Furu Anime Panikku

I’m certain no one has ever heard of this band before. You won’t even be able to find their CD in any music store, even in Japan.

How I came across their music was really random. I was browsing some band’s MySpace page and there was a comment with a link to Ajisai Town’s website. Browsing around a little, I found it pretty interesting that the band does their own illustrations, with a character each to portray themselves. So, I decided to give their music a go. Surprisingly, their music’s quite awesome. Nowhere near Bump of Chicken or Radwimps level, but still much better as compared to a number of those Oricon chart toppers. I shall not mention other names.

As of now, the band only has a single out for sale at 500 yen, and all the online purchase links are restricted to delivery within Japan. However, I was not willing to give up since I believe in support artistes who produce music that I like or love. As such, I tried emailing the contact email stated on the site. Finally, after such a long time, all those Japanese classes can be used for something like this!

I got a reply saying that they were willing to ship the CD overseas. The shipping itself costs more than the CD, but it still wasn’t too expensive for a single, even though these guys are an unknown indies band. I paid up, and finally, the CD arrived.

Forking out 1400 yen (shipping included) for a CD single with 4 songs and a hidden track was definitely worth it. Most of the singles now have around only 2 songs and cost more than 1000 yen.

My favourite out of the 4 tunes is にじいろ, a soothing ballad.

にじいろ

The vocals go along really well with the melody, and the song projects a laid back feeling.

My other favourite is 陰湿パーティーナイト.

陰湿パーティーナイト

This was the first Ajisai Town song I listened to, and it was during one of the usual boring lessons. For that 4 minutes or so, I felt a little recharged.

And of course, 虚無・オン・ザ・ダンスフロアー, the song the single is titled after.

虚無・オン・ザ・ダンスフロアー

On the whole, I really love this single. It covers a nice range, from the easing serenade to the lively energy-packed upbeat rock. If I didn’t know what the A-side of this single was supposed to be, I would have thought that this was a mini-album. All the songs sound like A-sides.

While I wouldn’t say “HELL YEA! Ajisai Town’s music blew my mind!” on the first listen, it took only a few listens before I started liking it. Due to the fact that I pick up new music easily, it doesn’t serve as a good gauge as to how much I like an artiste. If it stays on my iPod after 3 months, it means that I’ll be listening to it for a very long time. Else, it just means my interest in it was fleeting. Let’s see how it works out with Ajisai Town.

It would be great if the band would be able to have their future CDs sold in music shops and even online stores such as Amazon Japan and HMV Japan. Their music definitely deserves exposure to a larger audience.