january 23rd music explorations

i love music. i love it so much i’m majoring in it! yet, for a self-proclaimed music lover, i don’t explore new music as much as other music lovers do. i tend to listen to the same few songs for weeks, while my watch later playlist collects more songs and dust. so i now decree, this shall happen no longer! i will dutifully listen to promising new artists and report my findings every week, held accountable by the mere idea that someone (my dear brother) might be reading and waiting for my thoughts. most of these releases will be old, so if you’re expecting a recap of what’s new in the vocasphere, please look somewhere else (although i will have a small segment where i review new releases from popular artists).

this week’s music excavations

buzzg - world lampshade [reunion]
i’ll admit that i only listened because leo/need (the best project sekai group) covered it this week. i didn’t think much of it upon first listen, but i kept coming back to listen to honami’s singular line, and eventually i ended up quite liking it. despite not being similar genres, it reminds me of sekai ga owarunoyo (harumaki gohan’s best song) - they both have a similar drifting, desperate feeling.

as for the song itself, world lampshade is great, but not buzzg’s best work. i adore the recurring guitar riff and the drum fills, but i think the melodies are either really strong or just kinda… meh. i do really love gumi’s tuning, specifically the way she occasionally enunciates the t’s super clearly.

muse - korekara no someday
yeah… i binged love live this week. expect to see a whole bunch of muse. their discography is quite similar, so there’s not a lot to say about each song, just that i have a soft spot for idols and cute songs. korekara no someday’s verses are killer, which makes the chorus fall just a little bit flat in comparison, but it’s overall a lovely song.

muse - wonder zone
not the most exciting song in their discography, but it’s still very sweet. i just think the final chord in the pre-chorus is an odd choice harmonically - it’s so unsatisfying to have that V/vi - vi in an otherwise major song. maybe it’d be nice as a tonal shift during the bridge. whatever it is, i just feel like that specific sequence isn’t the best way to build anticipation for the chorus.

muse - bokura no live, kimi to no life
the best chorus melody among all of their songs. the ending of the second pre-chorus always takes me by surprise - it just sounds like they accidentally skip a beat, and it screws with me. otherwise, pretty much perfect.

muse - no brand girls
their best song - the energy’s just impeccable, plus that guitar solo? absolutely showstopping.

muse - susume tomorrow
i love the chorus, and i wish the verses had just a bit more energy to match. i do appreciate the modulation into the chorus - it’s so fun, and i think pop songs need to be less afraid of a little complexity.

aqours - aozora jumping heart
very similar to muse, which is why i love it. good chord choices in the chorus.

giga - ch4nge
the next couple songs are also from the new pjsekai cover campaign. giga is super hit or miss, and i’ll admit there’s a part of me that wants to hate his songs because they’re so popular. this one though, i just think is whatever. there’s something weird about the post-chorus 1-2-3’s that sound compressed, like the sound waves are thin but also pressing on my ears (i’m listening to these without headphones). the chorus is just kind of okay, not his most exciting work, and overall the song sort of lacks momentum.

jon-yakitory - konton boogie
really catchy chorus melody, the verses are a little forgettable but the choruses make up for it. i hate to say something is overtuned because people just throw that word around but i wish he’d turn it down a little on the growls - no reason for miku to growl on every line.

akb48 - colorcon wink (special edition)
for eps/albums, i’ll just link a playlist and go through each song. starting with colorcon wink: pretty much perfect if it weren’t for the questionable mixing. i love a big, brassy, synthy, cutesy pop song, and this plays right into my biases. maybe just listen to this one on phone/laptop speakers - it’ll sound blown-out on car speakers or earbuds. (unrelated but the choreography is beautiful, right up there with doushitemo kimi ga suki da.)

hoshi ga kienai uchi ni: hey, another brassy, cutesy pop song. i really like this one too, although i feel like the end of the chorus melody could’ve been more interesting. bonus points for the synth solo though.

saigo no saigo made: kinda boring. i’m not super into slow songs anyway but this doesn’t have the emotional punch found in the slow songs i do like. although maybe i should be nicer given that it’s yukirin’s graduation song, but i don’t have any particular feelings about her other than admiration for staying so long. the guitar solos are way too crazy to be on a song this plain.

papa ni ienai yoru: i want to love this more than i do, given the killer synths in the background. ironically the chorus melody is a little too cutesy for me.

machibito: very pleasant but not super interesting. i really like the synth riff and feel like a more compelling vocal performance would’ve fixed this song… unfortunately no one comes to akb48 for good vocals.

lion wo nerae: sort of like a chiller version of nemohamo rumor, and it slaps. the only thing i don’t like is that little vocal melody at the end of the first chorus - it makes it sound unfinished.

