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Category Archives: Music @ja

New Akoustik Shadow: Cross Over

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How do you go about establishing yourself in a music environment packed in tight? There are lots of electronic music producers scattered across Japan now, and standing out isn’t an easy task. Akoustik Shadow, on new album Cross Over, decided the best way to approach this tricky situation was…try out a bunch of different sounds. The result is an album that has its messy moments, but is overall a compelling listen, and offers hints at the best directions he might go.

Cross Over’s strongest moments are its least tangible – in particular, the first three songs here are weightless, practically drifting dreamy productions featuring a smattering of acoustic guitar. “Morning Coffee” is sweet, but more of an introduction to the bird-filled “Sanctuary,” which lingers longer into the eyes-on-the-stars “Take A Walk.” Beats become more prominent as Cross Over unfolds, sounding great on the zippy “Touch” and the sugary “Spangle,” not so great on the stab at Juke “Bootlex” (the album’s only real miss. The album also includes a healthy amount of remixes from producers all across the country. Get it here, or listen below.

Seiho, Magical Mistakes, And Vice Versa Plan American Tour, Have Some New Songs Too

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The artists associated with Osaka’s INNIT party have spent the last few years spreading their sounds across Japan, building up from a once-in-awhie party held in basement venues to being able to hold down their own stage at Tokyo’s edition of Sonarsound and tour with all sorts of international names. Not to mention to branch out and start their own labels. And now, they get a chance to spread it to the United States. Seiho, Magical Mistakes and And Vice Versa will do a jaunt around America this March, with stops in Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, Baltimore, Oberlin College and Wesleyan College. Click here for more details.

As somebody who has seen all three of these dudes multiple times…definitely find a way out to one of these gigs.

In advance of this tour, each artist has released a new song highlighting the sonic variety that will be present on the American stops. Magical Mistakes delivers a subtle shape-shifter of a song, Seiho’s “Crazy Nail Polish” is a bit of glossy whiplash (voices stuttering over themselves, synth zips, a bunch of sounds locking into just the right order), while And Vice Versa’s “Twins” is a shuffling dance member that’s the most dancefloor-oriented. Listen to them below.

POP-OFFICE Cover Sparklehorse, Neil Young

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This isn’t the first time Nagoya’s POP-OFFICE have covered a song…but these two latest renditions highlight what they do so well better than what they’ve done. First, they take out Sparklehorse’s “Gold Day,” itself an understated, sadness-tinged number that’s best described as very pretty sounding but with a frown hidden deep within. Well, POP-OFFICE blow the track open. They’ve always been a band leaning towards the loud, and the original’s lazy afternoon vibe gets replaced with a fuzzier atmosphere. Oh, and then they tear it off and totally transform this into their own by dropping in wrecking guitar solo, which ups the drama significantly.

Save for that snarlin’ guitar, “Gold Day” still resembles the original pretty closely. Not so much with their take on Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” which takes the eyes-down hop of the original and turns it into a lurching number that’s less friend reassurance and more…unsettling. And then, after a spacious take on the chorus, it turns into something worthy of the tag shoegaze. Get it here, or listen below.

New Foodman: Hamakko EP

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Things the new Foodman EP Hamakko reminds me of:

– A space-themed Hanna-Barbera cartoon playing from an old, broken radio…in another dimension.

– Jazz generated by a malfunctioning Commodore 64.

– Alternate world soundtrack to the Ocarina Of Time Water Temple.

– Alien theme park announcements.

– The weirdest/best open-mic-night.

– A really strange plate store.

– Even more fucked-up cartoons.

– Abandoned Astro Boy theme song composed while on PCP.

– Things that you shouldn’t be able to dance to…but actually sorta work.

Get it here, listen below.

New Tofubeats: “Everybody Get Up”

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The biggest twist to this is the central vocal sample (and the title of the song) comes from “Blurred Lines.” Kobe’s Tofubeats manages to take a track that is (still!) pretty burned into the minds of contemporary music fans/people who just walk by stores prone to playing the biggest summer hits and flip it into a jittery, somewhat decadent house track. It’s not as complex as a lot of the tracks he makes, but it’s still a catchy little dance track with a nice bounce. And Pharrell. Listen below.