Q1, "My thoughts on the debate about whether Xinlisupreme has turned
their back on shoegaze and noise"
The roots of this misunderstanding go all the way back to my time with FatCat Records. Their press release began with the line:
"Like My Bloody Valentine meets early Jesus & Mary Chain meets Merzbow or Suicide." This phrase was the starting point of many misconceptions about Xinlisupreme. I actually think it was a good metaphor, and they worked really hard to promote me. But I never once called myself a shoegaze or noise musician. I even think I asked them to revise that description. But it was already too late. The phrase took on a life of its own and became the official image of Xinlisupreme.
The roots of this misunderstanding go all the way back to my time with FatCat Records. Their press release began with the line:
"Like My Bloody Valentine meets early Jesus & Mary Chain meets Merzbow or Suicide." This phrase was the starting point of many misconceptions about Xinlisupreme. I actually think it was a good metaphor, and they worked really hard to promote me. But I never once called myself a shoegaze or noise musician. I even think I asked them to revise that description. But it was already too late. The phrase took on a life of its own and became the official image of Xinlisupreme.
The fact that Xinlisupreme was the only Asia-based musician included in
Pitchfork's All-Time Top 50 Shoegaze list may have contributed to some
misunderstandings. However, the article itself describes Xinlisupreme
as "perhaps the furthest from shoegaze in the purest sense of the
term," and I interpret that the reason only Xinlisupreme was chosen for
this list is because it created the music furthest from shoegaze in
Asia.
Actually, I came from a music genre that once existed in Japan but has now been forgotten, called mixture punk. Sometimes it was simply called "mixture." It was a genre name used only in Japan, mainly referring to music that blended punk rock, dance music, and ethnic music. To me, being punk doesn't mean attacking white rappers for what's called cultural appropriation. Punk, in my view, is about people who find joy in mixing different genres.
The first mixture punk bands I heard were Potshot and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The emotion I felt when I first heard them still stays with me. Technically, that genre was called “ska-core,” a mix of ska and punk, but what moved me most was the idea of blending different kinds of music.
What made this uniquely Japanese genre distinctive was that, unlike overseas where various styles had their own names, in Japan they were all grouped together under the single term "mixture." Unfortunately, over time the genre became musically stagnant, and eventually it came to be seen as uncool. People stopped using the term altogether. Many musicians eventually moved on to genres like post-rock, electronica, which had a intellectual image and broader popularity. I see myself as one of the last members of Japan's "mixture punk" generation, and I've tried to express that spirit in the most radical way I could.
There’s one more thing I want to clarify about the question, “Did you abandon noise and shoegaze?” I don’t see noise or shoegaze as some kind of high art. I mean that in a good way. I’m not exactly a devoted listener of either genre, but when people ask me for recommendations, I usually mention Merzbow and BP..
To me, listening to Merzbow feels a bit like enjoying a haunted house. He’s definitely an artist who deserves respect, but I don’t see noise music as something sacred. I mean that in a good way. Improvised music suited my personality, and there were even improvisers who stole my playing techniques. But now, I no longer do improvised music. I've seen some well-known Japanese improvisational and noise musicians acting arrogantly within the underground scene, where they still hold a lot of influence. But when it comes to Merzbow, I've only ever heard that he's a serious person. Among Japan's most recognized improvisational and noise artists, he's the only one I genuinely like.
As for BP.’s “A Girl in Closet,” what I love about the song is that, right in the middle of it, you suddenly hear someone shout “Dosukoi!” which is a sumo wrestler’s chant. Listeners outside Japan might not catch the humor, but in Japan, sumo is both a popular sport and something that can also seem a bit uncool, partly because of how the wrestlers look. So to me, having that silly shout dropped into the middle of an otherwise cool shoegaze track is really funny. It perfectly captures the spirit of mixture punk, which is why I love the song.
Actually, I came from a music genre that once existed in Japan but has now been forgotten, called mixture punk. Sometimes it was simply called "mixture." It was a genre name used only in Japan, mainly referring to music that blended punk rock, dance music, and ethnic music. To me, being punk doesn't mean attacking white rappers for what's called cultural appropriation. Punk, in my view, is about people who find joy in mixing different genres.
