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Flumpool

Released last week, Flumpool‘s new CD includes the theme song for the TV and Movie series Ajin: Demi-Human, Yoru Wa Nemurerukai? (Can You Sleep At Night?), which is the first track here. The Anime series itself just started airing in January, and runs for 13 episodes. This song was also the OP for the trilogy of movies of the same franchise; the first hit theaters in Japan in November, the second should be out roughly in May. According to Cruncyroll it will be streaming in North America on Netflix soon, but as of yesterday I wasn’t finding it.

The second track is their 2012 single Because… I am, and the third is Awakening Identity, which was posted online in April of 2015. I am not sure when it was actually released, as this was posted in support of their album The Best 2008-2014. The band also has a nice collection of ballads, but I tend to prefer music with a pulse, so I posted the ones I liked.

Band-Maid

The group Band-Maid are 5 girls playing some excellent hard rock out of Japan while wearing terminally kawaii maid outfits. The first track is Real Existence from mid-2015, the second is Thrill, which was their first single from 2014. The final video almost looks like an audition session they did while looking for a new drummer, but the music is great even if the video is a bit linear.

La Luz

The band La Luz from Seattle are women with a retro rock sound that reminds me of the best of the classic surf bands. The first track is their song You Disappear from their second album Weirdo Shrine, and posted online in September of 2015. The second is the full live set they did as part of KEXP’s Iceland Airwaves expedition in Reykjavik in 2014, and the third is their live set in the KEXP Live Room in Seattle recorded last year.

MetaFive new tracks

The band METAFIVE was formed around Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Takahashi Yukihiro early in 2014, as I mentioned when I posted their video for Don’t Move last month. This time around we have the video edit version of Luv U Tokio, posted on line 3 days ago, and the studio live version of Maisie’s Avenue posted a few weeks ago on December 26th. This band just gets better with each new track I hear from them. Their very first album, META, which includes all of these tracks and many more, hits the shelves in just a few days on January 13th. You can pick it up from your favorite Japanese online music outlet as an import for 2,800 Yen, but sadly it is not coming out in the US at the same time. Locally you can get their track Split Spirit, featured in the Anime Ghost In The Shell: Arise from the iTunes store.

2015 More Music

The best music of 2015 has to include the Ulfuls, who had several killer releases this year, with Sporty Party at the top of their list. Did I mention that 2015 was the year of One OK Rock, when after a decade of working their collective tails off they finally broke into the US market with a major record label giving them full distribution across North America? They are the last few tracks in today’s group, truly the best new music of the year.

Merry Christmas with a Beat

More amazing music that I consider some of the best out of 2015, including Ore Ska Band doing Hands Up Girl back in September (did you know they played Live at Otakon this year?). Next is Wake Up!, an amazing collaboration between Asian Kung-Fu Generation and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, two of my favorite bands out of Japan, which is why I kept it in even though it happened in 2014. Sense Clown did A-Han this past June, and Singapore’s Indi Fusion group In Each Hand A Cutlass released Satori 101 back in April.