When I say it is is impossible to find images for indie bands, I am not kidding. I vaguely remember looking Local Bus’s official before, but can’t seem to dig it up with Google at the moment. The point is that this is the same deal with Trademark. Information about them is hard to find if not totally non-existent on the Web. Feel free to laugh now. My only hope was to print screen the artist profile of Local Bus on Last.fm. Anyway, moving on to the sound.

Although I may have said that Trademark and Local Bus are alike, that is mostly incorrect. No wait, misleading is the better word. Visualize it like this. While both come from the same soft rock/easy listening genre, each band takes off on a separate branch. In the case of Local Bus… you can say this is the more pop-ish variant. Band instrumental tends to play less role, and instead focus more on the vocals. Sounds like pop there, right? The other difference is their different approach to giving that relaxed feel to the music. Whereas Trademark is more into setting the mood and melody, Local Bus favors a weird upbeat style. It’s hard to describe, but Local Bus’s music feels very green. It has that out-in-the-natural sound. And if you ask to describe it in another, I will say Local Bus is very reminiscent of Sakamoto Maaya’s music from when I used to actively listen to Japanese pop. Both carry very clear vocals too.

How this band doesn’t get enough recognition as should is up to everyone’s guess. It sounds very much like pop so I do not think anyone would have trouble loving this one. And for added information, Local Bus was the band that introduced me to this kind of genre from Japan’s indie scene. Yeah, I discovered Trademark quite later so I actually have more attachments with Local Bus’s music.

Speed Star

Summer #14

Michiyuku Hibi