PLAYLIST UPDATE
salasa - Yokan
It is rare that an authentic, wholly domestically produced and performed Neo Soul song comes from anywhere other than the scene where it originated - and that’s OK, we don’t need the market overcrowded with dervative music. But there are examples where the instrumentation, vocals, or composition makes such a song stand out even among the work that influenced it - Nearly the whole of Kan Sano’s Ghost Notes, or Dramatic Love by iri and WONK, to name a few. Here in 2024 we get yet another, an absolutely outstanding track and the opener to salasa’s second full length album, “Golden Child”. The track in question, “Yokan”, was produced by uin1, who has been working quietly in the background, as usual, of the Japanese R&B scene for the better part of 2024. It will be hard to ignore him after this album, on which he shares 2 of the 9 tracks. The striking thing is that his compositions stand toe-to-toe with the other producers - the unstoppable mastermind of the w.a.u music collective, Kota Matsukawa, and Nishida Shuta, the guitarist and composer who worked with Kaho Nakamura on her epic collection of anthems, “NIA”. No doubt new listeners will be raving about the Neo City Pop ensemble track, “Rhythm”, or the singles Roulette and ｆｅｅｌｄｏｗｎ, but the one-two punch of “Yokan” and “Kumo ga Warau Toki”, the latter of which was performed live with Shin Sakura prior to release (though I do not believe he is on the album recording), will be felt for the rest of the year.
Yuga - Tokyo Breathing
Like much timeless music, Yuga and Takuro Okada’s new album, “Love Deluxe” exists in many different eras simultaneously. It is at once filled with the psychedelic sounds of the late 60s while also being informed by funk and soul of the early 70s, to the point where you can almost smell the smoke curling out of the studio. Yuga’s exploration of love in all its forms is that rare mix of beautiful vocals and melodies and absolutely filthy bass and funk that the key figures of “Neo Soul” would reach for and achieve over and over throughout the 90s, most recently perfected in the late 2010s by Cleo Soul and the band SAULT. Even among the new songs, it is difficult to pick just one - all of the usual playlists have already picked up on the soaring, “Petillant” while the title track is gained critical acclaim from music author Yuji Shibasaki as a modern underground nu-disco hit. I had to go with “Tokyo Breathing”, which kicks off the album’s third and final act with an seductive vocals and hypnotic snare. Listen to the album above via Spotify.
Fried Banana Shop + JU!iE - In My Room
The second w.a.u homerun this week, the music collective’s all-purpose band Fried Banana Shop serves up a mellow City Pop tune for the talented singer JU!iE, whose previous work includs the pop song “Polaroid” produced by A.G.O, “i don’t think i like you anymore” sung in Mandarin and produced by Canadian-born producer tennyson2, and a handful of SUKISHA songs - most recently this uh… very SUKISHA-coded cat music. Other collaborators have included Emi Okamoto and Gimgigam, proving her well-connected to the Neo City Pop scene. “In My Room” is another of her more mature vocal performances, and includes verses in both Japanese and Mandarin. Listen above.
WONK + Toshinobu Kubota - Life Like This
The experimental group WONK, whose style is mostly indebted to jazz and hip hop but extends far beyond, has produced some incredible collaborations for the Neo City Pop scene including the aforementioned “Dramatic Love” from iri’s “Juice” album. This week they’ve linked with another legend, the one-time king of Japanese R&B, Toshinobu Kubota. Kubota is no stranger to a collab - you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t know his mega-hit “LA LA LA LOVE SONG3”, which featured the arguably more legendary supermodel Naomi Campbell, of all people. It may have been 30 years since that track, but the storied singer has been thoroughly active throughout that time and can still turn out a jam, if “Life Like This” is any indication.
Show Chick Boy + Sam is Ohm - Close to me
Trackmaker and DJ Sam is Ohm has had a busy summer, first with “I call your name” featuring the singer MoMo, then “Juice”, with vocalists Smartt and Varria, the latter a Japanese singer of Filipino heritage. “Close to me” is a new collaboration with artist Show Chick Boy, an original 2000s-style R&B tune with a late-summer flare to follow up their New Jack Swing ode, “I Wanna Be Your Lover”, released this past May.
