It’s 2019, which makes it high time to bring back 2000s guitar music. And Japanese indie band No Buses are doing it full swing.
Their debut album Boys Loved Her is a nostalgic nod to the heights of Brit-pop and American power pop. Think Pulp’s “Disco 2000”, Blue Album Weezer, or the sharp angles of early Strokes. When listening to No Buses tracks like “Untouchable You”, it’s hard not to segue into Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So”. Similarly, “In Stomach” is uncanny to Custard’s “Girls Like That”. In this way, the genre comparisons are on-the-nose but deliberate. The band even draw their name from a song title belonging to English rock band Arctic Monkeys.
Hailing from Tokyo, No Buses’ success doesn’t depart from the existing hallmarks of power pop. Instead, the joy of their music is in the band themselves. The four-piece are shamelessly cool, ironic and fun. Illustratively, the music video for lead single “Ill Humor” sets the band against a Warhol yellow backdrop. The colourful visuals are complete with lead vocalist Taisei Kondō singing into a banana. In an earlier music video for “Pretty Old Man”, the band break their dead-pan characters and begin grooving fabulously to choreographed, kitschy dance moves.
Boys Loved Her is addictive because it’s a glee to listen to. Because the world can be complicated, sometimes, it’s nice to simply enjoy it with bands like No Buses.
Join the No Buses party by following the band on Instagram. You can groove to Boys Loved Her on Spotify, or truly channel the 2000s by buying their CD on CDJapan.