INNITやIdleMoments等のイベントが象徴しているように、大阪のビート・シーンは非常に大盛況。Magical Mistakesの渦巻くようなサウンドや、Seihoの実験的なビートは、とてもユニークなのと同時にグルーブ感もあります。でも、”Alder”はそのような曲がブラックホールに吸い込まれたかのような印象。IdleMomentsをオーガナイズするEadonmmによるこのトラックは、極めてテンポを抑えた、スローな楽曲。ゆったりと始まり、アンビエントな空気感を堪能しているその時に、ピークを迎えます。シンセサイザーによる壁のようなレイヤーが左右にパンし、異なるテンポのボーカルが、それぞれ違うピッチで奇妙なデュエットを奏でます。ダンスフロアには不向きかもしれませんが、それ以上に、独特な音世界を堪能する事が可能。試聴は以下から。
Osaka’s The Paellas have sounded like a lot of things in the past – a dreary-eyed lot playing sad lounges, aggressive indie-poppers, shadow dwellers. Yet on new song “Golden Eye” they sound incredibly…smooth. This easy-going cut still contains the slight muffled vibe that has always given them a mysterious, late-night edge…the vocals still sound like…
Here’s pop reduced to some very, very basic elements. Osaka’s OBUTSUDAN-SUMINO constructs something that’s both aching and catchy using a lot of space – the bulk of “Kaerou” is just him singing over a barely-there beat and some chilly synth splashes. At times the song whirrs and whoozes, but the bulk here is about space….
Moscow Clubは本当に素晴らしい。最初に我々が注目した”Daisy Miller Pt. 1″ は、ヘンリー・ジェームスの物語からの引用で、作品同様の感情的な雰囲気を醸し出しています。今回SoundCloudにアップされた曲は、”火星年代記”や、”華氏451″等を執筆したSF作家、レイ・ブラッドベリ（レイ、 数々の素晴らしい作品をありがとう。安らかに眠れ。）へのトリビュート精神が。Moscow Clubの新曲は”華氏451″の英語タイトル、”Fahrenheit 451″で、”Daisy Miller”の曲のように文学的に攻めるのではなく、あくまでレイドバック。悲しい過去の物語を語るのではなく、ちゃんとダンスフロアにそぐうように作曲されています。シンセが良い味を出しているこの曲はMoscow Clubの今までの曲よりも打ち込みがメインになっていて、この３分程の遊び心溢れる作品は、Toro Y MoiやKissesを連想させます。コーラスが実に美しい。試聴は以下から。
Privacy-loving outfit Sotaisei Riron released a new album last week, Town Age, which I have a feeling will be landing on our top albums of 2013 list when that time comes. More on that later…but here is the new video for Town Age highlight “You & Idol.” Watch above.
ＳｅｉｈｏのＵｎｄｅｒＷａｔｅｒはデジタルカットアップのボーカルと奇妙な電子音そして夏を彷彿とさせる水の音に溢れるＦｕｔｕｒｅＰｏｐチューンになっています。この曲は次世代プロデューサーを牽引するＳｅｉｈｏの実力を十分に感じれる物となっており、楽曲の構築、テンションとリリースそしてザゼンボーイズを彷彿とさせるファンキーなベースライン等素晴らしい音がちりばめられた秀曲になっています。試聴は以下から
Merry Christmas (close enough!) from Make Believe Melodies. We are going to relax…I SWEAR…until after the holiday, but before kicking back and opening our presents, let’s listen to some special Japanese Christmas songs! Producer De De Mouse sets the seasonal mood just right…using Vocaloid software. He’s booted up Hatsune Miku to tackle “Sleigh Ride,” and…
As the image above indicates, “The Hidden Secrets” also doubles as the name for Tokyo indie-pop outfit BOYISH’s newest EP, one which was slated to come out on July 25 but as of 11:18 P.M. on that day isn’t anywhere to be seen (I guess check for an update if it appears by the time this posts). Still, BOYISH have served up a preview in the form of the title track. BOYISH tend to have two modes of twee – they either sound sorta explosive in their ennui or downtrodden and muffled. “The Hidden Secrets” is the latter, as the vocals sound mumbled and have been recorded as to me nearly unintelligible. The guitars and the beat, though, dash ahead and do an excellent imitation of 80’s indie-pop, which is what this group does oh so well anyway. Listen below.
Update: Now you can hear the whole EP below.
Long-time readers might remember the garage-rock duo Puffyshoes, an outfit I wrote about quite a bit back in the day. The pair made lo-fi, catchy numbers about simple subjects — birthday parties, backstage passes, love — delivered in a high energy style that put that at the forefront of a developing garage scene. Eventually the…
I wouldn’t associate the antelope with dream pop…I’d expect such a majestic beast to be associated with something a bit more stampeding, like metal or maybe dubstep if said critter felt particular dark one day. Yet, in the same way Beach House transformed the zebra into “Zebra,” Japanese band Antelope makes said animal and slow,…
A dozen compilations strong now, the Fogpak series still manages to be the best introduction to young electronic producers in Japan (and, as of late, beyond). Fogpak #12 starts off especially hot, kicking off with the sad stylings of Inazawa’s Yasuha’s “Missing You,” which mines similar sonic techniques as Seiho and Parkgolf (Fogpak alums, natch)…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxM7sNVKaRQ”] Clearly not content with the absolutely bananas 2010 they had, Second Royal Records plans to release a new compilation album called Second Royal Vol. 6 on February 9. They’ve posted a teaser trailer of it, which you can listen to above, that hints that this year might be a touch better. The really exciting…
Spring has barely sprung, but ya still gotta start planning for summer festival season in Japan. Let’s see how the two behemoths have shaped up recently… Summer Sonic – Score one for the poptimists. Aw-shucks country pop star Taylor Swift will now play Summer Sonic. Please leave your horribly outdated Kanye jokes at home. The…
1. In a moment of pure honest — I kind of hate streaming services. Well, at least as someone maintaining a blog (ha!) in 2016 (ha ha!), as lots of great albums appear on, like, Apple Music, but I feel like I can’t really write about them here, since they seem so inaccessible to most…