The Angel of Music has smiled upon me with the announcement that the legacy J-pop septet WEST. has finally brought their entire discography to the kingdom of global streaming!

That’s a grand total of 360 tracks across 12 studio albums and 24 singles, spanning the group’s entire eleven-year career.

And what a career it’s been!

WEST. officially debuted in 2014 under ELOV, a division of Storm Labels Japan, with seven members: Daiki Shigeoka, Akito Kiriyama, Junta Nakama, Tomohiro Kamiyama, Ryusei Fujii, Takahiro Hamada, and Nozomu Kotaki. Their name pays homage to their Kansai roots—the “WEST” representing Japan’s western region—while the final period serves as a bold declaration of identity and confidence, a promise to show the world exactly who they are.

Their path to debut, however, was anything but straightforward. 

In late 2013—as WEST. themselves tell it—just half an hour before stepping onstage for a New Year’s Eve performance, Shigeoka, Nakama, Kiriyama, and Kotaki were told they would debut as “WEST 4.” The news stunned them—not only because of the timing, but because it excluded their friends Hamada, Kamiyama, and Fujii. Unwilling to move forward without them, the four insisted the group wouldn’t be complete. Their determination, along with the cultural superstition that the number four brings bad luck, eventually convinced the company’s founder. By the time they debuted, the name had been simplified to WEST.

The story has become a defining part of their legacy, adding an extra splash of Kansai magic to their journey.

While WEST. has been on my radar ever since I first tumbled down the rabbit hole into the world of STARTO, I’ve only recently started to really dive into them. Ridiculous, I know—but in my defense, the constant releases of Naniwa Danshi, Snow Man, SixTONES, Travis Japan, Kento Nakajima, and Ae! group have kept me more than a little busy.

When I first visited Japan in April 2024, I picked up their single 「HEART / FATE」, which had just been released that same week. On my return trip in January 2025, I discovered they were the mascots of the FAMILY CLUB STORE. After snapping a few adorable selfies, I also grabbed copies of their albums「W trouble」and「Mixed Juice」at Tower Records and then added their 10th Anniversary Dome Tour AWARD to my collection as well.

Still, having already gone through the back-catalog deep dive with groups like SixTONES and Snow Man—I discovered both groups at the release of their fifth singles—I know how quickly the costs add up. So with WEST., I’ve been pacing myself, saving, and keeping careful notes on every release so that on my next trip, I could really start building that collection.

Being able to purchase digital lossless versions is going to make things so much easier. Now it’s just a matter of holding on until 1 October – and yes, this digital gold mine DOES INCLUDE ALL of the coupling tracks.

As an added bonus, on 12 October, another 53 live recordings will be released! You can Pre-save/pre-add here

There will definitely be more WEST. soon, so…

Stay Tuned!