80KIDZ And Taichi Mukai — “Keep Moving”
Patrick: Sometimes the best motivational message is the one that shows rather than tells. “Keep Moving” primarily delivers its message of going ahead despite all of the world's challenges via the sprinting sound 80KIDZ lay out, using speedier guitar playing to set the pace. Guest vocalist Taichi Mukai fits in fine, but almost feels like additional sonic texture when dashing alongside the sound.
fishbowl — “Enrai”
Ryo: Are salsa and Latin funk the move this year for idol groups? After Juice=Juice set the scene ablaze while rocking the sound last winter with “More! Mi Amore,” Hinatazaka46 threw in their take with “Kind of Love.” Fishbowl now makes for three by my personal account with their entry landing just in time as summer reaches its peak. But while the groups before them lean into the heat of the music to play up the unfolding romance, fishbowl uses it more as a set-up for a punchline: “You’re so, so, so better than me / You’d come out to see me even on a hot day like this,” they tease in the chorus, and it’s hard to tell their fawning over their crush or they’re literally melting from the burning sun.
Nariaki Obukuro & 5lack — “Kagyo”
Ryo: While 5lack often lets his verses often unreel like a freestyle in his own records, the rapper shimmies to a fluid groove in this highlight from his new album, Icchola, with Nariaki Obukuro. The latter singer feels the spirit, too, as he lays down churchy ad libs before he kicks a verse himself. No fault to the two for feeling the funk. The beat recalls the dusty yet knocking East Coast boom bap from its snapping snares and the creeping horn squeals—think Lord Finesse and the Diggin’ in the Crates Crew. Like the rest of their album, “Kagyo” melds smooth soul with a classic brand of hip-hop into an infectious, nostalgic mix.
King Gnu — “GO GHOST”
Patrick: Where King Gnu ends and Millennium Parade begins can get confusing pretty quickly. At some point in the late 2010s, the divide was clear...the prior was a more traditional band allowing Daiki Tsuneta a place to explore traditional rock and pop forms, while the latter gave him room to experiment like crazy. That gap has closed — 2023's THE GREATEST UNKNOWN features huge Gnu hits, but is rounded out by dips into Jersey club and wobbly electronica — and “GO GHOST” only blurs it further. The sort of stadium-ready flair you expect from the band (and the theme to a prominent anime) is present, but it is joined by glitchy production details, vocal manipulation and an ethereal chorus lurking beneath it all.
Spangle Call Lilli Line — “someone in the flower”
Patrick: Nervy electronic touches have always been a presence in Tokyo band Spangle Call Lilli Line's music , and they ripple across latest single “someone in the flower.” Those touches add a nice tension to the trio's rock...and help make the sudden shift midway through hit all the better. Threading it all together is emotionally vulnerable singing courtesy of Kana Otsubo. Listen above.
yukiguni — “claras”
Ryo: A serene darkness takes up most of the space in a typical cover art of a yukiguni record, which captures the overall feel of the band’s hushed music. Frontman Eiichi Kyo strums out these slow-burning emo songs as though he’s keeping to himself in a solitary room, and he continues to deliver what he’s been reliable to serve in the title track of his band’s new EP. The delicate guitar riff linger in the mind like the faint voice stuck in Kyo’s memory. “There’s something I still haven’t got to tell you,” he cries out in a whimper. His lyrics remain emotionally ambiguous, but the assumption from the song’s bummed-out tone is that he most likely won’t ever get the chance.
