Maze! You’ve probably heard Easy Breezy, the first track off this album somewhere. I believe it was the opening to a somewhat popular anime? I first heard Easy Breezy I feel through a meme referencing that, or maybe it was in a Spotify Discover Weekly like so many other albums on this site. Either way I listened to the whole album pretty early on and I quite enjoyed it! Jiki’s always been my favorite track, though they’re all good.
I don’t have much to say on this band in terms of the music itself because a lot of the meaning in the lyrics is lost on me as an English speaker. But I can say that the instrumentation, mixing and general lyrical structure are quite good. It’s poppy, catchy, all the good adjectives. It’s on my top 25 simply for being my introduction to J-pop and was one of the first albums I really dove into completely instead of just listening to the hot singles. But that’s not why I’m here. I’d really like this review to be more about accessibility than the music itself.
Maze is available, I presume internationally, on music streaming services. For purchase as someone in the United States your options are incredibly limited. You can’t buy it on bandcamp, amazon, or iTunes (though Chelmicos other releases are available, EP is pretty good.) If you want to own a copy, you have to import the CD from Japan, or figure out a way to access the iTunes Japan store and then be able to access that content in the states. I understand this is a licensing issue, and not a choice by the artists, but it’s still annoying
Click here to go back to the music column hub