With a large music industry such as Japan has, second largest in the world, it is inevitable that music fans will be inundated with a profusion of good (and also less good) music from this country. It is impossible to keep track of this and write a review about it per video. But to avoid missing out on gems, it is time for a weekly list of new music videos from lesser-known Japanese musical acts that are definitely worth watching. We are now looking back on a couple of videos that were released in week 37. Enjoy the new discoveries!
テスラは泣かない。(Tesla doesn’t know how to cry.) – 呶々々 (do do do)
Formed in 2008, the rock band テスラは泣かない。(Tesla doesn’t know how to cry.) released their first digital single after their CHOOSE A mini-album that was released in October last year. The quartet is recognisable by their distorted guitar work and catchy piano refrains in combination with dynamic bass and drums. To make it extra intriguing, vocalist and guitarist Manabu Murakami conveys his views of life and death in the lyrics. — Recommended by Fran
asmi – summer sour
Singer-songwriter asmi released her first album earlier this week and has been releasing a couple of music videos to give an idea of what she in store. asmi sings with her pop and jazzy voice about everyday life in her songs. The Osaka-based musician participated in the song earth meal by rapper Rin音 who is on the same label as asmi. This year she won the Grand Prix of Juudaihakusho (十代白書). — Recommended by Francisca
MOMOCURLY – Tokyo Ride
MOMOCURLY’s song where vocalist en keyboardist Momo Otani walks through the streets of nighttime Tokyo when listening to the dreamy jazz tunes is the newest track of the pop duo. After releasing their first album Cosmic Lips earlier this year, it seems that MOMOCURLY caught attention worldwide. Although the two could not perform as much as planned due to COVID-19, they instead used the time in Japan to work on a new album. — Recommended by Francisca
ADAPTER。-沈黙の中の君 (Chinmoku no nakanokimi)
Not unknown for (European) Visual Kei fans, because the person behind ADAPTER。is better known as the guitarist Fukusuke of the in 2016 resumed Visual Kei band Metronome (メトロノーム). This year he is celebrating the 15th anniversary of his solo project ADAPTER。 with a new album filled with an electronic, 8-bit and techno sound. To promote this album, he released several music videos including the one linked below. In 2013, Fukusuke toured Europe with his solo project with Gunji of the fool. — Recommended by Francisca
STRAM – Downer
In June, the in 2016 started band STRAM released their first album with the title All Happy. If you listen to the music on this CD, you will directly notice that the album title is a sarcastic take with the heavy riffs and dark lyrics that the tracks contain. That is not that surprising, since the backbone of the band is post-punk, goth, stoner and doom metal. But if we have to put the band into one genre, it would be darkwave (also according to the band itself). — Recommended by Francisca
Paris death Hilton – age of death
Paris death Hilton got formed in 2016 and consists of two musicians, KUBA for the electronic part and Kenashi Takahashi for the drumming part. The concept of Paris death Hilton is based on generating and simulating experimental hardcore, but the two band members describe the group as an experimental rock. Earlier this year, the duo released their first album, titled Age Of Death. Listening to the music of this band is certainly an experience. — Recommended by Francisca
SLOTHREAT – ILLUMINATE
SLOTHREAT, a fairly new band under ex-CodeRebirth member Katsuya that started activities March 2019, bring forth experimental progressive metal in the Visual Kei scene. They combine metalcore, djent and other genres to create a new sound. They released their latest single ILLUMINATE earlier this week on September 9th. — Recommended by MetalHachiko
Next week we will be back for a new list of new music videos to check out. But you can also look back to the earlier editions of this weekly article series.
