Step Into It: Akarui Nouson Plan 3

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 they bought off Amazon this week,” but turns out…nah, I was completely wrong, things are always alright. Akarui Nouson Plan 3 is an album of garage-leaning dance music created from a wide variety of Japanese producers, including a few familiar names (Rhytone stops by with the constantly swelling “Theme,” while Mochilon from Mikeneko Homeless stops by for a few songs, highlighted by the shuffling “El Verde”). Yet discovery is just as critical, and Akarui Nouson Plan 3 delivers wonderfully. Ryosuke Urabe might be the MVP of the compilation, with emotionally rich garage tunes such as “NaN,” the set’s opener which features a smudgy, melancholy feel alongside the fast-paced beat. Listen above.

And this isn’t the first collection they’ve put together — last month, they released Akarui Nouson Keikaku II featuring a lot of familiar names from the above collection. Get that here.