The J-Music Advance Party (October 2024)
Quite easily my favorite month of album releases to date.
Hello and welcome to the J-Music Advance Party! It’s great to see you all back at our usual venue this month! Some of you might remember that last month we were actually at multiple different venues as I shared my experiences from my trip to Tokyo, Japan (check it out here if you missed it!).
If you know the way from here, feel free to proceed. However, if this is your first time at the Party, please allow me a moment to explain what we’re all about—
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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It’s definitely a crowd now 😊 Thank you to all those subscribed, and for all future subscribers, don’t you worry, there’s no max capacity at the J-Music Advance Party 😉
▸ Ieiri Leo (家入レオ)
Kicking off the night’s festivities might be a familiar name to some, Ieiri Leo!
Back when I first became even remotely exposed to Japanese music, Ieiri Leo was at the time already a fast-rising star in the J-Pop scene. After an explosive start in 2012, critics were quick to acknowledge the massive potential that the then-15 year old had, whose singing was defined by her now-signature crystal-clear vibrato. So much potential, in fact, that she was crowned the Best New Artist award in the 54th Japan Record Awards held in that same year.
In the time since then, Ieiri has developed ever so gracefully into a premier songstress, with her artistic growth chronicled across a total of seven albums and twenty-four singles. Her accolades over the years include an RIAJ Gold Album Certification for her debut album LEO (2012), another five Gold Certifications in the Singles category, an RIAJ Platinum Certification for the song Silly (2014), and a Double Platinum record for 君がくれた夏 (kimi ga kureta natsu; 2015) which also topped the Billboard Japan Hot 100 at its very peak. It's also worth noting that all seven of her albums have peaked within the top 10 of the Oricon album charts.
Suffice it to say, Ieiri Leo has accomplished quite a bit in her decade-long career, firmly establishing herself as a mainstay in J-Pop with a consistent stream of noteworthy releases. However, I personally find her staying power in the mainstream more than anything else to be particularly fascinating. Granted, she did take a step back during the height of the global pandemic (as many artists did), but perhaps her relatively low profile, coupled with her stronger presence in the J-Drama scene—a medium I'm admittedly not as familiar with in terms of which artists are thriving—altogether makes her name feel less ubiquitous to J-Pop than her level of success might otherwise suggest.
One thing is for certain though. While Ieiri Leo’s star has yet to really fade, so too does her talent yet to wane, as her singing is still just as amazing as it ever was in this most recent release of her eighth studio album My name… which came out just this past week! I know we usually talk about albums that haven’t been released yet for the J-Music Advance Party, but this is a special exception, but this is going to be a special exception as it did come out very early in the month. That being said, I don’t want to spoil too much of the listening experience as you can literally go listen to the album right now, but do allow me to just say that while this release is most definitely vintage Ieiri Leo, there are also a good number of tracks on here that continue to showcase her ever-evolving artistry that I am sure you guys will enjoy.
My name released on October 2, 2024. Stream it here on Spotify!
▸ muque
Next up to the stage is the fast-rising four-man band from Fukuouka, muque!
To those subscribed to this newsletter who know me from my “main” project over on my blog (Leap250.Blog) and are currently following the Monthly Recommendation Roundup series that I do over there, you should have a pretty good idea of how much I love this band just based off of the amount of times I’ve featured their music.
Funnily enough, one thing I’ve repeatedly mentioned when talking about muque is the gut feeling I had that they’d release their debut album this year. What really tipped me off was when the band revisited their track my crush (linked above) back in March and gave it a music video, despite the single being over a year old. It’s worth noting that my crush had been their most popular song for quite some time, and I’m sure they recognized this too, which likely led to the decision to promote it again with a video, reintroducing it to people’s consciousness as they prepared to include it in their upcoming album. Lo and behold, that’s pretty much exactly what happened, and one reason I’m so excited about this upcoming release in relation to that is that I feel a little responsible for willing it into existence (lol)
In as much as I talk about muque however, I’ve always struggled to put into words exactly what it is about their sound that I find so appealing. In that regard, it wasn’t until I sat down to prepare for this feature on the Advance Party that I finally found some clarity. I think the best way to describe it is that the band excels at making “sticky” music—or songs that are incredibly catchy and hard to shake once they latch onto you. In other words, they’re masters of creating “earworms”, to those who are familiar with the term and still call it as such. A big part of this, in my opinion, is that their tracks are rarely fatiguing yet never lack energy or enthusiasm. I often describe it as the “Goldilocks principle” at play, where the energy in their songs is always 'just right,' making them easy to listen to anytime and anywhere.
