Spring is in full bloom, and so is this month’s Roundup!

Hello! It’s me, your friendly neighborhood Leap, and it’s time once again for the Monthly Recommendation Roundup! If you’ve stumbled across one of these before, or if you’re already a regular, then chances are you know what’s in store, so feel free to jump right in and check out this month’s featured tracks. However, if this happens to be your first time here and you’re not entirely sure what this is all about—

At the end of each month, I put together a post featuring Japanese music that I’ve listened to and want to recommend to you all. Keep in mind, these songs don’t necessarily have to be recent releases. Some might be tracks I’ve just discovered, while others could be longtime favorites that I’m excited to share on a whim.

The songs I feature will all come from YouTube links to their respective PVs, which means there are some limitations on what I can include. However, I find that sticking to one platform ensures the most accessibility for everyone (and there are easy workarounds for region restrictions). This also allows me to create a playlist of all the songs featured in each Roundup, which I update and share at the end of every post

Never been a fan of when the end of the month lands smack dab in the middle of the week like it does here, mostly because it opens up the possibility of missing out on some last-minute bangers. Which, yep, is exactly what happened this time around. Fingers crossed I can make room for them next month, but if not, big shoutout to N-FENI for dropping yet another absolute hitter and Chilli Beans. for making me a believer again.

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The 1
by muque
If it was going to be anyone, it would be muque

The “one”, that is, at least for me. Of course, The 1 is in reference to the titular One Piece itself, and marks muque’s official tie-up single with the long-running, highly-acclaimed anime series. What’s wild is that I only heard a tiny snippet of the track when they first teased the ending theme announcement, but I kid you not, even the TV-size cut was enough to get the song stuck in my head for days after. I chalk it up once again to the band’s uncanny ability to craft some of the catchiest melodies imaginable, and they absolutely do it again here. Vocalist Asakura’s topline work is as stellar as ever, and drummer/beatmaker Takachi kicks it up to Gear 5 (for all you One Piece out there, I gotchu) with his insane rhythm work on this track. Funny enough, this actually marks the second time now that a Roundup favorite of mine has gone on to do an ending theme for One Piece, with the first being Chilli Beans. with their song Raise back in 2023. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if this became something of a tradition for the Roundup moving forward (lol). More than anything though I’m just genuinely happy that muque is about to be introduced to a whole new wave of fans both in and outside of Japan.

ORDER
by CLAN QUEEN
If you know, you know

I honestly think that, in a world where muque didn’t exist, or if for some wild reason I just refused to listen to them, I would’ve probably been raving about CLAN QUEEN for the better part of last year and into this one. Not to say it’s unfortunate for CLAN QUEEN that they haven’t quite reached the same heights muque have (because truthfully, they’ve already built up a solid cult following in Japan), but rather, I really do believe it’s only a matter of time for them too. The band’s been keeping their heads down, steadily putting out quality songs at a good pace while also supporting other bands and artists along the way, which I think is awesome (fun fact: bassist Mai, who directs most of CLAN QUEEN’s PVs, actually helped out as the main colorist/PV director for KAIKA’s Tokyo, Bokura wa daijoubu ka na too, which I thought was super neat). In all honesty though, I really do think they’ve outdone themselves with ORDER here. You still get that same explosive chorus that’s pretty much become their trademark at this point, but what really takes it up a notch is Guitarist/Vocalist AOi jumping in with a full verse alongside yowa. The way the two of them trade off lines is just so cool to hear, and it brings a new dynamic that I’m hoping we get to hear more of moving forward.

