What a busy month. Almost had no time to listen to new music thoroughly, but yet I received a shitload of new albums this week. For some releases I anticipated, I had no time to listen to it, yet others completely took me by surprise. For example, I didn’t have any chance to really listen to the new Heavenstamp, BYEE the ROUND or toddle, while releases by Vampillia, GHEEE, and THE LET’S GO’s completely took me by surprise. And even now I named 6 new releases, none of them appear in my top 3 for this month.
Even the new releases by my 2010-bands THEラブ人間 (THE LOVE NINGEN) and ひらくドア (HE LUCK DOOR) aren’t listed as for the first one, it’s only a 2-track single, and for the second, I did not get the chance to listen thoroughly to it. My top 3 however is really outstanding. Better yet, 2 of them I only received on the last day of May, and thus this list was delayed for a few days.
3. 洞 – まぼろし
Third place was for another one of my revelations of 2010. 洞 (SHIBATA) is a folk-pop duo that had their first release about a year ago. With this new CD-R they released on May 12, they show a slightly different side of them. It’s more mellow and laid-back, but still they know how to play their instruments. The vocals however still have their typical OYA-sound to it.
2. THE DECEMBER – inner/outer
Talking about a band that took me by surprise. It was almost a blind purchase from the Japanese iTunes-store. I liked a few samples I heard on the store, and thus bought it as I had some yen left on my Japanese account. Simply put, it became my most listened-to album this month. I really like their sound, which reminded me of THE JUNEJULYAUGUST which debuted in January this year.
1. YOUR LAST CHICKEN – S/T
Ever wanted to typical Japanese folk music, but then in English? YOUR LAST CHICKEN is a good option for you. YLC is one of the latest additions on my beloved CGCG-label (oh shu, mmm, Maria Hato etc). Their sound may be best described as the folk-songs of Turntable Films but then with good pronounced English. I for once even wondered myself if it really was a Japanese band.
What a month this was, especially since I got a whole box of Japanese demo’s, singles and albums in the last few days of the month but I guess I got a good top 3 for now.
