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Category Archives: Music @ja

New Hideo Nakasako: Observation

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Kansai producer Hideo Nakasako is off to a fast-paced 2014. Last month he released a great EP of music…and now he’s back with another three-song-set called Observation that continues to highlight him as an artist to keep an eye on in the always-busy Kansai electronic scene. It opens with the off-kilter “Star Lily,” a tipsy cosmic number punctured by static-covered barks, all the sonic elements starting out at odds with one another before blurring together in the songs shuffling second half. “Astrodome” is a bit less out there, instead settling into an electric groove and riding it out, with only some vocal droplets interrupting it. Finale “Wane” opts for space, avoiding any digital headrushes in favor of a slowly unfolding number featuring some vocal hiccups. Listen below.

Idoling Along: Parkgolf And Nyolfen Team Up With Sakura Yura

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The overlap between Internet-centric producers and idol pop continues shrinking. Maltine Girls’ Wave was the year’s biggest breakthrough, but it won’t be an isolated case. Sakura Yura is a rising idol…not a nobody but a far cry from, say, Tokyo Girls’ Style…and she’s teamed up with two producers repping two different netlabels. The first is Maltine’s Parkgolf, the fidgety Hokkaido trackmaker, who crafts her appropriately off-kilter “Shyankan Saidai Fuusoku.” Everything about it seems just a little drunk – the synth splashes seem like they could topple over at any moment, Sakura’s voice is coated in a blurry sheen, and even the usually sharp bass slaps seem a bit sloppy. Critically, the track never blacks out, everything coming together just right. Listen below.

On the other side if Bunkai-Kei’s Nyolfen, with a Jersey Club inspired thumper called “City Light Reflection.” It isn’t a straight-up floor killer, but a more subtle affair, the track hopping up to a subdued drop that adds a crucial amount of menace to an otherwise poppy cut.

New Dempagumi.inc: “Sakura Apparition”

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Geez, man, I don’t even know, ya know? I tweeted out something about Dempagumi.inc being the most based idol-pop group in Japan right now…a group whose background (or gimmick) is that the members all are former/still sorta are otaku, one of the more loathed sub cultures in Japan today. One of them, Moga, used to be a hikikomori. Yet here they are now, in an idol-pop group creating music that revels in being alive and, most importantly being themselves and spreading that message all over the world. Just…I don’t know, it feel so alive. Tara wrote something that really hits on it, read that. This is music for celebrating you.

Oh, and it sounds good! This isn’t the most manic they’ve been, but it still moves at a sugared-up hop. It’s less dramatic than either “W.W.D.” and less neck-wrecking than “Den Den Passion,” but it might be the most poppy thing they’ve done yet. With plenty of strange little twists to boot, whether it be the yells of “justice!,” the summer-festival-dance interlude or the way they say “breakdown!” before the breakdown. Thank you based Dempa.

Aimless Bop: Shunsuke Kojima’s Lost Spectacle

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Shunsuke Kojima doesn’t seem like he’s in any rush to get anywhere on Lost Spectacle. Despite starting the album with a clear-cut destination (“Airplane To Tokyo”), he spends the whole time creating instrumental tracks that bounce along, sure, but come off as more interested in exploring bright textures and beats. He really starts hitting his stride on the second number, the glistening “Floating Like Waterfall.” That one hops along, adding new details as it goes until it turns into a whirring wonder for its final run through. The title implies messiness, but “Phychdelic Flow” is actually really tight, the best dance number here and the best overall cut on Lost Spectacle. Though the party-ready “Higher” comes close. Get it here, or listen below.

New Miii: “Sunset Dance”

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It’s tough to keep tabs on Tokyo’s Miii. As of late, he’s been leaning toward the more hyped-up sound, with a great collection of long-playing EDM on Maltine and his contributions to the often blitzkrieging The Wedding Mistakes. Yet “Sunset Dance” is a reminder he can slow things down too. It is a waltz by his standards…proudly tagged “BPM106″…and features a dabbing of whirring synths. Despite a more relaxed pace, it does feature something resembling a build-up…it’s just that the conclusion is more of a fading shimmey rather than a body-destroying freakout. Listen below.