With a large music industry such as Japan has, the 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 21 of the year 2021. Enjoy the new discoveries!
Yukka – 創造的リフレーション (Creative Reflation)
Singer-songwriter Yukka (formerly known as Yukika) is a self-producing multi-talented musician. She has been touring through the United States in 2017 and has been performing in the United Kingdom a couple of times. She is known for doing street concerts. Since her name change in late 2020, she has been putting out a couple of singles to showcase her ability to incorporate different angles of musical genres into her songs. — Recommended by Francisca
LADY FLASH – daydream α-nation
After some searching, because Spotify does not give the right description of this Osaka-based Japanese four-piece, it was discovered that LADY FLASH was formed in 2008. The band describes itself as a plastic band where Pixies and Yasuyuki Okamura meet. Check out their other music videos to get a better idea of this band, as it’s interesting how the dynamics shift with each video and for those who love cassettes, they will be releasing one soon. — Recommended by Francisca
マルシーボク (Malcy Boku) – 花コトバ (Hana Kotoba)
Kansai-based pop band Malcy Boku recently changed their band name -as of last April – from chouchou to start a new chapter. Started in 2017 and several singles and a mini-album later, the four-piece just announced that they will release their first album. It will consist of new songs that have been created in 2020 and 2021. — Recommended by Francisca
Sunsite – 誰もいない海 (Daremo Inai Umi)
Kanji Yamamoto, who has built up his career as a musician and was active in the band The Cigavettes (disbanded in 2013), and Shugo Nagashima, who has built up his career as an actor, have combined their insights, experiences and techniques to start rock band sunsite. The first album of the duo, titled Buenos!, got released earlier in May. — Recommended by Francisca
ORIGA – ビーナス (Venus)
Karin, currently active as a bass player of the three-piece rock’n’roll band イサカ (Ithaca, formerly known as The fizz), decided to start a project on her own and named it ORIGA. In early May, she released the first music video of her solo project, which gives a good idea of which direction she wants to go with her project: shoegaze. It is still in its early stages, but certainly interesting to see how it will progress. — Recommended by Francisca
The Shiawase – ひとつよしなに。 (Hitotsu yoshinani.)
The Shiawase, a three-piece groove rock’n’roll band that started activities in 2017, released their second mini-album at the end of 2020. Unfulfilled love produces wonderful music, which seems to be the deal for the Nagoya-based band. The lyrics are straightforward but somewhat quirky, and the sound is a perfect blend of rock’n’roll and blues. — Recommended by Francisca
THE NOSTRADAMNZ – Alexander
The three-piece rock band THE NOSTRADAMNZ recently released their third full album, titled CLUB33, filled with 16 tracks of which some of them are re-recorded. After releasing 2 albums 1 year apart, the third album had a bit more time to take shape. The Visual Kei band has been active since 2016 and is known for mixing different genres into their music. — 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!