The first mixture punk bands I heard were Potshot and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The emotion I felt when I first heard them still stays with me. Technically, that genre was called “ska-core,” a mix of ska and punk, but what moved me most was the idea of blending different kinds of music.
What made this uniquely Japanese genre distinctive was that, unlike overseas where various styles had their own names, in Japan they were all grouped together under the single term "mixture." Unfortunately, over time the genre became musically stagnant, and eventually it came to be seen as uncool. People stopped using the term altogether. Many musicians eventually moved on to genres like post-rock, electronica, which had a intellectual image and broader popularity. I see myself as one of the last members of Japan's "mixture punk" generation, and I've tried to express that spirit in the most radical way I could.
There’s one more thing I want to clarify about the question, “Did you abandon noise and shoegaze?” I don’t see noise or shoegaze as some kind of high art. I mean that in a good way. I’m not exactly a devoted listener of either genre, but when people ask me for recommendations, I usually mention Merzbow and BP..
To me, listening to Merzbow feels a bit like enjoying a haunted house. He’s definitely an artist who deserves respect, but I don’t see noise music as something sacred. I mean that in a good way. Improvised music suited my personality, and there were even improvisers who stole my playing techniques. But now, I no longer do improvised music. I've seen some well-known Japanese improvisational and noise musicians acting arrogantly within the underground scene, where they still hold a lot of influence. But when it comes to Merzbow, I've only ever heard that he's a serious person. Among Japan's most recognized improvisational and noise artists, he's the only one I genuinely like.
As for BP.’s “A Girl in Closet,” what I love about the song is that, right in the middle of it, you suddenly hear someone shout “Dosukoi!” which is a sumo wrestler’s chant. Listeners outside Japan might not catch the humor, but in Japan, sumo is both a popular sport and something that can also seem a bit uncool, partly because of how the wrestlers look. So to me, having that silly shout dropped into the middle of an otherwise cool shoegaze track is really funny. It perfectly captures the spirit of mixture punk, which is why I love the song.
Q2, "What is Anime Hop??"
The songs on Anime Hop were made to infuriate those who dismissed Vocaloid rap as fake.I could never accept exclusionary attitudes in music. So I deliberately created a mixture of anime audio drama and hip-hop to make them furious.
And in fact, I Am Not Shinzo Abe, which everyone is listening to, is also an upgraded version. The song was originally released in July 2015, and the version people know today came out about six months later. “I Am Not Shinzo Abe” is a song that brings political protest chants into music in order to anger those who say, “Keep politics out of music.”
I think some Japanese listeners can understand the innovation in Anime Hop’s rap, but the people overseas who listen to Anime Hop are drawn to it because they find it intuitively interesting. At its core, Anime Hop is a kind of music that overseas listeners are not accustomed to hearing. Especially the pilot version released last year. It was only a sketch of the core idea, so listeners focused on sound likely found it difficult to follow. In the upgraded version, I raised the volume and changed the arrangement. I didn’t officially announce it, but starting with the third single Rap of Longinus, I moved the sound closer to early Xinlisupreme. From that track onward, the sound started to reach completion.
The songs on Anime Hop were made to infuriate those who dismissed Vocaloid rap as fake.I could never accept exclusionary attitudes in music. So I deliberately created a mixture of anime audio drama and hip-hop to make them furious.
And in fact, I Am Not Shinzo Abe, which everyone is listening to, is also an upgraded version. The song was originally released in July 2015, and the version people know today came out about six months later. “I Am Not Shinzo Abe” is a song that brings political protest chants into music in order to anger those who say, “Keep politics out of music.”
I think some Japanese listeners can understand the innovation in Anime Hop’s rap, but the people overseas who listen to Anime Hop are drawn to it because they find it intuitively interesting. At its core, Anime Hop is a kind of music that overseas listeners are not accustomed to hearing. Especially the pilot version released last year. It was only a sketch of the core idea, so listeners focused on sound likely found it difficult to follow. In the upgraded version, I raised the volume and changed the arrangement. I didn’t officially announce it, but starting with the third single Rap of Longinus, I moved the sound closer to early Xinlisupreme. From that track onward, the sound started to reach completion.
