New and New to Us: Units to Notice #03

/ DAEMON

Welcome to volume three of what has become an almost monthly capsule of idol units that have recently lit up our radar to the point that we feel compelled to write stuff down about them and post it on the Internet. Some of these units are brand new. Some have been around for months but just recently started to demand our attention. One has been around for years and we honestly have no idea how they escaped our notice until now.

Here’s who we think you might like to know about: 

The Candace

First up, meet fab four-member Brit pop unit, The Candace.

They unveiled their members, dropped their debut MV and released their first EP (appropriately titled The Candace 1) all at once last week. After that crash course, we’re loving it so far. They are affiliated with Sainantan Tracks who also manage Yumegiwa Last Girl, Yureru Landscape, and Buddha TOKYO with whom they also share a member.

Planet After the Rain

Ameagari no Planet are a shoegazey, dream-pop-rock unit who debuted back in November. They caught our attention with their amazing song, “Diamond”:

I also love that the composer goes by the name, Peanut Butter Principal (that’s literally their handle, not a bad translation). If you want to see more, iColony has uploaded a whole 20-minute live that is definitely worth checking out.

Also, Derek has got them listed on Idol Underworld already, so go buy their stuff!

Second Generation Insensitivity Snake Strawberry 

It’s sad that it’s taken us this long to notice indie-punk unit Nidaime Fukansyou Hebi Ichigo, but they’ve been around since 2018 and, as the name implies, are now in their second generation. Their motto is: “Let’s swallow something bigger than yourself like a snake without a fear of anything!”

They came to our attention recently due to their playing gigs with site favorites XTEEN and OMNI666. I don’t know much else about them except that their lives look amazing and I want to be there.

ARTNADOLL

We love art idols around here, so when a recent unit was unveiled with the theme “Art X Idol”, we were all over it. Meet ARTNADOLL.

ARTNADOLL hasn’t dropped any music yet, so we don’t know what they sound like, but we do know that that are produced by Tokime Ime aka Imetaso, winner of the SUZURI and ZOZO Awards for Miss iD2021.  We are eagerly awaiting this debut.

EMPATHY

The COMRIZED family, which includes LEIWAN and AIBECK, has a new addition. Meet EMPATHY.

They have wasted little time since they emerged a few short months ago, dropping four singles with a fifth on the way and just successfully completing their very first one-man live. So far, their tunes seem to be adding some high energy to the electro rockabilly and swing thing, which is good in all the right ways.

DARE MO SHIRANAI

Groups from Nagoya always seem to have an nice edge to them, and Dare Mo Shiranai is a perfect case in point.

DARESHIRA have managed to make quite an impression in their one short year of existence, landing lives with established chika idol A-listers like Malcolm Mask McLaren, our major label darlings, Yanakoto Sotto Mute, and, in a very rare act, have become one of the few non-Codomomental units allowed to share a stage with KAQRIYOTERROR.

Nousatsu❤︎After Beat

I always say it: “Ska idol is hard.” Especially when we face of the imminent dissolution of The Mishmash, much of our remaining ska-idol hopes now rest on the three members of The Ska Idol Project’s Nousatsu❤︎After Beat.

https://twitter.com/SKA_noaf/status/1497475597248839687?s=20&t=3_BMGedkNfVO8LVJJVRilA

The unit have been building up their catalog and are on the verge of their first one-man live next month and debut album release this summer. Long live ska! 

We know that there are plenty more units our there just waiting to be discovered. Feel free to share who you think everyone needs to know about over on the Homicidols Discord server.