Make Believe Melodies’ Top 50 Japanese Songs Of 2011: 20-11

20. The Brixton Academy “Two Shadows United”

The Brixton Academy have always played the role of overly earnest nightclub crawlers, guys who love evenings out on the town but also aren’t good at bottling up all those icky emotions, prone to letting them shoot out like just-uncorked champagne. Whereas Kido Yoji distracts from his ennui with super-groovable music, TBA’s brand of New Wave gets painted over in raw feelings, the member’s earnestness just as vital as their keyboards. But on “Two Shadows United” something strange happens – TBA turn sexy. This scented-candle burner sees the group bypass the club-friendly 80’s dance they’ve built their reputation on in favor of a simple beat, sparse bass and wispy synths that sounds like a bedroom jam. And I’m not talking sloppy 4 A.M. post-dubstep night hooking up resulting in awkward breakfasts – this is romantic, passionate, vulnerable fucking, the sort of thing RedTube has eradicated to a generation of horny teenagers. But man does love-fueled thrusting sound alive on “Two Shadows United,” complete with sexy title! As this is The Brixton Academy, sadness still hangs in the air – as indicated by the fragile synths ushering us into the song, TBA are focusing on a memory, “I miss you” being the line that punctuates it. But that just makes “Two Shadows” even hotter – that moment of physical Eros-approved love isn’t coming back, but what a memory.

LISTEN TO A SAMPLE HERE

19. NOKIES! “We Are News In The Dance Floor”

Upstart NOKIES! closed out 2011 by releasing two ho-hum ballads that seemed more at attracting vanilla major label ears, a forced maturity of the worst kind. Strange to think back in January and February when these kids burst onto the Kansai scene behind Pixie-Stick-powered indie pop that was unrepentantly youthful, taking the most spastic bits of Los Campesinos! while surveying a very crowded Japanese field (Sorrys! and The Chef Cooks Me) and deciding “let’s just do everything better than those guys!” “We Are News In The Dance Floor” is their defining moment, a head down, full-speed-ahead fireball that is so excited it even forgets proper grammar. NOKIES! set out to make their own “You! Me! Dancing!” and nailed all the elements that make that song a young-forever classic. “News” just exudes energy, brimming with the power of a case of Red Bull compared to a lot of the other artists in Japan adding cutesy howls to their songs. Even if NOKIES! do choose to embrace boring old middle-aged music, we will always have this song to turn to as a fountain of youth.

18. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu “Pon Pon Pon”

A discussion between me (ME) and the song “Pon Pon Pon” (PPP)

ME: OK Pon, why in the world should I include you in a top songs list?

PPP: PON PON PON DASHITE

ME: Sure, but what about the fact that you sound like at least two older Perfume songs? And not just the vague idea of Perfume, like “Polyrhythm” and “Dream Fighter.” Yasutaka Nakata getting lazy, yo.

PPP: PON PON WAY WAY WAY

ME: OK OK….how about the troubling aspect of the lady who sings you? She’s a walking Harajuku mannequin who seems to just be adding “pop star” to her personal brand.

PPP: WAY WAY PON WAY WAY WAY WAY

ME: Gah, uhhhhhh, how about that eyesore of a video clip? That was designed to get lazy “whoa look how CRAZY Japan is” clicks and turn you into a viral star. Plus it’s so goofy – floating bones? Candy tanks? Fart colors?

PPP: EVERYDAYYYY PONNNNNNN

ME: Uhm, uhhhhh errrrrrrr

PPP: PON PON WAY WAY WAY! points at iTunes “most played” page, a specific song catching ME’s attention. ME blushes, throws his hands up as if to say “you win!” and turns to the audience.

ME: Look, I spent all year trying to find ways to be annoyed by “Pon Pon Pon” but here in December, I have to admit few songs have gotten as many replays as this one. For every reason you or I could think of to hate this, though, sits a single, giant counterpoint in the form of that chorus which is just perfect for what it is, wisely extended and frequent. I honestly don’t know how a living, breathing human who just isn’t a total dick about everything can’t get at least a little joy out of that chorus, which sounds like Skittles taste. So you win “Pon Pon Pon.” And you god damn deserve it.

