yoyou — Yoyou Nari No
It’s easy to survey the post-pandemic landscape of young Japanese electronic creators in Tokyo and see only pent up energy. All-night ragers at WWW in Shibuya with crowds of 20-something putting iPhones up in the air, or messy evenings behind the Ford Mustang bonnet at Asagaya Drift, or general low-level rowdiness at a party like Tokio Shaman. It’s a narrative with a lot of truth behind it — kids suddenly cut off from the world around them turn to music and, once the situation lightens up, cut loose. Yet it doesn’t capture the whole landscape.
Artist yoyou’s debut album Yoyou Nari No plays like an alternative history, offering a different vantage point on what has unfolded over the last six years in the capital and beyond. The creator herself has always been more introspective and hazy, representing a more inward looking (but, critically, still extrovert in nature) community using COVID-associated sounds to create songs happy to float. Her first full-length celebrates this space, while featuring echoes of artists associated with the greater space — RYON4, Tohji, Le Makeup — alongside her own bleary-eyed viewpoint.
Yoyou Nari No — itself a reference to a song by ahead-of-its-time-duo TENG GANG STARR — captures the ethos of this space as good as any album from the last half decade. It’s a foggy set of electronic songs inspired by rap but bending beyond that one genre, often featuring vocals on the verge of disappearing into the music itself. Numbers like “e-nami” and “ayumi” sound like they are unfolding in inverse, woozy and marked by lyrics wrestling with heavy personal thoughts rather than engaging with the outside world. “Dancer” strips away nearly everything in favor of tape hiss and string plucks, over which yoyou delivers one of her rawest singing performances. Elsewhere, you have “pure sad bird” sounding like some minimalist IDM. Whatever form she embraces, yoyou digs into herself, spotlighting the personal that has bled out of this music.
But, critically, she isn’t alone. Yoyou Nari No is a communal album, with all the beats produced by friends of yoyou — primarily ambienceyankee and Ninaa — and filled with touches nodding to the still-nascent history of this scene. Le Makeup pops up to add his hyperearthy touch to “Beach” while, according to an AVYSS interview, the sad-shuffling “naitaraiinoni” was originally made for Tohji, who planned on using it but didn’t get around to it…allowing it to slide to yoyou for an album capturing the breadth of a world he played a part in shaping. It’s yoyou, though, who explores it for all its worth, resulting in a stellar debut and a snapshot of a period. Listen above.
Yutai Communications — Worth Lethe
You can tell a lot about someone by the company they keep, and I think the same can be applied to bands and whom they choose to link up. Seeing neo-acoustic charmers Nagakumo pop up on Yutai Communications Worth Lethe gives you a hint of what to expect from the trio’s second album, albeit with a slightly different perspective. Whereas the prior’s NGKM creates a cozy atmosphere thanks to an active study of Shibuya-kei and indie-pop, Yutai Communications come off more like too-online oddballs who also happen to like guitar-pop melodies. Alongside the pretty strum-guided sounds is rapped interludes, pitched-up vocals, skittery percussion, and a general wonky energy conveying too many late nights. Fittingly, when Nagakumo pop up on “Dear, My Moment,” everyone puts on their best fits and tries to get along with the more prim-and-proper cousins…but even then, left-field touches like radio static and nervy electronics add a bit of their own personality to it all. Listen above.
House Of Tapes — The Shape of What Remains
Nagoya’s House Of Tapes inspires an overuse of words like “claustrophobic” and “crushing” from me whenever something new rolls out. For the bulk of their career, the electronic artist has shown how the most constricting (hey, that’s a little different) sounds can turn beautiful in the right hands. That sonic strangle creeps in a few times on The Shape of What Remains, but rather than being the center point this approach serves a more thematic purpose on what House Of Tapes says is their first suite. Here, the busier passages come only after a build set upon piano twinkles and woozy-making synth, going through passages of soft and loud. Get it here, or listen above.
PAS TASTA — “LAG”
It’s great that netlabel all-stars PAS TASTA have started getting more mainstream opportunities via anime and, errr, JASRAC collaborations. Still, the plucky fuck-it-let’s-just-try-whatever attitude has always been critical to what the group does, and the exact sauce that made their first two albums among the best of the decade so far…and what’s lacking from those commercial offerings. “LAG” returns to the prior, embracing a Hakushi-Hasegawa rush of percussion over which they deliver an emotional vocal with just a smear of digital blur to it. The pairing makes for a great tension — longing meeting a souped-up road roller — without losing a pop sensibility. No need to shave off the jagged edges when you work with them so well. Listen above.
