Monthly Listening: March 2022

This month's round-up of great new Japanese releases from Kana Hanazawa, HARETOKIDOKI, Yuga and more

Hi! This is March’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.

Last week, I went to go see ARASHI Anniversary Tour 5 x 20 Film: Record of Memories in theaters with my mom on her birthday mostly on a whim. I saw that a few of my friends had checked out a showing in their respective cities on my Twitter feed, and my mom was on the fence to go see it after hearing about it by chance from a co-worker of hers. We said, “why not?” and dropped a few to go check out the film on a 9 p.m. on a weeknight. We got out close to midnight. I knew maybe two songs out of the two-hour-plus set list. Do I regret it? Not one bit. I was ready to do a deep dive on their catalog the day after (which I still might do when I get the free time). And the movie, as brutally long as it was, confirmed to me that, yes, boy bands are awesome.

No boy bands for March’s Monthly Listening, unfortunately, but it’s quite the variety. Here is this month’s top 40 playlist of finds, and below are albums I enjoyed from this month.

Ley Lines by Ame

electronica | ► “Gypsophilia” ft. blackwinterwells

TICKETS by Anna Takeuchi

pop | ► “Te No Hira Kasanereba”

Prom by Cocco

pop | ► “Hikari Afure”

MAD EP by DAOKO & Yohji Igarashi

electro-pop / house | ► “MAD”

Dazzling Azure by Ferri-Chrome

indie rock / dream pop | ► “How Could I Feel You?”

Lost Memory by HARETOKIDOKI

synth-pop / dance | ► “Eurobeat Wo Tomenaide” ft. motsu

Neon by iri

R&B | ► “Matenrou”

Blossom by Kana Hanazawa

synth pop | ► “Moonlight Magic”

“Blossom creates for itself a peculiar, alluring sense of time as its contributors carry the artist’s decade-long history while eagerly interacting with today’s popular pop. If “a fresh start” was the driving commercial concept behind the album, the team delivers a promising new beginning as advertised.” —Read more about the album on issue #49.

Roman Candles by Laura Day Romance

indie rock | “wake up call”

Wordless Nights by Yuga

folk | “Tomoshibi”

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