Kaho Nakamura, one of my greatest music discoveries of last year. It’s a huge mystery to me how she isn’t more well known and popular. This song “Kiitone!” from her 2018 album AINOU gets me grooving every time it comes up on shuffle. Kaho’s soulful vocalization but playful nature mixed with the track’s overall jazzy r&b infused pop makes for a insanely fun track. The music video is also excellent and really fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t0d5eHg8Tc
A blast from the past, Base Ball Bear still rocking after all these years and releasing material, but older favorites like “Tabibito in the Dark” still hold up and bring me back to a different time in my life. A reminder that I can still enjoy this sort of emotional alternative rock sound and that it still hits for me.
New 88Kasyo Junrei, like literally just dropped this song and MV yesterday. They have considerably “toned” or “calmed” down their sound from past albums and really started to evolve their sound. It’s still weird as fuck and out there regardless but with a different energy than their older material. As a fan since the beginning all the way back to their 2007 demo EP it’s nice to know that they are still plugging away and progressing their art even if it might not be as raw or intense as it once was.
This song “泥春” or “Muddy Spring” definitely leans a lot more into their math rock elements with a more melodic approach to the vocals and overall song progression. They’ve incorporated these sounds in their music in past albums but this is more of a full on lean into these styles, while in the past they leaned more heavily into a post-hardcore and psychedelic rock/metal sound as a base with shades of math rock and punk but with a overall let’s say less “polite” song structure. Regardless I like this all the same and I’m excited for a new album hopefully this year.