Asunarou -- Mahou no Beat（魔法のビート）

I had this bookmarked and stored onto my oft-long backlog list. Asunarou（あすなろう）is (or was) a 4-piece rock band that came about in Kanazawa, and it's one of those groups whose information is not all that well-known since there is no J-Wiki article or even a website dedicated to them. Their 3rd single is the subject of this article "Mahou no Beat" (Magic Beat) which was released back in February 2009 and was also included in their first album "Talking About Happiness" from January 2010.

According to the write-up on Diskunion, "Mahou no Beat" has some Brian Wilson harmonies and a Talking Heads-inspired beat. I don't know Wilson's material well enough to make that observation myself, but I can understand about the Talking Heads to a certain extent. However, that galloping melody certainly had me thinking about a more high-energy Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）.

Gleaning that Asunarou has dabbled in a number of different types of rock, at least with "Mahou no Beat", this particular song sounds something along the alternative rock line of thought. So far, their last output has been "Tower" from November 2013. I don't know what has happened to them since then.