medorē #24 – VivaOla, Kessoku Band, nanawoakari (and more!)
Hello and welcome to another music roundup! It's weird to not say the thing that I've always said for the past four years, but allow me to explain what's going on.
Long story short: I felt like the Infrequent J-Song Roundup segment needed a name change so I decided to switch it to something new, it being medorē (essentially the Japanese romanization of the word 'medley'). And don't worry: everything else will be the exact same, in terms of how I do this segment. I go into wayyyy more detail in my previous post on why I made the change so check that out if you're curious.
Anywho, in case you're not familiar with what this is about, this is a segment where I essentially compile a list of songs from Japanese artists and give my thoughts about them in a post. It's a way for me to show my appreciation for these great artists, as well as give you all some cool recommendations! And as you may notice, I don't write these posts as often as I should (compiling this list and having to take out some great tracks was tough) but whenever I do, I hope my song suggestions are solid and ones that may peak your interest.
That's all I got to say so let's jump right in!
♫ 「Tokyo Syndrome」 VivaOla, Wez Atlas
Allow me to start by saying that a lot of what I've been listening to and enjoying lately has come from the 'Chill Mix' playlist that Apple Music provides (in fact, a good handful of songs in this post were originally discovered from said playlist). I think it's done a really solid job of recommending me some super lax and vibey tracks, as well as introducing me to a bunch of cool new artists; one of which is R&B singer/songwriter/producer VivaOla.
"Tokyo Syndrome" is just an all-around solid track and similar to a lot of these sorts of hip-hop type songs from Japan, I think the steady piano does a good job mixing with the overall beat and adds a nice classical feel to the song. And of course, the rapping from Tokyo-based artist Wez Atlas flows really smoothly, especially when switching from Japanese to English; and paired with VivaOla's higher pitched vocals... it just makes for an interesting and enjoyable contrast.
♫ 「The Moon x Hoshi Nante Iwazu」 NakamuraEmi & Fujiwara Sakura
When I first listened to this song from NakamuraEmi and Fujiwara Sakura, I couldn't help but be reminded of the collaborations between J-pop icons Utada Hikaru and Sheena Ringo (such as the incredibly beautiful "Nijikan Dake no Vacance"). In NO way am I trying to comparing or pitting these two duos against each other in terms of vocal talent. But rather, it's pretty amazing to see a collaborative effort from yet another amazing pair of artists who, sort of, convey similar vibes within their songs and vocals (just like Utada and Sheena).
And it honestly is strange that I did not find out about "The Moon x Hoshi Nante Iwazu" when it first came out last year, as I absolutely adore the music from both NakamuraEmi and Fujiwara Sakura (shame on me). But man... it was as good as I expected. Beautiful instrumentals that instantly remind you of the type of stuff both artists usually convey, and I don't think I need to comment much on the fantastic vocal performances from these two ladies.
But while I initially loved this song because of the vocals and the collab itself, my mind was a bit blown when I found out that this track is essentially two existing songs mashed into each other: "The Moon" by Fujiwara Sakura and "Hoshi Nante Iwazu" from NakamuraEmi. And after listening to the separate tracks, it's pretty awesome how well they pulled off this mash-up and just shows how alike the styles from both artists are. Seamlessly linking the verses and choruses from each song into one, while giving it a somber/acoustic feel to it (especially when they overlapped at the end)... finding this out definitely made me appreciate this song A LOT more and it honestly would've made it into my 'favorites of 2022 list' if I had discovered it in time. What an incredible collab.
♫ 「Aoi Haru to Nishi no Sora」 Kessoku Band
While I did talk about Bocchi the Rock in my previous post, there wasn't really an opportunity to talk about the music from this series, so I will use this roundup to do so.
Similar to what a lot of people would believe, I can't say there's a 'bad' release from Kessoku Band. They seem to nail it with the majority of their tracks, and their recent single in "Hikari no Naka e" really is no different. And while I did enjoy the main song on this single, I personally am a bigger fan of its B-side, "Aoi Haru to Nishi no Sora".
Maybe it's because I like slower songs/ones that feel looser, or the fact that this might be one of my favorite vocal performances from Kita (and Hasegawa Ikumi, her voice actress) but either way, it's a really solid song. The guitar intro at the beginning just ropes you in immediately and the overall instrumentals, from the different guitar pickings throughout to the tight bass to even the subtle triangle (?), work extremely well with each other. While this song definitely seems a little different from Kessoku's previous compositions, both style-wise and lyrically, I like the change and it's always cool to get a new feel from familiar artists.
♫ 「Hare Hare」 TWICE
Some of you may be thinking, "isn't TWICE a Korean pop group?".
Yes, you are correct. But they seem to have many connections to Japan, as three of its members are Japanese-born (Mina, Sana and Momo; who also make up TWICE's all-Japanese subunit, MISAMO) and the fact that they have a massive following within their next door neighbors. And as I said in a previous roundup, the pop music relationship between South Korea and Japan is nothing new, as many K-pop groups have performed their music in Japanese throughout the years, as well as the genre being generally well-received among the JP audience.
