that foreign music blog🌎

Perhaps like a musician, a music-lover has to take a break from music now and again, but I think I’m ready to delve back into my beloved hobby. Yesterday I took a trip to Tower Records that was long overdue and, with all the money I’d been saving, felt a special sort of power when I’d started making my way down the aisles. My eye caught sight of familiar artists, their pictures and signatures posted across the shelves. 04 Limited Sazabys, 10 FEET, Dizzy Sunfist, yonige; it hadn’t been so long since my last trip, but it still felt nostalgic somehow. Once upon a time, I’d gone to Tower Records to relax, but these days I can’t even find enough time to sleep. It was refreshing, to say to least, to grasp the plastic of an anticipated album–that I’d been anticipating SOMETHING for once.

The album–or single, I’d bought was go!go!vanillas’ “No.999“, the ending theme for classic horror anime ‘Ge ge ge Kitarou’. The single was accompanied by another song called ‘触れたら’, which has more of a country feel to it. I could appreciate it, but it definitely stands out against the high-tension title track. The rest of the album is composed of songs from their concert at Shinki Bar during their ‘FOOLS’ tour last year. I don’t normally listen to live-recorded songs because the studio version is usually A BIT clearer, BUT the audio was well mixed. In fact, I realized that the merit of having live tracks is to get a feeling of what a concert would be like before you go. Although, the downside is that, this concert sounded awesome, and has thus raised my expectations exponentially. If the fans aren’t singing and clapping along when I see them in April, someone will get punched.

Hahaha…no, I’m not going to punch someone. As tempting as that’d be…

The next CD I bought, “零になって”, is a ten-track album from emo band: kobore. You know how I am when I go to Tower Records—I go to buy one album and walk out with four? Yeah, that’s a real thing. Anyway, kobore is a pretty standard emo band that reminds me a little of RADWIMPS with some of their airy effects like in ‘Night Wonder‘. While they don’t stand out to me much in terms of uniqueness, I really like their overall sound and vocals. The guy just has a really nice voice, particularly in their sentimental ballad, ‘Tokyo Tower‘. They often touch on themes of happiness, sadness, and feeling lost in their lyrics. The direct approach in their writing also makes for a good study tool for Japanese-language-learners. Actually, after watching the video for ‘Tokyo Tower’, I managed to pick up a few vocabulary, which is part of the reason it’s one of my favorite songs off this album. I also really appreciate how it uses Tokyo Tower to focus the story of the song, which seems to be spoken from the perspective of a friend or a parent who’s watching over someone.

The last album I bought was “永遠の花” by ハルカミライ, or Harukamirai. I don’t know how these guys blew up, but they did. I had the chance to see them briefly at a festival in Shibuya and the room was packed. I decided to give their twelve-track album a try and was surprised by how loud they actually are. They’re a solid rock band that’s a little reminiscent of TOTALFAT, especially with the song, “俺よ勇敢に行け”. I don’t know if we can call them punk, but there’s definitely a noticeable influence in their lively melodies, paired with choral ‘woah’s and ‘oi oi’s. If you like TOTALFAT, anyway, you’ll probably appreciate these guys. Here’s one of their songs, “星世界航行曲‘ from the album.

By the way, there’s a popular song that’s titled ‘Haruka Mirai’. This isn’t the band, actually. I’d almost linked the video when I realized they were different people entirely. Just be careful of that.

To finish off, I hope I can get back into the swing of things. It’s the worst feeling when one of your joys in life no longer gives you any sense of stimulation. I’m grateful that I found go!go!vanillas when I did—or rather, gave them a well-deserved chance. They reopened that door to my curiosity towards music, and I’m looking forward to all the other music I discover this year!