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 the first week of 2023. A new year with hopefully lots of excellent music from Japan. We sincerely hope you enjoy the new discoveries!
QOOPIE – Alaska
Let’s kick the new year off with the music video by the in 2017-formed four-piece QOOPIE! This band can be best described as a street instrumental jam band that can be frequently found on the streets of Sakae intersection in the heart of Nagoya. Alaska, the music video linked below, can be found back on the band’s fourth demo, ALTER, which is scheduled to release later in January. In addition to the four demos, they also have a mini-album on their discography, titled SUNS. — Recommended by Francisca
輪廻 (Rinne) – 成人星人 (Seijin Seijin)
Rinne, consisting of musicians that are all 20 years old and asking themselves: “What exactly is adulthood?” – They decided to use this theme for this song, 成人星人 (Seijin Seijin). The Tokyo-based three-piece girls’ band got formed in 2019, they create catchy music with clear vocals and filled with lyrics depicting everyday scenes. The trio has released a demo and a mini-album, and started the year well with a single. What else may fans of this band anticipate in 2023, perhaps an album? — Recommended by Francisca
tiny yawn – in this room
It was 2017 when four musicians, three of them were from the same university circle, decided to form a band, tiny yawn. Tiny yawn’s music, which is straightforward but infused with 90s, emo, post-rock, and neo-soul elements, appeared to have drawn quite a bit of interest, especially after they joined renowned festivals like JAPAN JAM and Ringo Music Festival and even won a prize at the “RO JACK” audition competition in 2019 for ROCK IN JAPAN Festival, Japan’s largest outdoor rock festival. The band has recently released their third mini-album, titled find the light. — Recommended by Francisca
Screaming inside can kill. – Resonance.
It seemed to have been out of nowhere that the visual kei rock band Screaming Inside Can Kill. (abbreviated to Sick.) suddenly returned with new music, previously active from 2016 through 2019. The band will perform at Shibuya Cyclone on March 21, which appears to be the start of Sick’s renewed activities. They will share the stage with nurié, ACME, ALL iN FAZE, and opening act mosaic. After the band split up, the vocalist—who is now known by the stage name Shiki—began working on a solo project, and it’s possible that Sick. will follow suit. There isn’t much more that is known, so we must wait for more details. — Recommended by Francisca
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZQ8X1FJP5I
SAISEIGA – JUMBLE
Active since 2020, this four-piece loud rock band is characterised by its soaring rhythms, endlessly heavy sound, and ever-changing vocals by Regan, using both death voice and clean vocals. The band’s activities, from songwriting to arrangements and band management, are entirely independent and they have the mission of eliminating any negative feelings of those enjoying SASEIGA’s music and performances, which are known as energetic. Although they began in the midst of the pandemic, that didn’t stop them from flourishing as a band, album number two coming up, this March, titled NOSTALGIA. — Recommended by Francisca
La muzzle – Merry Go Round
After putting out several live clips, it was finally time for the neo-psychedelic soul band La muzzle to put out a music video to showcase what they are good at: in bringing music that may sound a bit unusual at first listen, but becomes comfortable and psychedelic as the music goes. The four-piece band’s activities started in May of 2022 in Nishi-Ogikubo, located in the west part of Tokyo, close to the musically and artistically rich Koenji and Kichioji. It appears Nishi-Ogikubo is also a great breeding ground for fascinating music. We need to do more research, but La muzzle is a good example of this. — Recommended by Francisca
RIVORI – Claude
Claude is track number four on alternative duo RIVORI’s debut EP No., which was released in May 2022. This song is considered by them to be one of the earliest and most important songs for the music project. Seeing as the year 2023 has just started, the duo decided to start the year well by releasing new work in the form of a mostly monochromatic music video with a minimalistic environment to suit the flowy track. The music project was formed in 2022, and despite only having five songs to their credit, it appears that the duo is already hard at work on new music for listeners to enjoy. — 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! Want to read more about how this project started or check out the YouTube playlists? Click here for all the information.