One of my biggest concerns with a debut album from muque—or any band that has already released a fair number of songs beforehand for that matter—is that it might end up being mostly filled with previously released tracks, leaving little room for new material. Fortunately, after seeing the tracklist for their upcoming album, we’re getting *five* new songs (technically six if we count 'jabber,' which was released as an early teaser), which is fantastic! Even better, I can personally vouch that these new songs are a treat, as I had the pleasure of hearing them in advance. I mentioned it in last month’s feature (if you missed it, check it out!), but I was in Tokyo recently as I said and got to see muque live along with a bunch of other bands. The track (T)LAST ME in particular is one to look out for, trust me (pun notwithstanding).
muque’s first studio album Dungeon is set to come out on October 9, 2024.
▸ shallm
Give it up for our next performer, the breakout “band project”, shallm!
I don’t think it’s too much of an exaggeration to say— and I say this with all due respect—that shallm seemingly came out of nowhere. If you look at their channel uploads, you'll see that until just last year, the band was primarily making cover song videos that averaged around 7-8K views. Then, after releasing only two original songs, they suddenly secured a TV drama tie-up (Sentimental☆Lucky Girl, 2023; linked above) and were off to the races. This rapid rise seems a bit suspicious at first glance, especially considering how I’ve seen many bands and artists toil for years before landing a big break like this. So naturally, I looked into it to see if I was missing something—perhaps they won a competition that helped them get noticed. However, I didn’t find anything like that. Instead, what I did discover, which might explain their swift ascent, is shallm’s affiliation with the artist management and production agency, CLOUD NINE.
What struck me as particularly interesting is that shallm was doing their cover song videos while already being managed by a talent agency. You would think that that’s something you would do as an independent artist to get noticed by one, or at least do that as a way to build up a portfolio. So I dug a bit more, specifically with who else CLOUD NINE was managing. Then I saw Ado in the list of talents in their roster. That’s when it all clicked for me. Ado, of course, being an artist with largely similar origins, starting out first as a cover song artist before exploding into the mainstream. In that sense, it seems like shallm is CLOUD NINE’s attempt to cultivate homegrown, in-house talent from the ground up, creating their own breakout star rather than signing an already established artist (which I imagine can often involve more complicated negotiations). This would also explain how shallm secured a TV drama tie-up so quickly after formally starting their activities—having a talent agency that backs one of Japan’s biggest J-Pop acts, like Ado, likely gives them some industry pull.
Of course, whether that’s actually the case is beyond me. This was just a fun thought exercise, as the last thing I want to do is discredit the hard work the band has put in. I know for a fact that shallm has performed at numerous live house shows, and lia—the voice and face of this “band project,” as they call it—regularly does street performances. So regardless of the true nature of their call-up, shallm has proven more than capable since, releasing one banger after another. lia’s singing, in particular, has a strong, clear, and resounding quality that’s hard not to like.
However, as a caveat to the upcoming release of their first album (as I feel like I’d be doing you a disservice if I don’t mention this), the tracklist has since been revealed, and it appears there will only be two new album original songs, with the rest of the album comprising previously released tracks. Take that as you will, but I have to admit… I’d still be willing to get it just for how nice the album looks physically.
shallm’s first full album charme will be coming out on October 9, 2024.
▸ eill
Up next is an artist very near and dear to my heart, eill!
I first discovered eill back in 2019 through her appearance on Spincoaster's Music Bar Session series on YouTube. I was immediately captivated by her lush, sultry vocals in that performance, and soon after, I delved into her discography, which at the time consisted of just a mini album (MAKUAKE, 2018) and a handful of singles. Over the past five years, I’ve had the pleasure of watching her evolve as an artist. She started out as a J-Pop/J-R&B stylist with K-Pop influences before transitioning into a pop balladeer, where she found significant success.
Since then, eill has released another mini-album (LOVE/LIKE/HATE, 2020), two studio albums (SPOTLIGHT, 2019; Palette, 2022), and a number of singles, including the notable anime tie-in track Koko de Iki wo Shite (2021), used as the ending theme for the popular Tokyo Revengers series—a track which remains to this day her most popular, clocking in at 30-million streams on Spotify at present.
