Monthly Listening: January 2023

This month's round-up of great new Japanese releases from Ayano Kaneko, Subway Daydream, SARI and more

Hi! This is January’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 in the archives.

Before we officially begin another new year listening to new releases, let me take the time here to list off the some of the leftovers from 2022 that I also enjoyed catching up with this past month: Akari Kito’s Luminous, Ayami Muto’s glitter beat EP, Ryoji Ikeda’s ultratronics, sassya-’s Not the End, Sayonara Ponytail’s All Night Thing, Seiko Oomori’s Chotengoku and tricot’s Fudeki.

You can check out January’s Spotify playlist of the top 40 new singles from this month down below or from this link here.

Here are the new releases that I enjoyed this month:

Bias-Blur by akugi

electronic / idol | ► “WEEK END” ft. Lustmary

Towelket Wa Odayaka Na by Ayano Kaneko

indie rock / folk | ► “Watashitach-e”

ROUND & ROUND EP by The Grateful a MogAAAz

glam rock / idol | ► “ROUD & ROUND”

split by HAERERE / herside

post-hardcore | ► “Ghost Town” by HAERERE

solitary by Kanano Senritsu

electro-pop | ► “moist”

Kessoku Band by Kessoku Band

power pop / anime | ► “Wasureteyaranai”

Eitaisuru Kemuri by Ohzora Kimishima

folk / pop | ► “Sekai Wa Koko De Mawaruyo”

monuments by poetry of torch

hardcore / emoviolence | ► “sink into my lust”

12 by Ryuichi Sakamoto

ambient | ► “20220214”

Ending by SARI

electronic / pop | ► “Ai No Yurikago”

Ampersand by Spangle Call Lilli Line

indie rock | ► “lean forward”

Ride by Subway Daydream

indie rock | ► “Radio Star”

Specter by Suisei Hoshimachi

pop | ► “Shakunetsu Ni Te Junjou (wii-wii-woo)”

Crepuscule I & II by Tujiko Noriko

ambient | ► “A Meeting at the Space Station”

PAL.Sounds2 by Various artists

techno | ► “Undertow” by ktskm

“As label heads Keiju, ktskm, E.O.U. and Vis bring newcomers into the mix, the intrigue behind PAL.Sounds2 lies in how outside names interpret the concept behind PAL.Sounds and tweak their music to fit within the world of the Kyoto dance label.” —Read more about the album in issue #61.

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