Running In Circles

Hey there friends! I hope you all are having just the best of weeks thus far. This one will be a little bit of a different one for me this week, but its one that could take on its own sort of space here, and may dominate what this newsletter could be… unless I look to split this up a bit and make multiple newsletters that come from Finetuned! Let me know if this peaks your interest at all, friends.

After all, this is a personal expression - a creative outlet - where I talk with you all about tunes, life, and how those two things intertwine in a beautiful, organic way! Please continue to stick along for this journey, let’s add more and more Finetuners (nickname?)!

This Week’s Rec & Real Talk

This week we are talking about Tanukichan and their beautiful depiction of love, loss, and overall soundscape/production. Tanukichan is a transcendent melding of shoegaze normalities with poetic lyrics (or even semi-vague lyrics occasionally) that sort of leaves you bobbing your head in a way that feels introspective and human. This may sound weird, but I would almost call their tunes a cathartic listen. Their music hits me in a such a way that aligns so well with how life can appear or be in actuality.

Not to get too philosophical or heady, but I think that life can quite frequently be vague, open-ended, full of loss or even move into a space that feels fuzzy (think - confusion, pathless, anxious, unaware). I think the rustic, distorted, and dissonant nature of shoegaze is a symbolization of how rocky and tumultuous living in today’s world is and when you fill the pot with other ingredients like heartache, neurodivergence, death, and more - wow they feel so similar, huh? They being shoegaze and life.

Why Tanukichan?

Because they rock. Tanukichan is essentially art from the mind of Hannah van Loon, who is an abundantly talented musician. Their music continues to spill over with shoegaze sounds but that hasn’t stopped Hannah from experimenting with tones and sprinkling in other genres - again while still being grounded and approachable. When I think of Tanukichan I think of the head voice vocals heard in dream pop, guitar tuning that is super clear with layers of muddled and fuzzy guitar, with usually a fairly simple drum backbeat that makes the journey a ride we can anticipate.

Record Breakdown and Recs ⬇️ 

With Tanukichan being a fairly special artist to me, I wanted to chat about all of their current full releases and give a rating to each. Feel free to jam all three, just one, whichever you choose you’ll be happy I’m sure! Engage with the tunes, be happy.

Newest Record 🆕 - Circles. This EP was released on Sept. 20 of 24’, so quite recent. This is definitely a cool touch to the whole discography. It has all of the same elements, but seems to have taken a step back and become less busy in some areas and it leans into the vague lyrics nature in some tracks which is nice for the vibe purposes. The dichotomy of delayed, slow guitar and airy vocals to the up-tempo drums on It Gets Easier makes me toss it in as an honorable mention.

EP rating - 9.1/10, fave track - In a Dream
honorable mention - It Gets Easier

Most Experimental Record Thus Far 🧪 - GIZMO. What an album here! This sprinkles in elements of nu-metal which I didn’t anticipate, but it still remains grounded in the core of who Tanukichan is and what their sound means to them. This one is definitely a sonic scape that I adore and its a journey you should traverse! The acoustic guitar on Mr. Rain is so damn good - genuinely, so damn good.

album rating - 9.2/10, fave track - Mr. Rain

My Favorite Record Thus Far 🥇 - Sundays. Just don’t skip a track. Iconic, synthetic, real, robust, open. There are so many words to describe how phenomenal this record is! This was my first listen of Tanukichan and it had (and still does) me so excited for more tunes. If you love shoegaze, synthesized drum sounds, and dream pop vocals - just listen.

album rating - 9.8/10, fave track - Like the Sun

Thanks for tuning in, my friends! I do hope you all have enjoyed this week’s Finetuned. I’d appreciate any insights, opinions, thoughts, admiration, or otherwise. You can direct that towards my email or DM me on Twitter. ([email protected])

Please do share Finetuned with your friends & fam! I believe great music should be shared, cherished, and understood from all sorts of perspectives.

See you all in the next one! 🙌