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Category Archives: Music @ja

New Metome: “Bshop’s Ring Sun”

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“Now making [new album].” Well that’s an exciting development from Osaka producer Metome’s camp. To give us a little preview of what he’s working on, he’s posted a new song called “Bshop’s Ring Sun,” which can also be downloaded for free over this way. It is a reminder that Metome is one of the finest electronic producers to emerge out of the Kansai scene, despite the fact he hasn’t gotten the same exposure (or crossover offers) of folks like Seiho or Avec Avec. This is a big, bright song powered by a glossy synth line and a chopped up vocal sample that never gets cut too thin – one can still make out the words, even though they eventually start piling over one another. It’s a fun, tipsy little song…maybe one that could use a minute cut off…that makes us all the more excited for what’s next. Listen below.

Check The Credits: Izumi Makuro’s “Tokyo Kinkou Rosenzu” (Produced By Sugar’s Campaign)

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Look, I don’t want to take anything away from Izumi Makuro. She sounds just fine here, rapping in a relaxed way that sounds effortless and certainly isn’t as, shall we say, acquired as other pop-rap outfits in Japan. If anything, it is easily compared to Her Ghost Friend, except with a more hip-hop bend. It’s good, but she wasn’t the reason I was drawn to this, even if a hook built around the idea of a “Tokyo suburbs map” is intriguing. The production here is handled by Sugar’s Campaign, a.k.a. Seiho and Avec Avec, a.k.a. two people who should be producing J-Pop singles off the strength of last year’s list-conquering number. This seems like a good first step. This is a laid-back groove, sounding ritzy enough for a penthouse suite but remaining funky enough not to end up in the lobby. Features some nice guitar too, and at the end one half of the group (Avec Avec maybe?) actually sings as this one fades away. Listen above.

Upbeat!: Seagull Travel’s “Kill Me My Girl”

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Sometimes, when dealing with song titles written in Japanese, I sorta ignore what the track is actually called and just give it a play while working on other things (read: updating Tumblr, looking at sports .GIFs). Seagull Travel’s, the project of Kanagawa’s Ryuichi Nakamura, sounded like a lovely bit of upbeat electro-pop when I first took a listen, probably while reading e-mail or something. Guided by burbling synths and Nakamura’s digitally glazed vocals, it is a perky number hinting at a lot of sonic promise from Seagull Travels.

Then I actually looked at (and translated) the song title – “Kill Me My Girl.”

Well, that’s a twist. The happy-music-sad-lyrics trick isn’t novel whatsoever – plenty of Japanese indie outfits this year alone have been using that approach to great success in 2013 alone – but that doesn’t mean it can’t be effective. Seagull Travel makes it work here, because of just how damn giggly it sounds. It really does catch you off guard when he starts singing “please please kill me baby” (which could be sweet too, but murder usually isn’t a cheery subject, even as metaphor!). Listen below.

Coming Around: The Boys Age’s “Maybe, Phantom Laughed Twice”

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I’ve been pretty resistant to The Boys Age for 2013. This indie-pop duo have been releasing a near continuous stream of music into the digital wild, and has nabbed some nice label relations with, like, Burger Records. Something never clicked between me and their music though – most immediately, the vocals always sounded way too rough, taking the twee maxim of “anybody can do this” to a not particularly pleasant extreme. It just seemed like the latest example of Japan’s indie-pop scene about to pop, too many bands with not enough interesting ideas to go around.

Then, I caught them live. In a tiny bar with less than 10 people in attendance, I watched the duo rip out one of the most powerful sets I’ve seen all year. It was hardly the weak indie-pop I anticipated…it was wild, LOUD rock, their final song carrying on for nearly 20 minutes, captivating the whole time. It shook me up, and forced me to pay attention to these guys.

Here comes a new (or, more technically, remastered) song called “Maybe, Phantom Laughed Twice,” which showcases everything about The Boys Age that bowled me over in person. This one lasts for nearly 11 minutes, but not one of those seconds is squandered by the pair. It opens like one of Yo La Tengo’s album closers…and the psychedelic turns it takes bring that trio to mind too (it comes off an EP dedicated to them, afterall)…but The Boys Age really push this one. One reason it sounds good is the vocals don’t come across too clearly in the mix…the guitars, drums and electronic touches cover them, and they sound better not being so close to your ear. It’s a massive thing, that takes all sorts of twists and turns over its long run time. I’m aboard for now. Listen below.

No More Summer: Shtreimels’ “Yacht”

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OK, here’s the song to officially soundtrack the definite end of summer 2013, courtesy of Fukuoka outfit Shtreimels (who do not put much information about themselves online). “Yacht” is a downcast guitar number that certainly takes cues from New Jersey outfits like Real Estate and (especially) Ducktails, full of reverb and with lazily unfolding vocals that are often hard to make out. “You don’t know even now where you supposed to be/You’re sure you have got something to do,” the lyrics go (they put them up on the site for this song) and the way they wrap around the melancholy guitar makes this sound all the more world-weary. Listen below.