Hateman - Radio Hate CD

1000% D.I.Y. (2018)

As most people who bother reading this website know, I am pretty obsessed with Japanese pop punk bands.  They have been an obsession of mine for over twenty years and I always want to hear as much as I possibly can.  That said, when Kazu at Waterslide asked me if I wanted to buy a CD from a band called Hateman, I wasn't immediately sure it was something I would be interested in.  When bands get too loud or too screamy, I tend to lose interest pretty quick.  Surely a band called Hateman would be end up being more of the hardcore side of punk rock, right?  Wrong.

This CD is unbelievably great.  I can't even wrap my head around how much I love it.  It's almost a distillation of every style of Japanese pop punk that I love.  There are poppy songs like "Heartache" and "Change Your Jive" that are catchier than anything a band like Popcatcher ever wrote.  Then you have faster, noisier songs like "Dancing In The Darkness" and "Radio Hate" that lean much more towards the more melodic moments of the Snuffy Smile side of the punk spectrum.  And then you'll hit a song like "Summer Rain" that doesn't have a super obvious comparison, but it just blows your goddamn mind with how catchy and incredible it is.

I've gotten so many great bands from Kazu, but this might be one of the very best.  The band has a few other releases, 7"s and CD demos and that sort of thing (some of these songs appear to be from those other releases, though I'm not entirely sure) and I really want them all.

Hateman - Radio Hate (Two of the album's twelve songs are streaming):
https://hateman.bandcamp.com/album/radio-hate