With a fourth of 2021 in the books, that means a brand new Ongaku Go. We at OTY would like our readers to know what was filling our ears for the past month. Each track is available across all digital music streaming platforms, with Apple Music featured on this site.

“Gunjou” by YOASOBI

The population of this track on the Oricon a couple weeks ago had led to the continuation of having YOASOBI in my rotation with “Gunjou.” It is an amazing song and it’s composition just kills it for me on all departments. It has amazing mixtures of beats that made me really look forward to what the duo has in store for the next year. While I do have a small complaint about the lead-up for the chorus and the ending of the track, it doesn’t detract from my overall enjoyment for “Gunjou.” With the consecutive months of both this and “Encore” last month, YOASOBI has instantly jumped as a forerunner as my artist of the year.
Be sure to check out “Gunjou” here, along with the music video below!

“I LOVE…” by Crystal Kay

Now I wasn’t sure what to expect with this song upon my first listen, as it is a cover of the ever-popular Official HIGE DANdism track from last January. Kay has just knocked it out of the park by keeping what made the original great and adding her own spin on the track to make it her own. It being released around the holiday time help the thought process of it being a slower ballad-like composition with a strong piano present with a dash of bell and violin throughout. This, mixed with Kay’s just out-of-this-world vocal range, made this cover of a tune that I absolutely loved into a daily listen.

Check out Kay’s cover of “I LOVE…” here, along with a video preview of the track below!

“Keep in Touch” by SIRUP

With the release of his mini-album, cure, back on the 16th, which is just out of this world and made me love this artist even more then I had last year, one of the outstanding tracks that I haven’t written about before was “Keep in Touch” which features guest vocalist SUMIN. Right out of the gate, the song’s piano presence was just fantastic, and paired with SIRUP’s vocals, it is just a match made in heaven. SUMIN brings a foreign feel to the song by having a majority of it sung in Korean with SIRUP joining in with some Korean banter in parts of the chorus. With everything that had gone on with the last year, a track like this is much needed. Now if SIRUP can continue with solid hits like he did with cure throughout the rest of the year, he will join YOASOBI in my artist of the year list.

Check out “Keep in Touch” here, along with the lyric video for the song below!

“Bakamitai (Taxi Driver Edition)” by Takaya Kuroda

Now if anyone follows me on my Twitter antics, and on Podasaurus, then you would know that I absolutely love the Yakuza game franchise. Unfortunately, I’ve been waiting for years to have some sort of musical representation for that franchise, as before Yakuza 7, there was no way that these songs would be available. Originally sung by Kuroda, who voices the main character of the franchise, Kazuma Kiryu, “Bakamitai” is arguable the most well-known song from the franchise as it is tailored to his vocal range. The lyrics just speak to me and makes me relate to Kiryu and ever since I heard this in the game, I have absolutely loved it. I’m so excited that SEGA has put a majority of the Karaoke original songs for the series across digital streaming platforms and will keep them in my rotation for the foreseeable future.

Be sure to check out “Baka Mitai” here!

“Seabed, Moonlight” by Yorushika

Now this was an interesting track that I stumbled upon from Yorushika’s discography as it’s just a track of ambient sounds and music beats. Growing up next to the beach, being able to just hear the waves crashing against the shore with the water rushing has such a calming effect on me. While I had a rough time with everything going on personally within the last couple weeks, I haven’t been able to get my usual sound of nature in and “Seabed, Moonlight” was able to give me that energy twice over. The overarching piano compositions mesh well with the water escaping feel that Yorushika starts the song with. This, along with the string instrument that she introduces throughout, gives a feel of wonderment right to my ears. While Yorushika was an artist that I had only half paid attention to with the nature of how we do the show, this track had made me into a huge fan that can’t wait to hear what’s next.

Be sure to check out the song here!

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