Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds

Hi everyone, I hope you had a nice week.

There were a lot of albums that came out recently… but only one of them was good enough that I wanted to write about it. So forgive me, this week is a little bit short.

After thinking about it, I have decided that in order to improve the quality of the music that I talk about in this newsletter (at least in my opinion), I have decided to add another new mini newsletter that I will send every month. This will be the new schedule and will start next month:

1st Monday of the month - The Sushi Platter (Artist ranking)
2nd Monday of the month - Regular SS Sounds (Newly Released Music)
3rd Monday of the month - Mystery Bento (Older hidden gems)
4th Monday of the month - Regular SS Sounds (Newly Released Music)

Speaking of quality, there were a lot of albums I listened to this week, but only one of them made the mark for me, so it’s a bit of a shorter episode this week.

A lot of the albums I listened to were from artists that I’ve been listening to for a long time too, so I was excited to talk about them, but none of them were quite good enough that I wanted to go into detail about them. Maybe it’s that my taste has changed, or it could be that those artists are just “past their prime” or something (even though I don’t like saying that). But with that being said, you might like them so here’s a list of albums from classic Japanese artists that came out in the past couple of weeks that you may or may not like.

Shiina Ringo - Carnival
(But that Hikaru Utada collab tho, some tracks are def worth checking out)
Spotify | Apple Music

Gesu no Kiwami Otome - Disco no Tamago
(Feels a little watered down)
Spotify | Apple Music

Wednesday Campanella - POP DELIVERY
(Same here with the watering down)
Spotify | Apple Music

MONO - Oath
(*Same Post-Rock formula, but the production on this one is amazing, RIP Steve Albini)
Spotify | Apple Music

🥧Fresh Out The Oven Albums🥧

Rating System

🥧 Pretty warm - for the hardcore fans of the genre
🥧🥧 Oh that’s hot - for any fan of the genre
🥧🥧🥧 We gonna need oven mitts - potential classic, highly suggested listen
🥧🥧🥧🥧 The kitchen’s on fire!! - modern classic, must listen

** I only talk about albums I liked in this newsletter so even the “Pretty warm” albums are still good 😉

xiexie - wellwell

Genre: Indie Rock, a hint of shoegaze (sometimes)
Spotify | Apple Music

You know how when you go to a restaurant and you can’t decide whether to order the same thing you always get or something new? Like, you know the new thing will be exciting and will probably have unique flavors that you haven’t tried before at this restaurant, but there’s just something comforting about eating that same meal you always get. The definition of comfort food.

That’s how I would describe xiexie’s new album wellwell, it’s Japanese Indie Rock comfort food. No ground is being broken here, no excitement per se, but they know the “Indie Rock Songbook” really well, which allows them to craft great, memorable songs that I found myself coming back to frequently throughout the week.

To me, this album starts off with 2 of the best songs on the album. “please me” starts with a super catchy psychedelic guitar part that then comes to these little chord chunks that have, may I dare say it, the PERFECT amount of reverb. Speaking of the guitar, it’s my favorite part of this album, the guitar is super tasteful throughout the entire experience, especially on “UMA”, where they really channel their Slowdive and Cocteau Twins influences. “alien II” is covered in sticky, sugary sweet melodies that act as the perfect soundtrack to a nice Spring walk around town.

Nothing new here, just a delicious meal you can rely on.

Rating: 🥧🥧 Oh that’s hot

Favorite Tracks: please me, UMA, alien II, calm sea, Green

🍵Piping Hot Singles🍵

Gliiico - Mutron
Spotify | Apple Music
Genre: Garage Rock, Psychedelic Rock

Ohhki - I SAY A LITTLE MUSIC
Spotify | Apple Music
Genre: Weirdo Pop, Genius? You decide

Mamiko Suzuki - Utsutsu (うつつ)
Spotify | Apple Music
Genre: Bossa Nova inspired Pop, Jazz Pop

Hakushi Hasegawa - Gone
Spotify | Apple Music
Genre: Experimental Pop, Electronic, If you know, you know
(Hasegawa’s next album is the release I’m most looking forward to this year, already looking like an AOTY contender)

Thank you!

Thanks again for reading this issue of Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds! If you have any feedback or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by replying to this email, or the official Instagram page (click the icon below). If you like what you read, please tell your friends, like our Instagram, etc. I hope to eventually be a primary source of Japanese music for the English-speaking world because I want to share my love of music with as many people as possible, and you all would be the way that could happen.

See ya next time! Breakfast is ready.