Shibuya’s Scrambled Sounds

Hi everyone, I hope you had a nice week. It’s finally starting to get warm over here and while the cherry blossoms haven’t started blooming quite yet, they should in the next few weeks! 🌸 If everyone wants to see pictures or something, let me know and I’ll start posting some pics of my daily life in Japan.

Some good news, I hope to have some on brand pics for the Instagram and newsletter in the next month or so. As always, I want to hear everyone’s opinions so let me know if you have any! I’ve also decided recently that I want to eventually build a kind of community feel with this project and hope to start some discussions once there are more subscribers. Hopefully we can all share and talk about various artists/bands together. 🤩

This week I’ve got some real underground stuff for y’all, so I hope you enjoy.

🥧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, good entry point for the genre
The kitchen’s on fire!! - modern classic, must listen

Fuyumi Abe - Super Legend

Genre: Art Pop, Singer-Songwriter
Spotify | Apple Music

After a 10 year long wait, Fuyumi Abe has released her newest album. This new one brings about an empty, lonely vibe, I mean you can hear it in her voice and feel it in the sparse arrangements. This makes the moments where she does incorporate other instruments, such as the drums that come in at the halfway point of the second track シュッ、more interesting and dynamic.

She’s not afraid to experiment with different sounds, a moment that I particularly love is the repetitive bloops on the track Fountain. She pours out her heart in way that crosses languages, it’s apparent that these songs come from a place of struggle. I’m not sure what she went through in the past 10 years, or even the past couple of years for her wanting to put this album out now, but whatever did happen has hopefully been purged through the process of making this album.

Rating: Oh that’s hot

Favorite Tracks: Some True Love, シュッ, Super Legend, Fountain

downt - Underlight & Aftertime

Genre: Midwest Emo, Indie Rock, Post-Rock
Spotify | Apple Music

Even though downt formed in March 2021, they released their first full album the same year and were already playing major festivals such as Fuji Rock in 2022. While the band themselves hit the ground running, there’s no fast songs here, their music is a slow burn. While there are some obvious Post-Rock flourishes and the band themselves have said that envy are a big influence on them, it’s not displayed in the song structure, but rather the chord and sound choices, as well the occasional emotive explosion or two that happen throughout the album.

This kind of Post-Hardcore / Post-Rock adjacent music is something I listened to so much in high school that I can be extremely picky with the genre. So if you’re a fan of the genre, you can take my comments with a grain of salt. While downt bring in interesting moments such as the drums and repeating chords of the first track underdrive, it still feels like these passages are few and far between a sea of “pretty good” music. However, I only write about albums I like here, and honestly, those outstanding moments make me excited for their future.

Rating: Pretty warm

Favorite Tracks: underdrive, Whale, Yda027, 煉獄ex

Fetus - Beep Day EP

Genre: Juke, Footwork, Bass
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music

Ryosuke Nagaoka & aus - LAYLAND EP

Genre: Minimal Techno, Ambient-inspired, Synth Pop/Smooth Rock??
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music

🍵Piping Hot Singles🍵

Guiba - 栃木 (Tochigi)
Spotify | Apple Music
Genre: Indie Pop

CRYSTAL - Autumn Story
Spotify | Apple Music
Genre: City Pop Revival

kapsoul - MEISO (feat. B.D. and SENNINSHO)
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Genre: Hip-Hop

detch - Echo
Spotify | Apple Music
Genre: UK Garage

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 for 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.