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New Yunomi: “Miracle Sugar Land” Featuring Momobako

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Plenty of people have come around to producer Yunomi’s maximalist mix of gumball-bright synthesizers and traditional touches, and 2018 has already proven pretty busy. The most notable project he’s undertaken was more or less architecting the debut album from future-bass idols Cy8er, seeing him add in a few more dramatic touches (alongside big dumb drops). Now comes a new song featuring artist Momobako that is a bit more of a traditional Yunomi number. “Miracle Sugar Land” was written for a forthcoming art book, and features one of the more understated verses Yunomi has done, putting the focus on Momobako’s higher-pitched voice (sorry SoundCloud, she doesn’t say Gucci Gang). The hook, though, is a bit more physical, though still avoids going full mosh pit in favor of something a bit sweeter. Get it here, or listen below.

New Tokyo Girls’ Style: “Last Romance”

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“Last Romance” marks a bit of a throwback for idol unit Tokyo Girls’ Style…even if the marketing materials accompanying it try to tap into current trends. The description coming alongside the above clip busts out everyone’s favorite two words — city pop — in talking about “Last Romance,” trying to continue the group’s slow-burning evolution from stereotypical idol fare to something more “adult” (and capable of being absorbed by more mainstream audiences). But the trick is, Tokyo Girls’ Style did that. They were one of the first idols to embrace ’80s-born funk and pop sounds — beating Especia to the punch — in an effort to stand out. They’ve tried a lot of things since debuting — remember that sick future bass song? — and now they are coming back to where they started, but presenting it as a new direction because city pop is now trendy.

OK, presentation issues aside — “Last Romance” is a pretty good J-pop take on the sound. It features plenty of space for the members of the group to sing (no knock-out vocals, but they match well enough) and a nice synthesized take on throwback funk. It comes courtesy of the band Lucky Kilimanjaro, a group closer to synth-pop than anything else, but showing off a great pop sensibility that jumps off a little more than their own album from last year (the next Give Me Wallets, perhaps?). Again, not a radical move for the Avex outfit, but a solid one with some interesting twists. Listen above.

Kept Close: Family Basik’s “Music For Absentees” And “Unattractive World”

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Siblings Yu and Rima Kato comprise Family Basik, a project offering up intricate chamber pop. It’s far busier than Rima Kato’s sparse solo work, and often features lyrics with a slightly darker bend (see 2014’s A False Dawn And Posthumous Notoriety, a generally chipper collection speckled with lyrics about death). The duo have a new album out later this week, but you can hear two songs from it now. “Music For Absentees” hints at a dreamier turn for Family Basik, merging electronic touches, strings and xylophone cascades with Rima Kato’s repeated vocals. Yet this passage — inviting but melancholy — gives way to an extended jam, pushing the number in new directions and adding some force to this vision. Listen above. “Unattractive World” is closer to what Family Basik did on their first release, pairing skippy music with far more downtrodden lyrics, though the highlight comes when the song just starts fluttering off. Listen to that below.

New Frasco: “Sleepwalking”

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Tokyo duo Frasco tend to operate in two modes. One style veers close to what some have labelled “city pop revival,” though it is just as indebted to acid jazz, AOR cuts and American funk. It’s good and often times bump-able. The second though, which ends up on display in new song “Sleepwalking,” is far more intriguing. It finds the pair embracing electronic sounds — sounds where their digital nature is quiet clear — and laying them out in a slow groove. Elements of their ’80s-leaning sound, aka option one, are present, but everything feels a little more blurred. And then they make that clear by warping the lead vocals, giving “Sleepwalking” a fitting dream-like edge. If so much of this urban funk seems built for just chilling out, “Sleepwalking” offers an interpretation where the ground beneath you can fall out at any second. Listen above.

New Negicco: “Honjitsu Ga Special”

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Idol music — like most pop music — can be something that easily gets twisted too much when you think too much about it. I’m not a believer in the “just have fun!” camp of pop, which often rejects all critical thought, but I also think you can get too academic with the stuff (and, like, I’m guilty of this). Idols can be a minefield, but what happens when you just get a really shimmering dance-pop number with little baggage and just as little space for academic-paper material? Well, you get Negicco, the agriculture-supporting trio who have delivered some of the decade’s most outright catchy J-pop. It is often hit or miss for them, and “Honjitsu Ga Special” is a good example of that. It’s the b-side to a recently released single that is far more forgettable. But “Honjitsu” dives into shiny ’80s pop territory, picking up the Bananarama-baton E-girls moved away from. It’s simple, direct and full of bell chimes Listen above.