A lovely month of Japanese music to remember 💝

Not to say that February is the only time we remember to love Japanese music, as there’s always time for that here at Monthly Recommendation Roundup! If you’ve been to one of these before, you should already have a decent idea of what to expect, BUT, if this is your first time here and you’re not quite sure what this all entailsー

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

Full disclosure: this month was tiiight on schedule. February already comes with a built-in handicap (I mean, sure, it’s only two or three days shorter… but I’m convinced those two or three days matter), and when you pair that with a handful of IRL obligations that kept me occupied longer than expected, we were cutting it dangerously close. But hey, we made it! By the skin of our teeth? Absolutely. Still counts? Also absolutely. I did want to acknowledge it though, just in case you were refreshing the page wondering where the Roundup went. No ghosting here, just life doing what life does from time to time.

With that little scheduling SNAFU addressed… Let’s get into it!

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DARK GAME
by muque
A more than familiar face enters the fray

Starting us off are last year’s winners for Most Prolific Band of the Year (and now back-to-back recipients, no less), muque, with their first entry of 2026: DARK GAME. If you’ve been following muque for any amount of time, even just since they began appearing regularly here on the Roundup, you’ll likely notice something different about this latest offering from the former Fukuoka four-piece. And yes, the operative word there is former. This marks the band’s first release following the departure of bassist Lenon, who has since moved on to pursue other musical ventures. (I highly doubt this will be the last we hear from him, so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on what he does next.) Naturally, the absence is felt. DARK GAME lacks the punchy, driving basslines that once anchored many of their earlier tracks, leaving drummer/beatmaker Takachi to shoulder more of the rhythmic weight. Thankfully, he’s more than capable of doing so, as you’ll hear here. The band leans into a more produced sound this time around, placing greater emphasis on atmosphere and vocalist Asakura’s toplines. It’s an interesting pivot, and I’m genuinely curious whether this signals a longer-term direction for muque. Personally, I’ve always gravitated toward their more organic band sound, so part of me hopes they eventually fill that bass slot again.

Whitoxin
by CLAN QUEEN
Feels like I’m watching a movie

Next up is a band whose fate feels almost intertwined with muque’s. at least within the Roundup universe, because it somehow feels impossible to bring up one without mentioning the other. Of course, I’m talking about the ever-explosive CLAN QUEEN. That said, the riotous three-piece’s latest single, Whitoxin, is interestingly anything but explosive. Instead, the band delivers what might arguably be their tamest song to date. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still that signature instrumental grandiosity in the chorus, but the overall energy feels noticeably more restrained. In that sense, I almost see Whitoxin as CLAN QUEEN’s take on a wintery ballad, even if that wasn’t necessarily the explicit intention. It’s a safer song than we’re used to from them, to the point where I’m inclined to believe the focus here might not have been the song alone, but rather the absolutely stunning cinematography on display in the PV. And that brings me to an important detail: CLAN QUEEN’s Mai has been directing the band’s promotional videos. I can’t help but feel like this release serves as a more deliberate showcase of her visual craft, allowing the music to step back just enough so the atmosphere and scenery can truly breathe.

star flower
by Chilli Beans.
This time for sure

It seems we’re bringing back all the Roundup all-stars in this first half, because stepping up next are none other than Chilli Beans., and honestly, it feels like it’s been a while. At the very least, it’s been a while since I’ve felt genuinely excited about a new release from the Tokyo-based three-piece. The last time that really happened was around the release of their first full-length album debut. A lot of that, if I’m being honest, stems from my personal feeling that their sophomore album Welcome to My Castle didn’t quite recapture the magic of their debut, or really any of their earlier releases. That’s not to say the songs themselves were bad (their blue night mini album, if you recall, was my runner-up for Favorite EP/Mini Album of 2024), but somewhere along the way there was this quiet acceptance that the lively, garage-rock-leaning energy fans initially fell in love with had started to dissipate. And yet, every so often, Chilli Beans. remind us that they very much still have it in them. That’s exactly what happens with star flower. We’re not fully back to peak form just yet, but if nothing else, that chorus structure alone feels like a welcome throwback to the band at their most infectious. And honestly? That’s a promising sign.