17. Cloudy Busey “Broken By Inertia”

Osaka projects Ice Cream Shout and Cloudy Busey – the latter serving as the solo moniker of Bob Willey, who also mans the former – are blog-hyped groups not behaving like blog-hyped groups normally do. In today’s online music media world, everything dictated by speed, the breakthrough artist of last week an ancient relic by the next. Thus groups hoping to attract an online presence have to be always releasing something, whether it be new music or a remix of some other buzzed-’bout artist’s also fresh song or a cover or like a goofy iPhone app. Ice Cream Shout and Cloudy Busey don’t play by those rules – unless you caught them live (pro-tip, you should), Ice Cream Shout hasn’t released anything since last year’s gorgeous “Tattooed Tears” while Cloudy Busey’s last song was our number 17 song of the year “Broken By Inertia.” By now, Willey should be recording a goofy John Denver jam or remixing ASAP Rocky.

Yet Willey seems like the type to value craft over rush jobs, having one great song over a bunch of flimsy tunes like Cults (whooops!). “Broken By Inertia” wasn’t even technically new in 2011, as he had been working on this for upwards of three years before finally hammering it down in July. It shows – from the spaced-out (think Milky Way not Algebra class) synths blasting off all over the song to the propulsive beat to the vocals which flow just right and feature nuggets like “I don’t care if everything is stolen/just make sure it’s used,” the sort of line that could be loaded with meaning or not at all but doesn’t matter because it still grabs you. “Inertia” ends up being one of the moodiest pieces Willey has put together in awhile, but one still with eyes set on the sky rather than the pavement. Waiting pays off gang, even if you miss out on an extra Stereogum update.

16. Pop-Office “A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness”

Being earnest is one thing, but sharing a personal diary with an entire live house takes guts. Nagoya’s Pop-Office ignores any self-conscious hurdles and just snap on “A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness,” feelings left out in the open like jeans on a wash line. At one point the line “I want you to eat my soul/I want you to forget my name” comes out and it feels sincere, even aching. The backing sounds help a lot, New-Wave synths trying to shine over pummeling guitar work, but here Pop-Office’s vocals steal the show by practically puking out every dark emotion brewing inside of them. Incredible stuff, first major label to sign them gets super cool points.

15. Cherryboy Function “Pulse Of Change”

Moment of honesty – I initially forgot this song existed when compiling this little list. Cherryboy Function’s Suggested Function #2 EP came out all the way back in January/February, a slot often doomed to suffer a few drops in list rankings thanks to how the human brain works. So “Pulse Of Change” missed out on the first cut of this list. Until one night when I decided to review all of 2011 the only way I know how – by revisiting every single post I had written that calendar year. And right near the start of my digital voyage, “Pulse Of Change.” “Oh hey, yeah that song, better give it another spin!”

And boy did my face red, because this whirling dance number is so well structured and such a blast to be spun around by that this spot on the list seems like a birthright for “Pulse Of Change” – not a showstopper, but rather carefully constructed cartoon craziness loaded up with bright twinkles and feet-shuffling touches. There are at least three keyboard lines on this thing I want to point to and be like, “that’s the one, the best one!” but couldn’t bring myself to choose just one dose of technicolor fun. Cherryboy lets “Pulse Of Change” run for more than seven minutes but never does it feel like a trudge, his shifts thought out well enough that “Change” never lags. As if turned into a joke about my dumbness by the gods, I heard “Pulse” playing at an indie-club event recently and saw just how fun it can sound surrounded by other people. This thing isn’t leaving my iPod anytime soon.

14. Heavenstamp “Morning Glow”

My day job forces me to wake up way earlier than I am used to, an iPhone alarm setting I’m sure a lot of people would kill for but one that still finds a way to catch me off guard even four months in. Though I routinely let the “Snooze” button win out – sometimes resulting in the panicked moment of “ohhhhhh I have five minutes to get out the door” – I almost always lock up my apartment at 6:50 and zombie shuffle my way to the train station. That time of day isn’t early enough to see empty streets but still dimly lit enough where it feels like I’m living in my own Synecdoche, New York. I even see the same characters now, smell the same smells and hear the same noises. It isn’t what I want necessarily, but it’s what I have and thank you for that.