This article is my attempt to respond to the confusion surrounding
Anime Hop among international listeners. Still, I know it will be hard
to understand. I think it’s unthinkable that an Asian from Japan would
respond to hip-hop not with respect but with anger, creating fake rap
to try to destroy hip-hop. However, if someone in the hip-hop
world had the backbone and open-mindedness toward new styles of rap
like Andrew Weatherall, Anime Hop might spread to hip-hop fans
worldwide.
Q3, "About Xinlisupreme's listeners overseas?"
Since my debut, I have faced bullying, and one of my albums was effectively forcibly pulled from sale, so I have not performed live. I have continued making music quietly alone in a room in the countryside. For many years, I was a death row inmate trapped in Japan’s music prison, so I had no interaction with music fans or other artists.
Following Shinzo Abe’s assassination, Japanese music fans seemed to enjoy watching Xinlisupreme get dragged. And then, just as Xinlisupreme was about to face execution and retire from music, a miracle happened. It was the support of overseas listeners that made “I Am Not Shinzo Abe” go unexpectedly viral among internet users outside Japan, silencing Japanese music fans. It was also a UK-based label that first discovered my music and released it to the world. It was also an American label that reissued the album that had gone out of print. The Korean fan who inspired me to create Anime Hop.
Australia, Indonesia, France, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Spain, Venezuela... And while I can’t name every country, I know there are people all over the world who love my music.
Even recently, Japanese music fans who saw Anime Hop being criticized on RYM have once again intensified their attacks on Xinlisupreme. Amazingly, Japanese music fans do not evaluate music with their own ears, but instead judge it based on the opinions of others on sites like RYM. But this is not their fault. Ten years ago, it wasn’t only I Am Not Shinzo Abe that was killed; Japanese music journalism was killed at the same time. That is why Japanese music fans who depend on RYM are also victims.
second wave post-rock movement, I was the only Japanese artist to release work on a major post-rock label. Among the countless shoegaze bands in Japan, I was the only one to be included in an all-time shoegaze list, and I received admiration from Andrew Weatherall, one of the unsung key figures of the UK alternative rock scene in the ’90s. However, in any era, even though I was deeply loved by a certain group of music connoisseurs, my music never sold at all, and my position remained weak. However, in every era, even though my music was deeply loved by a certain circle of music connoisseurs, it never sold at all, and my position always remained weak. It was a position so defenseless that rape would not even be seen as a crime, and when an irresistibly attractive fruit appeared before them, many Japanese musicians and music fans with low musical reputation chose to satisfy their desires by raping Xinlisupreme. I was always powerless and in a weak position. So I owe a great debt to music fans overseas.
If it weren’t for the support of overseas listeners, I would have retired long ago. So I don’t mind the criticism of Anime Hop from overseas listeners at all. I understand that most overseas fans who criticize Anime Hop are not doing so out of fear of Xinlisupreme, as some Japanese music fans do, but rather because they love I Am Not Shinzo Abe so much.
Overseas listeners were the ones who discovered and nurtured Xinlisupreme. The Japanese music fans were the ones who came later, spoke condescendingly as if they had done me a favor, and when things turned bad, attacked me again. When I stood up to their harassment, the local Japanese who caused me to be unable to perform live reportedly went around behind my back insulting me to others, saying, “応援したのに、裏切った。(We were the ones who supported you, and this is how you repay us.)” I can declare with my life on the line that it was entirely thanks to overseas listeners that Xinlisupreme’s music, ignored by everyone in Japan, was brought into the world, and that I have been able to continue making music until now.
I believe all of you overseas music fans loved I Am Not Shinzo Abe because it was music made by an "artist". So if I were a "musician", I would want to create aesthetic, dreamy, and sometimes intense dream pop, shoegaze, or noise pop music that you desire. But I am an Artist, so I want to make music with Anime Hop that changes this era and world, where purity and real are valued above all else and everything else is excluded. Of course, as the price for continuing the production of Anime Hop even at the cost of betraying the support of many overseas listeners, Xinlisupreme will end its activities once Anime Hop is completed, and I intend to retire from all music activities. I am tired of being raped over again in Japan. Sorry I can’t make the music you want.
Since my debut, I have faced bullying, and one of my albums was effectively forcibly pulled from sale, so I have not performed live. I have continued making music quietly alone in a room in the countryside. For many years, I was a death row inmate trapped in Japan’s music prison, so I had no interaction with music fans or other artists.