YAMORI - Matenrou
Singer and beatboxer YAMORI joins with the electronic dance artist TAAR4 for his new single, “Matenrou”. While a standard house-inspired track on its face, YAMORI’s are unique in that they integrate his own beatboxing in lieu of (or to suppliment) traditional percussion. TAAR’s chopping of the vocals is first class, to the point where you might only catch it’s YAMORI making those noises unless you listen very close!
FLEUR + DJ Yen - CUE :)
The latest in a series of club inspired tunes from the R&B singer FLEUR, “CUE :)” has the artist exploring an Amapiano-style house rhythm, courtesy of DJ Yen, who previously provided beats for several of Varria’s songs (mentioned above).
RUNG HYANG - Rerirou
Brand new single from the singer and composer RUNG HYANG, co-written and produced by Shingo S., her first solo release since the “CLASSIC” EP in May.
INIMILE - Day N Night
The second single from the artist formerly known as DAACKY under the name INIMILE.
pige + natsuki - Summer salt
The beatmaker and singer pige (pronounced like pea-gay) comes through with a late summer album filled with jazzy lo-fi beats and soft piano melodies. The album features the previously released single “eyes” with maako, and 6 new songs including two with the vocalist natsuki. Listen above.
THE WASH
-Honestly it would be difficult to fit CHiLi GiRL’s new album, a compilation of singles from the past several years from the singer and traditional shamisen-player’s repertoire of post-Shibuya kei5 tracks. The brightly colored tunes recall 80s and 90s manga and anime as they were imagined by bands like ROUND TABLE, and are painfully light on the shamisen string instrument. It features one brand new song, “FLY”, which was released in conjunction with CHiLi GiRL and MPC GIRL USAGI literally flying to the United States for a brief tour. Written by and featuring Okii Reiji of the band TWEEDEES and earlier J-Pop act Cymbals, the track is as authentic Shibuya-kei as you can get in this day and age, despite hints of traditional Japanese instrumentation here and there. I think I finally understand the lack of shamisen though - it’s hard to dance around on stage doing an idol act and then turn around and perform a wild shamisen solo! I’m just saying, if you have international ambitions, the sort of people abroad who like this music would go absolutely NUTS if they heard more of the traditional sounds mixed in…
-Famed Neo City Pop and Denpa-artist Punipunidenki more than hints that they are romantically involved with the Jazz pianist and composer Kan Sano, once again delighting fans of the genre who, like me, pray for another (musical) collaboration.
FRESH VIEWS
It’s possible that I had no idea what the comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele were talking about when they asked, “You guys are familiar with vanity videos right?”, until now. Just as in that sketch, the artist confirmed she spent her entire savings on this video, and just as in that sketch, there’s, you know, swords and magic and stuff. Unlike that sketch though, the money did not run out and the song is pretty good! Starring ASOBOiSM and Saya6, who has previously appeared in one of ASOBOiSM’s label videos, the two engage in a visual metaphor for giving up a wack man. Watch above.
The price of music videos on my mind, what could a group of kids dancing in pineapple costumes cost?
I haven’t seen accompanying dancers in a live perfomance since that one iri concert!
Pronounced “you-een” as you can hear in his producer’s tag, “you-in love”, which he was cheeky enough to include on the opener to a soul album!
The Ninja-tune affiliated artist (via their Counter Records imprint) now appears to be based in Tokyo… be on the lookout for more tunes produced by him as the scene expands.
This song’s streaming numbers rival those of the R&B band Jodeci’s biggest hits… with the exception of Freek’n You, which gained the almighty anime bump.
Also notable for being a long-standing DJ and collaborator of iri’s
Wikipedia calls this, “Akishibu-kei”, where some artists copied the 2000’s style of Shibuya-key with cutesy lyrics, while others were retroactively labeled with the genre.
Who also, ironically, belongs to a comedy duo named Lalande.