sleep sleep
by Split end
Talk about a reimagining

Sticking with the theme of Roundup all-stars, we have another longtime favorite of mine, and I mean loooong-time favorite, in Split end. It’s been a while since I’ve talked about them here, though that has less to do with my interest waning and more to do with the band’s activity (or lack thereof) over the years. Despite officially forming in 2018, Split end’s release schedule has been sporadic at best. To be fair, their early years coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which understandably stalled momentum for many bands in the scene. They made a strong return with the moratorium EP in 2021 (a release I was incredibly excited about) but even after that, they never quite managed to build sustained momentum. (It’s also worth noting that vocalist Nanami got married during that stretch, which could very well have played a role.) Seeing Split end active again now leaves me feeling both excited and cautiously optimistic. That said, and this is coming from someone who’s been listening to them for quite some time, sleep sleep might just be the best they’ve ever sounded. A big reason for that, in my opinion, is Nanami’s vocal approach here. She opts for a more subdued performance, which beautifully offsets what has sometimes felt like an acquired taste in her earlier, more forceful style.

U.N.O
by パスピエ (“PASSEPIED”)
Time to set the record straight

Rounding off this first half of returning talent on the Roundup is, perhaps to the surprise of some longtime readers, PASSEPIED. As I mentioned in this month’s issue of The J-Music Advance Party (go check that out if you haven’t yet!), PASSEPIED is one of those bands I’ve known about for years, and yet somehow never fully explored. I remember giving them a cursory listen back when I was first getting my footing in Japanese music, and at the time, I found myself a bit taken aback by vocalist Ogoda Natsuki’s singing style; speaking of acquired tastes. In the years that followed, I more or less stuck with that early impression. I never really revisited them to see if that assessment still held up, perhaps out of inertia, perhaps out of stubbornness. But with the release of their latest album, I figured it was finally time to give them a fair shake. And just as I had quietly begun to suspect over the years… Ogoda’s vocals? Perfectly fine. More than fine, actually. You can hear that clearly in U.N.O. If anything, it feels like I simply needed more time and context to properly appreciate her delivery. As for the band’s technical prowess, that was never in question. PASSEPIED’s instrumental acumen has always been evident, so that part came as no surprise. What did surprise me, though, was realizing how much I may have shortchanged them all these years.

Pretty Young
by Widescreen Baroque
“1+1 = yonaka no two-shot silhouette” is just forever stuck in my brain now.

We’ve now reached the back half of this month’s Roundup features, which, as the astute Roundup veterans already know, is where I introduce “new” bands and artists to the series. Whether they’re up-and-coming acts or simply new discoveries for me personally, this is always one of my favorite sections to put together. We’ll start with a band I found out about thanks to a recommendation from Roundup regular and friend of the blog, CJ (huge thanks as always). If you’ve followed my writing on Japanese music for any length of time, you’ll know that I adore Soutaiseiriron. They were one of the first bands I truly got into when I started listening to Japanese music in earnest, and I consider them formative in shaping who I am now as a fan (a journey I wrote about in a special for This Side of Japan). Which makes it all the more surprising that composer Mabe Shuichi, largely responsible for Soutaiseiriron’s early sound, forming Widescreen Baroque somehow slipped completely past my radar. So again, major props to CJ for putting this on my map. You can hear those early-Soutaiseiriron sensibilities clearly in Pretty Young, but reframed through a more modern lens. The production leans more polished and studio-driven rather than band-oriented, while the orchestral flourishes give the track an appropriately grand, almost theatrical “baroque” feel. It’s a really neat contrast. And then there’s vocalist Hinano, who does a tremendous job channeling the spirit of Etsuko Yakushimaru, not as imitation, but as inspiration, bringing her own light, airy take to the delivery.

