365 ELECTRONIC MUSIC ALBUMS IN 365 DAYS

Day 24: Pasocom Music Club — FINE LINE

Genres: Techno House / Shibuya-Kei / Future Bass / Chiptune (Picopop)

Year: 2023

Country: Japan

(This is a personal opinion; I have no formal knowledge of music theory, but I love electronic music. Please keep that in mind while reading.)

Today I want to talk about one of the most pleasant surprises Japanese music has given me in recent years: Pasocom Music Club (パソコン音楽クラブ), a duo formed by Aoi Shibata and Masato Nishiyama in 2015.

Their name literally translates to "Computer Music Club," which feels perfectly appropriate. Before albums, before festivals, and before collaborations, they were simply two young musicians experimenting with FL Studio, affordable synthesizers, and second-hand hardware. Like many artists of their generation, they began uploading music to SoundCloud while slowly building a unique identity.

And they definitely found one.

Pasocom Music Club has created a sound that constantly feels connected to the history of Japanese pop music. Elements of Shibuya-Kei, City Pop, video game soundtracks, House, Techno, and even Chiptune coexist throughout their work, yet nothing feels trapped in nostalgia.

They're not trying to recreate the past.

They're imagining what might have happened if all those influences had continued evolving together.

FINE LINE, released in 2023, is perhaps the clearest example of that philosophy.

The album feels like a collection of everything the duo loves: video games, anime, internet culture, Japanese pop, retro synthesizers, and a fascination with the strange and playful.

It also features an impressive list of collaborators including Chelmico, MICO, Mei Takahashi, Hayashi Aozora, and The Hair Kid, each bringing their own personality while preserving the album's overall cohesion.

The first half of the record comfortably explores modern J-Pop and Shibuya-Kei-inspired sounds. Tracks like PUMP! with Chelmico, Is Not Ordinary, and KICK&GO deliver the kind of nostalgic modernity that contemporary Japanese music often does so well.

They're colorful, energetic songs filled with production details that reveal themselves with repeated listens.

But the second half is where FINE LINE truly takes flight.

Tracks such as Dog Fight, Sport Cut, and especially UFO-MIE transform the album into a futuristic journey powered by synthesizers, fragmented rhythms, and melodies that sound like they escaped from a forgotten SEGA game.

Dog Fight uses barking samples in surprisingly creative ways.

Sport Cut feels like the soundtrack to a futuristic race.

And UFO-MIE contains one of my favorite transitions on the entire album.

At various moments, the music drifts between House, Drum and Bass, Future Bass, and electronic Hip-Hop without ever feeling disconnected.

Everything belongs to the same universe.

A universe where DJs are aliens and 1990s game consoles never stopped evolving.

After its most energetic moments, the album settles into a calmer atmosphere through tracks like Playback, Terminal, and the closing song Day After Day.

At first glance, FINE LINE might seem like another electronic J-Pop album.

But when you begin hearing it as a showcase of all the ways electronic music has influenced modern Japanese pop culture, every piece falls into place.

Revisiting it in 2025 brought back unexpectedly warm memories.

PERSONAL CONCLUSIONS:

There was a time when I genuinely believed artists like Pasocom Music Club would lead a major revival of Shibuya-Kei.

Now I think I was wrong.

Because Pasocom Music Club isn't trying to revive Shibuya-Kei.

They're building their own school.

And that's far more interesting.

To me, they're currently one of the most creative and approachable electronic projects in modern Japan.

Whether you're interested in Neo Shibuya-Kei.

Whether you're curious about Japanese House music.

Or whether you're simply looking for something different within contemporary J-Pop.

FINE LINE has something to offer.

It's joyful, creative, nostalgic, and surprisingly modern all at once.

And if, by the end of the album, you find yourself imagining a little green alien DJ spinning records somewhere aboard a space station drifting through the cosmos...

Trust me.

You've probably understood the album perfectly.

DAY 24 — FINE LINE

My little green homie is a DJ...

[ LISTEN TO THE ALBUM ]