我々の”favorite songs of 2012 lists”のような年末特集を組むのは非常に難しいです。限られた数を選ばなければいけないので、結果選べないアーティストもいるからです。去年でいうと”My Aquamarine/Spinning Wheel”をリリースしたElen Never Sleeps。このシングルは素晴らしい曲を２つも収録した、ENSがアーティストとして急成長した作品です。そして2013年を迎え”Silver”をリリースしたENSは、今年もさらに彼らしさを発揮させています。新曲”Shine On Me”は去年の”My Aquamarine”を彷彿とさせるものの、ビートがENSの今までの曲の中で一番ダンサブル。コーラスの部分では、風変わりなボーカルやストリングスを始め、さまざまな音色が飛び交っているものの、互いを殺しません。こういった細かいこだわりが光ります。
One of the tougher parts of putting together a year-end feature – like our “favorite songs of 2012 lists” – is cutting it down. This means some really great stuff gets left outside…and last year, one of the toughest omissions to make was Tokyo murmur-pop dude Elen Never Sleeps, whose “My Aquamarine/Spinning Wheel” single featured two great songs and marked a jump forward artistically for Elen. It’s looking like ENS won’t be facing a similar dilemma in 2013, as he’s just released two tracks in advance of his new Silver EP, and both find the solo artist making further artistic strides. “Shine On Me” initially resembles last year’s “My Aquamarine,” but features a livelier beat that is the closest ENS has ever come to being dancey. The real development, though, is greater attention paid to sonic details – the most catching element of “Shine” is the almost-meowed noises that make up the chorus, but equally as strong are the strings that rise up throughout the song.
The title track from the EP, meanwhile, is more reflective, but features ENS adopting a slightly deeper voice for most of the song. It’s the less daring of the two tracks, but refines the Elen Never Sleeps sound further. Listen below.
Here’s a nice late-summer surprise – Elen Never Sleeps and Super VHS have teamed up to release a new split EP, each artist contributing one new track. Neither of the songs on the White Surrender/Stuck On You release mark big stylistic changes for either act, but both find the pair of Tokyo artists taking baby…
The “list a bunch of your favorite acts” trick is a classic approach to songwriting – some folks who have indulged in it include Daft Punk, The Tough Alliance, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk again (sorta). Tokyo’s Alloapm pulls this card on the opening track to their new EP Wavepop. Over an upbeat assortment of synths,…
This seemed to have been the week when a bunch of really talented Japanese artists went and released great new music all at once. Keeping up with all of it could be tough, but for the most part we touched on everything we wanted to. Except for the following three songs, two from acts we’ve…
Long time since we heard from Tokyo’s Puffyshoes, and going forward who knows when (….if?) we will hear from them again. So let’s all devote a decent chunk of time to enjoying “Heatwave,” their latest feedback-touched quickie. The highlight here are the vocals, which might be hard to hear, but are so damn catchy it…
I’m running out of ways to write about nostalgia and i-fls. At what point do I throw my hands up in defeat over my computer and decide, “screw it, time to dig into myself and write about the feelings dude’s music brings out of me!” Every time I play an i-fls album…and I’ve got a…
Boys Age are a duo who force you to not make snap judgements. The first few seconds of “I Wish For God’s Sake’…like the first few second of a lot of the songs they’ve released…challenge thanks to the lead vocals. They are far from polished, sounding like a Muppet gurgling water. But give it a…
