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。
Old Lacy Bed – Coastlands from Old Lacy Bed on Vimeo. “Coastlands” has been out in the wild in a different form for about a year now, but Old Lacy Bed recently posted a new video for featuring a fresh take on the darty song. You can watch the indie-pop-lifestyle clip above. Weirdly enough, “Coastlands”…
Might as well end a banner year with a bang, right? Tanukineiri and House Of Tapes both had strong years – and they’ve basically been tied together in 2013, House Of Tapes being one of two obvious candidates as the label’s major musical representative (the other is May.e). So, for the Nagoya producers third album,…
Last year, a duo made up of two teenaged girls living in New York but originally from Osaka appeared online. They called themselves BenZel, and claimed they met one another over a message board thanks to a shared love of J. Dilla. This seemed like a stretch. Naturally, the first song they ever released featured…
関西のロックバンド、NOKIES!がデビューフルアルバム、”Between The Blinks”をFlake Recordsとタワーレコードからリリースしました。Los Campesinos!のようなインディーポップが特徴的な彼等でしたが、今作品では良い意味で幅広い層から好かれそうな雰囲気。タワーレコードからのリリースも違和感なく、これからバンドはどんどんメインストリームなロックバンドとして成長していきそうですが、ボーカルのクメユウスケはそのような方向性とは違ったものをYouth Genius(Youth LagoonとPerfume Geniusの融合みたいな感じかな？）として表現しています。 Soundcloudには、”All of the songs is inspired by peculiar atomosphere created by the streets and youth of Kyoto city,”(京都の若者やストリートが持つ独特な空気感が楽曲に影響を与えている。)と書かれているのですが、その通り京都の若者達は個性的なスタイルを表現していて、Youth Lagoonは少しばかりのエレクトロ要素を持つインディーポップと、跳ねるようなファンクを融合していて、哀愁とワイルドさのバランスを上手く保っています。”Explains”は直球勝負なインディーポップで、センターに配置されたキーボードがとても良い存在感。”Behind You”と”Stay Above The Clouds”は多くの打ち込みが使われていて、今年に国内でリリースされたインディーポップの中でも特に目立っています。そして”We Keep Kissing”はクラブ的アノラックサウンドが、The Brixton Academyが本気を出してダンサブルな楽曲を作ったかのような印象。Youth Geniusみたいなプロジェクトがあることで、NOKIES!の方向性もどんどん進化していきそうですね。
This dropped a couple weeks ago, but it has finally floated into my ears at a deeply appropriate. This is a concept album about sleeping – the song titles feature specific times of the night and what’s going on as the central character sleeps. Like last year’s Sleepy Tokyo album…a concept record about lack of…
Jemapur was just another Japanese electronic music producer, posting songs to SoundCloud and popping up at events sometimes. Yet, as more and more young music makers use the Internet as a platform to get their original production out, the field has become very crowded and standing out has become tough. Jemapur has made good stuff…
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.
So this is some twisty Internet magic ahead, so let’s take it one step at a time. – This week, Kobe’s tofubeats release First Album, via major-label Unborde (of Warner Brothers Japan). I reviewed that one over at Wondering Sound – it’s great, and one of the better albums capturing the allure of the Internet…
Nagoya project House Of Tapes’ music can probably be enjoyed via speakers, whether they be high-end or of the laptop variety. I’d test it, but everyone in my apartment complex is probably sleeping right now. Regardless, House Of Tapes should be experienced on headphones because it sounds terrifying that way. I use “terrifying” in the…
Super VHS seem to be focusing on the inevitable endings hurled at one throughout life. They recently came to grips with the passing of the best season, and on new song “I’ll Still Love You” they hopelessly croon “I’ll still love you anyway.” Though it might not be the best prescription, they should probably keep…
Tokyo boasts plenty of solid indie-pop outfits to get all melancholy about, but Kansai remains king when it comes to guitar music built for mid-afternoon sulk sessions. Kailios, out of Kyoto, are the latest reminder of this, with the recently released number “Round And Round.” This one will either snag your attention right away or…
Dreams are never an easy escape. They are, after all, fantasy — they end, and even the sweetest mental zone-out eventually pivots back into reality. This tension lurks in the corners of duo Anemone’s first EP Killing Me Softly, a lush two-song set that retreats into a hazy fog but always has one foot just…
The proliferation of crackly, loop-centric beat tapes seemingly designed to soundtrack anime girl homework sessions has made me hesitant of anything merging sample-centric repetition with drum-machine-generated boom bap. Leave it to an artist closer to Japan’s footwork scene to upend those expectations. Sauceman’s Tori gathers 10 tracks that often rely on a scant amount of…