Monthly Listening: Mar 2023

[adevyish]

After two slower months, I forgot how hard it is to pare this down sometimes D:

• Lady Flash / Doko ni mo Ikenai Door ★
  • Winter refuses to let go, so it’s the perfect time to jam out to some pop punk surf rock.
• Niiiya / Chikoku (CW: flashing, motion sickness)
  • Uneasy verse, headbanger transition, and a chorus to dance along to.
• Galileo Galilei / Yonhiki no Kujira
  • They’re back! I no longer have to cry-scream along to “Blues”! I still will, anyway.
• Riskyshift / Yureru (CW: flashing, motion sickness)
  • Something like an early 2010s j-rock anime opening with a delicate touch.
• culenasm / Sayonara wa Ieta ka na (CW: flashing, motion sickness)
  • It’s sakura-themed rock ballad season!
• Kaneko Ayano / Watashitachi e
  • Kaneko Ayano’s usual folk rock goes a bit shoegaze.
• Hannah Georgas / This Too Shall Pass (CW: motion sickness)
  • Love the little different instrumentals that peek out from behind the march of indie pop guitar and drum.
• U:NUS / Fix Me (CW: flashing, motion sickness, domestic violence mention)
  • If you had asked me which team out of Atom Boyz would have gone full pop punk, Uranus would have been one of the last teams I would have guessed. But it works for them!
  • I think they have finally disassociated with Kidz but not completely sure yet, ugh.
• Isaac Anderson / Get Me Out Alive!
  • You’ve heard all those Northern English indie songs about partying, now here’s one about wanting to leave a party and go home where it’s nice and quiet.
• Sunset Rollercoaster / Levia feat. Rhydian Vaughan ★
  • Café-suitable jazz pop enthusiasts Sunset Rollercoaster come back with a dark pop lullaby. The pandemic did things to us all I guess! They are joined by Rhydian Vaughan (this is a song for one of his films) and 9m88.
• yahyel / Cult
  • Dark pop acolytes yahyel in full creeping unease mode.
• Roth Bart Baron / Tsuki ni Hoeru feat. Nakamura Kaho
  • Sputtery vocals from both Nakamura Kaho (deliberate) and Mifune Masaya (he’s always like that) combine to form an uneasy sense of hope.
• Aiobahn / Sora de Oyasumi feat. Nagase Yuka
  • Arpeggiated electronic dance pop with a soft, twinkly touch.
• bala / barla (CW: flashing, motion sickness)
  • New not!idol group with some weird metaverse tie-in for telecom kddi, but this song is written by Mondo Grosso and catchy as hell.
• Pas Tasta / river relief feat. Sakiyama Soushi (CW: flashing)
  • Is this hardcore? Is this metal? Is this piano pop? It’s something!
• mitsume / Chocolate ★
  • mitsume but with less chill and more funk-skew weirdness.