Every month, scrmbl highlights some of the most noteworthy releases from Japanese artists available on Bandcamp. Sometimes, this coincides with the platform’s own Bandcamp Friday —an event where the company itself waives all revenue share and instead lets artists reap all the money made off sales.
Bandcamp Friday proper takes a break for April, returning on the first Friday of May. Still, plenty of fantastic music comes out on the platform every day, and it’s both always good to stay abreast of new releases and support artists when you can. Here’s some recent Japanese highlights available on Bandcamp, worth your time right now (or even if you want to wait 30-ish days).
sugar plant — one dream, one star
Centered around duo Shin’ichi Ogawa and Chinatsu Shoyama, sugar plant started in the late ‘80s as a way for the pair of US indie-rock lovers to express their own take on what was happening on the other side of the Pacific. This helped them arrive at a slower, unraveling sound not muddy like shoegaze but still feeling trancelike. An infatuation with Japan’s then-booming underground rave scene resulted in repetition becoming key to their sound, albeit in a way still rooted in guitar. sugar plant made gossamer art with a hypnotic edge, among the nation’s best indie efforts. And then they largely stepped away for two decades.
Having enjoyed new creative thrills in recent years coupled with internet users around the world stumbling across their songs and being enchanted, the slowcore band synthesizes its 30-year-plus career into one statement on one dream, one star. The two at its core are older, wiser and more reflective. The acoustic-centric arrangements reflect this, but sugar plant still turn words into loops to get swept up in like on centerpiece “flow,” and still move forward at their own pace despite a lurking sense of melancholy. Get it here.
namitape — hetoheto room
On hetoheto room, Vocaloid producer namitape plays with the past. They nod to the digitized chug of ‘80s techno-pop (or maybe the Aughts attempt at capturing it) on songs like “masshiro sunday” or “tameiki continue, while also indulging in synthesized coastlines in the style of Naoya Matsuoka on “shiawase siren” or something closer to electro-pop on closer “sakasama reset.” There’s a feeling of at times almost cheesy celebration of stock sounds lurking here, but rather than use them as easy signifier of the past, Namitape uses the computer-generated singing of child voice bank Kaai Yuki, opting for a stilted delivery that gives it lightness but also a mechanical edge. There’s also something unsettling about all of this, the past less of a sanctuary and more of a texture to warp with modern developments. Songs here approach warped SNES music like on the jaunty “aozora hole” or offer a weirder interpretation of the ‘80s on the title track. Moments of escape sneak in — “masshiro sunday” celebrates a day with no appointments, while highlight “darekano mall” finds euphoria amidst its bounce — but it can also lean towards the existential. The past of hetoheto room isn’t a safe space, but rather building blocks to construct something new. Get it here.
nerdneko — never mind
It’s a stretch to call “shoegaze” a retro style, seeing as it never left the go-to vocabulary of Japanese indie musicians. Yet a similar blurring of past and present has played out in the space thanks to the introduction of “mikgazer,” and no shortage of bands using Vocaloid as a new sonic texture among a churn of guitars. Solo project nerdneko is one of the best going today, and latest release never mind shines in how it uses the digi-croon of Hatsune Miku as emotional sound on roaring rock songs such as the title track and “unletting.” Yet it’s also a chance to appreciate the general melodic chops of the human behind this, with inclusions like “winter song” featuring some of the jauntiest and sweetest melodies they’ve put down to date. Get it here.
CRZKNY — GW VIP
A new release from footwork producer CRZKNY is always welcome, but this set has extra urgency behind it. GW VIP is a charity set where all proceeds go to Eri Ishii, the founder of Nagoya club Goodweather (a venue instrumental to CRZKNY’s growth), who suffered an aortic dissection and cerebral thrombosis earlier this year. She’s currently recovering, and this is meant to help offer some financial support. Great tunes to boot, but really a chance to help out with a person keeping nightlife going in Japan. Get it here.
Foodman — Tee Den
For as oddball and experimental as Nagoya producer Foodman is, the ability to move to what he makes has been central to the vast majority of his music. Tee Den pushes this to the front, with the trio of tracks drawing from ghettotech to offer a kinetic listen with sample repetition adding to the wooziness. It’s a collection underlining the physicality of his wonk, and how it can work on any dancefloor. Get it here.
Oyubi — Since I EP
Producer Oyubi has been more active touring as of late, and the Since I EP captures the energy encountered at clubs during these jaunts. Those places must be constantly nuts, because the three tracks here thump ahead at 160 BPM, blending his footwork origins with splashes of jazz and deep bass pangs to create an aerobic trio of songs. Hell of an advertisement for catching him live. Get it here.
Hizuo — ALS-PT19 EP
Sticking with TREKKIE TRAX, the Tokyo label also shared a new set from fidgety electronic artist Hizuo which aims to tickle the brain and body equally. That’s achieved from a glitchy approach to dance music, whether playing with disjointed textures on the rollicking robotics of “Gonnatakeit” or by going in a more strobing direction on the title track. It’s fun to just sit back and observe the sonic K’nex of these tracks together…and just as much a blast to shut the mind off and move. Get it here.
seaketa — Kasanaru Heya
To live in an apartment building – as so much of the Japanese population does — is to be part of an accidental shared narrative. Existences overlap, sometimes intersecting but oftentimes playing out in criss-crossing patterns. Yet the soundtrack to all those different stories do bleed into one another. Experimental creator seaketa’s Kasanaru Heya uses the transciences and closeness of the apartment experience to create a set of songs that at their best sound like recordings of lives captured between walls. Acoustic guitar strums share space with ambient hum, while elsewhere voices can be heard under woozy electronics. It’s a great representation of space…and what it feels like to exist within them. Get it here.
