September 17, 2025 — Weekly Bullet Reviews
New week, new tunes. Check it out!
As always, some ground rules:
- These songs are listed in no particular order.
- Basically these blurbs are our rough first impressions of these tracks, so our reviews will be a lot more relaxed!
- Anything released from the past 3 weeks/month is eligible for a bullet review.
- Songs with new, recent music video releases will also be considered for a weekly bullet review.
Yukimi – “Get It Over”
C: Yukimi’s “Get Over It” opens with an “ooh hoo hoo” that reminds me of “Back on 74”. The song is built on a sparse loop that cycles through instruments; the piano, acoustic guitar, and bass march along as a tinny cymbal and beep metronomically return every bar. The trudging of the same chords and Yukimi’s smoky yelp-singing feels slow and millenial to me though. It may be that barrenness is part of Yukimi’s vision, “being lost in your own inner world, unable to find a way out into the real world” yet its dated aesthetic leaves me at a disconnect from the song itself.
Justin: Nice to see Yukimi outside of Little Dragon. Having been in a Joy Crookes and Lola Young mood, Yukimi is right in the pocket of heart scaling jazziness. “Get It Over” pushes on with a reluctant incessant bass and beat that speaks of love too big to release quickly.
Mya: Vocals are like the sun reflecting off the water—bright, hurts my eyes.
Li-Wei: This song has a Saya Gray co-writing credit, and it shows! As a self-proclaimed Saya Gray fan (love basically everything she’s done so far), it’s not hard to imagine this being a one-off from the recently released SAYA. Instead, it finds a midpoint between Yukimi’s stylized synthpop and the wonky workings of Gray’s to create a chugging, stunning track. I just love how even after all these years, I’m still blown away by Yukimi’s amazing vocal abilities.
LIU KOI – “things must come to an end”
C: I’m a big fan of the synths and beat under LIU KOI’s singing, the heavy warbled synths and scattered drums have the vibes of a video game OST. LIU KOIs singing is the weakest part of the track unfortunately, his softer vocals don’t really match with production that make me feel like I’m going to shoot some baddies or race down a far-future highway.
Justin: I feel like I’m a file in transit between Wi-Fi highways. Spacey, bassy, horn-y, and soft all at once. A lot of good fusions in “things must come to an end”. Love the scritchy wobbly sounds at the track’s conclusion.
Mya: A little scattershot.
Li-Wei: Good mix of Taiwan R&B (I’m thinking 9m88 or The Crane) and crowd-pleasing pop. I don’t know, I’d love to see LIU KOI tour with aimei or something. That’d be sick.
Marin Clarisse – “moral bankruptcy”
C: The twang of electric guitars hammers at the hook of “moral bankruptcy” really well.
Justin: Road wandering against the wind. I get a lot of Pictoria Vark in this. The little circulating guitar licks offer a lot of texture that reminds me of 2010s indie twee folk stuff. Cute, tender, and better than all the Taylor Swift I have to listen to in The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Mya: I’ll always like rolling guitars. I’d like to hear a version of this song at a lower vocal register.
Li-Wei: There’s some hidden anger here on this track that really comes through with Marin Clarisse’s delivery – that much is accented by tumbling guitar notes during the chorus and the restrained “You’re bankrupt of morality” call-out. I mentioned last week that there seems to be a slight shift towards country instruments amongst indie singer-songwriters that we cover on the site, and it rings true for this one too!
Dane Amar, wza – “SABAI”
C: Short and sweet, I love the flat digital horn hook with the two layers of thumping bass. A bouncy beat with language flipping bars. Really fun!
Justin: Maybe this is racist but makes me want to eat instant noodles. Hahaha what the fuck. Song is great and feels like it plays out of a late night shop that feeds students and the drinking uncles, but definitely also playing where the ABBs at. The bass is hilarious. Extremely entertaining. “She a southeast Asian, she a Mekong FREAK / It’s a monsoon season, she gonna make it leak / Get your sin on, baby go and do it with your sinh on / Know that p**** real sweet like CINNAMON on treats!”
Mya: Incredibly catchy. Makes me crave sour plum candy.
Li-Wei: This one probably suffers a bit from being too short right as the song finally builds up. Kind of reminds me of what would be on mainstream radio back in the late 2000s! Party and wedding DJ friendly?
Jay Som, Soft Glas – “What You Need”
C: The epitome of bedroom pop for sure. The snare tone throughout the whole song is delightfully crispy! The chorus is layered with effects that make it feel almost like gang vocals, the crowd is sure to sing along at a live show. I love the tape slowing effect mixed into the production.
Justin: Jay Som season is hereeeeee. Captures nocturnal overcontemplation so well. Crispy drums, twinkle dripped guitar, and an emo ass piano– what more can an alt Filipino ask for? Drops out and holds back just enough to let you feel everything. Excited to listen to this 1 billion (dogs) times.
Mya: This song feels like a kind of melancholy pause, when you let out a breath, and accept your situation. Maybe just for a moment. In terms of the emotional storytelling, “What You Need” reminds me of “This House” by Japanese Breakfast. Maybe it’s how, at points, both songs take place in a kitchen, while doing dishes.
