What are you listening to?

[SpaceCadet]

In my continued casting about for new melody-focused music for the 'Net station (the link is in my profile, if you're not averse to a little good-natured Spam,) I stumbled across a now-defunct Japanese band called PSY*S. As with Judy And Mary's tune "Sampomichi" ("My Walking Path,") I found it as the background tunes for some excellently-done video on YouTube, taken by some guy during his walks in Japan - in this case the PSY*S tune "Wondering Up And Down" shot in Kamakura. So that's another one I owe to Mr. "ipeeepay," whoever he is.

The great thing about listening to music in a foreign language is that if you understand none - or just a handful - of the lyrics, the song has to sink or swim entirely on its musicality. No offense to lyrics per se, of course - 'just saying that a natural filter to lyrics' conceptual content tells you instantly whether the music itself is good or crap. In "Wondering," Yasunori-chan could be singing about fixing the brakes on her car for all I know, but I know for certain that the sound of a brilliant melody is as priceless as it is rare, and this song is instant-gooseflesh-brilliant - haunting, uplifting, exhilarating... pick yer adjective. "Breath of fresh air" doesn't even scratch the surface here... YMMV

An added "catnip factor": When I found the live vid of "Wondering" I had confirmation that that wonderfully percussive bass is indeed a Chapman Stick.

God I love discovering new tunes!
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