“Morning Glow” came out well before my new daily routine, back when 7:30 still seemed like a safe bet. Then, the song sounded like A-work J-Rock, Heavenstamp crafting this catchy, dancey and sorta downtrodden pop number that just felt more alive and warm than a lot of the mainstream rock cluttering up the Japanese airwaves today. In that context, I still loved “Morning Glow” in ways I sometimes couldn’t explain, the whole track just doing everything good music should, being nice to listen to and bound for frequent replays while also concealing some feeling.

Now, though, I’ve got why I dig “Morning Glow.” As hinted at by the title and the accompanying video, this song deals with the early-morning hours, Heavenstamp creating a song that sounds like a J-Rock single drinking decaf to ease into the day. The guitars and drums give the song the titular “glow,” a faint one that won’t make you strain your eyes but a beautiful one nonetheless. It’s the singing by Sally#Cinnamon (seriously), though, that makes this special. She goes from eyes-cast-down longing…for what, who cares…to being upbeat to practically shouting come the chorus, her voice always warbling slightly. This sounds like that groggy walk to the station, barely awake but surprised by the nice touch of the elements brushing against exposed skin. All those old faces seem like friends, reminding you it isn’t all a dream. Suddenly everything looks a bit brighter – yeah, waking up at this hour sucked, but that’s our life. And isn’t that fucking miraculous to say?

13. Michiyo Honda “Game Boyz (Don’t You Want A Real Girlfriend?”)

The actual music on Michiyo Honda’s “Game Boyz (Don’t You Want A Real Girlfriend”) speaks for itself – all-neon-like synths, the sort of beat that slays at the club, Honda giving her flirtiest vocal performance of the year. That alone would lock it up as maybe the fifth or fourth best track she released all year. Yet this finishes the year as the mile-away finest entry in her “single a month” project because of the story going on in the song, or at least what I’m hearing. The coos in the song could easily be mistaken for average bedding talk until she gets to the part set off in parentheses – “don’t you want a real girlfriend?” Then we remember the title and it clicks – this song is about a socially maladjusted man who plays video games so well the virtual characters in his titles wonder why he doesn’t crave something more real? This would be a good laugh if 2011 Japan wasn’t loaded with dudes choosing to love Hatsune Miku or pretending to have babies with the members of AKB48 instead of getting their di….errrrr fix the country’s population problem. Honda, playing the role of pixlated babe, moans about how well this dude “plays” her, and it does seem like she wants to get with him. Yet this character still tells her Otaku interest “you don’t know how to let it out,” and then asks that persistent question once again. Societal crisis rarely sounds so fun to listen in on.

GET ON iTUNES

12. Spangle Call Lilli Line “For Rio”

In which Spangle Call Lilli Line’s long-running series of “Rio” songs reaches an appropriate peak. Every prior take on what sticks out as one of the group’s strongest cuts existed at relatively slow speeds, turning the track into either a isolated wish or a dreamy stroll around the block depending on what else happens around it. “For Rio” shoots right out the gate – all metallic guitar strums burst forward by the authoritative drumming. The lyrics, same as ever, appear, but whereas on previous versions they hung around like lonely friends, now they feel urgent, in a great need to get somewhere. The stakes seem higher this time around, everything a bit more breathless. More than anything, this is the catchiest version of the already-hard-to-shake “Rio” song, exhilarating while playing and when it suddenly stops on a dime, first instinct is to jump for “repeat.”

GET ON iTUNES

11. Sakanaction “Bach No Senritsu Wo Yoru Ni Kiita Sei Desu”

This song ended up being the band’s best selling single of the year, landed them on Music Station and hell I heard it on TV a lot. THIS. Like a lot of DocumentaLy, “Bach” hides a lot of clever details under the obvious pop brilliance Sakanaction discovered when they found just the right way for them to merge dance music with J-Rock. I hope I don’t need to tell you about how darn catchy this is – the choir-like shouting of the title and deceptively slinky chorus should do the job – so instead I’ll dwell on the strange bits. Like how this features two instances where everything else cuts out so we can hear piano keys. How random synth splatters drip across the song before the first big shout-along. How midway through the entire thing almost breaks down because of a burst of static. How this is a song about Bach. Or how Sakanaction drew inspiration from styles ranging from Japanese rock, 90’s dance, disco and classical to name a few to craft one of the pop jams of the year.

