Mid Year Album Picks
See Title
As usual, it’s hard for me to put any emphasis on albums because my focus is new music and albums are often just a collection of singles, or half-and-half and even if the project comes together like a proper album, it’s hard for me to ignore the fact that I’ve already heard half the album - possibly 20 or 30 times! - before hearing the full project.
Anyway, here are some must-hears from the year so far (IN ORDER):
Arche - BLACK SHEEP OF THE FAMILY
The not-so-long-awaited follow up to Arche’s debut album, released only a year after and announced shortly after the singer was signed to a major label. Once again the album is wholly produced by SPENSR and continues the tradition of highly personal lyrics, expressive and emotional vocals combined with tight rapping and melodies that made R&B legends like Ms. Lauryn Hill famous.
ASOUND - Eternal Orbit
The final project from the ARIWA-led reggae-fusion band ASOUND before they went on hiatus (in part - I suspect - because ARIWA was touring overseas with Fujii Kaze). Even beyond the transcendent reggae tunes “Shingetsu” and “Poison”, this album contains some of the richest, most diverse, and incredibly performed music you’ll hear all year, I guarantee.
Kan Sano - MOJACAT
Eschewing the traditional album structure, jazz pianist and genius composer Kan Sano instead ops for an album full of jams. Featuring artists as diverse as J-Pop legend UA, labelmate Shingo Sekiguchi, and the ever-eclectic Maika Loubte and Satoko Shibata, this is one of best we’ve heard from Sano since his landmark 2019 album “Ghost Notes”. BUY it from the Bandcamp link above, it is by far the cheapest purchase on this list.
Iwasaki Momoko - Pikapika
The Fukuoka-based singer-songwriter Iwasaki Momoko has been bubbling just beneath the surface, bursting out last year with her appearance on the rapper Skaai’s groundbreaking album “Gnarly”. This year she released her first full-length album, the A-side ranging from city pop to soul, and the B-side a series of American-rock style tunes, all sung beautifully. I wish she would pick a lane, but maybe it’s for the best that there’s really something for everyone.
んoon - ZOO
I was lucky enough to make it into one of the three shows for the tour of this album. A small criticism: The wild (their visuals are a mix of campy computer graphics and sock puppets) and experimental (the main instruments are electric piano, bass, and harp, and their vocalist - a highly skilled soul singer - often opts for a unique and often unnerving lyrical style) band has absolute jams, yet their live performance is constantly flipping between those and disorienting dirge-like tunes. Maybe the crowd’s excitement for the former was fueled by the latter!? As a full album, though, it is a brilliant and deliberately-paced ride.
Honorable Mentions:
Masato Omi - Jousou no Akichi
wala.collective - wala.collective 2
MoMo - BLUE DREAM
MALIYA - Pluto
VIDA Hollywood - Episode 0
Neighbors Complain - Street Story
Ovall - Glimmer
rice water Groove - ESCAPE from GALAPAGOS
There have been as many great EPs this year as albums. I doubt most of these will make it to an album (given each artist’s typical release schedule). These are mostly independent artists, so they’re not bound to contracts that demand X albums within a specific time period. (IN ORDER):
Fukumoto Nao - Goodbye goodbye
Fukumoto Nao is one of Japan’s best soul singers, but regularly goes unsung in most conversations of the nation’s talents. Their R&B scene is as obsessed with the D’Angelo/Erykah Badu-era of American soul music as much as the rest of the world is, but Nao and her producer/guitar player Kannon Price (who also produced the ASOUND album mentioned above) are among the few in Japan who have reached those heights in the contemporary era.
Haruy - KAMINA
A year out from her last EP and two years from her debut album, Haruy has continued to keep soulful R&B alive in a post-Hayata Kosugi1 world. The slow jam BEGINNING is on the shortlist for my song of the year, and the rest isn’t too shabby either.
Iga Nana - Hi
I’ve been watching this singer release demos on YouTube for what seems like forever. This is her first effort at a professional release outside of the errant single, and it doesn’t disappoint for a second. Now if she would just get to mastering her other 76 demos…
me-mai - Ms.Independent
A collection of singles throwing back to the ‘Diva’ era of Japanese R&B with plenty of nods at 90s and 2000s classic, the brilliant producer and DJ me-mai (formerly known as Chocoholic) hosts a number of contemporary R&B artists, most notably MALIYA and EMI MARIA, who each released their own albums this year. Potentially one of the only 100% woman-produced and performed albums in the genre this year.
yama - C.U.T
Known internationally as a pop singer who does the kind of high-energy erratic music popular among anime fans, yama is an incredibly talented singer and took a break from the frantic nonsense to do a collection of vocal-focused pop that hearkens back to classic AOR and soul-influenced J-Pop. The atmospheric “sanagi” is one of my favorite songs of the year.
Honorable Mentions:
keigo - Rich Heart
DJ Mitsu The Beats - a collection of 4 singles which may be sold as individual 45s, contains my current song of the year (Love We Share feat. Roka), and one of iri’s best works in years
The bassist for funk-rock band Suchmos and her former producer, who tragically died of a terminal illness some 5 years back.