conecojob - tiny summer tale
i love that bubbling synth in the background. summery rock like this is one of my favourite genres, and this song deserves way more than 44 views. the constant high energy is a little bit monotonous but still a way better song than i expected.

conecojob - nightmarish
very different style but this is also pretty good, love the chiptune instrumental combined with the gritty guitar. this kinda reminds me of bonetrousle by toby fox or maretu’s work. i do wish the chorus was less repetitive.

conecojob - wonderland
it seems conecojob really excels at this kind of chiptune-infused gritty rock sound. i wish the chorus was less underwhelming; it sort of blends in intensity-wise with the rest of the song. that synth swoop into the instrumental break is gorgeous though, and the abrupt metal turn is interesting.

conecojob - beautifulworld + chained + thousand*stars
the rest of the conecojob songs i listened to were all very similar to tiny summer tale, especially chained. all great songs and it’s a wonder they’re not more popular, given how reminiscent of early vocaloid they are.

avenue812 - ainitokeru
pretty standard modern jrock sound, reminds me of tayori or yorushika. i wish the chorus was a little more intense, or had something to set it apart from the rest of the song.

avenue812 - start line
i like the more synthy sound of this one. it feels a little more pop-punky and less traditionally jrock, and i like that the chorus is markedly more intense. i love the chord choices in the chorus - they’re super juicy.

avogado6 - hand
too minimalistic for me, and that droning sine wave is a little annoying.

ichica - fukusei sareta + yumemiru sakana
both were a little too low-energy for me and i don’t think the chorus melodies were very strong. i could see them growing on me though; they've got that nostalgic springtime feel that i love.

ichica - ghost rocket
better energy straight off the bat. again, not a great chorus melody but the high energy carries it farther.

ichica - otogi no wakusei
also better energy, and i appreciate that it’s in 6/8 - gives it a nice lilting feel. better chorus melody.

=love - seishun subliminal
brassy, guitary, pop rock idol song… what’s not to love? well, there’s the pre-chorus V/vi which i already mentioned, but it’s worse this time because it doesn’t even resolve to vi, instead moving straight to V???? although the V/V in the chorus is a great chord choice and almost makes up for it. overall it’s your average muse song, which is to say it’s quite good, until it hits the bridge, and then it really ramps up and gets better.

this week’s new releases

deco*27 - monitoring
okay i know this is a month old but given that i planned to never listen to this, i'm considering it as a new release. anyway it’s actually quite good and reminds me of some of his milgram work, specifically kazui’s cat. it stands out quite a bit from his other work as deco though, so it’s a nice change of pace. specifically the brass is a cool change from the classic synth he uses in like every other song. i also really like the heavy bass - reminds me of zutomayo, whose work i’m not very familiar with but what i have heard, i adore.

usushioshisuu ft. more more jump - hashiru! tooku! todoku
super funky and upbeat; i wrote translyrics for this song within two days of its release so you already know i’m obsessed. plenty of jpop groups do this upbeat guitar + piano-driven pop rock sound (see: every muse track i listed above) but that squeaky synth sound sets it apart just a bit from the rest. i love the post-chorus - it’s so fun, and i’ll always love when a mmj commission mentions their catchphrase (more!). i just wish it was longer…

sawtowne - confessions of a rotten girl
you may be familiar with sawtowne from their viral miku expo feature, magical cure love shot, which i enjoyed but ultimately did not playlist. magical cure got added to fortnite not long ago, and to capitalize on the hype, sawtowne releases a song about catholic schoolgirl miku fujoshing out on yaoi of her teachers. and it’s fucking peak. the chorus is SO CATCHY, which is not surprising given that the melody comes from beethoven’s pathetique. the tuning is so crisp and expressive and i can only imagine that sawtowne sold their soul to hades to get miku english sounding this good. i do think the first verse is a little plain harmonically, and the breakdown would’ve benefited from a synth/guitar solo. overall though, this song is what i wish giga’s music sounded like.

nilfruits ft. vivid bad squad - haven
it's a little bit messy, and it reminds me of filament fever. both songs have a similar frenzied, jazzy energy, especially in haven's chorus. where both songs fall short is their sudden switches away from that energy, particularly after haven's second verse. the music pulls back when it should keep charging forward. the ending is also too abrupt - i think nilfruits should've gone full jazz hands and had a crazy honking blast of sound to finish like filament fever does. these are all nitpicks in the grand scheme of things; i love that colopale has decided on a signature sound for toya commissions, much like airi and honami, and haven itself has a really catchy chorus.