Shelling – Shelling [2013]

Wait, what’s this? The update is ending with a shoegaze band, instead of the craziest/most experimental band I’ve discovered recently? Normally, I would have ended my post with Wakusei Abnormal, but I am ending the post with Shelling for a good reason: this is probably the second best Japanese shoegaze band next to Coaltar of the Deepers. Seriously. This is some of the most luscious, dreamy, ethereal/enchanting shoegaze I’ve heard in a long time. Not just from Japan, but from anywhere.

Well, I said I would post in mid-March, but the procrastination beast kept me at bay like he always does. So I made up for it my making an extra-large post. Enjoy the music folks!

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惑星アブノーマル – 何でも無い凶器 [2013]

WAKUSEI ABNORMAL (惑星アブノーマル). What a fucking band. I think this is the real spiritual successor to Midori that I’ve been waiting for. Fast, noisy, experimental, a jazzy piano, and a crazy female vocalist. The second track in particular, フラレ唄, definitely sounds like something I could hear Mariko singing. The vocalist, アレックスたねこ (Alex Taneko) has that same sort of angry Yakuza girl sound that Mariko has too. They even share that desire to sandwich short breaks of sweet pop music in between the walls of experimental/zany music. There is sort of a post-rock sound to some of their songs, especially noticeable the final song, 転生, just to note one thing of difference between Wakusei Abnormal and Midori. Oh, and Taneko doesn’t scream really. Not like Mariko at least. Well, I could make comparisons between this amazing group and Midori more, or I could just tell you: DOWNLOAD THIS NOW. There is one thing that sucks about it though…IT’S TOO SHORT! It’s only a mini-album.

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Boris – Präparat [2013]

Released just a few weeks ago, Präparat has been getting some mixed reviews. I for one love it. First of all, each song on the album sounds completely unique. Every one of them. This is a rare thing for any album, or any band for that matter. Second, it doesn’t sound like either of the 2011 Boris albums, and it doesn’t quite sound like the old Boris sound either….so it’s a second new direction that Boris has taken in the past few years. Some very post-rock sounding songs, some droning songs, some songs that do in fact sound like something from an older Boris album (Elegy for example). It’s a mixed bag of sounds, and that is my favorite type of album. What I like the most is the dark, gloomy sound of the album. The brightness of the two 2011 albums wasn’t bad, but it was an odd sound for Boris. I’m glad they’re back to their former gloominess.

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Boris – Attention Please [2011]

I had no idea Boris released not one, but two perfect albums in 2011! As with “New Album”, this is a continuation of the new Boris sound, quite a change from their drone/doom sound, but most agree it is a pleasant change.

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0.8秒と衝撃。 – 電子音楽の守護神 [2013]

And now the 2013 0.8秒と衝撃。 release that I was anticipating is here! Yes. It is good.

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N.H.K ni Youkoso! O.S.T. – Sunny Side ni Youkoso! [2006]

Split onto two discs, since there are so many amazing songs in this show.

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N.H.K ni Youkoso! O.S.T. – Dark Side ni Youkoso! [2006]

Welcome to the N.H.K. This is one of my top 5 favorite animes of all time, and definitely favorite anime for its OST. The main character is Satou. He is not your average anime protagonist: he doesn’t have any super powers, he doesn’t know any girls who are actually aliens, and there is no world for him to save. Satou is a hikikomori, which is a Japanese term referring to a new breed of people who do not leave their house. Ever. Satou is a college dropout, who stays inside all day, blaming a grand conspiracy called the Nihon Hikikomori Kyoukai for his situation.

So Satou sits inside all day, doing nothing but watching TV and creating mountains and mountains of garbage day by day. Due to a combination of what is probably depression and paranoia, he completely fears the outside world. But just as Satou thinks he is going to fade away and become a hikikomori forever, conversing with his talking refrigerator and other talking household appliances for the rest of his life, he meets someone who believes she can actually cure his hikikomori tendencies.

Moments of extreme comedy; surreal moments; completely and utterly depressing moments; a representation of a huge social problem in modern day Japan, and probably a rising one in America too; a kick ass soundtrack. That is Welcome to the N.H.K. I will not say you “might want to” download this show…DOWNLOAD IT NOW BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW THE ALBUM LINK!!! For those who do not watch anime often, you will probably need this video codec to view this series: http://www.cccp-project.net/

(Satou hallucinates these little monkeys whenever he screws something up or starts to get paranoid and doubt the truth of something. They usually just laugh at him and say “CONSPIRAAAACYYYYY”)

As for the soundtrack itself…well, it is beautiful on its own, but I suggest you all watch the series so you can listen to a track like this and remember all the beautiful scenes during which it plays.

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Torrent link to Welcome to the N.H.K. Full series

UPDATE: LITTLE DID I KNOW, THE SERIES LINK I PROVIDED BEFORE WAS IN RUSSIAN. PLEASE REDOWNLOAD THE NEW LINK FOR ENGLISH SUBTITLES.