#40 Universe Nekoko Kimi No Youni Ikiretara Bump into someone walking down the main shopping arcade in Koenji and you have pretty good odds that they play in either a shoegaze band. Few styles have persevered in Japan like this corner of rock, and as a result standing out from the field can be a…
The success of “Yawarakai” isn’t so much in the fact rapper Tamana Ramen sounds sadder or downtrodden, but rather how the music backing her up allows her to play around with the mood. Moving in the same direction as many of her peers in a new Japanese rap community, Tamana Ramen embraces guitar playing better…
While I respect how so much music in the digital-and-streaming age can help people focus or get various chores done, I’m also a little hesitant of how frequently songs simply become background music. Besides often being boring, it just feels like a cheap approach to art, to reduce it to room filler. Yuri’s Nijuuichi Seiki…
Poemcore always felt like it was one or two artists away from developing into a full-fledged micro-movement in the Japanese underground. But it never really formed into something solid to build around, probably peaking with…a virtual YouTuber? That’s all good though, and it has allowed an artist like Tamana Ramen to go off and do…
Simply embracing self-provided descriptions of music or, really, any art without any personal reflection on it is usually a fools game. But man…Bojou Tracks description of themselves really nails it, and is as good as you could ask for. “Bojou Tracks is a label for sensitive hearts,” and the compilation Bojou In Da Tracks delivers…