Make Believe Melodies Logo

Category Archives: Music @ja

New Metome: “Take This Love”

Posted on by

Probably should do a “stuff we missed post” in the near future, because Osaka producer Metome deserves a little more shine. He’s released one of the year’s better electronic album, OPUS Cloud, and is just all around doing a lot of good work as of late. Here’s the latest song he’s made worth gushing about, “Take This Love.” It’s a track in no rush to get anywhere, but rather content to float a bit and let its pained vocal sample play out at the center of everything. The beat is barely there, but Metome adds in lots of other details to keep this one interesting. Chief among them…saxophone, which makes this sounds lonelier than it already does. Lovely little number to get lost in, listen below.

New Ventla: Somethingness

Posted on by

Oh Ventla, busy busy Ventla. He just released his latest album, Somethingness, and it’s a good reminder of what makes Ventla so intriguing. Well, beyond his story – this bedroom-based music maker wants to release 100 digital albums (he’s currently on 24). Yet what makes him such a compelling artist to follow is how he never sticks to a single sonic style from release to release – dude could probably pump out at least 60 releases if he just made beat tapes or natural-sound collections. Nope, he jumps all over the place. His last release, With No Compass, was a neon-tinged synth affair, all squiggly keyboard lines and cheap drum machine hits.

Somethingness is nothing like that. This has more in common with bossa nova than it does New Wave. It’s not the first time he’s done it – see Hell Days To Remember – but this is even more striking. There is more singing, like on the pleasant island hopper “Stare.” “Rather Fresh” works in India-evoking touches along with a pleasant strum and whistling. This is Ventla trying his best to go organic, avoiding the obvious electricness of his last full-length in favor of something that sounds totally different. Thing is, it still sounds good. Get the album here.

Blurred Lines: Para Omi (Solo Project Of Mitsuomi From Fancy Books)

Posted on by

Not sure what Fancy Books has been up to since they captured our attention (and hearts) last year, highlighted by one of 2012’s best songs in the dizzying “Sister Carry Stars.” We do know, though, what male half of the group Mitsuomi has been cooking up. He recently unveiled his new solo project Para Omi, posting three tracks to SoundCloud. They are quite Fancy Books-like, save for a male vocalist taking the spotlight. Each song sounds slightly faded…in particular Mitsuomi’s voice…which lends an air of unease to these otherwise poppy tracks…like Fancy Books. Yet Para Omi seems a little more focused on making summer-appropriate tunes. “May” shuffles forward on a house beat, joined by little synth flairs (maybe he set his keyboard to “tropical”). Whereas the bulk of Fancy Books material could be called a poppier take on CUZ ME PAIN’s shadowy techniques, “May” basks in sun rays.

“An Empty Shopping Promenade” goes a little overboard with the Enchanted Tiki Room vibe, but then Para Omi went and dropped the blissful “I Lose My Sense Of Time.” Depending on how you view the term, this track could be labelled as very “chillwave.” It borrows a trick also present on the other two songs he’s dropped, but places more of an emphasis on it – his vocals echo, creating a rippling effect that grace “Sense Of Time” with a trippy edge. It’s a song in no rush to get anywhere – like Washed Out’s “Feel It All Around,” everything sorta just spins here – and easy to get lost in. Listen below.

Cool Down: Osamu Ansai’s “Woman”

Posted on by

It sometimes feels stupid to describe a song as being “perfect for Summer” (or any specific time), like it’s a cop out in regards to poking deeper into a piece of music. Even when the artist advertises it as so! Yet here I am, confronted with Osamu Ansai’s “Woman,” a Maltine-backed track, that really begs to be forever latched with the warmest season. It gets described as “pool side disco” – which basically just means slow-moving disco – and, shit, it’s also tagged “SUMMER.” All caps, they aren’t messing around. Ansai has crafted an extremely chilled out number, built around a chopped-up vocal sample and a languid instrumental that’s lazy in the best way possible. The vocals tumble over themselves at time, the closest “Woman” comes to anything resembling conflict. Even though the words sometimes hint at something a bit darker – the second half allows the voice to sing about the “loneliness of life” before getting spliced apart – the whole song ultimately comes across as being all about relaxing. So yeah…you got like a month and a half to bump this. Listen below.

Even Mac Miller Can’t Ruin This: yyioy Remixes Ariana Grande’s “The Way”

Posted on by

It’s a side of me that doesn’t always come through on this blog – try the Tumblr too – but I love pop music, even beyond the J-Pop that appears here sometimes. One of my favorite songs of the year has been Ariana Grande’s “The Way,” an absurdly upbeat number that slays despite featuring an appearance from rapper Mac Miller (“hit me on my celly” uggggggggh). I raved about this elsewhere (I’d give it a [9] today), but am not hesitant to once again mention how damn sunny this sounds.

Japanese artist yyioy, who has a thing for taking big American pop songs and morphing them into dance tracks, has gotten a hold of “The Way” and has transformed the perky number into a more hectic bit of dance music (it’s labelled “Jersey Club” on SoundCloud). Grande…and Miller’s…vocals get sped up a bit, and a series of break-beats have popped up, rattling this remix forward. It’s even more energetic than the original, although it sacrifices the warmth of the Grande’s untouched take in favor of pure frantic energy. Oh, and Mac Miller? Turns out having his voice sped up and backed up by the one part of yyioy’s remix that slows down a bit makes him sound creepy…not in his normal “drink, pledge” sort of way, but something more unsettling. Listen below.