Wemibelle

A bit of a quicker one this week! Sorry it’s a bit late, but the site didn’t want to let me post it at first.

No Sad!! feat. AAAMYYY - Bugs, Tsubame (2021)

While the production and vocals from Bugs, Tsubame are great, the highlight of No Sad!! is guest AAAMYYY’s haunting vocals. They have the perfect amount of echo and reverb and fit perfectly into the song’s overall sound.

WANNA - Inshow-ha (2021)

Inshow-ha’s back with WANNA, a kinda-sequel to BEAM!, one of their best tracks (in my opinion). It has the same intense energy, punchy chorus, and video aesthetic and story. It doesn’t beat BEAM! for me, but it’s still a great song.

Supreme Love! - fhana (2021)

The opening for the new season of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Supreme Love! by fhana is a joyously energetic track with fun range and catchy vocals. I particularly enjoy the very beginning of the song, with the little chorus section before the main vocals kick in.

Tried for three songs that are a bit different this week. Hope they’re to everyone’s liking!

Colorful - Team Coca-Cola (2021)

Colorful is a song created as part of a marketing campaign around the Olympics by Coca-Cola. It’s a huge collaboration of mostly Japanese artists--with big names like Perfume, Daichi Miura, and Little Glee Monster--as well as a handful of others such as Sabrina Carpenter and Taemin from KPOP group Shinee. While I usually find these large collaboration songs to be kinda insufferable, I actually really like this one. It’s got a fantastic energy to it, especially during the powerful chorus, and the vocals and lyrics are phenomenally well done.

Revolver - Urara (2021)

The debut release (?) from drummer/singer Urara, Revolver is a haunting, yet beautiful track with some rad instrumentation. There is a striking intensity to this song despite how relatively mellow it sounds as a whole. Urara’s black suit and tie along with that striking red lipstick that stands out against the black and white is a POWERFUL look too.

Granny Square - Zombie-chang (2021)

This isn’t my first Zombie-chang song I’ve shared here and it certainly won’t be the last. Granny Square is one of her most recent releases, and it still has that blend of catchy electronic production and creatively bizarre vocals. This time, all of the lyrics are crocheting terms, thrown out without any real logistical consistency but more used as vocal samples to punctuate the production. As usual, it works a lot better than you’d think, and it has a charmingly annoying tendency to burrow its way into my head.

Another hot three songs from 2021 for ya!

Saru Inu Kawazu Uma - Domico (2021)

Domico, a punk duo formed in 2011, has a new album coming in a few months, and Saru Inu Kawazu Uma is their latest video release. This song has a great alt rock sound that feels very early-00s to me, both in the tone of the guitars and the drone of the vocals.

Moonlight At Midday - Tsukuyomi (2021)

Tsukuyomi is a relatively new group formed around producer YurryCanon, a fairly well-known artist who creates a lot of vocaloid tracks. Moonlight at Midday sounds very much like a typical vocaloid song, but the vocals are actually done by member Mikoto, whose clear and powerful voice resounds a bit more strongly than your typical vocaloid. This is a gorgeous track that reminds me favorably of groups such as Yoasobi and Yorushika.

Poseable - Rhyme So (2021)

The pairing of Australian artist Rhyme and DJ Shinichi Osawa, best known for his work as Mondo Grosso, lead to the group Rhyme So (Rhyme + Osawa’s initials = Rhyme S.O.--clever). Poseable meshes the killer beats and production of Osawa and Rhyme’s smooth flow and memorable attitude to make a powerful, fun song. The video is pretty fantastic too.

Got some more songs to share!

Bling Bling - Saki Misaka (2021)

Bling Bling is such a comforting, pleasant song for me. The rhythm is laid-back yet tight and fun. I love the chorus’ vocal timing and the repetition of “bling bling bling.”

Red Spirit - Miccatenka (2021)

Miccatenka, a new project from Mika Kobayashi, recently released Red Spirit and it’s really neat! It has a cool mix of modern instrumentation along with the traditional shamisen sound added in.

Racing Into the Night - Yoasobi (2019)

Racing Into the Night isn’t a new release, but Yoasobi just released an official English version so I figured now was a good time to share it. I fell in love with the original version via Beat Saber, as there’s a great map from mapper SlimyBlob that I have played too many times. The English version doesn’t quite hit as hard for me, mostly due to how I’m too used to hearing the song in Japanese, but it’s still amazing how well Yoasobi matches the timing and sound with English vocals.

Got another batch of songs, including a few very fresh ones. Enjoy!

Sukuinote - Hakushi Hasegawa + Yukichikasaku/men (2021)

Sukuinote is not going to be a song for everyone. It’s chaotic and bizarre and kinda undefinable. It has a sound that dances the line between almost cacophonic and fascinating without a care in the world. Personally, I find it remarkably creative and absolutely worth experiencing, if a bit abrasive on the ears.

Soliloquy - DUSTCELL (2021)

Here’s a very, very fresh release--only 15 hours old as of the time I’m writing this! Soliloquy is a neat song that dances between a hip-hop style for its “verses” and upbeat pop for the “choruses.” The production suits each section well--subdued during the verses and punchy during the choruses--and the vocals are gorgeously done.

Categorizing Me - Rei (2021)

I absolutely love Rei’s work--having featured her both here and on my yearly Top 10s multiple times--and her newer stuff is just as fantastic. Categorizing Me is technically a song from an album late last year, although it also has an “international version” (basically, entirely in English) for an album released this year. This is a fun little video, where you get to see Rei perform the song up close and personal with cute little flourishes, and I LOVE the song’s laidback energy and lyrics pushing back against snap judgements made towards her without getting to know her.

