that foreign music blog🌎

IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME. I know I’m long overdue for a post. Music’s been a little stale as of late; after seeing Yutaro Furutachi live, I had a hard time enjoying other live concerts. Perhaps you’ve experienced something similar after seeing a really really good concert. That concert-high is addictive!

However, now that a few months have gone by, I’ve been getting back into the groove of things. The CDs in the following list aren’t all from this year (as it’s only January),  but these are some of my favorite albums from within a 3-month period. The most recent is WANIMA’s “Everybody”.

The album is made up of 14 songs, some of my favorites including:
1) JUICE UP! のテーム
2) OLE!
4) CHEEKY
10) やってみよう

To be honest, the whole reason I bought the album was that I desperately wanted to hear the full version of “JUICE UP!!のテーム”, the beginning of which is featured on the video of “シグナル”. It’s a short song, along with ‘OLE!’, that will likely be used to introduce the band and get the audience hyped up. However, being described as a ‘skater punk’ band, most of their songs fit that description; ‘getting hyped’ is kind of their whole appeal. Paired with their vibrant videos and their lyrics about enjoying life to its fullest, it’s no surprise how they’ve blown up amongst young Japan. This is definitely a good band to turn to when you need a little extra motivation before a big presentation.

Another album on the list is Hi-STANDARD’s “The Gift”. Hi-STANDARD is a band comprised of three men, all of whom are in their mid-forties. They’ve had quite the following in Japan’s punk world since the mid-90s, and ‘The Gift” was released following a rather long hiatus. Donning tattoos and dyed hair, they often sing about having fun, loving yourself, friendship, and fighting negativity.  “The Gift” follows this trend, matching the energy they had in their early twenties. To be honest, it was “The Gift” that got me into the band!  My favorite songs on the on the album include:
1) All Generations!
3) Can I Be Kind to You
4) Time to Crow
14) Free

They’ve also done some pretty fun covers, some of which are featured on “The Gift”, such as “My Girl” by The Temptations and “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” by Simon and Garfunkel. If it’s your first time hearing of Hi-STANDARD, I highly recommend this album because, while their other albums are good, this album has the modern sound quality in which we can fully appreciate the band’s talent.

Next up is a melodic punk band from Nagoya! Their name is Backlift and I got into them after a trip to Tower Records in search of TETO’s EP album. They had a huge display promoting their new album ‘Seeding’ which even provided a free listen to the track ‘Hate’. It took me about 30 seconds to grab the album off the shelf; for a good month or so, this album was all I listened to. It’s SO catchy.

They sing mostly about relationships, but have a few songs about having fun and…there’s even a really hilarious song about the speaker’s experiences with dogs and cats, ultimately asking the listener “Dog or cat? Which do you like?”

Like many of the punk bands in Japan, they sing in English a lot of the time, but some songs on this album are in Japanese if you’re also looking for a means to study. My favorites include:
2) HATE
7) You’re a Fool
8) Cat or Dog
10) sign

Last on the list isn’t a NEW album, but an album I’ve sought for several months: Baitfish Attitude by SHANK. This is another band that has some history behind them, their first album being released almost 2 decades ago. This album is about five years old, but they released a new album last year titled “Honesty”. It stays true to their roots with short, energized songs about individuality, staying true to yourself, and relationships. They have a sound reminiscent of Basketcase-era Green Day and locofrank (especially so).

“Baitfish Attitude” is nothing different, and features crowd favorites such as “Love and Hate”, “Departure” and “Set the Fire”. Some of my favorites include:
4) Love and Hate
6) Brandnew Song
8) Come Together
11) Baitfish Attitude

As I’m writing, I’m considering another trip to Tower Records tomorrow to pick up Dizzy Sunfist, so there may be a post on that coming up soon! Other than that, I hope I was able to peak your interest in some great albums! Until next post!