Following Shinzo Abe’s assassination, Japanese music fans seemed to enjoy watching Xinlisupreme get dragged. And then, just as Xinlisupreme was about to face execution and retire from music, a miracle happened. It was the support of overseas listeners that made “I Am Not Shinzo Abe” go unexpectedly viral among internet users outside Japan, silencing Japanese music fans. It was also a UK-based label that first discovered my music and released it to the world. It was also an American label that reissued the album that had gone out of print. The Korean fan who inspired me to create Anime Hop.
Australia, Indonesia, France, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Spain, Venezuela... And while I can’t name every country, I know there are people all over the world who love my music.
Even recently, Japanese music fans who saw Anime Hop being criticized on RYM have once again intensified their attacks on Xinlisupreme. Amazingly, Japanese music fans do not evaluate music with their own ears, but instead judge it based on the opinions of others on sites like RYM. But this is not their fault. Ten years ago, it wasn’t only I Am Not Shinzo Abe that was killed; Japanese music journalism was killed at the same time. That is why Japanese music fans who depend on RYM are also victims.
second wave post-rock movement, I was the only Japanese artist to release work on a major post-rock label. Among the countless shoegaze bands in Japan, I was the only one to be included in an all-time shoegaze list, and I received admiration from Andrew Weatherall, one of the unsung key figures of the UK alternative rock scene in the ’90s. However, in any era, even though I was deeply loved by a certain group of music connoisseurs, my music never sold at all, and my position remained weak. However, in every era, even though my music was deeply loved by a certain circle of music connoisseurs, it never sold at all, and my position always remained weak. It was a position so defenseless that rape would not even be seen as a crime, and when an irresistibly attractive fruit appeared before them, many Japanese musicians and music fans with low musical reputation chose to satisfy their desires by raping Xinlisupreme. I was always powerless and in a weak position. So I owe a great debt to music fans overseas.
If it weren’t for the support of overseas listeners, I would have retired long ago. So I don’t mind the criticism of Anime Hop from overseas listeners at all. I understand that most overseas fans who criticize Anime Hop are not doing so out of fear of Xinlisupreme, as some Japanese music fans do, but rather because they love I Am Not Shinzo Abe so much.
Overseas listeners were the ones who discovered and nurtured Xinlisupreme. The Japanese music fans were the ones who came later, spoke condescendingly as if they had done me a favor, and when things turned bad, attacked me again. When I stood up to their harassment, the local Japanese who caused me to be unable to perform live reportedly went around behind my back insulting me to others, saying, “応援したのに、裏切った。(We were the ones who supported you, and this is how you repay us.)” I can declare with my life on the line that it was entirely thanks to overseas listeners that Xinlisupreme’s music, ignored by everyone in Japan, was brought into the world, and that I have been able to continue making music until now.
I believe all of you overseas music fans loved I Am Not Shinzo Abe because it was music made by an "artist". So if I were a "musician", I would want to create aesthetic, dreamy, and sometimes intense dream pop, shoegaze, or noise pop music that you desire. But I am an Artist, so I want to make music with Anime Hop that changes this era and world, where purity and real are valued above all else and everything else is excluded. Of course, as the price for continuing the production of Anime Hop even at the cost of betraying the support of many overseas listeners, Xinlisupreme will end its activities once Anime Hop is completed, and I intend to retire from all music activities. I am tired of being raped over again in Japan. Sorry I can’t make the music you want.
Q4, "What is the goal of Anime Hop?"
There are various goals for Anime Hop, but if I were to set a goal that is not abstract and easy for everyone to understand, then yes, there is one. I hope it gets as many plays as I Am Not Shinzo Abe, and that my Instagram follower count goes over 10,000. If that ever happens, well, a year and a half ago, only one Korean Xinlisupreme fan came up to me, but next time, I’d like to storm the SNS accounts of the Japanese people from my hometown who treated Xinlisupreme unfairly, together with those 10,000 followers, Haha.
