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 2 of the year 2021. Enjoy the new discoveries!
alcatrick – LUCY
alcatrick are a rock band from Tokyo consisting of four band members. After starting out in the summer of 2019, they released their first EP, titled qualia in March of last year, accompanied by their first music video, introducing music full of explosive emotions, sounds and voices. With the publication of the music video for LUCY, they introduced a new track, which also will be their first digital single. For this song, they had a couple of guest vocals from colleague musicians, including Shizuki from the band Aruyue and Reo Takagi from the band Lym. — Recommended by Francisca
The People – Broken Houses
The People are an alternative rock band from Kobe formed in 2019. The band has a backbone in the ’80s and ’90s, but it is not that they are doing a one-on-one revival of one genre as they add a fresh and modern flair to it. Three months after they started the band, they released their first album. Recently the five-piece released a CD with the title Update 2.0, consisting of 9 singles they released digitally before and a bonus track. — Recommended by Francisca
Hirune Tohikou – ループホリック (Loopholic)
The band Hirune Tohikou officially started activities just last month, but the formation of the rock band was announced in the summer of 2020 by meme tokyo, and ex-BiS member MEW. The five-piece released two digital singles in the last month of 2020 and this means that we are already at the third digital release of the Tokyo-based band. This release got supported by this first music video by the band, which is a good introduction to those who weren’t aware of this brand-new band. — Recommended by Francisca
縷々燁燁-LuLuYeYe- – epinikia
After sending out their first tweet on the 22nd of December in 2020, which was a short trailer of on songs that can be found on their first single, the band was introduced through a band photo. 縷々燁燁-LuLuYeYe- are a brand-new band consisting of four members with a focus on dark visuals and the soft voice of Rinse. According to the band, the lyrics are a dramatic mix of doomed romance and drama. The first single consists of three songs. — Recommended by Francisca
Mora Mothaus – Memori
On the first day of 2020, the indie singer-songwriter Mora Mothaus released her first-ever EP, with the title Overture To A Dream. Consisting of 4 tracks and a bonus track, the EP is in total written, recorded and produced by the musician. Mora Mothaus sings in English to dreamy melodies and presents an otherworldly atmosphere with her emotional and angelic-like voice as a strong base. — Recommended by Francisca
the scented – moon down
Brand-new and already with three music videos and soon three digital singles to their name, the scented started activities earlier this month. The band name refers to the memories that can be evoked when smelling the fragrance. The group of musicians behind the scented use words created by spatial resonance and everyday friction, sounds and voices that leave a memory in a form of a scent. — Recommended by Francisca
CHOKE – Hack to the basic
Rap metal/Visual Kei band CHOKE have been working hard to get more known in and outside Japan. After releasing two digital singles in June and September 2020, titled No problem at all and The Human Anthem, they are showing with the latest release that they are working on continuingly reinventing themselves. The band started in 2017 and consists of vocalist REON, guitarist KYVA NONO, bass player B5 and support drummer Toshiya Sato. — 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 for when you yearn for more musical gems!
