scrmbl contributor Patrick St. Michel runs an email newsletter called Make Believe Mailer, an offshoot of his long-running blog Make Believe Melodies. Every week, he shares essays and round-ups of new Japanese music, from J-pop to independent releases, including albums that might have flown under listeners' radar. Here are some of the highlights from the past month, shared with readers of scrmbl.

Various Artists — INNER SYNC

Various Artists — HOLLOW HYPE

Japanese-language music publication AVYSS stands out in the always-crowded media space thanks to an eclectic perspective on the country’s sound, focused on the underground but zooming in on all corners of it. A pair of compilations curated and released via the site celebrates this ethos while doubling as a great temperature check of the Japanese underground in 2026. Listening them back to back can feel disorienting, but that’s the ecosystem AVYSS captures so well.

INNER SYNC turns towards the self, using rock as a foundation for introspection. While it certainly has its moments of more emo reckoning — punk-popper yuzuha takes a more sullen turn without losing the energy on opener “Invisible,” while Blume popo let their emotions flow over dexterous guitar playing on “Yuame” — this isn’t a personal pity party. Yuka Nagase channels Soutaiseiriron for the synth-accented skip of “Hana Uranai” and the dance-pop of XAMIYA’s “MECHANICAL LOVE,” hiding regret under its skip. It all builds towards the band soccer.’s closer “I will never return to that place,” a Slint-indebted bit of catharsis ending building towards screams and cacophony. It’s a moment of outward release on a set usually turning away, and a good bridge to AVYSS’ other side.

HOLLOW HYPE spotlights rap and electronic, featuring a more swaggering energy but one often concealing a mood just as downer as on its twin (I mean, one song is called “Downer” for goodness sakes). There’s moments of escapism delivered via the Latin-gone-Atlanta party track “Tight” courtesy of MEZZ and anything BBBBBBB provides is going to be beyond any basic human emotion (love ‘em to death), but that’s countered by the zero-gravity reflection of cyber milk chan and the jagged longings of lazydoll. The sonic palette changes, but across both releases AVYSS pinpoints the heart connecting it all. Listen above.

Yukichikasaku/men and abelest — The Trailers

First off, let’s note Yukichi Kasaku/men is on a tear right now both with their individual songs and work for idols like diig as discussed last month. Now comes a collaborative set with producer abelest released via Maltine Records offering music imagined as movie trailers for fictional films. The pair dig into this more on Note, with each flick getting a release date, summary and more, helping to add depth to all this. Really though, it’s an experiment in mood jumping off cinematic genre, with the opener offering something imagining the lux resort life via synth and tropical-tinged percussion, albeit interrupted by airport announcements and dialogue. “Fluxa” captures the heart-racing nature of horror via its percussive skitter, while the last cut might be the most ambitious in being a loopy anime song for a movie version of a TV series. One of the more fun concepts to emerge this year. Listen above, or get it here. 

Camino The Funk — Off Shore

I’m a simple — I’ll drop all critical thought and inquiries about the meaning of ~ nostalgia ~ in modern musical contexts if talkbox-assisted grooves cross my radar. Yeah there’s a whiff of longing across Off Shore but former the oto factory member Camino The Funk sells it because he’s so fucking good at making actual songs rather than vibes out of ‘80s funk ingredients and ‘90s new jack swing. It helps a ton that he calls on an eclectic group of guests to grace these boogie transmissions, highlighted by melodica-whizz Yunovation shining as both vocalist and player on the slow-motion stroll of “Cliché.” Also shout-out to the unlikely tag team of Gota Nishidera of Nona Reeves and The Hair Kid of…The Hair Kid and Milk Talk, who work wonders in the New jack fantasia of “I KNOW I WANNA.” Listen above.

Moto Kawabe — Yukuefumei

The debut solo album from Moto Kawabe carries reverberations of his previous band mitsume — near impossible to not, given he was the vocalist for that outfit and he didn’t pivot into drift phonk for Ykuefumei, but rather continues to stroll through the mid-tempo indie-rock that introduced him to listeners. Amidst the jaunt of “Curve Mirror” or acoustic strut of “Calamari” comes songs showing new ways for Kawabe to expand his sound. The previously shared “Alien No Koi” utilizes space and echo to add depth to his sound, while cuts like “Doushite” goes even further in stripping the sound down, only utilizing the backing band to up Kawabe’s more emotional moments. The mitsume spirit still hovers, but he’s seeing where he can take it on his own now. Listen above.

Ohtani Shohei Ōendan — Ohtani Shohei Album

Baseball all-star Shohei Ohtani is easily the most popular Japanese person in the world today. Walk around any neighborhood in his home country and within five minutes you’ll see someone decked out in Dodgers’ blue. Hell, turn on the TV and if he isn’t popping up in an ad or news segment, you might have lost connection. That fervor is captured in this scrappy bedroom recording, done by “Ohtani Shohei Ōendan” (Shohei Ohtani Cheering Club) but really delivered by indie powerhouse John Tremendous. He devotes plenty of time to celebrating the two-way player…but even if you don’t know a lick about the diamond, this one wows because of its lo-fi experiments in guitar and home recording, making it one of 2026’s wackier curios. Plus it has something called the “Ohtani Shohei Twist,” which sounds like The Tornadoes recorded on an original Nintendo. Listen above.