Special Favorite Music is a 7-piece Japanese indie band that blends elements of folk and bluegrass (and sometimes even soul and R&B) to create upbeat pop. If you’ve got a soft spot for big band sound, Special Favorite Music is a great way to kick off Monday.
Special Favorite Music was formed in 2014 around Yusuke Kume and several other Kansai-based musicians. They’ve got a violin, a trumpet and a saxophone, which adds to their eclectic sound, which actually sounds oddly consistent. They put out 2 Eps before releasing their first full album in 2016 called World’s Magic, which was wonderfully illustrated by Yuki Takahashi.
Unfortunately a lot of their YouTube videos have region restrictions so those overseas may have trouble playing them. So I’ve embedded a few older tracks on Soundcloud below, which should give you a good sense of their music. Interestingly, the one YouTube video I could find that’s playable overseas is an adorable self-titled stop-motion piece created by the band’s leader Yusuke Kume, and sung entirely in English.
Machi Wo Arukeba (2014)
Summer Swerve (2015)
Dribble / Future (2015)
Like what you hear? You can find more of their music on their website. Special Favorite Music is also on Twitter. And be sure to check out our other Music Monday picks.
July 4, 2017 at 9:55 am
Thank you for the nice music post, but you forgot “Youth Yamada.”