Monthly Listening: June 2023
This month's round-up of great new Japanese releases from kinopo, Koh-Gaku, 20th Century and more
Hi! This is June’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.
Apart from the albums I liked from the month, I also assembled a list of my 50 favorite Japanese songs of 2023 so far. (A separate list of idol songs will be shared very soon.) It’ll take me a little more time to recognize any trends from the list, personal or otherwise, though I’ll say it might lean more pop than expected. When I’m at a loss of what I should listen to, which happened to me more often than I’d like, there’s something comforting about turning to top 40 J-pop. Maybe it’s in how it feels low-stakes, especially after hours spent listening and thinking intently about music.
You can view that list here, where I also have a Spotify playlist of the listed songs. And below are the new releases I enjoyed during the month of May.
20th Century for the People by 20th Century
AOR / idol | ► “Suiyoubi”
SWING A SOUL by 3House
R&B | ► “SWING A SOUL”
Pleasant, Sadness, And… by 7th Jet Balloon
indie rock / emo | ► “This Is a Pen (Respect for Midwest Pen Pals)”
luminous by ART-SCHOOL
indie rock / Britpop | ► “Bug”
Haven by Big Animal Theory
bass / garage | ► “Each of You” ft. Amni, Nuum
NUM by Fixed
post-hardcore | ► “num”
Living Dead by kinopo
new wave / idol | ► “JU-TAI”
Opto5: Mandark by Koh-Gaku
funk / retro pop | ► “YUME”
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