█████▒▒▒▒▒ 50% LOADING… Yes, my feed is full of these kind of posts to-

There’s no going around it though, as we are in fact now at the halfway point of the year (actually just a little past it by the time that you’re reading this most likely). I remember thinking when I first started the Monthly Recommendation Roundup that this project might be a way to slow down time for me (as I’d more conscious of the months as they come and go), and it does work on me a little bit to be fair. Curious how it is for you guys who tune in every month though 😛

IF, however, if you’re actually not a regular and you’re not sure what this is all about ー

Basically I put together a post featuring Japanese music that I’ve listened to and subsequently recommend to you guys at the end of every month. Keep in mind that these songs don’t all have to have been released within that time frame, as they might also be just songs that I only just discovered myself, or songs that I just want to feature and recommend on a whim.

The songs that I’ll end up featuring will all come from YouTube links of their respective PVs so there is a fair bit of restriction on what I’ll be able to put on here, but I find that keeping it all to one platform ensures the most universality (with remedies easily available in the case of region restrictions). This also allows me to put together a playlist for every song that gets put on the Roundup that I’ll update and share at the end of each post.

While a pessimist might say we’re “only” halfway through the year, a more optimistic person might instead say we *still* have six more months of Japanese music to listen to!

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文学講義/bungaku kougi feat. 相沢 (aizawa)
by 水槽 (suisoh)
Quite possibly my favorite duet of the year thus far

I’m gonna have to check back on this come December, but for now it definitely takes the cake. What’s also for certain is that Suisoh has just been on an absolute roll these past couple of months, notably having their anison with their song Lanternoid being used as the ending theme for the 2024 adaptation of Ryuzoku -The Blazing Dawn- which first premiered back in April. This month Suisoh has now come out with their first EP, also titled Lanternoid which includes the aforementioned title track, as well as this little number here Bungaku Kougi. Suisoh is no stranger to collaborations with other artists, but something about the sultry back and forth they have with Aizawa here as they drop references to famous literature really tickles a part of my brain every time I listen to it. Though Aizawa might not have a lot of song credits to their name, they too have had a considerable amount of note-worthy features alongside the likes of MIMiNARI and souzoucity (the latter in particular being a track that made it in Season 1 of the Spotify Playlist Draft). It was neat seeing Suisoh prop up Aizawa for this one, and Aizawa in turn offers up arguably one of her best singing performances to date.

WOOT!
by RYUTist
Shibata Satoko bless

Singer-songwriter/composer Shibata Satoko really is just doing god’s work whenever she writes up songs for RYUTist, as they always, and I mean ALWAYS hit. Speaking of artists being no stranger to collabs, RYUTist have worked with a wide array of musical minds over their decade+ long run as an idol unit, including (but not limited to) the likes of: Kan Sano, Pasocom Music Club, and Shuta Hasunuma; to name a few. However, in my opinion, none have the same kind of chemistry with them as Shibata Satoko whose unique musicality true enough just shines tremendously here. What you’ll note with this song actually mirrors something that I talked about regarding Shibata’s arrangements back when I featured her own music back in March of this year (and why I personally like them so much), and it’s her penchant for building up a song over the course of its duration; like in this instance where WOOT! starts out with just her guitar-playing but over time the instrumentation picks up little by little and before you know it’s a full ensemble. Much in that same manner, the PV also depicts as much too, with it starting out with RYUTist seemingly singing in a back room, and as they’re singing, the set slowly starts to come together.

酔えない/yoenai feat. Anonymouz
by MIMiNARI
Back again with a another contender for my Favorite Single of 2024?

Some of you who were able to attend last year’s Roundup Awards might remember that MIMiNARI clutched out my runner-up spot for actually both my favorite single as well as my most played song of 2024 with Nemurenai. Granted, a lot of that was because Kusunoki Tomori was the featured singer for the track and, well, if you know me you’d know how much a fan of hers. That being said, I don’t want to take away too much of what MIMiNARI was able to do and is still doing right now, becoming one of the most promising up-and-coming composers in recent memory in such short order. By that same token though, you really can’t talk about MIMiNARI’s songs without also mentioning the voices that they have employed in their works thus far, as they are themselves promising in their own right (if not already somewhat established). It should be noted too that in the fourteen songs they have since come out with, the composer duo have *yet* to have a repeat feature. That is to say, all of their songs thus far have been sang by a different artist each time. It’s almost as if part of the excitement now too with MIMiNARI tracks is who they’ll have on next. What’s fascinating about this song with regard to that too is that this isn’t a sound that we’re used to hearing from Anonymouz, wherein I also think it’s neat that MIMiNARI is able to pull these performances out of these arists.

