Monthly Listening: February 2025
Rounding up great new releases we checked out during February from Laura day romance, robounoishi, Hoach5000 and more
Hi! This is February’s Monthly Listening list, a quick rundown of new Japanese albums I checked out this month that I enjoyed. You can browse past Monthly Listenings from this year here.
I got a good amount of listening done this month, of both new and old albums that were new to me. I dipped back into grime, brushing up on Terror Danjah and Ruff Sqwad; continued with the Caifanes discography with album two, whose goth and new wave touches actually inspired me to check out GLAY’s major-label debut; and made some progress on the 1980s idol listening front, with more Tomoyo Harada and Yuki Saito. As with new Japanese albums of 2025, here were some of my favorites from February.
OURSELVES, EP by AIRCRAFT
► “Umi Wo Nomu” | indie rock
yura by AprilBlue
► “Hiraite” | indie rock / dream pop
GRAY context EP by Cuffboi
► “sekaimowakarannwa” ft. Filix Wang & Yamada gal zing | rap / digicore
FUTON MUSIC by Edogawa Ribako
► “Ame Ga Reset” | synth-pop / Vocaloid
High School Complex by goku sasaki
► “#NP” | rap / digicore
Orbit by Hoach5000
► “Tamashii” | indie rock
Nemuru - walls by Laura day romance
► “Amber Blue” | indie rock
“While the plot laid out in Laura day romance’s movie-as-album—the first of a two-parter, according to the band —has yet to be written into completion, it sets up in fine detail the story’s architecture: the atmosphere but also the connection behind the two narrators. Rather than a grand rock epic that crescendos in tune to the album’s narrative beats, the balmy, rich arrangements flow languid as the indie-rock band bask in the countryside stillness of their previous full-length, roman candles. The ornate details in the hooks and melodies can be so sweet to downplay the melancholy underneath.” —Read about the Album of the Week in issue #92.
Daily Violence by Mea Culpa
► “Kill the Patriot” | hardcore punk
Swerve by ODDLY
► “Alligator” | indie rock / post-punk
Caligula by PASSEPIED
► “Daihakken!” | pop rock / math
alternative mick by robounoishi
► “Jinkai Ni Shizunde” | post-hardcore / Vocaloid
“While a few tracks dial into a similar bummed-out and snowed-in headspace as last year’s brutal and brooding Pater Noster, robounoishi’s new album actually does right by its title, serving more varied moods and expressions through the pairing of Hatsune Miku and buzzing guitars.” —as featured in issue #92
Shinryo Geka by Sanketsu Tenshi Bungaku-chan
► “Shinryo Geka” | post-shoegaze / Vocaloid
NOVA by Various artists
► “Anti Piracy Screen” by HAKU, e5 & utumiyqcom | hyperpop
THE RAVING SIMULATOR 2 by Various artists/SPRAYBOX
► “Gasoline” by Genick, Jacotanu, The Deep | garage / club pop
“The five-track compilation links producers in SPRAYBOX’s roster with pop vocalists for a series of club-pop collaborations, and label heads Genick and Jacotanu set the bar in ‘Gasoline.’ The two bring on guest The Deep, who indulges in trashy fun while bringing some of her bratty electroclash in the hard garage tune.”—as featured in issue #91.
Twilight by Wang-Wang
► “hey dad you sent me postcards” | indie rock
Bonus Beats: 6 Missed Records from 2024
A great thing about writing about new singles for the newsletter is that it gives me an opportunity to browse past records by an artist to familiarize their music more as I gather material to blurb, which can double as a good time to check out albums from recent years that I missed. Below, you’ll see a few titles of last year from acts that made it in an issue from this past month. And I’ve also got to do some catch-up, so I decided to round up of releases I liked from 2024:
Cephalo - Flourite code | indie rock
DAFTY RORN - #rooms | rap / digicore
Jiyugaoka & Mizuki - Syndrome | indie rock / AOR
ORANGE POOLSIDE - Complicated | pop punk / post-hardcore
THE SPIT - BIG IMPULSE | hardcore punk
Tonalia - Historia I: Origins | pop / idol
This Side of Japan has a Ko-Fi as a tip jar if you want to show appreciation. A subscription to This Side of Japan is free, and you don’t have to pay money to access any published content. I appreciate any form of support, but if you want to, you can buy a Coffee to show thanks.
Next issue of This Side of Japan is out February 26. You can check out previous issues of the newsletter here.
Need to contact? You can find me on Twitter or reach me at thissideofjapan@gmail.com