Misc music reviews, early november edition

I want people to talk more about music. If you sent me a link, I would have to listen a couple of times to get it, and there’s no guarantee I would notice or like the same things you do. My ass can never run a reaction channel. That’s why I felt like writing this - just random notes on a disorganised list of music I like. This may or may not become a new series.

I’m not a music reviewer, nor do I make music, so my writing wouldn’t be up to certain standards. But I’ve seen terrible music reviews of the same quality on college publications, and these are searchable - in the eyes of the all-knowing SEO gods, amateur articles and slop articles are regular articles. And my site is banned(tm) from Google because I got DMCA’d due to my background and I still haven’t appealed. Oops.

Yuka Nagase - Mofu Mohu [Album]

I randomly decided to listen to Yuka Nagase one day. I only knew her from Aiobahn - 宙でおやすみ / sora de oyasumi, a 10/10 song, easily one of Aiobahn’s best, which is a big enough endorsement to check out her discography.

Maybe I’m just prejudiced against vsingers, but I definitely wasn’t expecting an album like this from a vsinger with a cute avatar. I need to know the lore behind her two polar opposite personas.

Pardon my lack of music reviewer words for a sec.. I think it reminds me of those weirder Japanese artists, the likes of Hakushi Hasegawa. With their extensive use of elements that would absolutely ruin a song—being offbeat, unnatural transitions, and a lack of rhythm—it sounds like gibberish trying to mimic music until you listen again and realise what they were going for. It goes without saying that Hakushi Hasegawa is for illustration purposes only; this album isn’t on her level of weirdness—few things are.

Anyway, the more obvious comparison would be Sōtaisei Riron / Theory of Relativity. It copies the band’s signature style perfectly - a voice so sweet it sounds somewhat uncanny with the rock instrumentals. There’s one other person making that comparison, so I’m happy.

Even though I didn’t like the album, I’m so glad I decided to check her out. I admire people who don’t compromise on their artistic vision just because someone like me won’t like it.

Favourite tracks: The Secret Maturity, hikari, THSK

Yuka Nagase, mekakushe - Even so, the world is beautiful. [EP]

The second newest Yuka Nagase thing, the second thing I clicked on. Much more conventional, beautiful, short, and sweet EP. There are only 3 tracks, and the rest are interludes. Sadly, my Japanese isn’t good enough to understand the monologues, save for some words.

Cleaning Blue in particular reminds me of Yuzu - Hikare, one of my favourite songs of all time. I see it as a lost Hunter X Hunter ending theme song that would have been if the anime had continued, though I highly doubt that’s the case in reality. While Hikare has Yuzu’s uncanny ability to invoke a wave of nostalgia, Cleaning Blue isn’t far behind either, and does so with a more modern sound.

The more I listen to other songs (including others in this post!), I realise how well produced and written this EP is. Mekakushe is special. And I haven’t tried to understand the interludes yet!!

Favorite tracks: Cleaning Blue, Lonely Planet, Once White Earth

Regallily - My Dear Vega

I didn’t know this was Rent-a-Girlfriend S4’s ending theme when this got recommended. That knowledge just reaffirmed me what I already knew second hand about the Rent-a-Girlfriend: the plot is ass, everything else is a masterclass in attractive waifus. It’s no surprise that they get masterpieces for their opening and ending themes as well.

Apart from the very unique vocals, the songwriting is equally unconventional. My Dear Vega is a song that edges you a lot. It’s a song built around edging, not what the buildup leads to.

I try to ignore what fear of judgment has to say, but I can hear hypothetical online people complaining about the edging. I’ve heard the complaints for songs like Lil Nas X - Star Walkin, like whereeee’s the drop stop edging me… I’m just gonna come out and say that I don’t really get drops, especially in EDM songs. A lot of songs just spend so much time building up the energy AND your expectations, only to ruin the song with a passable drop that breaks the flow entirely. As far as I’m concerned, a song without a drop is a song with only the good parts. /rant /don’t kill me

There’s a part that I think interpolates… Deck the Halls, that one Christmas carol that goes “🎶 deck the hall with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la!”. Intentional or not, I’m a sucker for music that reuses melodies so powerful they stick around for hundreds of years. Great use of that power.

