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Category Archives: Music @ja

Mid Air: Hideo Nakasako’s Time Passes

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Hideo Naksako hails from Osaka, which over the last few years has become the central hub for Japan’s burgeoning beat-music scene. That city – along with the surrounding Kansai region – has been home to many producers putting their own stamp on the beat style, plus a community helping one another out in making music and getting ears to hear it. Nakasako fits into the tradition wonderfully – his new album Time Passes, out for free on On Sunday Recordings, is a hell of an introduction to the music maker and one that highlights what he brings to the country’s crowded field. What sets him apart is the graceful, ambient edges of his songs. These aren’t Windy & