sneek.bsky.social
words on music • This Side of Japan newsletter 🇯🇵 https://thissidejapan.substack.com
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twitter had a whole squabble about the romanization being a mess on these but this is one good outcome
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like the ska of “sakuranbo” the same year as when orange range broke through with their sorta frat vibe rock, curious of what more was in the air youtu.be/aK-Ry-SAx_I?...
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the proliferation of drill in japan in the past few years have been so interesting
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great songs too www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4u-...
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Qlair- ‘Sanctuary’ (1992)
idol pop like a winter vacation, carol-like (a few actual Christmas themed songs, better than they let on) yet to get to their final album, but most conceptually cohesive out of their catalog? a personal fave from them so far #MWE
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and here’s the new Friends Recommends!
new picks of battle weary rock, epic chamber pop, ska-inflected punk pop, and friendship R&B from our friends @kimonobeat.bsky.social @omunibasu.bsky.social @otherdavemoore.com & CJ
thissidejapan.substack.com/p/friends-re...
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Ruff Sqwad - ‘White Label Classics’ (2012)
great collection of instrumentals from the grime crew during their ‘00s prime, when they were helping to define the genre’s early sound. exemplary, tho more a sampler for me in that it’s missing the voices, excited to dig into their mixtapes next #MWE
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that song rewired my entire brain, i’d also recommend wiley’s ‘playtime is over’ youtu.be/GELhFB-f8hQ?...
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their new self-released album from last month is great too robounoishi.bandcamp.com/album/altern...
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Yuki Saito - ‘Fuumu’ (1987)
with slight touches of the decade’s art pop, gorgeous drifter of an 80s idol album—the title: windy dream. i hear she’ll enter an “artist era” deeper into the decade, excited to continue into her discog #MWE
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GLAY - ‘Hai To Diamond’ (1994)
while still forming their identity from the sounds of their environment, charmed to hear a more pronounced goth/postpunk influence here than in their later smashes to align them more to the era’s v-kei musically #MWE
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like a little over half of cocona is ryuichi sakamoto open.spotify.com/playlist/3pH...
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i can already imagine some nagi oshis, she’ll get to be the person sakura was for her
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Caifanes - ‘El Diablito’ (1990)
shedding the goth of their (great!) s/t debut but still got the postpunk edge, recalls the u2 i know for me but also, as a j-rock listener, buck tick of the time #MWE
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ado burikko era??
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i’m not! actually have not watched any bandori anime 😬
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Jeff Mills - ‘Live at the Liquid Room’ (1996)
super hard techno tunes, a lot from himself, flashes of his godlike technicality in the transitions but idk jack about dj’ing so still can’t fully digest the mix magic at work 30 years removed from today’s technological advancements #MWE
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it's looking like it'll then go into dancehall, reggaeton and dembow but i fear it might lead to a quick dead end unless i really stretch the bounds of latin pop after and maybe do regional to rock espanol.. i gotta eventually fit cafe tacvba somehow www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIr8...
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the lyricism here makes a lot of sense to me after i learned it's the same guy who did this song (composition and arrangement too) www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvHf...
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SCARS - ‘The Album’ (2006)
‘00s Japan rap classic… it’s always tough adjusting my perception because in the US timeline, this’d be NY neo boom bap you’d hear on indies at the time (slicker sample chops, streetwise personas, stiff flows) and… i’m hardly ever in the mood for those these days #MWE
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Terror Danjah - ‘Gremlinz (The Instrumentals 2003-2009)’ [2009]
A great showcase for the early grime/dubstep sound that he helped define, full of range too for a genre known to be insular and monochromatic during its early era - RIP to one of the greats #MWE
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i’d ask you to elaborate tho i also don’t want to ask you to write an longform essay without compensation
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i was going to highlight it! but…. you’ll see next issue
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Yoko Takahashi - ‘Watashi Wo Mitsukete’ (1994)
with her musical identity so tied to Evangelion, it was nice to more properly place her music; reminds me more a less-neosoul MISIA than anison contemporaries like Megumi Hayashibara or Masumi Okui #MWE
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The Gloria Record - s/t EP (1998)
don’t remember much from Mineral—been more than several years, got to revisit—but what an expansive, almost post-emo(rock) record, curious to see what they’ll build after this dismantling #MWE
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i was like “nidone” is better but then that part in the song made me reconsider