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Category Archives: Music @ja

Soft As Snow But Warm Inside Break Up, Release Album, One Half Forms New Project Kuroguremore

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The duo Soft As Snow But Warm Inside called it quits over the weekend. The pair, who have been around since July 2012, announced it on a Tumblr blog post. They didn’t release much music during their existence – two EPs and a track via Ano(t)raks – but what they did put out was very strong, far better and more energetic than most of the dreamy stuff coming out of Japan today (and they really don’t sound all that much like My Bloody Valentine).

However, they end the project with an exclamation point – they’ve also released their first (and final) full-length album, A Thaw for free on Bandcamp. It mainly serves as a compilation for what they already released, but gathers all their finest cuts into one very strong package. They’ve recorded a new mix for the driving, space-obsessed “Vogue,” their most driving song and one unafraid to play around with a soft/heavy disconnect (that beat that just charges in). The lurchier “Asymmetry” and the deceptively dreamy “When The Nightmare Ends” show off the bands ability to make good slow burners…not to mention the lyrics, readable on the Bandcamp page. They buff out A Thaw with remixes from some very talented producers. It’s a strong curtain call. Get it here, or listen below.

Yet one half of the project will carry on under the name Kuroguremore. Thus far, this new outfit has posted one new song, the intriguing “The Oregon Vortex.” Built around plucks, sampled dialogue, what sounds like bits of a Gold Panda song (“You”) and an absolute jackhammer of a beat that sideswipes into the song, it is a knotty affair moving in a slightly more maximal direction than Soft As Snow. Listen below.

Good Build: Mari Pass Filter’s “Glow”

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“Glow” features one of those musical moments that catch you so off guard it practically makes you do a double look at your computer screen. The first half of Tokyo bedroom-producer Mari Pass Filter’s song is a good but straightforward affair – a beat, droplets of synthesizer, skittery vocals that sound vaguely Vocaloid and which zip around each other. It’s a good listen – and the chopped-up vocal yelps are especially intriguing – but “Glow” doesn’t really, errr, glow until the halfway point. The beat picks up a bit and then…digi strings make everything bloom, and the robo-vocals practically start hopping. Incredibly warm track. Listen below.

Rollin’ On: Dubb Parade’s Cold Tone

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Producer Dubb Parade was, just one month ago, a lot sunnier. He billed his Your Emotion collection as “chillwave” and, even if it wasn’t totally locked to that Internet-genre, it carried a hazy, disco-influenced vibe that sounded more suitable for a blissed-out (remember that one?) summer spent indoors. Whether intentionally pushing himself to release music rooted in different sounds or he just had a really shitty month, his latest collection Cold Tone finds him getting far more chilly.

It opens with “Weeping,” a vaguely Burial-sounding bit of dubstep circa 2008,building its groove from a lonely vocal shout (“stay!”). It really gets going, though, when everything turns metallic and “Weeping” turns into a far sharper number, adding aggressiveness to what initially sounds like moping. “Weeping” is the weakest song here – at six minutes, Dubb Parade can only do so much with these sonic elements before it gets a touch tedious – and follow-up “Looming” finds a way to make the lonely/intimidating vibe come off more subtle. The best moment, though, is “Maze,” a skittery number featuring what sounds like warped police sirens blaring off in the background. It lends the track a disorienting feel, like being chased through the streets by the law and not sure what the heck is going on. Who knows what he’ll pull out next month, but he sounds solid on Cold Tone. Get it here, or listen below.

New Kyary Pamyu Pamyu: “Yume no Hajima Ring Ring”

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If every artist has to have a “sakura song” – a single (usually) that comes out around the time the cherry blossoms bloom and EVERYTHING CHANGES (school graduation, company reshuffling) – might as well not make it suck. Most J-pop artists stick to tepid ballads for this season, so thank goodness we have Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to make it bounce a bit. It’s her most reeled in track yet, which is appropriate given it is a song about graduating (“goodbye teacher/my friends”), but never melodramatic, just sort of resigned. But chin up. Plus, that understated guitar.

New i-fls: “Ambiguous Reply”

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Tokyo Garageband producer i-fls works best in album form, his faded memory jingles sounding best when they rub up against one another to create a well-rounded portrait of what youth, nostalgia and the suburbs feel like. Individual tracks usually sound perfectly fine, but their full impact is felt when they run together. “Ambiguous Reply” would probably bloom in the context of a larger release (potentially coming), yet it stands on its own too. Like most of i-fls’ music, the title sets the scene – “Ambiguous Reply” wants to capture the feeling of getting an ambiguous reply (tags like “it’s bummer” help push forward that). Everything swirls together, with disparate elements popping up (the beat at times, in particular) to add tension to an otherwise melancholy haze. Listen below.