@bollard: Sorry for the delayed response! Didn't see it until today, as I never received a notification!

I'd love to recommend some Capsule! There's a TON of great songs in their history, and I could easily list 20+ that I really enjoy. From their early "Shibuya-kei" days, you have songs like Weekend in My Room and Fashion Fashion that are uniquely adorable. Their late 00s-early 10s stuff is some of their best, with amazing tracks such as E.D.I.T. and Love or Lies, as well as my personal favorite Capsule track, Reality. Finally, they did a neat experimental album called Caps Lock in 2013 which sounds almost discordant at times but it's really neat. Control is a nice safe song off that one, but 12345678 is a better example of how quirky an album it can be.

Capsule has a really great catalog, and you're pretty safe with most of it, although I think Sugarless Girl, More! More! More!, and Player are their best albums overall. Hope that helps!

I plan to keep it going as long as I possibly can! ^_^

Got another batch of songs this week, with a nicely diverse style of sounds!

Metamorphosis - Amefurasshi (2020)

Amefurasshi is a fairly small (in terms of following), newish JPOP group without a huge library of releases just yet. Metamorphosis, a song of theirs from last year, was the first I heard from them. While the vocals are perfectly fine, they have that plainness to them that quite a few Japanese girl groups have, without much to really latch onto. The production, however, makes up for it. It’s fun and punchy and delves into some electronic-y sounds during the breakdowns.

Passion - Fami (2021)

Fami is a bass player who’s been covering songs for years on her Youtube channel, but 2021 marks the release of her first album, Graduation Album. Passion is the second track, and it’s a good demonstration of her skills. Most of her covers have been bass only, with no vocals, but she does sing on tracks like Passion. Her light, airy voice suits her music quite well, bouncing along nicely with the slick bass lines. My only real issue is that the bass is actually a bit quieter than I like, for an artist focused on bass.

Hikari no Disco - Capsule (2021)

Hikari no Disco is Capsule’s first release since the unimaginative, disappointing Wave Runner--and they’ve taken it in a more retro, 80s-ish style. I want to say I really like it, as a huge fan of both Yasutaka Nakata (producer on Capsule, among countless other things) and 80s JPOP, but this song just isn’t doing it for me. I find it very...dull. There’s a bit too much repetition, and the pace isn’t as upbeat as I’d like. It does at least feel like Capsule, which was my main problem with Wave Runner, so it’s entirely possible it’s one of those songs that will grow on me with time.

Gonna do a quicker one this week. Got my second shot yesterday and am feeling really sore!

Yes No Yes No - Akai Kurage (2020)

The use of intense effects and an almost garbled/screamo style likely makes Yes No Yes a hard recommendation for most people, but I love the entirely bizarre sound it gives the song.

Purpose - Furui Riho (2021)

Furui Riho’s voice in Purpose is lovely and relaxing, pairing nicely with the laid-back beat and pastel-y music video. It’s just so COMFY that I love it to death.

Aitakatta - Louis Vision feat. Miyoko, BBY NABE (2021)

I already shared Chu Chu Chu from Louis Vision, which I loved for its high energy and poppy vocals. Aitakatta is very different--softer, a lot simpler production, amazing vocals--but it’s just as fantastic as the artist’s previous track.

Another fortnight has passed, so it’s time for more music!

Autobiography - Nano (2021)

I just posted a Nano track a month or so ago, but I heard Autobiography again recently and realized how much better it is than Line of Fire. In fact, it’s probably my favorite Nano track now. The instrumentation is catchy and energetic and pairs perfectly with Nano’s slick vocals, particularly during the memorable chorus.

かっぽじれーしょん - Sakanamon ft. Mossa (2021)

The beginning of this track immediately hooked me, with the back-and-forth singing between Sakanomon’s vocalist and guest vocalist Mossa (from Necry Talkie). I just adore the repetition of “nee nee nee,” especially as it gets more intense in the second verse. The chorus doesn’t quite keep the same adorable catchiness, sadly, but I enjoy listening to the verses again and again.

Just A Boy - Longman (2020)

Got one from last year this week too. I posted a track from Longman, a Japanese punk band, years ago, and even heard this one last year but never got around to posting it. After a gentle, pretty opening with some nice harmonizing between the male and female vocalists, the group gets right into an intense, chord-heavy pop-punk track that sounds fantastic. It maybe wears out its welcome a bit by the end, but it’s still a lot of fun.

Gonna do a quick one this week!

Take a Picture - NiziU (2021)

NiziU is a relatively new girl group managed by JYP Entertainment, a predominantly Korean label. Despite having Korean next to its name on their videos, as well as a Korean pop-esque sound to its productions, NiziU is a Japanese focused group. Take a Picture is a fun, high-energy release that I really enjoy, particularly the silly camera shutter sounds whenever they say “take a picture” in the song.

COZY - Chelmico (2021)

COZY is a much mellower, ‘cozier” release from Chelmico. The production is smooth and relaxing and pairs nicely with the pair’s slick vocal stylings. Sadly, this track marks a hiatus for the group, as one of the members is taking a break for her pregnancy, but it’s a fitting temporary sendoff.

Rusalka - Hizaki (2021)

Hizaki is a visual kei guitarist who is part of groups Versailles and Jupiter but also does his own solo stuff, such as Rusalka. This is a symphonic metal instrumental track that takes you on a fun journey and shows off Hizaki’s skills nicely.