NextMusicFromTokyo

-New Music Listening Thread 8/19- The ball keeps rolling on a month of great releases and this week is no different! The first release I want to talk about is the new EP from pudelhunds titled “imnotsureif”. If you’ve heard it, you would know that their debut EP from about 1 year ago titled “memorandum” was great! It showcased a band with a great ear for midwest emo and math rock rhythms that was also aided by a very eye-catching cover. And believe it or not, this new EP is basically exactly like that but significantly more polished in every way! In general, I feel like the band has cleaned up every aspect that I was even somewhat negative on when I reviewed their EP in a video last year. While of course not the exact same, much of what’s happening on this EP reminds me of a lot of what I love on my favorite RADWIMPS projects like “アルトコロニーの定理” and the “携帯電話” single from 2010. By that I mean that many of the songs here are very cluttered and messy sounding, yet still retain a distinct melody and structure throughout. It’s to the point where I may even consider this a bit of art rock given how songs like “はなしてきかせて” sound like you’re listening to a song by RADWIMPS (or even People in the Box) inside of a hurricane. As with any great midwest emo project, there is also a very palpable sense of nostalgia of longing, which I would point to the song “halo-“ as doing most of the heavy lifting in this department. This song even features some real neat synths added to the mix which I certainly wasn’t expecting out of this three-piece! The band’s lead singer Yuji Nakao is very audibly giving it his all on each of these tracks and it’s for that reason like I can only compare him directly to RADWIMPS’s Yojiro Noda, and People in the Box’s Hatano Hirofumi. He sounds very clear and strong, which definitely helps stand out from the very intense instrumentals that he’s also participating in as the bassist. Honestly everyone comes together incredibly well here too. The lead guitarist Souta Nakano is laying down some instantly memorable riffs on each song with my favorite being pretty much everything he plays on the final song “わすれゆくきみへ”. I think one could easily overlook the band’s drummer named Daichi due to the in-your-face nature of the guitar, but he’s seriously pulling his weight in every song. The opening minute of the first song “(staring)platforms” features him going absolutely crazy across his whole kit for example! Overall I think this is a great sophomore EP with heights that some bands can only ever hope to reach. More than anything, this has me pumped for a future full album release and it certainly isn’t one that I mind having to wait for if we see a similar evolution of the band’s sound and skills in the interim. – at Seattle, WA

The @NextMusicTokyo concert series starts in Canada 1 month from today! I released a promo video where I give a brief intro of each of the bands which are the following: pudelhunds yureruwayurei ハク。 SYAYOS Check it out here! youtu.be/i-xOtdfx6I8 – at Seattle, WA

-New Video- Today's video is an introduction to the 4 bands that'll be performing at the @NextMusicTokyo concert series happening in Canada this September! The bands are: ハク。(Haku) SYAYOS yureruwayurei puddlehunds Link in reply!

I'm revisiting the 揺れるは幽霊 discography and it's so insane how it's all so fucking good