I know the numerical goal is impossible to achieve. But dreaming shouldn’t be a problem, right? Because of bullying, I retired from live shows and never had the experience of doing anything together with my fans. So I’ve been thinking about how not just I, but also the fans, could enjoy, be happy, and celebrate together once the goal is achieved. What the Japanese feared the most was Xinlisupreme’s music being heard by many people. So if I reach the goal, I want to flood the social media comment sections of those who bullied Xinlisupreme with celebration posts, like a big festival, right in front of their eyes. Just imagining how those bullies would react seeing comment sections filled with congratulatory messages for Xinlisupreme’s success makes me laugh. I hope that dream comes true before Anime Hop is completed.
There are various goals for Anime Hop, but if I were to set a goal that is not abstract and easy for everyone to understand, then yes, there is one. I hope it gets as many plays as I Am Not Shinzo Abe, and that my Instagram follower count goes over 10,000. If that ever happens, well, a year and a half ago, only one Korean Xinlisupreme fan came up to me, but next time, I’d like to storm the SNS accounts of the Japanese people from my hometown who treated Xinlisupreme unfairly, together with those 10,000 followers, Haha.
I know the numerical goal is impossible to achieve. But dreaming shouldn’t be a problem, right? Because of bullying, I retired from live shows and never had the experience of doing anything together with my fans. So I’ve been thinking about how not just I, but also the fans, could enjoy, be happy, and celebrate together once the goal is achieved. What the Japanese feared the most was Xinlisupreme’s music being heard by many people. So if I reach the goal, I want to flood the social media comment sections of those who bullied Xinlisupreme with celebration posts, like a big festival, right in front of their eyes. Just imagining how those bullies would react seeing comment sections filled with congratulatory messages for Xinlisupreme’s success makes me laugh. I hope that dream comes true before Anime Hop is completed.
Q5, "What is Xinlisupreme?"
I now think with some surprise that the very first review ever written about Xinlisupreme’s music, titled The Xinli Incident, back when no one knew Xinlisupreme before their debut, actually captured the essence of Xinlisupreme better than anything else. Andrew Weatherall, who officially remixed tracks by the pioneering shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine for Creation Records, described Xinlisupreme's music like this:
"What was once a hyper-sterile working environment had been turned into a mass of shredded wires, smashed samplers, smouldering laptops and shattered zip-discs. The laboratory once used to manufacture electronic music for earnest sixth-formers around the world was now a digital funeral pyre. I’ve not seen anything like this since the Prog-Rock studio trashings of ’76."
With Anime Hop, I will carry on the spirit of mixture punk, which has now been forgotten by many, and continue to develop it until it is complete. To me, the greatest kind of music is not something "pure and real," but something "mixture and fake." Also, even if a fake and mixed work like Anime Hop doesn’t fit in today’s era of "purity" and "exclusion," if being a "real artist" means creating work that fits the times, then I have decided to end Xinlisupreme and retire from music. Anime Hop was never meant to conform to such an era in the first place. I hope you all will push back against this era and share your own stories about Anime Hop.
Ten years ago, I saw music fans and hip-hop critics who looked down on Vocaloid rap, saying it wasn’t “real rap.” At that moment, I made up my mind to someday create a kind of fake rap that would make those people furious.I considered inviting a real rapper as a guest, but that would go against my decision to reject the rules of “real rap,” so I gave up on that idea. But I took inspiration from anime audio dramas I heard as a kid and made a rap from short phrases. The essence of anime is stylization. Just like a thumbs-up is instantly recognized around the world as “Good!”, I inserted the phrase “Yo YoYo Hey men!”between spoken lines as a symbolic verbal gesture for rap. By doing so, I made sure the following spoken lines were recognized as rap. In other words, I turned rap into anime. It’s not about following the rules of “real rap.” It’s just to be free.
Finally, I am sharing below the full liner notes for Tomorrow Never Comes, the short story "The Xinli Incident" by Andrew Weatherall. The 4th single from Anime Hop will be released on August 20, 2025. This is the first Anime Hop song I created, and if I had to pick only one Anime Hop song, this is the one I would choose.You can pre-save on Spotify and pre-add on Apple Music from this link. https://open.spotify.com/album/6Wf099Mi89zxepUdgKPeMm Thank
you for reading.
