2022 july listening

[adevyish]

Sorry I’m behind on reading posts, it’s so hot rn and I’ve been hiding away from the heat of a laptop as much as possible!

Summer has arrived, along with a slew of singles campaigns and also albums with slowburn single campaigns that started last year. There is so much new stuff that I gave in and made a post just for July. Faves are ★’d.

• Anna Takeuchi / Utakata Summer
  • 90s shoujo anime opening vibes.
• NELN / Zeikin Nante Wakan Nai (cw: blood, guns) ★
  • A fun catchy twinkly pop song.
• Perfume / Drive’n The Rain
  • A lot of city pop revivals try too hard to sound like city pop, whereas this is more about replicating its ethos. There’s a light touch to the non-bass instrumentals, from the synths (love the countermelodies) to the flute and brass.
• YeYe / Tashika na Gogo
  • For people who like chill pop songs with a few weird chords and a bit of psychedelic rock influence, or Yoko Kanno’s pop output.
• Daijiro Nakagawa / AM 2:00
  • Jyocho’s guitarist and songwriter has a new instrumental solo EP out. If you thought Jyocho’s stuff was anxious, here is a xylophone bubbling over unsteady strings.
• UA / Ocha (cw: body horror, motion sickness) ★
  • A fast-paced chill hop song with an occasionally uneasy production.
• xiangyu & Gimgigam / tofu so good
  • This has real indie era WedCamp energy.
• chelmico / bff
  • Weren’t they going to take a break? Anyway, their latest album is super fun. There’s better and more chelmico-y songs on it, but here’s a song that’s completely out of left field for them — 2008 indie pop — and it’s somehow perfect for them.
• Ushio / Rikai no Aru Hito
  • This is probably a few years earlier in terms of alternative references. The music is great, but unfortunately the Vocaloid doesn’t blend in very well.
• The tiva / fade
  • This is a slow, sad, amp-heavy alternative song for those dark night of the soul moment in your TV drama. (Maybe I’ve been watching too much Heartstopper.)
• Chilli Beans. / blue berry
  • Back to the 2008 indie pop, though this is less Vampire Weekend and more Mystery Jets.
• Lucie,Too / The story of two of us ★
  • It’s great to see Lucie,Too continue to experiment with their sound, and move into more melancholic and nostalgic territory.
• Ruck to Soine Gohan / Summer Bloom
  • Just good ol’ summery j-pop-rock. The melodies are very mid/late 2000s, but there’s quite a few different influences in the production that make this song stand out.