plastic tree

I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it here, but I’m a big fan of the band Plastic Tree (PuraTuri, if you prefer). They are one of my very favorite bands, and and unlike a lot of their fans, I love both their raw, older sounds and the newer, more pop-influenced sounds. I mean, okay, if you put individual songs head-to-head, I’m not going to say I like “Alone Again, Wonderful World” as much as, say, “Rocket” or “Nukegara” or “Irogoto” or “Petshop,” but I’d say that about “Andro Metamorphose” or “Mujineki” or even “Replay” on the right day. There’s a place in my life and heart for every phase of this band’s long history, and a moment that is the perfect moment for each song, somewhere along the way.

I’m not sure I could tell you exactly why I love this particular band so much, though I can say that I could listen to Ryuutarou Arimura sing all day, and often do, but somehow in their mish-mash of sounds and influences, they have captured me completely. I’ve spent long, exhaustive posts on this topic in other spaces, and in the end perhaps it is just simplest to say that this band speaks to me, so I listen.

What this is all getting around to, is that Pura has a new album, Utsusemi, coming out next week (available for pre-order at Yes Asia), which I’ve been anxiously waiting for, and I just found out, though this is probably old news to all other fans, that you can stream clips of all the songs over here at Universal Japan. A couple of the songs have been available already as singles (“Alone Again, Wonderful World” and “Replay“) but the rest are all brand new, and there are a few I already know will be favorites for me (the title track, for instance).

Just passing it on. :)