Fix
by ブランデー戦記 (brandy senki)
That’s a closer if I’ve ever heard one

We’re now just a mere two weeks away from what’s shaping up to be one of the most anticipated album drops of the year (at least for this side of Japanese music on the internet) with Brandy Senki’s first full-length album right around the corner. For those of you who maybe haven’t been keeping up with the last couple of Roundups, I’ve been talking about this release for a good while now, mostly because I really do believe it has the potential to push the band’s popularity even further than where it’s at now, especially given the momentum they built up off last year’s Akumu no you na Isshukan EP. In particular, I mentioned before that it would do Brandy Senki a lot of good if they could string together a couple of strong singles to really hype up the album, and ideally drop one that just makes a massive statement to get everyone on board. So… is Fix that track? Honestly… I’m a little torn on it, but I’m gonna save the bulk of those thoughts for when we do the full album breakdown in next month’s J-Music Advance Party. That said, based on what we know now (especially with the tracklist finally out), it looks like Fix is actually slotted as the album closer, which, to be fair, does make a lot of sense with how the song feels. If nothing else, I do like the track a lot in that context.

卵と牛乳とレコード/tamago to gyuunyu to record
by セブンス・ベガ (“7thVega”)
My favorite track of theirs yet.

What’s kinda funny is that, compared to Brandy Senki, it’s honestly starting to feel more like 7thVega are the ones gearing up for an album release (lol) with how they’ve been steadily cranking out songs lately, each one continuing to flesh out their sound even more. It’s actually crazy just how much more dimension there is in Tamago to Gyuunyuu to Record from an instrumentation standpoint compared to, say, SUPPER from last year. Granted, the two are completely different stylistically (with SUPPER leaning more into a grunge-y alt-rock vibe and this one being more pop-adjacent), but even that alone just shows how versatile and skilled the band’s members actually are. I find that’s something people tend to overlook sometimes when it comes to all-girl bands, but make no mistake, 7thVega are proving themselves to be a seriously talented bunch who seem to just keep getting better. Frontwoman Shibuya Kanna and bassist Sora, in particular, have both really grown on me with each new release. They’ve built up a solid little foundation of tracks at this point, and honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if they start teasing a full release of their own sometime in the relatively near future.

horizon
by 砂凪 (sanagi)
Surprisingly emotional and beautiful

I honestly didn’t expect to be describing a sanagi song like this based on their first appearance here on the Roundup. Not that I ever doubted the band’s ability to make a beautiful song, of course, but horizon is such a complete departure from presage that it feels almost like night and day. I mean, I even talked before about how dark and gritty their sound was with those aggressive guitars on presage, and yet here they are showcasing these absolutely heartful, shoegaze-y melodies that honestly remind me a lot of early Split end which, as some of you may know, is a longtime Roundup favorite. Whether this marks an entirely new direction for sanagi, or if they’re just flexing their range early on to let people know what they’re capable of, is anyone’s guess at this point. Either way, this was an absolutely fantastic showing from them. Here’s hoping the local crowd agrees and the band starts gaining even more momentum at their live house shows. They don’t have a ton of material out just yet, but if they can build a decent following from here, I’m sure sanagi has plenty more good things in store for those willing to listen.

フラジャイル・ナイト/fragile night
by Aooo
Can’t believe this is the first time I’m talking about Aooo on the Roundup.

It’s almost criminal, honestly. Though to be fair, it’s not like I haven’t been keeping tabs on Aooo up until now, I’ve actually talked about them quite a bit over on my Substack newsletter as part of the J-Music Advance Party, covering both their debut full-length album and their most recent EP that just dropped this month. So while it might seem like they’ve been a bit absent from the Roundups, rest assured I’ve been following Aooo pretty closely since their inception. A lot of that, of course, has to do with who is involved For those who might not know, Aooo is practically an all-star lineup, featuring former AKAIKO-EN frontwoman Ishino Riko (whom I’ve gone on record many times praising, especially leading up to AKAIKO-EN’s dissolution), alongside Vocaloid producer Surii, bassist Yamamoto Hikaru (you might recognize her as YOASOBI’s support bassist), and NOMELON NOLEMON’s Tsumiki. It’s a real coming together of musical talent One thing I really like that Aooo does with this setup is how they seem to rotate who’s in charge of composing each track. Fragile Night, for example, comes courtesy of Yamamoto herself, and you can totally tell too by how the basslines are laid out.