Let’s also take a second to acknowledge the music video, the best in Japan and probably the best one I watched anywhere in 2011. Neaux already showered it with love, but here is another gentle poke in the ribs that this clip rules, thanks in part to a lot of puppets.

Growing Pains? New NOKIES!: “All Your Trees Grow”

Weird to think that, at the beginning of the year, Osaka’s precocious NOKIES! released their debut EP 7 Songs. That brief release, a seven-song (duh) collection of mostly head-snapping pop brimming with shouts and yells and youthful energy, got lost in what has been a great year for Japanese music. Yet now, as list-making season begins, I come back to 7 Songs and realize…this is a pretty good debut. That brief disc…highlighted by the still-thrilling “We Are News In The Dance Floor”…found the young band embracing a fidgety sound favored by many similar Japanese groups (The Chef Cooks Me and Sorrys! among others) that didn’t necessarily make them stick out but was delivered in a convincing way. It showed promise, and it was also plenty of fun.

Seems like NOKIES! want to move away from that sugar-coated energy…first came “Oslo,” a subdued bit of balladry that featured flashes of old NOKIES!buried among strings. It was a shift, but managed to still sound pretty good thanks to the merging of manic and serious, plus the final minute of that song was flipping great. Now comes “All Your Trees Grow,” another slower-paced number (for these guys, at least). The drums say “energy,” but the verses come out like a Sunday morning yawn. NOKIES! slip into more energetic bits…the post-chorus bit, in particular, brings to mind 7 Songs…but overall this seems like another step towards maturation.

Is that a good thing for them though? Stepping away from the still-prevalent ADD style rock in theory should get them more attention…accept now they sound like an even greater swath of J-Rock bands, ones often pumping out listless junk. NOKIES! aren’t at that point yet, but “All Your Trees Grow” isn’t the type of growing up they should engage in – it’s less getting smarter and more wearing a Hawaiin shirt on casual Friday. “Oslo” offers a better blueprint for them if they want to pursue this sound, while “All Your Trees Grow” comes off like a stab at great acceptance. And it could work…but they might grow into something boring if they pursue it too much.

New NOKIES!: “Oslo”

Well this opening paragraph sounds cliche – band known for manic, shouty indie-pop munches on some Ritalin and gets all wistful. Said group records a slightly more reeled in song, featuring piano and clearly melancholic lyrics and other signs of “maturation.” Features black and white cover art. Osaka’s NOKIES! are the latest to follow this press-release-ready storyline on new song “Oslo.”

This isn’t a complete change for the band – various points across the five-minute “Oslo” feature NOKIES! giddying-up and moving at the same pace as their earlier tunes. Yet this new song usually unfolds a little slower than previous efforts, and finds a copious amount of piano and strings adding a dash of heavy emotions. When the band gets really subdued – like on the barely-there bridge midway through “Oslo” – it sounds strange and not really a big strength for these youngsters. Yet when they blur the line between sappy and sped-up the results are much better. And then there is the finale, which completely validates “Oslo” and makes everything that came before completely worth it. Basically the last minute of this track finds NOKIES! just completely letting go and giving into whatever feelings caused this song to exist in the first place. The final rush, filled with wordless murmuring trying to float towards the sky, sounds like the Arcade Fire at their most cathartic. If NOKIES! can continue to create payoffs like that, they can force me to write whatever cliches they want. Listen below.

Review: NOKIES! 7 Songs EP

If NOKIES! can learn only one lesson from their debut release, I really hope that it’s they are a group that should release solely EPs. The type of energetic, soft-to-loud rock the Osaka group favors works well in the relatively short confines of an extended play, but could easily turn to exhausting fake enthusiasm if extended by even just ten minutes. Think of it like this – everyone likes little kids because they have this innocence and excitement that eventually gets sapped out of everyone. But sometimes toddlers can be too god damn full of life, driving otherwise rational older folks to insanity. NOKIES! kinda work in a similar way.

Along with Sorrys! and Your Gold, My Pink, NOKIES! are another high-fructose syrup-ized Japanese indie-pop band seemingly drawing inspiration from England’s Los Campesinos! What that specifically entails should be obvious to anyone whose even grazed past a Campesinos’ track, but for the rest it mostly means a lot of energetic guitar strumming, a lot of sudden twists and yelping. It’s an exciting sound – not like an exciting development in music, but a legitimate thrill – when done right, but when done wrong (or for too long) quickly turns grating.

