’m solo, everyone will all watch me. But if I’m in a group, there are also more members on stage, and I want people to only look at me in that kind of setting.”

As mentioned, this month will include some idol material. Here are this month’s Japanese music finds from YouTube.

Gang Parade: “Can’t Stop”

single | T-Palette

Gang Parade ushers in autumn with a release that sounds a lot more modest from the usually rambunctious idol group, who previously led a farewell with a blast of punk and opened its new era with a set of melodramatic strings. But the group’s new, wistful sentiment is a welcome one as it ponders more about the long run. That faint whistle of a synth in the chorus surely helps provide the song with something sweet to hold on to.

Koutei Camera Girl: “Harbor”

New Way of Lovin’ | Tapestok

After its initial disbandment a few years back, EDM-rap idol group Koutei Camera Girl has been reformed into different splintered factions. The Drei unit’s latest mini album, New Way of Lovin’, posits the unit as a more serious group of the KouteCa umbrella with its dance productions and pop songs beating more earnest. The slow-burning tech-house beat of this single inspires some of the most acrobatic cadences in the members’ raps, which makes way for one emotional EDM-pop vocal line toward the end.

Neo Japonism: “Carry On”

single | Leadi Inc.

Blame the group adapting a lot of live-show elements straight into its full-length album from the summer, Neo Glamorous, but Neo Japonism’s “Carry On” seems more like an elaborate try to frame its image closer to a hard-rock band than a simple alt-idol group. The single still throws in live-show-ready hooks in its chorus. Yet not only does the group double down on its thrashing guitars, it also goes away with the twee synths running behind some of the songs of Neo Glamorous, and it make for a different feel in approach.

Rinne Yoshida: “Find Me!”

Find Me! EP | Victor

Earlier this year, Rinne Yoshida worked with an impressive pack of producers for her debut, Seventeen, and the young model-turned-singer now enlisted Sky-Hi for a new single. The AAA resident hands in a song for her that showcases both Yoshida’s hip-hop cool and R&B ambitions on display in her album, all supported by a fizzy yet shifty future-bass beat. The single also includes a seismic remix by De De Mouse, who also contributed to Seventeen.

Sakura Ebi’s: “Shakunetsu To Ice Cream”

single | 446 Division & SDR

Sakura Ebis’s latest single may be more relaxed in sound as the synth-charged beat of its previous release winds to a much looser guitar-pop, but the girls can’t take a break just yet with summer approaching its final days. Melting ice cream resembles more of a sand clock in this song, with time dwindling for girls to confess to their summer crush. The soft innocence charms as much as it solidly reflects how it feels during the tail end of this season.

Yonige: “Doudemo Yokunaru”

House | Warner Music Japan

The alt-rock duo leaned into boredom and aimlessness that filled life as a youth in summer single “Revolver,” and Yonige delivers a more comforting song about that same dissatisfaction in “Doudemo Yokunaru,” the lead single for the band’s solid House EP. Arisa Ushimaru’s flat sigh gives such a fitting voice to that state of nothingness while those whistles uplifts the song just right.

You Kikkawa & PaiPai Dekami: “Saikou No Onna”

single | Universal Music Japan

PaiPai Dekami hands in one playful pop-rock to lighten up You Kikkawa, whose past couples singles have sung about rather serious matters. Not only do the addition of horns and the overall jolly rhythm in “Saikou No Onna” make for a fun collaboration, the song’s silly premise really loosens up Kikkawa to fool around as a charmingly ditzy character. And Dekami resides as the reliable sidekick, assisting the star’s flubbing of wise idioms with the needed punchline.

Yufu Terashima: “Kimi Ni Toropitaina”

single | Teichiku Music

Yufu Terashima’s still a full-time idol while she presides over Pop’n’Roll as editor-in-chief, and she’s pre-rolling a new single, “Kimi Ni Toropitaina,” not so long after her newly released full-length album, Kimi Ga Chiru. Her late-night synth-pop daydream once again glows with a retro sheen, which befits her more classic idol personality that occupies this “not a girl, not yet a woman” type of character.

More Japanese music from September…

• Interesting media tie-ups of the month: Aimyon warms hearts with her signature acoustic pop for the drama Kemono Ni Narenai Watashitachi; E-girls’s love hangs by a thread for the romance film Perfect World: Kimi To Iru Kiseki; Indigo La End looks back at a relationship with melancholy for Hokorobi Gokko; Kyary Pamyu Pamyu hands in a fizzy entry for anime movie Sora no Kanata; Polkadot Stingray provides speedy rock for mystery film Sma-Pho Otoshita Dake Nanoni
• Half of BiSH dropped solo projects this month. The member who stirred up the most noise was definitely Ayuni D with her band PEDRO, which she leads as its singer and bassist, and her lead single “Jiritsu Shinkei Shucchouchu” excites, especially if you’re a fan of Ayuni’s work with BiSH, such as “Honto Honki.” Cent Chihiro Chitti covered Ginza Boys’s “Yoru Ooji To Tsuki No Hime” with Regal Lily for her debut, and Aina the End brought to life a song, “Kienaide,” she wrote when she was 18.
• DAOKO’s new song, “Owaranai Sekaide,” sounds rather comfortable in its chart-ready pop styling, at least after hearing the range of skills showcased in her last album, Thank You Blue. It nevertheless shines with emotion, thanks to her tried-and-true chatty whispers as well as the rising chorus that takes what she learned from “Uchiage Hanabi.”
• Zen-La-Rock, G. RINA and Chinza Dopeness returns with its second collaborative single as FNCY. Drifting away from the chill retro-funk of its preceding track, “Silky” features the three vibe off the ghastly yet sweet synth melody pulled from Ghost Town DJ’s “My Boo.”
• Kinoko Teikoku’s fuzzy yet weepy alt-rock, the band’s bread and butter, still goes down pretty easy in its new album, Time Lapse. Lead tracks “Yume Miru Koro Wo Sugitemo” and “Kinmokusei No Yoru” are a good glimpse of what to expect.
• Momoiro Clover Z’s second release out of its monthly singles campaign continues to revamp the group’s identity after the departure of one of its key members. The four fills the scrappy punk number with a loose meta feel that aims to re-introduce each individual.
• It might be a bit difficult to parse from Passcode’s trademark sound of digitized metalcore, but the group gets a bit wistful in its new single, “Tonight.” Whereas another act might have leaned into the private mood of its chorus, soft and subtle were never in the four’s vocabulary to begin with.
• While I still need to revisit Yahyel’s album, Human, after recently seeing the name pop up in my feed more and more, the band put out a new single, “Tao,” perhaps to keep up with the increase in demand. The song cranks the cold, searing beat work heard on earlier singles into something more sinister.
• After years of contributing music for idols, Seiko Oomori introduced her own idol group ZOC which she not only makes music for but also participates in as the group’s “co-conspirator.” The intro video has the members performing along to “Zoc Jikkenshitsu,” a track off of the Oomori’s newest album, Kusokawa Party.