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.

Sayonara Ponytail — Magical Box

The latest full-length from long-running idol project Sayonara Ponytail balances pure pop delights with variety. They certainly go in surprising directions — opener “Magical Ra Pa Pa” teases sugary vocal harmonizing before letting a muted Jersey Club beat propel it forward — but always guide it towards something sticky. There’s acoustic-blip pop via the chipper “Photography,” melancholy indie-pop leading to a hummable center on “Ame No Melody,” and Local-Visions-ready keyboard grooves on “Teito.” Every number touches on different musical territory, but features some of the most memorable melodies from a collective that has spent more than a decade exploring sounds both pop and experimental.

It’s just a really great J-pop album, one providing some of the best sonic ideas from the idol side of the industry in 2026 while also being accessible. That’s not an easy tightrope to walk, in a corner of music that often feels split between “crowd pleasing” and “experimental / weird.” Magical Box shows how to do it with aplomb. Listen above.

Maezawa — EXCESSIVE

The very nature of an “internet music” community makes it hard to easily follow. Online has always been vast and fragmented, so trying to draw throughlines can feel near impossible. Credit to creator Maezawa, who uses their first album EXCESSIVE as a way to try to connect digital shards via pulsating electronic sounds. The guests here reflect a wide range of corners mostly associated with the web, including hyperpop players lilbesh ramko and levi of STARKIDS to club staples such as KOTONOHOUSE to Vocaloid via the presence of producer higma (and Hatsune Miku, on the twinkly melancholy shuffle “From Ground”). There’s a lot of “featuring” here, but it is Maezawa’s frantic sound that ties them all together, whether being used for scrambling fest material (“REWARDRUSH!”) or dramatic electro flurries (“REVERBERANT,” featuring an especially emotional vocal courtesy of utumiyqcom). Listen above.

Nagakumo — NGKM

In a year already chock full of great Japanese rock debut albums, here comes Osaka’s Nagakumo with the coziest full-length offering from a rising name yet. NGKM builds on the EPs the group has shared over the last few years, taking cues from the melodic twists of Shibuya-kei without worrying about the academic side of its out-of-time bricolage. Rather, Nagakumo just create zippy songs fitting their neo-acoustic tastes, adding in a flair for the theatrical via the all-together bounce on “Coat Wo Kite” and explorations of funk on “Question,” while also fitting in a self-explanatory “Short Ballad” in at one point. At its core, NGKM delivers heads-down, guitars-out joy worthy of Hideki Kaji or Cymbals. Listen above.

Spangle Call Lilli Line — lull

Nearly 30 years going and Spangle Call Lilli Line remain a study in small changes. This is a group that has never veered too far from its dusky rock sound, but has always found ways to change it ever so slightly, sometimes in obvious ways (EPs where they picked the tempo up significantly) and other instances revealing themselves over time. Latest album lull feels like a case of the latter, with Spangle Call’s familiar rock stroll accented by electronic touches (and sometimes letting them take over on the chirpy “talking,” among the jolliest they’ve ever sounded) and lyrics exploring the small details of everyday life. Yet within the familiar lurk disorienting synths on opener “literal,” scattershot percussion adding tension to “someone in the flower,” and bass burbles on “silence.” One to spend some time with, as the band shows how subtle touches bring out something new in the familiar. Listen above.

kiki vivi lily — TOU.

I’m kinda surprised to find out indie-pop polyglot kiki vivi lily hadn’t released an EP or album in three years. She’s offered a drip of new songs in that span — appearing here, on TOU. — all of which are tied together by a relative laid-back energy. Yet it’s the new songs on this EP that really grab attention, whether because of the giddiness underlining them (the deceptively breezy “Love Affair,” which boasts a strolling funk arrangement but hides a lot of longing via a hook of “take me somewhere / to a love affair / a place beyond compare”) or the total huh-what of “Koi Ga Repeat,” a tofubeats-produced trampoline of a song featuring Bose of Scha Dara Parr adding some veteran rhymes to lily’s sunny sound. Listen above.