Watch this: Chiaki Mayumura ends a song, and starts a dance to match the audience’s clapping, probably just out of spontaneous fun. Then she does weird things to see how the clapping reacts, and when she finishes with three quick jumps, the crowd claps exactly like her jumps: […]
Since my Jun Togawa texts seem to go very well on this site, here’s another one! If you want Jun Togawa, you’ll get Jun Togawa. And since it’s also less than a month until 2022, the year Jun Togawa celebrates 40 years since her first album, I’ve compiled a list of my 40 favorite moments (and […]
In the music video for “Hamidashi PARADISE” by You’ll Melt More!, you’re encouraged to take part of it like a game. You choose your favorite member, “drag” the screen to make choices, and get a unique storyline depending on it (and you’ll probably get a bad ending). It’s the most int […]
Whoa! Look at that! Someone has finally uploaded a 1080P version of Jun Togawa’s “Suki Suki Daisuki” music video that they’ve been sitting on for years! A big day for all Jun Togawa lovers, and a day we thought we’d never see. A part of me even thought that the 240P version of the music vi […]
The “ultra dark Japanese idol group” NECRONOMIDOL travelled to Stockholm, Sweden to perform, and I travelled there to see them. Before October 23rd I didn’t know much about the group, except that they have some seriously great songs, but now I know that: […]
In my last text about TORIENA, I talked about her 2020 album “PURE FIRE”, which I described as “a hard electronic album, full of instrumental rave music that seems to have no limits to its heaviness”. PURE FIRE was such a unique album and an intense experience from start to finish, so when I […]
Seiko Oomori, a Japanese singer-songwriter that I have written about before, has had a really productive year. She’s usually recognized by her high-energy music and unpredictable voice, and you’ll get more of that on her recent album “PERSONA #1”, even though some aspects of it is different. […]
Jun Togawa is an ingenious singer from Japan, mostly active in the 80s and 90s, whom this website has already covered a few times (read about her approach to art and lyrics, her intense growl-pop song “Punk Mushi No Onna” and her view on love). Today I’m gonna write about something else regard […]
HANABIE? (“????”) is the Japanese metal band on the rise with the crazy gimmick:y music videos: They mix heavy metal with classic J-pop cuteness, which they absolutely aren’t the first at, but what differs them from many others is that their gimmicks don’t have any super-obvious calculations […]
In my last text about the Japanese rap group hy4_4yh (read it!), I described them as “80s rappers, but in Japan, in the 2000s, rapping mostly over Indonesian rave music (“funkot”), or rock, or punk, or pop, or hip hop.” I focused on their time with the hyperactive “funkot” genre in the m […]
ELLene’s debut EP “Mad Maria” from 2020 sounds way too good to be a debut EP. That’s because it kind of isn’t one. It may be the first work that “ELLe” and “Ené” have made together, but seperately they’ve made more stuff before. The singers ELLe and Ené are diverse and talented […]
In 2020, Japanese artist Toriena released a hard electronic album called “Pure Fire”, full of mostly instrumental rave music that seems to have no limits to its heaviness. It’s a great album, but I don’t want to stop at that conclusion, because Pure Fire is more than just a great music album […]
“GO!GO!7188” was a Japanese band active between 1998 and 2012, with music varying between different styles of rock, punk and pop. Most of the music was written by Yumi Nakashima, now active in the indie rock band “chirinuruwowaka” (“???????”) and the more experimental project “YAYYAY […]
Back in 2016, I was surfing Youtube, and found a random live video by the garage punk rock band “ROCK-A-CHERRY”. They were really cool. Just listen to this great song! Hear the sloppy guitar solo! And the lovely voice crack at 0:35! (see the video under the paragraph) I immediately loved their m […]
Why am I so obsessed with The Pink Panda? They’re cool, but not extraordinary in any way. A poppy and accessible punk rock band, that didn’t get very famous and only released a few independent records in the mid-2000s. But something about the total charm of the individual members is irresistible […]
As a person in constant search for weird eccentric artists, could I find more of a jackpot than a little girl who sings (screams) brutal hardcore, spits rotten food at audience members and is called “14th Generation Toilet Hanako-San”? No. 14th Generation Toilet Hanako-San (????????????) is a 44 […]
hy4_4yh (Hyper YoYo) is a weird group. They’re in a way like 80s rappers, but in Japan, in the 2000s, rapping mostly over Indonesian rave music (“funkot”). Or rock, or punk, or pop, or hiphop. They’re incredibly… like they are. Wearing cool hiphop hats, doing dope dances and signs, and scr […]
Who is Yoneko? An ex-member of alternative idol groups MIGMA SHELTER and Bellring Shoujo Heart, who went solo and thereafter completely independent by expressly leaving the “idol” life. But what does Yoneko say about Yoneko? Yoneko says this about Yoneko: – “An alternative singer-songwriter […]
No, unfortunately. But both you and I can listen to Zoomgals’ songs! The name “Zoomgals”? They started in the beginning of the pandemic and created positivity out of something negative, taking turns performing verses in a Zoom group meeting with fun backgrounds. The Zoom concept seems to have […]
Suki Suki Daisuki is one of Jun Togawa’s most famous songs, and a gateway into her other creations. People find the song and like it, without understanding the lyrics (“kiss me, as if you’re punching me, until my lips bleed”, “say you love me, or i’ll kill you!”), and then they’re tr […]
I wanted to talk about how charming the Wink girls are, but I realize they’re not. They just stare at me and make weird hand dances. I have never seen them express an emotion or react to a situation. They are aliens. While listening to Wink, I recognize that around one of four songs are covers of […]
“Punk Mushi No Onna” is a timeless song and no doubt Jun Togawa’s most hardcore moment. The growls sound futuristic, the 80s delay feel dated and the melody is timeless – even though it came 300 years before the song itself. “Probably the last thing Pachelbel thought his music was going to […]
“Kintsugi” by Seiko Oomori starts as an “evening” instead of a “morning”, and Seiko talks about music being “a five-dimensional thing that can change the time axis”. Time has apparently inspired her writing for the album, and I guess it’s up to people like me and you to figure out […]
Ten years later – is it really that bad? No, it’s very good. And weird. The metal screams aren’t what’s weird, what’s weird is to use them for screaming the words “it’s boppin’ for sure”. They distort and autotune the screams, and use them in all places possible (compared to before […]
Six out of the eleven songs of “Kiss From the Darkness” have a music video (and one has a lyric video), which makes “Kiss From the Darkness” feel like a live show, or a movie, or a prolonged music video. We see Scandal rocking away in colored rooms, dancing in the street, and most notably we […]
Seiko Oomori is fun and crazy, and I’m not sure if I should be her best friend or stay a few feet away from her. I was still unsure while watching her Youtube live, getting punched by her from inside a karaoke room on the other side of the screen. Seiko rarely stops entertaining, and can play melo […]
“Honey” is a rock album with introspective and emotional lyrics, sometimes bordering to punk and sometimes to balads. Soundwise they have ditched most of their pop influences, but it’s still present in their choruses, with guitarist Mami Sasazaki giving the album a lot of hit quality with her […]