The band Tourist & Soundtracks has long been one of those Japanese indie-pop groups who deliver solid songs — the sort that are cheery, vaguely summery even when heard in the depths of winter, and catchy enough — but who have also never been good enough, always lacking something to push them to the head of the pile (and in Japan, that’s more like a mountain). “Mizutamari,” though, shows that maybe all Tourist & Soundtracks needed to do to stand out was go electric — it’s a bouncy electro-pop number featuring the always-welcome addition of vocal manipulation (weirdly enough, the vocals here bring to mind ever-optimistic J-pop outfit Sekai No Owari, though “Mizutamari” is a far more straightforward affair). Listen above.
