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 is now on a two-month vacation, not officially returning until Aug. 7. This sorta summer break is no reason to avoid digging into new releases available on the platform, especially with so many strong offerings available from just the last month alone. Here’s a handful of Japanese highlights from May to check out. 

tofubeats — Angels On The Dancefloor

The latest EP from tofubeats wasn’t just made with the club in mind, but tested out in them over recent months. Go through the dozens of sets scattered about his YouTube channel and you’ll hear the tracks making up Angels On The Dancefloor introducing themselves months before this collection dropped. It’s not just a set of DJ tools, though, because these stand on their own even from the comfort of home. 

The title track is the stunner — and based on all those sets available on YouTube, has been delivering euphoria for upwards of a year now — a piano-house hymn built on propulsion and vocal modulation capturing the out-of-body highs a night out can deliver. French electro serves as the base for the sweltering chug of “let me tell u,” while “Be With You” turns vocal samples into something resembling accordion notes in how they squish in and out to create a disorienting sound. It’s the two songs not previewed in any known tofubeats’ performance to date, though, show the meeting point of tofubeat’s many forms better than anything. “Daijyoubu” calls on Satoko Shibata to hop-scotch over a shuffling beat, showing how the songwriter’s style can be applied to a dance cut without losing a step. Better still is “Don’t You Know My Love” with Hitomitoi, wherein the latter’s hook gets turned into a fever dream of longing, both sticky enough for pop but hypnotic enough for the dancefloor. Get it here.

worst taste — Bastard City EP

We all express our love in different ways, and long-running punk tinkerers worst taste express their appreciation for Tokyo via nervy rock and shouts of “bastard city!” That’s the vibe permeating new EP Bastard City, a tumbling celebration of the capital in all its jagged corners and head-spinning splendor, expressed through jittery melodies interrupted by synth lines staggering overhead like its 3 a.m. in Shibuya. It gets extra points for a remix of the title track via DJ MEMAI that transforms it into a disorienting electronic lurch boasting a totally different sound but still very much in line with worst taste’s vision. Get it here.

Various Artists — Highball Presents TREKKIE TRAX

It’s funny to consider TREKKIE TRAX an older presence in the Tokyo electronic landscape, but that’s exactly what the label / crew is in 2026. The collective celebrates 15 years going in 2027, and a whole generation of artists have emerged in that span inspired by everything TREKKIE got up to starting in 2012. Highball Presents TREKKIE TRAX finds the London label in the title offering an update on where the main players in the label are at today…and touching on its greater influence. You’ve got staples like andrew melding tropical atmosphere over galloping beats on “Liminal Garden,” Carpainter providing pure rumble on “Body Bounce, and Seimei speeding up with a hardcore plunge on closer “Boss It Up.” Yet along the way there’s inclusions from Oyubi and Fetus, creators who emerged in the wake of TREKKIE, along with newer names NirBorna and K8 who add to the sonic tapestry that TREKKIE brought to the capital’s clubs. Get it here.

yuigot and somunia — How Far

Producer yuigot — already busy as part of PAS TASTA and a major player on the soundtrack to this year’s Cosmic Princess Kaguya! — links up with virtual singer somunia for a three-song set balanced between elegance and fizz. The bookending songs highlight yuigot’s songwriting chops and somunia’s vocal prowess, but it’s centerpiece “Nameless” that allows both to let in some of the more fidgety musical marks (wavering synths, hop-scotching beat, multi-layered voices) to deliver a hazy pop highlight. Get it here.

0xygen — Dolla 0xides

Tokyo producer 0xygen, somewhat similarly, uses familiar internet textures and touches but in a more chill manner on their latest release. The songs on Dolla 0xides still rattle along, but the space around the percussion is more open thanks to the artist’s embrace of chopped-up vocal samples and sparser synth arrangements, making even something that approaches dizzying like “CEILING-FLOOR” leaves room to zone out. Get it here.

Love-Ghost-Lab! — Umu Reien

It has been well established around these parts that Vocaloid is an instrument to be played around with. In the hands of Love-Ghost-Lab!, the singing-synthesizer technology transforms into something like Play-Doh, with the voice of Hatsune Miku being stretched and squished and splattered all over the palace. Latest collection Umu Reien pairs this clay-like imagining of Vocaloid along frequently frantic electronic sounds to create an overall disorienting experience…except for the moments it turns much slower and becomes almost trance-like. Now that’s some real range being shown with this tool. Get it here.

Isiliel — Todeshochzeit

Shadows surround the music of Isiliel, the solo project of NECRONOMIDOL member Himari Tsukishiro. She plays with gothic imagery, and her songs often take cues from the worlds of darkwave and metal. Yet for all that flair, her secret is that beneath all the dark exteriors she has a knack for crafting a great melody. The three songs on Todeshochzeit highlight this, even when buried under guitar chug or dramatic synth climb. It creates good tension, but also offers something to latch on to for anyone checking her sounds out. Get it here.