Within the OTAQUEST staff roster, it’d be fair enough to say that most of us have a background in Japan’s music scene. Whether we devoted a portion of our lives towards making it, releasing it, writing about it, or simply listening to it, a lot of our free time is consumed by listening to music. There probably isn’t a better place in the world to enjoy music either, with the majority of your day spent sitting on trains, you tend to hear an album or two every single day.
I’m not going to be speaking for everyone on our staff here, rather, I’ll be sharing just what I’ve had on repeat throughout the month of March. I can’t really say I’ve stuck to any one genre this month, with each day almost demanding a different soundtrack due to the business of it all. Everything I’ll be sharing today, however, will be from a Japanese artist — or at least be an accurate representation of the sounds that are currently taking over the Japanese music scene.
Let’s take a look then, shall we?
WONK – Cyberspace Love // MONK’s Playhouse // 2017.10.25
yahyel – Hypnosis // Human // 2018.03.04
MONDO GROSSO – 偽りのシンパシー // Attune / Detune // 2018.03.13
iri – Corner // Juice // 2018.02.07
禁断の多数決 – ユーロビートを追いかけて // The 3rd Stage Mixtape // 2018.03.10
Moe Shop – Fantasy (w/ MONICO) // Moe Moe // 2018.03.15
Snail’s House – 雪の降る街で、あなたを待っている。 // Snö // 2018.03.23
While only a small sampling of what I’ve been listening to for the past month, it definitely feels like a nice mix of genres and talents. These last few months have felt like such a good time for playful new music, and I’m always happy to have a platform to share all of it. I’d urge that if you enjoy any of the music, you dig further into the artist’s archives and find some of the other greats of the genre. I’ll be sharing what I’ve been listening to next month too, I’m excited to see what comes of it.