The J-Music Advance Party (November 2024)
Giving thanks early for these wonderful upcoming releases!
Hello!! I’m so happy you could join us here for this month’s J-Music Advance Party! If you’ve been here before, as I’m sure most of you have at this point, feel free to head on over to the main stage. However, if this is you’re first time attending the Party, please give the following a quick readー
What is The J-Music Advance Party?
The J-Music Advance Party is a monthly publication where I quite simply talk about bands and artists that I personally plan on listening to this month (and subsequently recommend that you too as well) in advance of their upcoming albums and releases in the style of a an album “pre”-launch party of sorts.
These could be bands who have an album coming out that I’m excited for, or they could also be an artist whose discography I feel warrants further exploring starting with their new EP. Whatever the case may be, these are releases that I’m both looking forward to and that I hope to put on your guys’ radar if they weren’t there already.
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Can’t tell you how happy I am seeing the Party crowd grow with each month. Glad to have each and every one of you 😁
▸ 楠木ともり (kusunoki tomori)
Our first featured artist for this month’s Advance Party is voice actress/singer-songwriter, Kusunoki Tomori.
Those of you who know me from my blog might know or at least have some idea about how much of a fan I am of Kusunoki Tomori. Though known for her voice acting work now more than ever, Kusunoki’s first big break would come by way of her involvement with the Love Live! multimedia 2.5D idol franchise, after getting casted as the voice of one of the series’ characters. Through it, and its associated live shows, she was able to showcase a penchant for performance backed by strong and resounding vocals which captured the hearts of many (myself included). This would end up being a relatively short-lived period of Kusunoki’s career however, as it would come to light that she suffers from a chronic illness that disallows her from participating in activities that require physical exertion beyond what is recommended for someone with her condition, prompting her to retire from the role altogether.
While the saying normally goes: when one door closes, another opens; the same can’t really be said for the otherwise multi-talented Kusunoki who has multiple doors open for her to pursue following her departure from the Love Live! franchise, one of which being a full-fledged career as a music artist.
Although I would also come to know her from her voice acting, I have instead become much more invested in her artist career—something that I’ve taken upon myself to follow as closely as I can after having chanced upon her first couple of indies release, 〔bottled-up〕 (2018) and ◾️STROKE◾️(2019), one fateful day. I’ve been a believer of her musicality since and, four EPs and a two-disc debut album later, she’s still going strong while also showing new wrinkles to her continuously improving artistry with each succeeding release. I don’t expect her fifth EP coming out this month, 吐露 (toro) to be any different in that regard. Rather, as it has already since come out, I can actually guarantee it. Not to give too much away, but speaking about her indie releases, it was nice hearing Kusunoki go back to her roots a bit with this one.
吐露 (toro) came out on November 6, 2024. Give it a listen here!
▸ 上白石萌音 (kamishiraishi mone)
Next up to the stage is award-winning TV and film actress Kamishiraishi Mone!
Kamishiraishi Mone’s music career can arguably be seen in some ways as more of a passion project for this silver screen star, especially when you start to consider her many accolades that she has already since garnered through her acting, which she began doing all the way back in 2011. That is to say, I imagine she more than likely doesn’t need to be making music alongside appearing in TV and movies to earn a living at this point, nor does it feel like she’s doing it for that reason. It should be noted though that her first starts as an actress involved music in some shape or form, whether it’s appearing in a musical (The King and I) or performing the theme song for her first lead role in the film Lady Maiko (Maiko wa Lady), where it appears to be just a natural inclination for her. At the extremes you might even be able to say that music seems almost inseparable from her identity as an actress.
Of course, it also helps that Kamishiraishi is by far no slouch in that department as well as far as acclaim goes, having ranked as high as third place in the Oricon album charts with her second full-length album note (2020).
This month sees to the release of her fourth studio album kibi—a good two years since Kamishiraishi’s last one (name, 2022), which, to be fair to her isn’t that egregious, but add to that the scarcity of new music from 2023, it does give you an idea too of the kind of schedule that she has. Of note, she starred as the lead role in a movie that came out in February of this year (Yoake no Subete; “All the Long Nights”, 2024), and I can only presume that a lot of the filming and production for that happened during the majority of last year, which would explain her musical inactivity. Then again, she might have also started working on this new album of hers with her team too for all we know. Regardless, and similar to Toro which we just talked about, it’s been out and you can listen to it as we speak. If you’re wondering whether Kamishiraishi’s time away from music has affected her artistry, rest assured—she remains as timeless a songstress as ever.
kibi was released on November 6, 2024. Check it out here!
▸ ばってん少女隊 (batten shoujo-tai; “BATTEN GIRLS”)
Up next, please welcome onto the stage the lovely BATTEN GIRLS!
I had the absolute pleasure of getting to review BATTEN GIRLS’ album CUE-SAI (2022) as part of the J-Music Exchange/Rate which, to those unfamiliar, is the tandem album review series that I do over on my blog alongside my good buddy and fellow Japanese music fan Al from Omunibasu (you can read my review here!). In the review, I share how impressed I was with the group's execution of their chosen motif for the album, both aesthetically and tonally. They did an outstanding job channeling the spirit of their native Kyushu, emphasizing festive themes while weaving in traditional sounds—all with a modern twist, thanks in large part to the many different composers and producers that they had working on the songs on the album.