This leads to both one of the reasons some Japanese takes on this style of guitar-pop go wrong – along with all the stuff above, Los Campesinos! can count clever lyrics amongst their strong points. Even when the band turned bleak on Romance Is Boring they could still sneak in some clever lines. Even if the actual sounds the band conjured up started to annoy, they often could salvage the sugar-addled mess with a good line or two. Yet groups like NOKIES! don’t benefit from that since, though they sing in English, they aren’t pulling out witty stuff as much as the sort of stuff you’d slap across a flyer for a nightclub. Look, I don’t want to diminish their English skills…they sound fine!…but they also aren’t busting out any really deep observations or funny moments. NOKIES! gotta rely solely on their sound which…brings us back to this, the 7 Songs EP, about as perfect a format as the band will probably get. Considering they mostly have one gear (“WOOOOO”), this stuff could get lame fast, but on an EP? Just the right amount of time to show off how they are one of the better bands doing this stuff today.

Towering above everything else on 7 Songs is the joyous rush of “We Are News In The Dance Floor,” one of the finest examples of this sort of shouty indie-pop in Japan today. Despite being the NOKIES’! most obvious swiping of Los Campesinos! – this one owes “You! Me! Dancing!” a huge drink – “We Are News” stands as the band’s most energetic moment, a collection of jittery guitars and vocals all peaking at the group-hollered chorus. If “You! Me! Dancing!” served as a snapshot of a nervous youth’s night out turned triumph, “We Are News” plays like a Sportscenter “Best Of Triumph” countdown. It’s young joy boiled down to its giddiest stuff, NOKIES! obvious hit in the waiting if anyone would give them a glance.

The rest of the EP never approaches the dizzying Red-Bull-Vodka whirlwind of “We Are News” but features plenty of similar of pop rushes that are plenty enjoyable. “Take My Hand” teases with get-down funk, but propels away from that idea come the shouty chorus. “Who Cares” drapes some Magnetic Fields-worthy strings over everything, while the piano-driven finale “Our Way Home” closes 7 Songs on an especially high note. The only really misstep here ends up being the plodding “Andy,” which doesn’t actually fail because NOKIES! slow down a bit. They actually pull off sappier fare with the slumping “You Show Me The Way,” which overcomes a subdued pace by sounding genuinely downtrodden. “Andy” just sorta lacks anything of interest.

As this style of whoop-heavy indie-rock continues to grow in popularity in Japan, 7 Songs stands as one of the better releases in this micro-genre, alongside the last Your Gold, My Pink mini-album as well done takes on the style. NOKIES! debut EP also clocks in about perfectly – enough to love, not too long that you want to abandon it by a highway rest station.

NOKIES! Perform New Song Live, “With Alright”

Fair warning – today is basically NOKIES! day here, as you’ll see later. No weirdo sponsorship going on, everything just worked out this way.

Above you can watch the young batch of Osaka spazzes playing a new song called “With Alright” at a recent live event. Seeing as it’s a live video, the audio isn’t exactly great but it gets the sound across. “With Alright” hints, along with “Let Your Band Sing,” sees a slight change in the group’s sound – though not nearly as ballad-dy as “Sing,” this newest song seems totally content to find a nice groove and stick with it. No shouts, sudden turns or even fake-outs. Thanks to Flake Records for posting this.

It’s New To Me! NOKIES! “Let Your Band Sing”

In most situations, if I missed a new song from a band by two months I’d probably just continue to ignore it and hope nobody cared. With NOKIES! “Let Your Band Sing,” though, I’m willing to step out and say “boy I’m not good at locating stuff” because it’s an interesting change-up from the spastic group. Recorded live in front of what sounds like a relatively intimate crowd, “Let Your Band Sing” finds the Kansai-based outfit laying down a relatively straightforward folk-tinged number, all acoustic guitar and campfire sing-a-long. No surprise shouting, no wonky time shifts, no craziness whatsoever. Just something I’d expect a summer camp counselor to sing.