I now think with some surprise that the very first review ever written about Xinlisupreme’s music, titled The Xinli Incident, back when no one knew Xinlisupreme before their debut, actually captured the essence of Xinlisupreme better than anything else. Andrew Weatherall, who officially remixed tracks by the pioneering shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine for Creation Records, described Xinlisupreme's music like this:
"What was once a hyper-sterile working environment had been turned into a mass of shredded wires, smashed samplers, smouldering laptops and shattered zip-discs. The laboratory once used to manufacture electronic music for earnest sixth-formers around the world was now a digital funeral pyre. I’ve not seen anything like this since the Prog-Rock studio trashings of ’76."
With Anime Hop, I will carry on the spirit of mixture punk, which has now been forgotten by many, and continue to develop it until it is complete. To me, the greatest kind of music is not something "pure and real," but something "mixture and fake." Also, even if a fake and mixed work like Anime Hop doesn’t fit in today’s era of "purity" and "exclusion," if being a "real artist" means creating work that fits the times, then I have decided to end Xinlisupreme and retire from music. Anime Hop was never meant to conform to such an era in the first place. I hope you all will push back against this era and share your own stories about Anime Hop.
Ten years ago, I saw music fans and hip-hop critics who looked down on Vocaloid rap, saying it wasn’t “real rap.” At that moment, I made up my mind to someday create a kind of fake rap that would make those people furious.I considered inviting a real rapper as a guest, but that would go against my decision to reject the rules of “real rap,” so I gave up on that idea. But I took inspiration from anime audio dramas I heard as a kid and made a rap from short phrases. The essence of anime is stylization. Just like a thumbs-up is instantly recognized around the world as “Good!”, I inserted the phrase “Yo YoYo Hey men!”between spoken lines as a symbolic verbal gesture for rap. By doing so, I made sure the following spoken lines were recognized as rap. In other words, I turned rap into anime. It’s not about following the rules of “real rap.” It’s just to be free.
Finally, I am sharing below the full liner notes for Tomorrow Never Comes, the short story "The Xinli Incident" by Andrew Weatherall. The 4th single from Anime Hop will be released on August 20, 2025. This is the first Anime Hop song I created, and if I had to pick only one Anime Hop song, this is the one I would choose.You can pre-save on Spotify and pre-add on Apple Music from this link. https://open.spotify.com/
Short Story "The Xinli Incident" by Andrew Weatherall
(Liner Note of Tomorrow Never Comes)
(Liner Note of Tomorrow Never Comes)
The
detective in the passenger seat, with a single self-assured action,
flashed his warrant card and asked directions. "Twenty-third floor
sir... Out of the lift and turn left - you can't miss it... Terrible
mess and not very pretty at all, I can tell you..." With that the
barrier lifted and the car headed toward the executive parking area of
I.D.M. Industries. The lift made a silent journey to the 23rd floor,
and on exiting and turning left, the two detectives immediately saw the
reasons for their being there. The scene of the crime lay trough an
open doorway emitting occasional puffs of smoke and wafts of shimmering
vapour. Reaching into the pockets of their elegant yet provocatively
conservative black coats the two men pulled out state-of-the-art gas
masks, and donning them walked across the corridor. Standing just
inside the room, on the only patch of floor not covered in broken
machinery or bubbling liquid, Her Majesty's finest surveyed the scene.
What was once a hyper-sterile working environment had been
turned into a mass of shredded wires, smashed samplers, smouldering laptops and shattered zip-discs. The laboratory once used to manufacture electronic music for earnest sixth-formers around the world was now a digital funeral pyre. "I've not see anything like this since the Prog-Rock studio trashings of '76", said detective number one, the words turning metallic as they made their way trough the gas mask's filter. "Let's leave it to forensics", replied number two as they both backed slowly out of the room, pulling the door shut behind them. As it clicked shut had anybody been left inside they would have seen the back of the door reveal, in still dripping painted letters, the words...
'XINLI SUPREME'
turned into a mass of shredded wires, smashed samplers, smouldering laptops and shattered zip-discs. The laboratory once used to manufacture electronic music for earnest sixth-formers around the world was now a digital funeral pyre. "I've not see anything like this since the Prog-Rock studio trashings of '76", said detective number one, the words turning metallic as they made their way trough the gas mask's filter. "Let's leave it to forensics", replied number two as they both backed slowly out of the room, pulling the door shut behind them. As it clicked shut had anybody been left inside they would have seen the back of the door reveal, in still dripping painted letters, the words...
'XINLI SUPREME'