missing
by mukeikaku
Right in the feels

There have been a few times now, especially since I started branching out into other series and writing on different platforms, where I’ve felt like I already talked about a particular band or artist, only to realize at the end of the month that I actually hadn’t. Such is the case once again here with Tokyo-based alt-rock trio mukeikaku. I first came across the band sometime in 2024 with the release of their temperature EP, which ended up being one of my quiet favorites from that year. I’ve kept a subtle eye on them ever since, though interestingly, they went the entirety of 2025 without releasing new material, which, in hindsight, explains why I never really got the opportunity to formally feature them here. Now in 2026, mukeikaku return with a brand-new single, missing, and it comes with a bit of a surprise: the song is written entirely in English. While it’s not uncommon for Japanese bands or artists to release English-language tracks, it’s relatively rare to hear one this well articulated. Vocalist Mana’s enunciation, in particular, suggests a strong level of fluency. Not that fluency was ever a prerequisite for the song to land, but it certainly adds to the experience. More than anything, missing feels like a confident reintroduction, and if this marks the beginning of a more active chapter for mukeikaku, I’m more than ready to finally give them their overdue Roundup spotlight.

バンドエイド・マイ・ティーン/bandaid my teen
by 汐れいら (ushio reira)
Always gonna be a sucker for these

A lot of the same can be said about singer-songwriter Ushiro Reira, whose music I’ve been following for quite some time now, yet somehow never formally featured here on the Roundup. I did manage to spotlight her in the August 2024 issue of The J-Music Advance Party, where I had the chance to dig a bit deeper into her artistry, particularly her worldview and approach to songwriting. If you missed that one, I highly recommend giving it a read. I was genuinely moved by how she described the core concept behind her music, and it only deepened my appreciation for what she does. Part of the reason she may not have appeared here sooner likely has to do with her generally pop-leaning sound. I wouldn’t say I’m averse to pop by any means, but it’s not typically the style that dominates the Roundup. That said, I’ve noticed something interesting among this newer crop of emerging singer-songwriters (artists like Mochizuki Hinata, Matsuda Koyoi, and Kucci) who aren’t afraid to stretch the boundaries of what a solo artist can sound like. Ushiro Reira fits right into that conversation. Bandaid my teen plays like a warm throwback, evoking early-2000s sensibilities in a way that feels intentional rather than derivative. Maybe I’m biased toward that era (okay, I probably am), but the fact that the song manages to pull me in that way says something. The track arrives fresh off her first full-length album debut, which dropped just a couple of days ago at the time of writing. If Bandaid my teen is any indication, it’s definitely worth checking out the rest of the record.

キラメキ/kirameki
by マリンブルーデージー (marine blue daisy)
Still a good time at the end of the day

Historically here on the Roundup, as some of you might recall, three-piece girls rock bands once felt almost like a guilty pleasure of mine. Not necessarily because I disliked them, but because of how homogeneous the scene started to feel at one point. There was a stretch where the Japanese music landscape seemed oversaturated with bands of that exact configuration, often operating within a very similar sonic lane. I used to joke about it, sure, but there was also some truth to the observation. It was hard not to notice. Whether that wave genuinely subsided or I simply shifted my focus elsewhere over the past few years is difficult to say. But from my perspective, it did feel like things quieted down for a bit, only for us now to be seeing something of a resurgence. Bands like Sabasister and komsume seem to be leading that renewed charge. What’s interesting this time around, though, is that the music doesn’t feel nearly as archetypal. The “three-piece girls rock band” label feels less like a genre in and of itself and more like what it always should’ve been; a simple descriptor of lineup. Take Marine Blue Daisy for example, with their track Kirameki. There’s a lot going on musically here that resists easy categorization. It’s tight, dynamic, and confidently arranged, proof that the resurgence we’re seeing isn’t about repeating old formulas, but about evolving past them.