Whether this is a viable change for the group remains to be seen. NOKIES! handle the more relaxed pace on “Let Your Band Sing” just fine, proving they are capable musicians etc etc. But, despite their being an asylum’s worth of energetic indie-pop/rock bands in Japan today, NOKIES! remain one of the few who actually sounded earnest about all the yelping. Whereas say, The Chef Cooks Me sound like opportunists, NOKIES! best stuff captures a wild youthful energy that’s hard to fake. So while “Let Your Band Sing” sounds pleasant, I hope it’s just a cafe diversion. Savor young adulthood while you can guys.

New NOKIES! Video: “We Are News In The Dance Floor”

One of 2011’s herky-jerkiest spazz outs gets an official video. NOKIES’! “We Are News In The Dance Floor” does a solid Los Campesinos’! imitation, emulating that English bands suger-blasted indie-rock down to the all-together-now shouting. The clip above, though, fails to match the song’s head-first rush, as it mostly just ends up being a collection of concert footage and the band sitting around the park playing their instruments. You also get a prolonged shot of some shoes. OK, admittedly not a remotely thrilling bit of YouTube, but you should still listen to the song.

New NOKIES!: “Take My Hand”

Just the other day I wrote about fidgety rockers NOKIES! around these parts. I take one day off from the job and what happens? Another song from NOKIES!’ forthcoming 7 Songs EP makes its way online. “Take My Hand” actually swerves a bit away from how I described the group in that last post – whereas the songs I highlighted last week channeled the same madness Los Campesinos! summon, this new track stays relatively in line. It sometimes nears chaos, but even the great chorus…shouts of “I just want to dance with you” breaking over the guitars…feels like controlled demolition, “Take My Hand” never giving into passion completely. Good song though, one that should make the February 16 release of their new EP something to get excited about.

Causing Commotion: NOKIES!

Japan’s nearly reached spazz-rock critical peak. Though not making much of a dent on the mainstream charts, plenty of indie-leaning groups who have a MySpace account and a good shouting voice have popped up to share their brand of all-together-now rock with the world. It’s a weird mix of Los Campesinos! tweeness and the sort of guitar rock that always seems to be in favor in England…like, Cajun Dance Party or The Fratellis I guess?…and the pages of Snoozer magazine. Groups likes The Chef Cooks Me, Your Gold, My Pink and Highered-Girl among others dabble in this fidgety sound, and now Kansai-based project NOKIES! can join the ever growing list. If the all-caps and exclamation point didn’t tip you off, NOKIES! like to play fast and scream together…something a growing number of Japanese bands want to do.

NOKIES!, though, find themselves in a much smaller category though – groups who can actually pull it off. Sometimes all the fast-talking vocals and random yelps feel forced, wedged into otherwise uneventful songs to give them some sort of personality, the sonic equivalent of putting a lampshade on your head at a party. NOKIES! manage to be charming musical drunks, however, sounding most comfortable when they fidget furiously ahead. A slower song like “Our Way Home” (also presented in a cleaned up version here called “With All Light”) features flashes of hectic brilliance…the rising shouts in the chorus…but the whole “Chariots Of Fire” piano build-up doesn’t suit the group very well despite late song freak outs. “Who Cares” breezes by in just under two minutes and forty seconds, the whole thing a little bit more hurried that “Our Way Home” but still subdued for a band upping caps lock like that. Still, it finds NOKIES! getting sweet, even nabbing a guitar line that would feel at home on a Magnetic Field’s album.

When they let go and dance uncomfortably in the middle of the room…that’s when they get really good. “We Are News In The Dance Floor” sprints from the very start, the song increasing the pace ever so slightly and adding more group chants at just the right times. The vocals are delivered in a semi-sang ramble that match up well with the cheese-wheel-down-a-hill speed of the guitars. It’s a relentlessly catchy tune that owes a debt to Los Campesinos!…peep the guitar solo…but doesn’t feel like a tracing. NOKIES! also do a great job here highlighting why some bands slip up when trying this sound out – they never sound this happy, something you can’t really fake just by being cute with your lyrics. “We Are News” stands alongside Your Gold, My Pink’s “Adolescence” as a track that not only announces a band really starting to get a hold of who they are, but also as a highpoint in a style so many young Japanese bands try to imitate.

We Are News In The Dance Floor by NOKIES!

Who Cares by NOKIES!