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 40. Enjoy the new discoveries!
A.N.otheЯ – Other World
After the dissolution of her other group, powerful songstress Luna returns under her solo guise, A.N.otheЯ, and has released the music video for Other World. Taken from her first album, released in July 2020, the song has a lot of power and feeling. It allows her to show versatility as a singer. The beginning of a new chapter for her. — Recommended by PHX
GUEVNNA – Behind the Sun
Active since 2011, the name GUEVNNA is not an unknown name in the underground music scene. The heavy doom/sludge band got started by ex-Coffins vocalist Ryo and presented a new band line-up in 2019, released their first album in 2016. They toured quite a lot in and outside Japan, in 2018 they toured Europe. To prepare the fans for the new album, titled Burning Skyline, of which more information will be released soon, a music video of one of the tracks has been made. — Recommended by Francisca
ZOO THE ANNUAL PASSPORT – STACKING
Rock band ZOO THE ANNUAL PASSPORT are a three-piece from Aichi and have been releasing a couple of music videos to promote their first album, titled CHAOS, that got released after five years of activity. Since the band is not affiliated with a label or agency, they decided to crowdfund the album and with the support of their fans, the band managed to get in 150% of their goal. — Recommended by Francisca
rowbai – Holiday
rowbai is the solo project of Mayu Inaba, under influence of her mother she started playing the piano at a young age. After entering university, Inaba joined the rock band Pink Lolita Juliets. In her solo project, the musician tries to cross the boundaries of singer-songwriter and track maker and looks for various ways of using musical instruments, field recording and production. Her live performances are characterized by the focus of one-off performances, where it also includes piano improvisation. With Soushi Mizuko of qujaku she is active in the unit nitou. — Recommended by Francisca
Boiler陸亀 (Boiler Rikugame) – 関西電気保安協会 (Kansai Electrical Safety Inspection Association)
Rock band Boiler Rikugame are based in Osaka and Tokyo and called themselves a ‘Moving Safari Park’ because of their unique view of the world. The three-piece try to come with intriguing song titles, cynical lyrics and unconventional (theatrical) performances. The band will celebrate their 10th anniversary next month with a special live performance on stream. — Recommended by Francisca
white white sisters – Juvenile
Electro rock band white white sisters got formed in 2008 and consist of guitarist, programmer and vocalist Yuya Matsumura and VJ Kouta Tajima. From the start, there was a mysterious vibe around this project, since there was not much to be found about the musicians even not their faces. In the meantime, they have performed their fine electro and bold noise music at SUMMER SONIC, appeared at SXSW and did a tour through North America. — Recommended by Francisca
arne – seaside
Math rock band arne started officially with activities in August 2019, but the band members were already busy with making music since January from the same year. Their first music video received a lot of attention right after release, getting 10.000 views in less than a month. A song of their second single got used in an ad of AWA that was shown on AbemaTV. Their third single, titled chronical, got released in August. Now it is waiting for an album. — Recommended by Francisca
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.
