I wanted to do a sequel to this post, since I got a fair amount of feedback and comments from friends and strangers about the last one.  Here’s a few more artists I think you should hear.

Ayaka Ikio - Cat's Free
Ayaka Ikio - Spider Web
Ayaka Ikio did some homework between her first and second EPs. Her debut, RE: Acid Queen, was more than a little unimpressive. However, her latest EP, GOSSIP, has songs that work in places where her work has faltered before. I guess I should mention that when I say Ayaka Ikio, I really mean Masayuki Kumahara: Ayaka herself is basically just a teen model slipcover for Kumahara’s production and fairly explicit lyrics. You may know Masayuki from his work with Fantastic Plastic Machine in the 90s and early 00s. At least, I hope you would.

noelle - Dancer On The Horizon
noelle - World's End Super Nova
noelle is another slipcover artist, although this time fronting for Kidz Rec artists like 80kidz and The Agniss (slightly better known as Scottish Fold west of the Pacific). This project is less original, primarily being a covers project focusing on hit Japanese pop songs reinterpreted for the hipster set. “World’s End Supernova” is a pretty exceptional song originally by QURULI, but “Dancer On The Horizon” is actually an original (penned by The Agniss) as far as I can tell. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

m-flo - Sound Boy Thriller feeeeeeeeeeat LISA
Alright, so this is a total guilty pleasure, but I’m hoping you can get with me on this. m-flo‘s absolute song of the summer, “Sound Boy Thriller,” was one of the handful of new things found on their best of compilation earlier this year. And what a song. m-flo alumni LISA took a break from her solo career to throw in a hands in the air chorus. I’m not sure if this means that Verbal‘s taking a break from guest verses and being a member of the somewhat unfortunate Teriyaki Boyz, or if Taku’s finally done with his Shinichi-Osawa-inclusive house supergroup Ravex, but maybe we’ll get some new m-flo in the near future. Here’s hoping.

Aira Mitsuki - Summeeeeeeeer Set (Terukado Remix)
Aira Mitsuki is another one of those models providing an attractive face for a Japanese electropop producer, this time Terukado. Terukado is very, VERY admiring of Western dance music and, unfortunately, his music more than occasionally veers into a level of derivativeness that’s hard to excuse. Songs like the obviously named “Re:†” are slavishly devoted to his influences like Justice and Daft Punk but aren’t nearly as well constructed. However, when he takes Aira in a pop direction, there are wild successes to be had like this one, done in collaboration with R&B singer Ayuse Koze. His b-side remix of it tempers his lack of originality with the hooks and pop structure of the album and everyone wins.

School Food Punishment - Futuristic Imagination (AVALON Remix)
So, this band was mentioned in the comments last time. I’m not entirely in love with them but I am entirely in love with AVALON (now AVALONIAN). So here’s a song I’m not in love with reinterpreted as an upbeat cosmic indie jam that’s worth listening to five or ten times in a row.

UTRECHT - Turntable Still Burning ...
UTRECHT - Phantom Of Indie Boyz
UTRECHT are a bit of departure from this post for two reasons. One, they’re not new. These songs were both released on 2006′s Phantom Of Indie Boyz. And two, they’re an actual band. “Turntable Still Burning …” is basically a live band mashup of 2006′s big indie dance songs. Spot the samples and references and you win … the joy of being a nerdy internet trainspotter. And “Phantom Of Indie Boyz” is a slow jam bit of Max Tundra-esque funk that probably deserves a re-airing in today’s Passion Pit obsessive climate.

Ken Hirai - CANDY
Okay, so this is just pop music. But if you’ve taken any lesson from the above, its that you can’t separate out the underground and mainstream pop scenes so neatly in Japan. And that’s why a soul singer like Ken Hirai puts out a single that sounds like a Timbaland track at +6 put through the blender via Effectrix. Also, it works really well with the UTRECHT song above.

This has been your Japan mixtape. I’ll probably do another one of these in a couple of weeks.