While I’m certainly impressed by how eill has broadened her repertoire and what she’s achieved in doing so, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the sound she had when she was still on the rise. One thing I always hoped she would lean into more, but instead seemed to drift away from, was her K-Pop influences. Granted, K-Pop influences in J-Pop have become more common these days (some might argue it’s always been that way, but that’s beside the point). I had almost given up on the idea, but then she released CHEAT LIFE (linked above), where she sings predominantly in Korean and features both a Korean guest rapper and producer. I thought that was such a cool move on her part, and it seems to reflect where she is in her career right now—comfortable enough to experiment more with the kind of music she’s putting out.
We might also be on the verge of yet another shift in eill’s ever-evolving artistry. In the opening stanzas of her aptly titled track Kakumei Zenya (lit. “Eve of the Revolution,” linked above), we hear a new side to her voice—one we haven’t quite experienced before. Instead of the velvety tone she’s known for, she delivers a fuller, more rounded sound that works beautifully with the melody-driven nature of the track. All this to say, this a very exciting time to be an eill fan, as it always tends to be when she’s on the cusp of a new release. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us this time around.
eill is set to release her third studio album my dream box on October 9, 2024.
▸ Aooo
Last, but certainly not the least, we have the long-awaited media debut of Aooo!
Though I suppose it’s not so much the group itself, than it is one particular person, whom we have not heard from in quite some time. Of course, I am referring to none other than Aooo’s current vocalist Ishino Riko, who you might recall from her time being part of all-girl J-Rock band Akai Ko-en. To those of you who might be unfamiliar, Akai Ko-en was for a time one of the more popular all-girl rock bands in Japan, with their contemporaries including the likes of SCANDAL and Silent Siren. Though they would not reach the same amount of notoriety as the aforementioned, Akai Ko-en still enjoyed some level of success as a band, with their biggest break coming by way of a tie-up with the Fuji TV Drama Lost Days which used their song 絶対的な関係 (zettai teki na kankei, 2014) as it’s main theme.
Now, you might realize, if you’re watching this PV for Akai Ko-en’s Zettai Teki na Kankei for the first time, that the vocalist seen on the video is not the same as the one in the Aooo PV for サラダボウル (salad bowl) linked above. That is because the person you’re seeing there is not Ishino Riko, but rather one Sato Chiaki, Akai Ko-en’s “original” vocalist. Sato would part ways with Akai Ko-en in 2017, leaving the band without a dedicated vocalist. This prompted the remaining members to hold auditions for one, which is then where Ishino Riko enters the picture. Akai Ko-en would go on a second run of sorts following Ishino’s inclusion, which was met with positive reviews. However, her stint with Akai Ko-en would end up being rather short-lived, as Akai Ko-en would promptly disband following the untimely and tragic passing of Tsuno Maisa, the band’s guitarist and composer.
I bring this up because many, myself included, wondered if Ishino Riko would ever return to the Japanese music scene. She was just beginning to come into her own as a frontwoman and had so much potential left to explore as a singer, so it always felt unfortunate that she couldn't see things through with Akai Ko-en. That’s why I’m genuinely happy to see that she’s still willing to perform, and it’s exciting to witness her reemergence. And in what better company too, as she now finds herself alongside some interesting musical minds in Vocaloid producer/composer Surii, bassist Yamamoto Hikaru (whom you might recognize as YOASOBI’s support bassist), and NOMELON NOLEMON’s Tsumiki.
Although Ishino didn’t spend a long time performing with Akai Ko-en, her distinctive voice is unmistakable, and I’m excited to see what Aooo can do with it. The band has already released a crossfade of the tracks from their debut album, along with a couple of songs available for streaming, giving us a glimpse of what to expect. Something I noticed regarding this—and possibly looking ahead for the group—is that, based on the song credits shown in the crossfade, the members compose tracks among themselves. While I found that intriguing, I also noticed that some members, particularly NOMELON NOLEMON’s Tsumiki, have composed songs (like Yellow Toy here) that sound very similar to his work in his original band. Could just be me, and I personally don’t mind it, but I’d be curious what others would think of this.
Aooo’s self-titled debut album Aooo will be dropping on October 16, 2024.
That’s gonna do it for the J-Music Advance Party for October!
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 November 9, 2024 Are you looking forward to any releases next month? Check back here to see if they get featured!