Moonlight Cruising feat. KIRINJI
by YonYon
She’s been on a tear these past few months

Similarly, it honestly baffles me how I have yet to feature YonYon here on the Roundup, especially considering how often I find myself listening to tracks she’s been featured on during my own downtime. Granted, I didn’t exactly do myself any favors by skipping over Old Friends back in February and U from March, both absolute hitters in their own right. Thankfully, she dropped yet another stunner this month in Moonlight Cruising, and there was no way I was gonna let this one slip by. In a way, it feels almost fitting. As much as I genuinely liked her previous two offerings this year, this one just really resonated with me the most. Maybe I’m just a sucker for acoustic guitars, but I just love the loop she uses here. Reminds me a lot of one of my favorites from last year in TEMPLIME’s SKYDRIVE that also made fantastic use of a similar acoustic loop. Much like how Tota just completely takes you away on SKYDRIVE, YonYon’s singing here sweeps you up and carries you off on an absolute journey. That’s now three straight months of fire she’s dropped and honestly, at the rate she’s going, it’s starting to feel like YonYon is gearing up to drop what could potentially end up being one of the hottest EPs/mini-albums of the year. You heard it here first.

Lily
by The Floatings
Now ain’t that a familiar face.

If you’ve been following the Roundup for a while, you might remember me talking about the “dark pop” solo project BURNABLE/UNBURNABLE by vocalist re:caco. While the project had some success, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it really took off the way I hoped it would, which is a bit of a shame. That said, she hasn’t officially closed the door on that venture just yet (at least not from what I can tell, seeing as she still uses the moniker across her socials). However, it seems like re:caco decided to switch things up this past year, taking part in a band project called The Floatings, and honestly, it feels like she may have found another calling, if not her true one. Rather than leaning into dark pop, the band’s sound, as you’ll hear here in Lily, skews more toward dream pop and shoegaze, or as they specifically brand it, a Tokyo “neo gazer” style. To their credit, while you can definitely hear those influences (grainy distortion, hazy atmosphere, all that good stuff) there’s also a sharper edge to their sound that gives it a bit more bite than your typical dreamy shoegaze fare. It’s really cool hearing re:caco in this kind of setting too; she sounds right at home. Super excited to see how The Floatings continue to grow from here.

花明かり/hana akari
by waka
Just, wow

As much of a sucker as I am for acoustic guitars, I’m equally helpless when it comes to getting swept up by good singer-songwriter performances. That being said, not every day do they come as elegant as waka’s Hana akari here. Of course, a lot of that elegance stems from the presence of a violin on the track, which, honestly, isn’t something you see all that often around these parts, and even less so in Japanese music outside of soundtracks or contemporary classical circles. It’s a more than welcome inclusion though, as the violin just adds an incredible amount of emotional weight to a song like this. Something to note is that both the violin and the accompanying piano are provided by the instrumental duo KOSAME, who, fun fact, have actually been involved with all of waka’s recorded songs up to this point (all of which were recently compiled into an album that I highly recommend you guys check out!). Hard to say whether this is just a one-off collaboration or if they’ll continue working together long-term, but man, I’d love to see them stick around and maybe even become a proper band someday.

彼岸花/higanbana
by シェカラーシカ (shekarashika)
You know what time it is

Yes, yes. It is, indeed, that time of the month once again where I talk about a Japanese indie band that I think you guys should definitely keep an eye out for. Or well, at least, that’s normally how it’s supposed to go. This time around, though, it’s going to be a little different. While Shekarashika are absolutely a band I would’ve told you to keep tabs on, it saddens me to say that, after only a short time (at least from what we’ve seen of them online—they might’ve been making the rounds at live houses for much longer), the band has since gone on indefinite hiatus as of the end of last month, with Higanbana serving as their final release. It ties back to what I was saying when I talked about TRE@SON a little while ago, where you just never really know with these young bands how long they’re actually going to stick around, especially when a lot of them are fresh out of high school, which I surmise was the case here too. There’s always the hope that they might come back after sorting things out, of course, and selfishly, I really do want them to. I think their sound fits right in with this Reiwa era wave of Japanese-style alternative that’s been gaining traction these past couple of years, and it’d be a real shame not to see what else they could’ve done with it given how promising they were already sounding.