THE LUV BUGS, 知声, KBSNK, 二錠 - WING IT!!!

I still don’t know what THE LUV BUGS is. They do concerts? They’re also like a collective that invites artists to collab? There’s also a podcast? I dunno.

But yeah, they have caused some very unlikely collabs by casually summoning every artist you know. I am fortunately protected by my ignorance, for I don’t actually know half of them, otherwise I would have gotten a heart attack from how peak it is.

If there’s one luv bugs song I must show everyone, it’s WING IT!!!. And the music video is mandatory. Everything is as you would expect from the title. It fucking. The song is. It’s fucking. What the fuck is going on.

When you see the their “references” playlist you get a glimpse of the chaos that led to the creation of more chaos (this song). Can you imagine making music in a headspace you get from listening to a playlist like that.

Soushi Sakiyama - Diary

Soushi Sakiyama’s ability to invoke nostalgia in anime endings needs to be studied. The Sanda adaptation did not disappoint.

As for the MV and the full song… I don’t know the lyrics so I don’t know the significance of a group of men dressing the exact same in a white room. I don’t know what the middle part came from. Why did it suddenly become weird? Why? I’ve long since moved past that close-minded childhood where I hated 2000s pop songs having a completely different snippet at the end. But this is so jarring, I just went what?????

Halcali - おつかれSUMMER

TikTok song. People hate TikTok for ruining music or something, but you can’t deny its effect on niche/unusual songs (re)surfacing and blowing up to insane levels (that they deserve).

This song is like, old-timey and modern at the same time. Frankly, I don’t know enough about Japan to draw comparisons, but all I can think of is the one sakana song. And it’s modern as in, the production, the rapping, and the MV that’s made in 2025. The summer-y silliness aside, it’s almost scary how well put together this song is.

Kenshi Yonezu, Hikaru Utada - JANE DOE

Perhaps the most powerful combination of names someone has ever conceived, perhaps fitting for an adaptation of peak cinema. The vocals are obviously really, really, really good. The production feels heavy and suffocating. Waltz-ish (?) songwriting makes me feel like I’m spiraling down an endless staircase.

Synthion - 雪割草

I wouldn’t say I have a love-hate relationship with Synthion’s music, but I do have conflicting feelings. However, sometimes she would drop something so good it makes you go “absolute cinema”. No one else could have made a song like this.

It’s very Blossom coded, which was my favorite Synthion song, so I might be a little biased. The album is overall less electronic and more (j-)rock, so I’m definitely twice as biased.

In addition, this is the best that Synthion’s vocals has ever sounded in my opinion. Singing-wise, you can hear her pouring her soul into the music; they are also processed in a way that tickles my ears in the best way possible.

Completely unrelated fun fact, Synthion is Korean-American. Which makes the whole composing-for-Blue-Archive thing less surprising. It would be cool if she sang in Korean, but as someone who will never sing a Chinese song even if you pay me, I understand she’ll never do that.

AND on a semi-related note, can we talk about how unfair RE:cyanotype is? Seriously, attacking me with Cyanotype AND Blossom nostalgia? Gaaaaaaahhh.

somunia - Midnight swimming (piano arrange ver.)

If you strip something down to its naked self, all the scars and the beauty become clearer. Midnight Swimming is a vulnerable song on a vulnerable hour. It’s a mixture of happiness without the baggage, intertwined with the fear and desperation knowing it will soon be over.

THE LUV BUGS, Saku, somunia - friend code

Actually, I’m kinda speechless. It’s one hell of a song, feels like something you either get or don’t. I can only describe the song and MV both as ominous, abstract, floaty, dreamy, lovely, desperate, cathartic - probably the best song on this list.