Twee-as-it-gets band Youthmemory return after almost a year away with April Kisses, a two song set of straight-ahead…but done so very well…indie-pop optimal for anyone who loves standing on their balcony during the afternoon and just stare off into the distance. The title track is the stunner, a driving guitar number with a hazy quality…
A relatively grim thought I had recently was — are there just not that many collectives of artists in Japan, hungry young creators simply out to prove how good they are? My initial cynical reaction was to say “they are all YouTube dorks now, talking about new soda offerings down at Family Mart and what…
Zushi’s finest, Half Mile Beach Group, easily could have sat back on their wonderfully windswept debut album Park C from this spring, as that one is loaded up with slow burning songs apt for the warmer months (even if they sometimes lean on the melancholy side). Yet here they are, with a new seven-plus-minute number…
Poor Vacation went and gave last year’s already-grooveable “Long Goodbye” a warmer-months makeover with this “(Summer Version).” For the season, Poor Vacation adds more electronic touches to the song, giving it an easy-breazy disco vibe that still allows the longing at the center of the original “Long Goodbye” to come through. Now, it just shimmers…
Good couple of days for folks who like J-pop, but prefer the artists operating in the middle-class zone rather than the upper echelons (which is not to say Nishino Kana lacks solid moments). A few familiar mid-tier faces released new songs (and accompanying videos) over the last two days. One outfit was Sugar’s Campaign, the…