And to go off that first point, I always love it when K-pop groups do a Japanese (and English, to that extent) version of their already existing songs. It's interesting to compare the various iterations and they always seem to be on-par with its original version, especially regarding the vocals and how flawless the Japanese pronunciation can be from these singers (some of my favorites have to be ITZY's "LOCO", IVE's "After LIKE" and "Russian Roulette" from Red Velvet). But an even cooler idea is creating a completely original song that's all in Japanese, and TWICE's recent hit "Hare Hare" is a prime example of that.
Being a very amateur TWICE fan and someone who really enjoys their music (their Formula of Love album is so good, and "F.I.L.A" might be one of my all-time favorite tracks from them), "Hare Hare" was another great, fun song from this group. Extremely catchy, super upbeat and shows off each member's vocals; you can immediately tell that this is a TWICE song, as it does a great job expressing this group's specific style of music. Not only that but I think the song's fun, summery and captivating vibe is one that can definitely catch a lot of people's attentions, especially within the JP audience. And on a related note: its B-side, "Catch a Wave", was also a bop.
♫ 「Kien Romance」 nanawoakari
If I'm being honest, I did a pretty terrible job keeping up with the anime from last season. Still haven't caught up with promising shows like Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia and Oshi no Ko (to be fair, the latter has a lot to take in, especially as an idol fan lol) but hopefully I can actually finish those at some point. One anime I did complete was the fun comedy Edomae Elf, as its simple premise and amusing jokes/characters were things I could just casually enjoy. But my favorite part of that anime has to be its opening theme, "Kien Romance" by solo artist nanawoakari.
Beautifully compasses what the story of Edomae Elf was about, and the combination of traditional Japanese instruments and more modern musical elements was done exceptionally well. Hearing things like, what I assume to be, the shakuhachi and taiko drums alongside that sick bassline; it's a style mixture that works together phenomenally in this song, it's not even funny. Add on nanawoakari's doujin-like vocals (the 'la-la-la' part after the chorus is always so good to listen to) and this genuinely might be one of my favorite songs of the year so far.
♫ 「Groovynight」 chilldspot
My guy Leap250 gave me a shout-out in his latest roundup post, so I figured I'd return the favor!
I'm sure I've glanced over this band within some of the posts that Leap has featured them in, but I actually became interested in chilldspot when he tweeted out a cool song of theirs (more specifically, "Crush" off their latest album). Loved it, which then prompted me to check out some of their other stuff, with one of my favorites being "Groovynight".
I know I like to throw around the word 'vibe' a lot in my posts, but this song is actually pretty vibey. Or I guess 'groovy' would be a more appropriate term to use, as the guitar and bass give it a lowkey-yet-hip feel to the song and vocalist/guitarist Hiyune's deeper voice is essentially the cherry on top of this awesome track. The build-up and transition from the more relaxed verses to the grander choruses to even that jazzy interlude were also some things to note and was done really smoothly. Great song, all in all, and even the music video where this woman was just walking around town at night was kind of a vibe... although stealing skateboards and jumping on top of cars are things I probably wouldn't do, but that's just me (lol).
♫ 「Doukeshitachi no Rondo」 The Fujunbungaku Girl's Musical Revue
Formed back in 2022 by entertainment agency TWIN PLANET; as you can probably tell, the overall concept of the Fujunbungaku Girl's Musical Revue group was inspired by classical literature and theater revues. I hesitate from calling this an 'idol group', even though seven out of the ten members were formerly a part of the now-discontinued LAST IDOL project (probably why I keep seeing them be associated with Takane no Nadeshiko a lot, in addition to both being under the same agency), as they're definitely more of a general music/vocal group rather than a bunch of idols. HOWEVER, I can't help but think how fascinating of a theme this would be for an idol group to express, and the Fujunbungaku Girl's Musical Revue might be the closest thing we'd get to something like that (at least, from what I've personally seen).
While I've only listened to one song from them, "Doukeshitachi no Rondo" which I originally found out from a TikTok from a Takane no Nadeshiko member, it's a pretty fire one, not gonna lie. Hearing all these different instruments come together like the harpsicord (?), accordion, violins and even those castanets... its mysterious atmosphere and grandiose sound makes for an epic song and something that certainly feels akin to the stage dramas and musicals they were inspired by. Pretty cool discovery and hope this group gains more traction, given how impressive their music has been so far.
Aaaand that's all I got for you today!
Thank you very much for checking out this roundup, and I hope you all like the new, small changes I've made to this segment. They aren't anything too major but I do like the new look, as it needed a bit of a refresh, I guess. I'd also say that they give me motivation to do these roundups more often, so we'll see if that holds up.
And if you wanna listen to all these songs on Spotify, here's a playlist I made!
Lastly, if you missed the previous roundup, I talked about a bunch of songs from different idols group so feel free to check it out by clicking here!
Thanks for reading!! :D
-al