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。
Ykiki Beat includes members of Timothy Work and DYGL, two Tokyo projects who have produced some solid works in the past year. Yet I gotta know, how did Ykiki Beat end up with the best track any of the lot have presented so far? “Garden” is the sort of song that gets a band a…
“Restraint”(制御)という単語をDe De Mouseと結びつける事などないと思っていました。彼の音楽は通常、ボーカルを切り刻み、その切れ端をスピード感のあるビートの上に乗せるようなスタイル。任天堂DSの音楽ゲームだったら最大級の難易度ですね。ドラムンベースの影響が薄い曲に限っての話ですが。新作Sky Was Darkからの曲、”Floats And Falls”は何と９分もあるのですが、今回はただ速いだけではありません。逆にスローなこの曲では、シンセが上手く曲を展開させて行きます。ボーカルのみにスピード感があります…というよりは、跳ねるようなスタイルがそう聴こえさせるのかもしれませんが。 “Floats And Falls”は５分が経過したその時点で既に完成された曲なのですが、それだけで終わらないのが今回の注目点。曲は不意に展開し、ビートが消えてボーカルとシンセのみのパートになります。その後も次々に新しい音色が加えられ、曲を終わりへと導きます。長くも飽きのこない、優れた工夫が施された作品だと感じます。De De Mouseの曲の中でもダントツで平和な、広々とした空気感を放っていて、彼の新しいスタイルを象徴した、新しい始まりを感じさせる曲になっています。ビデオは以下に。
I’m not silly enough to think indie-pop music will ever go away completely. As long as there are romantic boys and girls with guitars and access to twee.net (so, a lot of people), this stuff will always be around, all over the world (see the great Fear Of Men album that came out this year)….
I’m writing up this post on a day where the Internet…or at least major pockets of it…went wild over a couple of big pop-music releases that hit the web today. First was the video for Ciara’s “Body Party” (which we can’t even watch in Japan) and then a new single by Janelle Monáe. And even…
楽曲の大半は割と単純な同じビートの繰り返しになりつつも２分程続く）シンセの波がトレモロのストリングの波と重なり空気感が変わる瞬間が素晴らしい良曲です。ブレークを経てストリングスがもどる様もとてもパワフル。Terrence Malickの映画と調和しそうな美しさを感じさせる物 になっています。楽曲は以下から。
Yasutaka Nakata has been super busy over the last year and a half producing music for Perfume and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. He hasn’t had much time to devote to his project Capsule, who haven’t released any new material since 2012’s so-so Stereo Worxxx. At long last, Nakata has put together a new song for his…
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.
Shoegaze follows a pretty standard formula – go crazy with the guitars, to the point where the vocals get lost in the mix. Crystal Soda, like it’s namesake, attempts to change up the routine ever so slightly. But with much better results (R.I.P. Crystal Pepsi you were too good for this world). “Daybreak” features pretty…
Well it…certainly is. Introduced via +Ano(t)raks lovely Plus One compilation, Marquee Beach Club have gone on to share a few…cough…new songs. One is a bit overly dramatic, but “New Song” makes up for it by being a skippy number, featuring vocals glazed with the slightest electronic edge, adding just a dab of welcome unease to…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XVdsa0PtKA”] The above ad seems harmless enough, just a cutesy Japanese ad complete with a little twinkly jingle thrown in. It’s the sort of thing that would pass by to most people, and might leave even less of an impression to Western viewers exposed to weirder 30-second fare like Hulk Hogan singing about the days…
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,…
Rock quartet Merpeoples came into 2010 one of the more hyped up bands in Japan, and on February 17 the world will see whether they deserve such pub when they release their debut mini album. Up to this point though, the press seems warranted. Watch the video for the off-kilter-but-catchy song “Picasso” below. Something about…
Singer Lovely Summer Chan has been working with a lot of artists as of late – she’s a member of For Tracy Hyde, has sung with shoegaze bands and even popping up on a Tofubeats single. Yet her collaboration with producer Yoshino Yoshikawa remains her best endeavor to date – her sweetly delivered vocals glide…