Li-Wei: All of the songs off Jay Som’s Belong have so far been home-runs to this massive Jay Som fan, and “What You Need” just adds to the anticipation for the album drop. Indie pop and crunchy alt-rock goodness just works so well.
Shing02 – “燻銀 / IBUSHIGIN”
C: I don’t think Shing02 has made a non-collab album in… genuinely two decades, this time partnering with DJ Jo-Jay for JOJŌSHĪKA. I couldn’t find much about Jo-Jay aside from his love of MF DOOM and hometown of Okayama as stated on his Instagram. Jo-Jay seems to fall on the more barebones analogue side of production, pairing Shing02 with single instruments over complexly chopped samples. I can never get enough Shing02 so more slick flows are always welcome.
Justin: Listening to Shing02 always takes me back to high school rifling through nujabes and the jazzin’ with Ghibli tracks. I love the slightly darker, sinister bent on this track that feels perfect for a rainstorm. Shing02 seems so focused when he raps and this track is a good example of that, deftly cutting between the instruments and handling his flow switch ups with ease. Feels good on the ears.
Mya: Because I can’t evaluate the lyrics, which makes up the bulk of this song’s substance, I don’t have much to say. A pleasant, even-keeled song.
Li-Wei: I’m not a big fan of lo-fi hip hop, but hey, I’ll gladly listen to Shing02 do his thing on this and all over his recently released album, 抒情詩歌/ JOJŌSHĪKA.
Takayoshi – “wanna be loved by u”
Justin: Takayoshi’s deep timbre on an otherwise typical sparkly alt R&B track draws me in and sets it apart from a more common vibe. Matches the impulse to dance slowly while finding your fit to the function. Sweet tune.
Li-Wei: Takayoshi kind of missed the soft indie pop phase of my life a few years ago when I dove head-first into the scene when artists like Laufey and grentperez were on the up-and-up. I’ve kind of been out of it now, but “wanna be loved by u” is really cute and definitely inoffensive enough to swoon young listeners. I can definitely see a lot of crossover appeal, but I’m no longer a young listener!
Rafiq Bhatia – “Volcano △ (Live Session with Ian Chang and Riley Mulherkar)”
Justin: Cataclysmic. Three musicians channeling an intense communion with mother nature’s uncompromising forces. This instrumental performance captures three musicians in complete alignment. Bhatia’s strings soar, warp, and warn. Chang’s snares provide tenuous relief for structure. But the stand out is Mulherkar’s fervent trumpet squeaks that trickle towards a bellowing collapse. It’s hot, dangerous, inevitable. “Volcano △” is gripping and awesomely realized. Environments indeed. A surprising, brilliant track of the week for me.
Mya: There’s some really good, ear splitting squeals in here. (Which I like.) The soundscape puts me in the mood to rewatch Across the Spider-Verse.
Li-Wei: Spooky! Hey, anytime two-thirds of Son Lux make a song together, they’ll have my attention. This one is anxiety-inducing and already feels like the signature theme of an obscure horror film that your favorite filmmaker would name-drop on Letterboxd.
kurayamisaka – “metro”
Justin: Some of the closest mimicry to American pop-punk I’ve ever heard from Japan. Enrapturing from the first guttural guitar thrash. “metro” shifts gears between 90 and 150 miles per hour. I’m agog of the spacious can sounding drums. The guitarwork throughout the entire track is thrilling and never stays in one place. And that break, iconic as fuck. kurayamisaka is incredible and I would love love love to see them perform live.
Mya: A reliably good indie rock song.
Li-Wei: kurayamisaka’s album and aesthetic is pure cult online shoegaze IYKYK bait. It helps that their songs make up for that in being so good. Lead singer 内藤さち’s voice floats above a barrage of three guitars, bass, and a rampant drumming heartbeat. I love the feeling of freedom this song gives me.
Manni Dee, LVRA – “Attention”
C: The track has Britney vibes, I think intentionally so. “Attention” portrays a sneering, ironic take on the attention economy. With bitcrushed snare and distorted synth lead, the strange treatment of LVRA’s vocals give the track an eerie and paranoid vibe. I’m almost confused by what possible role this song could play in an EP, but it’s definitely curious and exciting!
Justin: Spider-crawling club voyeurism in a sea of humid limbs. “Attention” simulates the gradual loss of awareness in a high-energy, high-stimulus outing. The production reminds me a lot of Timbaland with its strong sci-fi, bass bopping affect. LVRA skitters around the track with alien-like vocalizations. I love the fake out drop back into the beat in the tail end of the track. Coated in personality. Looking forward to hear more.
Mya: This is a pretty paranoid song, isn’t it? It’s got a bit of a creepy vibe. “Looking at me / Looking at you / Looking at me / Looking at you”.
Li-Wei: LVRA’s whispery voice allows her to almost purr throughout the hard-hitting Manni Dee beats for “Attention.” This one almost reminds me of early REI AMI stuff with softer edges.
Header photo taken from Jay Som – “What You Need.”
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