SWAPNOTES Featuring Peanuts-kun — “(y)our cassette”
Similar to PAS TASTA in their early days, duo SWAPNOTES seemingly unlock something by working with rapping legume / VTuber legend Peanuts-kun on “(y)our cassette.” The pair have mostly been a DJ staple primarily around Tokyo in recent times, but here they lay down a bloghouse-indebted rager with a detour into headbanging territory (how very “Peanut Phenomenon” of them) underlining their loose approach to genre. Tying it all together, Peanuts-kun holding down whatever they throw at him. Listen above.
Summer Eye — “Toho”
With the season in their artist name coming to an end, Summer Eye senses some urgency on “Toho.” To beat out incoming sweater weather, they lay down one of the fastest songs they’ve released under the moniker to date, matching the dashing rhythm with horn blurts and a vocal that feels more caught up in it all then trying to keep up. Get it here, or listen above.
Pasmal — “Kotsukotsu”
How do you capture the vibe of a particular era while not making it feel like the equivalent of a musical midterm paper? Bring in someone who actually experienced that time to produce.
Ai Otsuka produces high-school pop duo Pasmal, and on third single “Kotsukotsu” channel the Teen Titans-era bounce of Puffy with a dash of Halcali’s mid-aughts playfulness mixed in (mostly in the little noises they make, like the “huh” after the “what you want”). The reference points seem clear, but it doesn’t come off like total imitation, perhaps because the actual bounce and chorus of this song is just so sticky as to rise above. But I also hand it to Otsuka, who can actually drill down into the sound of this era and update it, rather than simply study it. Listen above.
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Oricon Trail For The Week Of Aug. 31, 2026 To Spet. 6, 2026
Back in the day, the Oricon Music Charts were the go-to path to music stardom in Japan. Acts of all sorts traversed these lands, trying to sell as many CDs as possible in order to land a good ranking on a chart choosing to only count physical sales, even as the Internet came to be and the number of versions offered for sale got ridiculous. Today, with the country finally in on digital, these roads are more barren and only looked at by the most fanatic of supporters needing something to celebrate. Yet every week, a new song sells enough plastic to take the top spot. So let’s take a trip down…the Oricon Trail.
EBiDAN — “Yes! Tokyo” (70,546 Copies Sold)
If this feels familiar, that’s because the all-hands-on-deck EBiDAN single “Yes! Tokyo” has climbed back up to number one on the Oricon Singles chart after debuting with over a million sold. I think 70,000 copies sold after about four weeks is pretty impressive, though it’s worth noting this seems like one of those down stretches for the chart. This giddy Avengers happening topped what sounds like a pretty green idol outfit for the top spot, not exactly the strongest field.
Since I wrote nearly enough this one the first time around, let’s look at some news I overlooked last week. Thanks to reader MontyHallProb for leaving a comment noting how EBiDAN announced its right-protection policy. It…also feels familiar, in the sense that it brings to mind the policies instituted by Johnny & Associates and LDH, in how they seemingly claim ownership over every image under its umbrella. Ultimately, seeing how any of this is actually enforced will determine just what it means…but in theory, this does seem like a way to potentially curb any international opportunity the EBiDAN boys had, and possibly hurt the space where acts like M!LK broke out into the zeitgeist (TikTok, short-form video, etc). Again, let’s see how this actually comes together…but an example of how in a year where old-school idol has stormed back, it’s possible for the business practices to be right alongside the music.
News And Views
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Speaking of old-school idol issues (that are always relevant)…a former staffer at Johnny & Associates admitted to The Asashi Shimbun that he sexually abused multiple underaged boys while at the company.
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Fujii Kaze to hold a “piano recital” at Tokyo Dome over two days in November.
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According to Shukan Bunshun, Sandaime J Soul Brothers are currently “winding down,” and the tabloid labels them LDH’s big money maker. So…what comes next?
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Perhaps f5ve’s upcoming Australia shows will vault them into saviors of the agency.
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TREKKIE TRAX CREW touring the US West Coast soon, go check ‘em out!
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I reviewed Haruomi Hosono’s lovely Yours Sincerely for Bandcamp Daily, wherein I could flex my knowledge of obscure NHK dramas. But a very gorgeous album that feels like a treasure box collecting pieces from across his career and life.
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YOASOBI performed at BlizzCon, which I admit the 15-year-old me who spent a week at “internet camp” playing Starcraft with a pro player would find wild.
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Remember the idol who put on a show in Kenya recently? Welp, she’s now off to South Africa, spreading J-pop across Africa. Mirai Skirt+, we salute you.
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Mirin Furukawa, formerly of Dempagumi.inc but still going strong on her own, will release a new single to coincide with her 40th birthday. As someone on the cusp of that number too…we salute you.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Check out the Best Of 2026 Spotify Playlist here!