246
by RAINBOW BELTZ
They’re so goooood

We’ve now reached the final track of the Roundup, and you know what that means. That’s right: it’s time for the unofficial indie band / Japanese-style alternative spotlight. As longtime readers might recall, this section sort of came about organically. For whatever reason, it naturally became the space where I’d highlight up-and-coming indie talent. Over time, as my fascination with what I’ve come to call “Japanese-style alternative” deepened, this spot slowly evolved into a dedicated showcase for that specific sound, eventually culminating in the creation of my 和式オルタナ (Japanese-style alternative) playlist, which I update every week. Curating that playlist has really immersed me in the scene. It’s been such a rewarding experience discovering emerging acts who are pushing the genre forward in their own ways. As such, the bands and artists you’ll see featured here are those who were included in the playlist over the past month and who I genuinely feel deserve to be heard. One such act is RAINBOW BELTZ. They feel like a band right on the cusp of wider recognition just basing it off of the numbers. Yes, their penchant for English lyrics certainly doesn’t hurt when it comes to algorithmic reach, but that’s far from the only reason to pay attention. Their music strikes a compelling balance between harsh and ephemeral, pairing nostalgic alt-rock textures with vocalist Miyu’s dreamy, almost weightless delivery. It’s a combination that feels both familiar and fresh, and exactly the kind of thing this spotlight was made for.

MUST LISTEN:
“sleep sleep” by Split end and “246” by RAINBOW BELTZ
I wasn’t kidding when I said earlier that sleep sleep might just be Split end’s best song to date. I genuinely think the band came together and talked about what works and what might not, and this is just the end result. Like, I can hear spots where they could’ve done certain things like they used to, but they purposely eschewed that to deliver just a clean performance. Lovely to see from the band, and here’s hoping this is the start of a more consistent run from them. I kinda set myself up for it, but RAINBOW BELTZ’s 246 also gets the nod here. I mean, how can you not love what you’re hearing here? This is just their third official release but I do foresee the band becoming somewhat of a cult favorite sooner rather than later if they keep this up. Like I said, the numbers have been impressive, which is way more than I can say about other bands I gave the feature to (lol). If this is just the beginning, we might be witnessing something special.

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The YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music playlists have ALL now been updated with this month’s featured tracks. Make sure to follow them on your preferred listening service if you haven’t yet!

If you’re still in the mood for more tunes to jam to, I have more for ya here in this month’s Roundup Extended Playlist (EP)!

What are your guys’ thoughts on this month’s Roundup? Let me know down in the comments! Likewise, if you have some songs you want to recommend from this month, please feel free to drop a link and share the love 🥰

The J-Music Advance Party opened its doors once again this month, and we ended up hosting some genuinely stellar releases. In particular, Österreich’s Taikyou became an instant favorite for me, so I’m glad to say we got the read on that one right early on. There’s always a little satisfaction in calling a release ahead of time and then watching it unfold exactly the way you hoped it would 😌 For those who might be unaware, the Advance Party is my separate Substack newsletter where I spotlight upcoming Japanese album releases I’m personally most excited about each month. Think of it as the pre-game show to the Roundup, a place where we talk about what’s on the horizon before it officially drops. If that sounds like your kind of thing, consider subscribing! It’s completely free, and you’ll get notified every time a new issue goes live. You’ll also unlock access to all past issues, which makes for some fun backtracking if you’re ever in discovery mode. The next Advance Party is scheduled for March 8, 2026. Hope to see you there!

The J-Music Exchange/Rate also made its return this month, both on your screens and, hopefully, in your hearts, for a slightly Valentine’s-leaning pair of album reviews 💌 For those who might be newer around here, the Exchange/Rate is my monthly tandem album review series with my good friend and fellow Japanese music enthusiast Al from Omunibasu. Each month, we decide on a theme and assign each other albums to review within that framework. This month’s theme was: “albums that come to mind when we think of the word sweet.” For Al, I picked Sugar Mellow by Ura Koyuki. It’s been a personal favorite of mine, and I was genuinely curious to see how its warmth and earnestness would resonate from his perspective. You can check out his thoughts over on the Omunibasu Substack! In return, Al assigned me Tegami by voice actress vocal unit EARPHONES, which was all of sorts of sweet in its own right. If you haven’t caught my review yet, you can find it here!

And that’s all I got for ya! Thank you guys so, so much for sticking around, and again, apologies for the very slight delay this month. We cut it close, but we landed the plane 😅 That aside, as always, I truly hope the Roundup (and everything else we’ve got going on here on the blog) is just as fun for you to read as it is for me to write and piece together. Whether you’ve been here for years or just stumbled in recently, it genuinely means a lot that you spend a little bit of your time here with me and these songs 😌

Happy Listening!