ブルーナイトダーリン/blue night darling
by 明透 (ASU)
Always gonna stan ASU, but we stan maeshima soshi even harder

It seems things have finally settled down and ASU is now back in the swing of things following the dissolution of her former two-man unit Albumeth in lieu of fellow SINSEKAI RECORD talent ARU’s graduation from the project, as she now parlays her April 2024 single with yet another banger track for this month in Blue Night Darling. It actually took me a minute to figure out why exactly this song had its hooks in me right away, more so too since I just immediately chalked it up to ASU’s lovely vocals doing its thing (of which I will never ever get tired of), but as I took a closer look at the people involved, it made even more sense. At first I thought it was only OHTORA doing the composition work for this track, and while his involvement here alone is definitely neat in itself don’t get me wrong, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy seeing the boy maeshima soshi also in the song credits. I’ve been a fan of his work for the past couple of years now and I just think it’s awesome seeing him not only be involved in a project that I also love in KAMITSUBAKI but also laying down a track for my favorite singer from it as well. Yes, yes, technically KAF was my most listened to artist from here, but if there’s anything I took away from this song, its that I now genuinely believe (and you can quote me on this when it happens) that ASU can be SINSEKAI’s KAF.

LOVE GONNA DIE
by CHIANZ
100% as advertised

One of the things that appealed to me the most about CHIANZ (something that I talked about in advance of the release their OGYA EP in the J-Music Advance Party) was the prospect of a multi-cultural song as the product of both eill’s and Foi’s respective backgrounds. Specifically, I was looking forward to seeing whether or not they would leverage the fact the two of them have performed songs in other foreign languages in the past; with eill having written and sang in Korean and Foi having done the same but in Chinese. What had clued me in on this idea was CHIANZ’s goal (at least according to their profile and the descriptions found in their video uploads) of wanting to break into a more international audience. Of course, that could just have easily meant that they would be releasing songs that had more English lyrics in them (which they also do to be fair). However, it seems I was right on the money based on what you’ll hear in LOVE GONNA DIE here which features literally ALL the languages we just talked about. I thought it was really cool that they did that, if at least for me personally. If delving on lyricism isn’t your thing though, it helps that this is also just a banging track.

blan_
by Arika
That acoustic guitar is hauntingly good

Some of you guys might remember Arika from the review that I wrote for their debut EP 1440 as part of the J-Music Exchange/Rate (give it a read here if you haven’t yet already!). I hadn’t yet known about the pairing of voice actress Natsuyoshi Yuuko and composer Yamato prior to Al (from Omunibasu) introducing me to them, and for the most part I came away from the album very hopeful of what the two offer musically. In particular, I thought Arika had the potential to make waves in Electronic Chamber Pop/Rock in the same vein as that of maybe Sawano Hiroyuki, taking full advantage of Natsuyoshi’s vocals in the process. What I didn’t expect (as it wasn’t a sound that had been present in the aforementioned EP) was for Yamato to pivot to using an acoustic guitar for blan_ here and man did that make all the difference. I had mentioned in my review that it felt as though the Natsuyoshi and Yamato were still in the process of experimenting between styles seeing what works best for them, but I genuinely believe they found their sound here. I absolutely love the interplay of the strings with Natsuyoshi’s vocals. Definitely hope to hear more of this kind of sound from them in the future. If their album nemo (which came out just this month as well) is any indication, it does feel that they’re headed in that direction already.

天使さん/tenshi-san
by リューベンス (rubens)
Such a fan of that break at 2:49

I do sometimes wonder what it takes exactly for a Japanese band to get swept up by the YouTube recommendations’ algorithm, as what appears to be the case here with Rubens and their song Tenshi-san. Going by the amount of English comments in the comments section, the video has since made its way towards the Western/English-speaking parts of the world for some reason or another. Of course, it’s not so much a stretch of the imagination to think that these viewers don’t just have their recommendations ultra-catered specifically towards indie Japanese music (as is the case with mine), so it’s not too too surprising in that sense. That being said, I’ve also entertained the idea that perhaps their band name being the way it is (lol) might have played a factor as well. Whatever the case may be, I’m glad this Tokyo-based Japanese Rock band is receiving the amount of exposure that they are getting as they do sound very promising. I personally really like the silky smooth bass lines here by bassist Mary, and on the whole I dig the retro vibe they got going on for this song (complete with the 4:3 video resolution no less!).

EdeN
by 耳を乞ふ者目を隠す (mimi wo kou mono me wo kakusu)
I really love the lyrical structure here

Moving on now to a band whose name I don’t think would make it necessarily easier for them to potentially be discovered by someone from the West (Jk) is Mimi wo Kou Mono Me wo Kakusu (translates roughly to “those who wish to hear close their eyes“, which is a totally badass name fwiw), with their song EdeN. On the subject of my ultra-catered YouTube recommendations, the Chiba-based “Alternative Shoegaze” band (by their own definition) made their way in there for me this month, and with a description like that you can bet I was already intrigued. That being said, when you listen to this track it’s not really that Shoegaze-y and is actually a lot closer to what people in the Japanese Shoegaze scene would instead refer to as “Utsu”-Rock (or Downer Rock), which is a sub branch of sorts to the genre (kinda like how you would file “Dream Pop” as being slightly different from Shoegaze, but I digress). These are just descriptors at the end of the day though and regardless of which genre they ultimately fall under, I’m still a fan of what they’re doing here. The lyric structure in the verses in particular which have this like off-time signature to it really grabs your attention and keeps you on your toes throughout.

