Albums etc of 2025
Dec. 23rd, 2025 12:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adevyishI have been battling a migraine, and the bad cold going around, to the point I typed font-face instead of font-family in my CSS. A theme for the year: I felt like I struggled to listen to as much music as I’d want this year. I did get to some albums I liked, though, and here they are.
原田知世 · アネモネ (EP)
To call this an EP is a little misleading; its meandering songs add up to just under 26 minutes. In today’s numbers-gaming streaming world full of 2 ½–minute tracks, this is basically a respectable album.
“Driving Summer” is gorgeous little jazz details woven into a breezy road trip soundtrack. Standout “頬に風” (Wind on the Cheek) is an intricate, techno-optimist response to the night-driving neo city pop tracks of producers like Nakata Yasutaka. Later tracks wander into a city forest and through spiritual crises before settling back into jazz-pop familiarity. The exploratory, instrument-laden “いつもの坂道” punctuates anemone with a question mark. A perfect EP for a jaunt to a regional park.
kurayamisaka · kurayamisaka yori ai wo komete
From the very first fuzzed up chords, I knew kurayamisaka’s debut was going to deliver a full album of shoegaze catharsis. The album kicks off with its anti-nihilistic thesis: 「私の身体が朽ちるまで命燃え尽きるまで 使い果たして眠る時までは」 — Til my body rots, til my life runs out, til I’m exhausted and it’s time to sleep.
“sunday driver” is then the opposite of Harada Tomoyo’s road trip EP: the speaker has none of the purpose, all the melancholy, and no choice but to scream about it over messy amps like an Edgar Wright protagonist.
kurayamisaka then lead us through a few movie flashbacks of teenaged nostalgia, like the gorgeous “nameless”, before jumping back to the present and adulthood. Another two songs about distance, yearning, and the road: “ハイウェイ” and “jitensha”, which asks, over and over, 「自転車で行くには少しだけ遠すぎるかな」— If I ride a bike, will it be just a little too far?
kurayamisaka yori ends with an overamped, record-scratching cacophonic breakdown. It’s about waking up every morning.
mekakushe · 138億年目の恋
If you follow my j-pop ramblings, you can guess that I have been referring to this album as the Snorkel Arc in my head. Its best songs all have the glittering, hopeful song of single “きみはシュノーケル”. However, its actual title translates to 13.8 Billion Years of Love. Yes, it’s about the universe! There is even a cute space travel-themed video to “ランデヴ”, and an Evangelion-on-acid video to “スノードーム銀河” (White Dreamers).
This album has a distinct anison vibe; a few veteran anison producers are across the credits. However, mekakushe deftly avoids time-worn tropes and uninteresting ballads, choosing instead catchy anison melodies with twinkling, exuberant production. Even circus-influenced “わたしだけのポラリス” has enough unexpected bells and brass to keep a listener hooked. The most traditionally anison track on this album is closer “夜明けの扉” (Space Gate), which would not be out of place on a Cardcaptor Sakura movie.
揺らぎ · In Your Languages
In Your Languages is a sparse album; synthesizer notes and breaths of vocals that last for bars. A two-minute interlude of twinkling piano and grunged out bass is titled “This Room Is Comfortable”. Music videos observe the daily lives of regular folk at Family Mart and Toys R Us in Taiwan. Overall, the album is a slow, if sometimes melancholy, celebration of life and its little joys.
kinoue64 · 日常消滅
kinoue64 brings another solid, vocaloid-voiced shoegaze album. Instead of trying to make Hitsune Miku sound like a human vocalist, kinoue64 has leaned into a choppy, quiet expression. It brings out an anxiety that permeates this album’s tracks even at its seemingly cheeriest. The best track by far is the titular track, which closes the album raging against the dying of the light.
RYUTist · RYUTist 2023-2024
A loose collection of RYUTist’s singles, released as a last hurrah before the indie idol group’s disbandment. It showcases the full gamut of RYUTist’s musical experimentation, from cheery guitar pop of “echo” to the racing nightmare of “君の胸に、Gunshot”.
光学 · Opto6:諭吉佳作/men (EP)
Producer collective Koh-Gaku are back with their sixth and most pop EP so far. Which is not saying much: the most dance floor track, “2025” (prod. SNJO), is a little off-kilter for anything but the coolest clubs. “富の砂漠” (Desert of Wealth, prod. Gimgigam) goes full bubble era pop while “shibuya” (prod. Tsudio Studio) steps back to the 90s with R&B that still feels very, well, Shibuya.
春ねむり · ekkolaptómenos
120 bpm trance about the ills of society is about right for 2025. Overall, ekkolaptómenos is a dark, baroque pop–influenced album that keeps churning through endless industrial landscapes. Haru Nemuri doesn’t take her foot off the pedal once. It definitely, and intentionally, makes for a difficult album to get through.
Laura day romance · 合歓る - bridges
Laura day romance nearly snuck their second — and better — album of their year past me by dropping it during the busiest time of the year. Nemuru - bridges is more upbeat than March’s Nemuru - walls, weaving dream pop and alt rock into the folk pop that defined walls. “running in the dark” takes sparkling production and a churning beat to turn anxiety into hope. “恋人へ” takes late 60s folk pop and wanders off into the 80s with it. There’s a real sense of experiential experimentation that you wouldn’t expect from a band who’s released two full-lengths this year.
エイプリルブルー · yura
It’s okay if For Tracy Hyde is disbanded, because ex-leader Suga Azusa is still putting out great music via AprilBlue. yura, the second AprilBlue album, is cheerier and speedier than, say, the last For Tracy Hyde album Hotel Insomnia (2022), generally choosing pop chords over prog-rock progressions. That said there’s still plenty for laidback shoegaze enthusiasts, like “夜だけが知っている” and “解ける街の夢”.
RAY · White
Speaking of Suga Azusa, the shoegaze idol group he contributes heavily to have released their fourth album. Members of cruyff in the bedroom and Yukiguni also show up in the credits. There is some excellent shoegaze on this album, but what I find more interesting is the intersection of idol pop and shoegaze, like “座の夜空” which pairs twinkling flutes with soaring guitar and math rock drums. Keeping with RAY’s ongoing floral theme, the album ends with a song dedicated to everyone’s flower to sing about, “夜来香迴旋”.¹
羊文学 · Don’t Laugh It Off
Don’t Laugh It Off is a commanding follow-up to 2023’s 12 hugs (like butterflies). From the top, “そのとき” pulls you along with its lyrical and musical emotion through its growing landscape. The album continues with more typical folk-rock fare.
The album also contains some of Hitsujibungaku’s biggest tie-ins to date: “声” (119 Emergency Call), “tears” (Kakushigoto), “Feel” (Silent Witch), and “Burning” (Oshi no Ko). I guess Sony saw the success of 2023’s “more than words” (Jujutsu Kaisen) and went for a fivepeat, although I think that — unlike 12 hugs and “more than words” — Don’t Laugh It Off is best when it is not chasing commercial success.
1. Teresa Teng had quite the career in Japan, so RAY’s song is a reference to her “夜来香”.
