Beacon LABEL – J-Indie Rising

Foolish Summer by Deep Sea Diving Club

Released: 22.07.01 / Label: Beacon LABEL

Foolish Summer seems like a kind of self-introduction for band Deep Sea Diving Club, as you might have guessed by the album cover choice. While I’ve not heard of this group before, we reviewed a track last month by an artist on the same label: BBHF’s Shinigame. That track was awesome, so I have high hopes for this song as well! But let’s learn a little about the band before we dive in.

This “genre-less” four piece band hails from Fukuoka prefecture and they’ve been active on the scene since 2019. They’ve been busy as well with an EP, a full album, and several singles released so far. It seems they go by “DSDC” for short, so I’ll be using that from now on. I found this wonderful write-up on the band by realsound. You can translate that to read, or just click over to enjoy pics of the band and some music video links! Now, let’s listen to the song.

That was a really skilled performance mixing Latin stylings into a rather straight forward J-Pop song. It’s clear that these guys are some great musicians who really know their stuff. The bass player especially is absolutely killing it. He’s got chops. The individual parts are all really fun and, while segues are a bit abrupt at times, the composition has clearly been given a lot of care. I love this Latin groove mixed in with the J-Pop progression they’ve found. It’s unique and interesting. Sadly the instrumentals feel way overproduced, and not a lot of emotion has survived the mixing process. Every part has a weird flatness to it, and while it’s a clean mix, it’s very hard to really connect with the music. Interestingly if this were a straight pop song it might work, but the Latin elements lose their depth when they’re cleaned up this much.

This would be much better to see performed live, and the music video is already way more fun than just listening to the audio. There’s definitely something to be said about the importance of visual elements when dealing with J-Pop. So be sure to check that out if you like the track.

Verdict: Worth your time (3/5)

★★★★★

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Shinigami by BBHF

Single Review / J-Pop

Released: 22.05.25 / Label: Beacon LABEL

A surprise hit that pulls you right in and tells you to sit down and listen. I can’t recommend it enough for pop lovers and alt-rock lovers alike.

This three piece band hailing from Hokkaido is the newest face of brothers Yuuki and Kazuki Ozaki of Galileo Galilei fame. Throw in guitarist DAIKI and you’ve got a BBHF. The name is new, shortened from the original mouthful “Bird Bear Hare and Fish” for obvious reasons, but the sound hasn’t changed since they began. A naturalistic J-Pop fusion of alt-rock band and EDM stylings. Listening to them you get the impression that this is the logical progression for pop music in the modern era.

Shinigami is the third track on the band’s newest EP ’13’ (read “Ju-San”) a concept EP that explores the theme of ‘life.’ The use of space to create grandiosity really stood out to me on my first listen. I actually had to give a few plays to wrap my head around the unique form they chose for the chorus. It’s really well structured. Keep an ear out for how the melody in the chorus is supported by a syncopated rhythm section. It’s a unique sound and gives the song a very energetic and positive feeling.

The track also sounds incredible, they did a wonderful job melding the electronic and physical performances. The vocals float above it all giving structure to the song, and the instruments all play a supporting role for that message. There are some nitpicks I could make but I don’t think they would change the fact that this sound just works.

Being a track on a concept EP means that the weight of the songs value will be in its contribution to the overall message, and this song does that so well it made me go listen to the whole album. (Spoiler, this is the best song on the EP) They also made great use of lyrical progression, the lyrics shift change over time showing growth, and progressing the album forward.

The album artwork is just beautiful. They’ve chosen to represent each song on the EP in the cover art and then used that specific imagery in the lyric videos and in-app backgrounds. This track ‘Shinigami’ means ‘god of death’ and so we get a grim reaper type shrouded figure. Clearly they paid attention to detail here and it really helps the message. It’s nice when the whole work gets the care it deserves.

Verdict: Must listen (4.2/5)

★★★★★

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