蝶の踊り場/chou no odoriba
by 22-78
That intro is so good😭

I believe I mentioned this before, but in the event that I haven’t, I actually have a good number of bands/artists that I plan on featuring on the Monthly Recommendation Roundup in the backburner so to speak, where I’m mostly just waiting for an opportune time to do so. Oftentimes I end up pulling the trigger the next time they come out with a new song, but there are times too where I just sit on it for a bit longer until I feel like it’s the right time to do so based on my gut. My choosing to feature 22-78 at this juncture would be more of the latter, as I’d actually had them on my docket for a good while now, and after hearing Chou no Odoriba I figured now is as good a time as any to be talking about them. It might still only be recency bias on my end so do take what I’m saying with a grain of salt, but I honestly do think this might be my favorite song of theirs that’s out right now. That intro gets better every time I hear it, and overall the song reminds me of an old favorite of mine in School Food Punishment, which, in all fairness, is a comparison I didn’t think I’d be able to even make. The band seem to be planning something big soon too (a debut album perhaps), so all the more reason to start tuning in.

dust
by Sagiri Sól
Absolutely hooked

If you’re up to date with your Leap250 music lore (lol) you would know that in the past couple of years I’ve slowly and surely become entrenched in Japanese Hip-Hop and R&B, which came to a head in last year’s Roundup Awards where we gave the award for my favorite blind album pick up to indie artist reina for her album You Were Wrong. I liked the album so much that I had Al listen to it for one of our J-Music Exchange/Rate album reviews. Al had also gone on his own trek towards the genre, even venturing deeper than I initially had, which lead him to the indie artist collective known as w.a.u, where he would find out about even more standouts. At the very least, it was through Al’s year end roundup post that I would first encounter the name of Icelandic-Japanese singer-songwriter Sagiri Sól, whose strong vocals and bilingual singing I was hard-pressed not to be impressed by. Admittedly though, because of her association with the aforementioned group, I had pegged her style as primarily being Hip-Hop/R&B-adjacent as well. You can imagine the surprise I had when you listen to dust here and it ends up being hardly that if at all, where instead it’s a mind-numbingly addictive Pop Rock number.

MUST LISTEN:
“Blue Night Darling” by ASU and “dust” by Sagiri Sól
To those who may be averse to 2D/2.5D and/or V-Tubing subculture, please don’t let that deter you from giving KAMITSUBAKI STUDIO/SINSEKAI RECORD songs a listen. Past all the avatars and the whole NFT business model they got going on in the side, at their core they really are still about the music. If anything else, give ASU’s Blue NIGHT Darling a shot. Between ASU’s vocals and maeshima soshi’s prod work, I promise it won’t disappoint. Gonna give Sagiri Sól’s dust the other spot here. I just end up liking the song more the more times I listen to it (and I’ve listened to it A LOT these past couple of days alone). Her voice is just such a perfect fit for this kind of music and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to hear a whole EP worth of it in the future. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last time she does Pop Rock as I am most definitely going to be here for it after this one.

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The YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music playlists have now been updated with this month’s featured tracks. If you haven’t yet already, make sure to follow any of them on your preferred listening service 😉

The new Roundup EP for June 2024 is now up as well, so you guys can see what else I’ve been listening to this month aside from the songs we just talked about. Let me know too if you’d be interested in having the EPs in other services as well as we can most certainly make that happen.

What are your guys’ thoughts on this month’s Roundup? Lemme know down in the comments which of the featured songs you liked the most! While you’re at it, feel free to throw is some of your own recommendations in there as well!

We held the J-Music Advance Party again at my substack newsletter, where we talked about some pretty fun releases that came out this month. If you didn’t get an invite, no worries, as you can still check the Party out, along with previous ones as well if you missed out on them too! Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter to get a reminder of when the next Party drops. We have the next one scheduled for July 6. See you there!

We had a triple (!!!) Draft week for the Spotify J-Music Playlist Draft this month, with Week 11, Week 12, and Week 13 all happening in June. We’re halfway through Season 2 now too and as such we actually now have a better picture as to how this year is shaping up compared to the last one. If you’re not yet caught up with the Draft, now’s a good time to do so!

This month’s J-Music Exchange/Rate is a special one in that… we actually hit 100 reviews! I mean, technically it’s reviews #99 and #100 at once ’cause that’s just how the format of the series is, but that’s neither here nor ther- *ehem*. And to commemorate this momentous occasion, we’re doing a bit of a callback by reviewing albums by the same bands whose albums we covered in our first ever Exchange/Rate (as a refresher, I had Al listen to and review Kinoko Teikoku’s Uzu ni Naru, whereas I was tasked to do same for SHISHAMO’s SHISHAMO 3). Unlike last time though, rather than Al, it’s now me doing a review of a Kinoko Teikoku album as I got to do one of if not my favorite album by them in Time Lapse . Al in turn went and talked about SHISHAMO 5 over at Omunibasu (check it out here!)

And that’s gonna do it for me for this month. Thank you guys so much for dropping by whenever you do! As always I do hope you enjoyed this month’s Roundup just as I did making it if not more. Take care, stay safe, and above all else ー

Happy Listening!