Cover image: https://twitter.com/sg_need/status/1551901410601512960/photo/1
Disclaimer: This article only expresses the personal views of Black201. If your views differ from mine, you are right, and I am wrong.
Why This Video Exists#
It's simple, because we hate this abstract music.
Why We Consider These Pieces "Abstract"#
This is also where most people have controversy. Why do we consider these pieces "abstract"? If we elaborate, each piece has its own abstract aspects, which the video has explained well, but there is always one point.
We believe this music is mocking us listeners.
Some people feel that "we are still far from understanding this kind of music."
So I won't explain it from my own perspective. You should know that a few years ago, the mainstream UK hardcore scene recognized the new UK Hardcore styles of people like getty and srAV3r. Looking further back, mnk and rs were also widely recognized in the mainstream hardcore scene, and p*light was considered the future of happycore. Going back to the 10s, Betwixt & Between's Freeform and t+pazolite's speedcore were even highly praised by Jason Forrest, along with Kenta and others... you get my point. Their styles at that time also had innovations that were different from others and received respect from the mainstream. Now, looking at redalice, laur, and others, do any mainstream figures really understand their "innovations"?
Why? Some people think we "shouldn't use the HDM mindset."
Then I want to ask, what kind of mindset should we use? If this music cannot be evaluated by the standards of classical, jazz, electronic, etc., what should we use to evaluate it?
There is a very simple method; we can see if these people are "mocking us listeners."
Red Alice's current pieces have soft and weak bass, unpleasant melodies, and loose structures. Can these things be explained by "innovation"?
MNK's current pieces also have soft and weak bass, unpleasant melodies, and loose structures. Can these things be explained by "innovation"?
Let me ask again, are these people producing "experimental works"? Is there anything worth evaluating in terms of innovation? Experimental works have their own points; they have a focus and things they want to change within the established system. So what do these abstract pieces want to change within this established system? If these people are truly making experimental works, I can only say they themselves are clueless, lack structure, and have no supporting concepts; they are simply not cut out for this. Moreover, these views are surprisingly expressed by some who have had music production experience. I want to ask you, after so many years of experience, can't you distinguish between what has been thoughtfully created and what is just a half-hearted effort? If you can say this, I can only think you are either foolish or malicious.
We also know that J-Core and mainstream hardcore are on two different developmental tracks. Why have yuta imai and tatsunoshin been so popular in recent years? Because these two are the only producers who have been recognized by both the mainstream and doujin harderstyle scenes in recent years. This is also what I mentioned in the article I posted yesterday; Japanese people understood long before the 10s that J-core cannot be evaluated by mainstream standards.
However, for some of these works, I can still understand them as "super functional music," but for others, I can't think of any words to describe them other than poorly made.
To summarize, these functional pieces generally have three issues: "detached from the scene, poorly made, and overly emphasizing functionality."
How Does This Affect Me#
I wonder if you can notice that Japanese doujin music has become increasingly unpleasant to listen to in the past two years. Those who started engaging with doujin music years ago might immediately understand this, so I won't explain further.
If you have come to know music through music games in the past two years, you should also find that the music in these games is not as good as before. You can compare the songs from the beginning and the end of wacca, or the songs from arcaea around 2019 and now. I believe most music game players can agree with my current viewpoint.
This is the phenomenon of bad money driving out good money. When these people discover they can make money easily by creating abstract music, no one will make serious music. When listeners increasingly accept songs like OP1 or Cat Paradise, the good songs in the doujin music scene will be squeezed out.
Is there no good music in Japanese doujin music now? There still is; at least if you mention a style, I can name a few people I think write well in that field, but they are basically hard to be heard by the public.
I can't say why laur and others have become so popular; I don't really care if it's due to character marketing or something else. However, I know that those truly good producers I know lack the energy or opportunity and willingness to do many things outside of music. This leads to those who achieve success through means other than music having more resources compared to these diligent producers. If, after a few years, the doujin music/music game scene is filled with OP1 and Cat Paradise types, it will only be the responsibility of us listeners.
What Should We Do#
Unfortunately, we can hardly do anything.
There is a saying: "For those who listen to music, if you feed them pig food, they will become pigs." Most listeners have no standards or discernment in their aesthetic appreciation of music; most are like weather vanes, listening to whatever is available. Whatever everyone thinks is good, they will also think is good. Just look at the reversal of laur's reputation in the country over the past year to see that most people simply cling to others' opinions. Most people find it difficult to survive in this era, let alone have the energy to cultivate their own musical aesthetics. Just look at how the domestic mainstream music scene is filled with various low-quality TikTok hits, and we can foresee that this might also be the future of Japanese mainstream doujin music.
But I cannot accept this. For a long time, I believed that doujin music was the best music scene in the world, where various forms of musical creation could thrive. However, it has now become a space where some people produce low-quality music for games (not to say that all music game music is bad; there is also a lot of good music game music), gradually squeezing out the entire doujin music scene. When everyone starts to follow the crowd and accept this abstract music, I believe doujin music has already died in my heart.
So is that it?
No, there are still some things we can do. We can refuse to accept this poorly made music, reject these songs that rely on character and marketing strategies without substance, and put a little more effort into listening to truly good music that has been crafted with care. This is also what cafes and many doujin circles and enthusiasts are doing, recommending the music we think is good to everyone.
Of course, if you don't agree, that's fine. The charm of doujin music lies in its diversity; everyone can have their own preferred direction. If you can expand your hobby circle in your spare time, that would be a great help.
In summary, listen to the songs you like, support the creators you appreciate, and don't just follow the crowd. This is probably what we need to rebuild the doujin music scene.
That's about all I wanted to say. Thank you for reading my poorly crafted grievances to this point.