Social media strangers often give me the best tips for out-of-the-way poprock gems. Like today’s acts, hailing from across the bright blue Pacific Ocean, one from Malaysia and the other from Japan. East definitely meets west in terms of sonic influences and dissonances. Get ready to set your translation settings to stunning.

Malaysia’s Couple put out a few albums in the millennium’s first decade but then hit pause until the release of 2022’s Poptimism. Wow, what a transformation occurred in the interim. Where the early albums were solid poprock with a hint of edginess their new venture added multiple layers of sonic sophistication, effortlessly melding different styles and influences while singing in both Malay and English. Things begin with “Marlam Minggu,” a track that really sets the scene. You know this is not going to be your average pop album. To be fair, the album features more than few off-the-shelf pleasant pop tunes like “Let Me Love You” and “I Do” that vibe classic 1950s and 1960s song motifs. By contrast “Think About It” comes on like some kind of new wave fifties reinvention. Then there are songs like “Be My Baby” that mess with the form, full of buzzy guitar at times and oh-so-smooth vocals. “KTYT” even brings in a screamcore interlude to break up the poppiness. In a throwback vein “Goddamn Mighty Tune” is a light pop punk tune with a Weezer-ish flavour. “Sedia Sedia” starts with striking guitars and then lays in some pretty keyboard work. Sometimes the guitars come in spare as on “Call Me,” only to flare out with a sudden addition wall of sound of multiple guitars, voices and synths. “Slap Slap Nak Raya” sounds like a single, shaped by classic vocal contrasts and a mellow but striking hook. Call me poptimistic but I think more Couple would make a welcome import.

Japan’s Hoff Dylan are an enigma in more than a couple of ways. First, they have so many LPs, EPs, compilations and one-off singles that it’s hard to navigate the band’s career and musical development. Then the band’s song titles are sometimes translated to English, or remain in Japanese but in Roman (i.e. English) lettering, or appear in Japanese script. And there’s the album content itself, which can range from Beatlesque to winsomely childlike. After needle-dropping as much of their catalogue as I can find I’ve pulled out 22 pretty solid cuts of the poppy rock variety but I’m sure there’s more. Here I’ll just highlight a few outstanding examples, IMHO. Starting with “Koi wa Itsumo Maboroshi no Youni” from the band’s breakthrough LP Washington, C.D. Check out the George Harrison-worthy lead guitar riffs, buffeted by classic 1970s keyboard tones. “Gokuraku wa Dokoda” from 1998’s self-titled Hoff Dylan kicks off with some BTO-ish guitar chords before bringing another great keyboard vibe. This is group that are masters at dropping in a recognizable musical phrase. Listen to how they evoke the Beatles “Dr. Robert” at the start of “Madman” or repurpose the opening lick of the Knack’s “My Sharona” for “Manamana.” After over two decades of releases, Hoff Dylan continue to rework disparate influences into something new, sometimes sounding like the Beatles, McCartney in Wings mode, 10cc, or even Sloan. Their most recent record is 2022’s Island and it is no exception, offering up pretty easy-listening poppy cuts like “Kaze no Sasoide.”

It’s a great big beautiful world out there, full of winning tunes and solid acts singing in all sorts of languages. You don’t need to understand the words to get their message. Tune in with the hyperlinks above.

Photo ‘An old school Tokyo record shop‘ courtesy Tokyo Times, May 18, 2022.