In the final part of my review, I wondered whether BATTEN GIRLS would stick to the same motif in future releases—a direction I personally wouldn’t have minded. Since then, we've received an answer: they won’t be continuing with that particular aesthetic. Instead, it seems the group and their team took away other insights from the relative success of CUE-SAI as a project, which they now appear eager to implement.
In particular, BATTEN GIRLS will be leaning even further into collaboration with talented producers and composers for their upcoming album. To that end, names like Kenmochi Hidefumi, Watanabe Shinobu (ASPARAGUS) and PARKGOLF have all again been called for their services for all the wonderful work that they did on CUE-SAI. Alongside them now is KBSNK who worked on the above track ureshiino. According to the teaser that the group put out, we’re also gonna have songs on the album written and composed by Daoko (*the* Daoko) as well some interesting writing credits too in the way of chelmico’s Rachel as well as Okamoto Emi. Everything about this lineup feels like an indication of a great time that can’t not deliver, so here’s hoping.
九伝 (kyuuden) is set to come out on November 13, 2024.
▸ HACHI
From the “virtual” side of Japanese music, please welcome v-singer HACHI!
The first time I came across HACHI was through one of her songs (Deep Sleep Sheep) getting included in Spotify’s auto-generated “Chill Mix” playlist. I remember immediately becoming so entranced by her voice that I went ahead and checked out her album Close to heart (2023), where I would then proceed to fall in love with the track Sayonara frequency. Mind you, all of this happened before I found out she was a v-singer, which ended up being it’s own surprise shortly after. We’ve had v-singers here on the Party before, and I’ve featured them extensively in my blog as well, so of course this isn’t the first time you’ve seen me talk about one. Those of you who have been following my content closely however might have picked up on the fact that while I do cover and listen to v-singers, the vast majority of them that I’ve showcased, whether in my blog or here on the newsletter, are ones from KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO and its subproject SINSEKAI STUDIO. Conversely, HACHI would be the first v-singer who I started following outside of these two projects.
I mention this not to imply that I’m averse to v-singer music from outside KAMITSUBAKI or SINSEKAI, but rather to highlight the growing prevalence of v-singer music overall. It’s reached the point where these artists are being recommended to me even when I’m not actively searching for them.
I suppose it also comes down to how we label “v-singer music” in the first place. I used to think there was a distinct musical thread connecting songs by v-singers that warranted such a classification. However, the more I listened to music from a range of v-singers, the more that notion faded. In fact, one of the aspects I appreciate most about HACHI’s music is how seamlessly it fits into my usual playlist, virtual identity aside. When I listen to HACHI, I just hear a rich, deep, resonant voice that belongs naturally in my library. I have no reason to believe her upcoming media debut album would be any different, and I’m absolutely excited to add it to the collection.
for ASTRA is set to release on November 13, 2024.
▸ adieu
Bidding us adieu for the night’s festivities, please give a warm welcome to adieu!
Just to get this out of the way, I find it immensely serendipitous that I actually get to feature CD releases by two siblings, in what will more than likely be the only time that I get to do this here in the Advance Party. To those who are not aware, adieu’s real name is Kamishiraishi Moka, and if that surname sounds at all familiar, that’s because we went and talked about her older sister Kamishiraishi Mone just a little while ago. On that note, it’s actually interesting (though in hindsight not that surprising) how similar their starts were to their respective careers, with Moka (or adieu) also starring in TV shows and singing theme songs (Narratage, 2017) at a young age. Though unlike Mone who appears to prioritize her acting career over her singing career, adieu seems to be much of the opposite in that she seems more invested in pursuing a career in music rather than in TV and movies—even going so far as adopting a pseudonym for her musical activities.
For what it’s worth, while I do believe Kamishiraishi Mone to be the better singer purely in terms of singing ability, adieu (in my personal opinion at least) has a more artistic sensibility when it comes to music in my opinion.
Some people might not remeber this, but adieu was actually the first ever artist to be featured on THE FIRST TAKE. I mention this because she recently returned to the channel, this time as part of THE FIRST TAKE’s “FLASH” segment, which features artists in brief, 60-second spots. It’s actually fascinating to compare her two appearances here—three years removed from one another—and seeing how much she has since grown. Granted, she’s singing two different kinds of songs, but just looking at her mannerisms and the way she carries herself in this FLASH performance of her song Senaka, she comes across as much more confident in her music than her first appearance on the channel. And she has reason to, as she sounds undoubtedly better and much improved now more than ever as well. I think after this upcoming EP of hers comes out, a lot of people will think the same if they don’t already.
adieu 4 will be releasing on November 27, 2024.
That’s gonna do it for the J-Music Advance Party for November!
Here’s a quick recap of all the releases featured for this month:
Which release are you most excited for this month? Likewise, which bands and artists are you looking to listen these next couple of weeks? Let me know all of that down in the comments!
The next Advance Party is gonna be on December 8, 2024 Are you looking forward to any releases next month? Check back here to see if they get featured!