-New Japanese Music Listening Thread 11/11-
This is a very big week!
There have been some long time coming new releases as well as some really nice surprises that weren't on my radar at all, but have quickly become some of my favorites of the year.
Such as the first one which is.... "high time" by morensoji
This is an album I wanted to start yapping about yesterday but I wanted to hold myself back for this thread😅
There have been only a handful of times where a group’s debut project has truly wowed me. Last year was surprisingly full of them but this year’s releases haven’t quite hit the same mark. As if sent down from heaven, this new album titled “high time” from morensoji is exactly what I’ve been waiting on.
There is so much about this album that I love, but I think the most obvious for me is how it sounds like a collection of a ton of artists I find myself going back to week to week. Men I Trust, 水中スピカ (Suichu Spica), YONLAPA, Balthazar, 江原茗一 (Mei Ehara), Mac Demarco, and Steve Lacy are just a few inspirations that I hear through this album and make this “high time” an easy recommendation for fans of any of those artists. If you love a particularly catchy arpeggio or bouncy guitar lick, you are going to seriously enjoy every single song here.
Much of that comes from the fact that this album has a very carefree and airy sound that feels right at home with modern indie music while also having direct psychedelic pop and rock throwback flourishes that makes this album sound timeless.
Aiding in that mission are the lyrics written in both Japanese and English. It’s a pretty even split for the most part, and I really love that inclusiveness. As this is calling back to so many English speaking 60s and 70s ethereal rock sounds, I think that was ultimate a wise artistic choice!
I am soooooooooo enthralled by this album that I couldn’t help but talk about it first. It's a really cornucopia of sounds that I find to be incredibly interesting and long lasting, which is oftentimes difficult for me in particular purely because I listen to so much new music constantly. Every song on this album is shined to a perfect sheen and it's going to be one that I think I will be spending a lot of time talking about online and in videos in my year end lists...