MUST LISTEN:
“Tamago to Gyuunyuu to Record” by 7thVega and “Hana Akari” by waka
If I’m being completely honest, I actually didn’t think too much of Tamago to Gyuunyuu to Record when I first gave it a listen. Not that I thought it was bad or anything, it just struck me as an okay track at the time. But the more I kept coming back to it, the more I started picking up on little things that I ended up really liking. I love the main hook, I love the solos, I love the way the whole song is structured; everything about it just feels right to me now. 7thVega are making some serious strides in their growth as a band, and I’m absolutely here for it. Hana Akari was another nice surprise this month. I actually stumbled across waka on my socials completely by chance, but honestly, it feels like one of those fateful encounters with how quickly and completely I ended up falling in love with her sound.

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The YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music playlists have all now been updated with this month’s featured tracks!

If you haven’t already, make sure to follow them on your preferred platform so you don’t miss out whenever new songs get added.

If you’ve still got time (and room in your libraries!) for even more Japanese music that I personally recommend from this month, the Roundup Extended Playlist for April 2025 is officially live!

If you’re new around here, these extended playlists (or EPs) are where I highlight even more tracks that I enjoyed throughout the month but didn’t get around to featuring. Feel free to check it out and see what gems you might discover!

What did you guys think of this month’s Roundup? Let me know in the comments!

And of course, if you’ve got your own recommendations for the month, feel free to drop them down in the comments too. I’m always on the lookout for new music and would love to hear what you guys have been listening to!

A bunch of Party-goers got to enjoy another night at the J-Music Advance Party over on my Substack newsletter, where we went over some standout releases from April, with SWALLOW’s Northern Blood being a surprise favorite pickup, and Aoyama Sachiko’s Kagayaki no Toriko being every bit as wonderful as expected. If you haven’t had the chance yet to join the lucky few (lol) who get to hear me ramble about upcoming Japanese music releases for the month, make sure to subscribe if that sounds like your kind of thing! I put out a new issue during the first week or so of every month, where I talk about five Japanese albums and/or EPs that I’m personally looking forward to checking out. It’s 100% free, and all previous Parties are still fully accessible, so you’ll be able to catch up in no time (and maybe even spot a release or two that you missed!). The next issue is scheduled to drop on May 4, 2025. Hope to see you there!

To those of you who haven’t been keeping up, Spotify has been absolutely rinsing me these past couple of weeks at the Spotify J-Music Playlist Draft. Week 7 and Week 8 are just the latest chapters in the absolute lambasting that Spotify’s been handing me with its heater recommendations. Go check them out if you haven’t yet to see what I mean (and see for yourself just how on-point Spotify’s been with its picks!)

Al and I get the last laugh in this month’s J-Music Exchange/Rate (or “K-Music Exchange/Rate” for that matter), where, for shxts and giggles, I had us review non-Japanese albums that we thought could pass as Japanese music, all in the spirit of this year’s April Fools. Funnily enough, we both ended up picking Korean music for the prompt: Al tossed over K-indie band ADOY’s VIVID for me to check out (you can read my review here!), and I in turn had him listen to one of my favorite Korean singer-songwriters, Luli Lee, and her album Fade Away Like A Dream. You can catch Al’s review of it over at the Omunibasu Substack if you haven’t yet already!

And there you have it! Another Roundup wrapped up. Thank you all so so much for dropping by whenever you do, especially if you made it all the way down here and are still reading. The fact that you choose to spend some of your time here each month really does mean a lot, and I can only hope I made your stay worth it, and that you’re walking away with a couple of new songs to take with you, too 😉

Happy Listening!