New & Upcoming Music

Reviewing New Japanese Music

One of the things I have wanted to do for a long time is find a better way to discover and support new Japanese artists.

I've spent years talking about music that was recorded 30, 40, sometimes 50 years ago. City Pop, Japanese funk, soul, jazz, disco, rare groove. There is an enormous amount of music from the past that deserves to be heard, but there are also artists making music in Japan right now who are creating their own version of that story.

Finding them isn't always easy.

Language is obviously one barrier, but there is also the simple problem of geography. A great Japanese artist can release a song today and still have almost no way of reaching someone listening to music in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, or anywhere else outside Japan.

This is one of the reasons I started working with OTONAMI.

OTONAMI is a platform that connects Japanese artists with international music curators, including playlists, radio, music media, and other people who listen to and evaluate new music. Artists submit their music through the platform, and curators can listen, provide feedback, and potentially introduce that music to their own audiences.

For me, the interesting part is being on the other side of that process.

I listen to the music that comes through, review it, and when I find something that I think deserves more attention, I can help give it another place to be heard.

I've also started adding some of these songs to my New Music page.

The idea is pretty simple.

If I hear a song from a Japanese artist that I genuinely like, I don't want the interaction to end with a review. I want to help create another opportunity for someone to discover the artist. Maybe someone finds the song through my website. Maybe they listen to the artist's other music. Maybe they follow them, buy a record, go to a show, or simply tell someone else about them.

That's how music spreads.

It doesn't always happen because of a huge marketing campaign. Sometimes it happens because one person hears something they like and decides to pass it along.

This is also why I don't want the New Music page to become a collection of music that simply sounds like City Pop.

Japanese music today is much bigger than that.

There are artists making electronic music, jazz, hip-hop, rock, pop, ambient music, funk, experimental music, dance music, and things that don't really fit neatly into any category. Some are influenced by the music I have spent years talking about. Some have nothing to do with it.

That's the point.

The goal isn't to recreate the past.

It's to find out what comes next.

For years, my work has been focused on helping people outside Japan discover Japanese music that they might otherwise never encounter. Reviewing new music gives me another way to do that, but this time I'm not looking backward.

I'm listening to what is happening now.

And when I find something worth hearing, I'll put it here and on my playlists to support emerging artists.

— Van Paugam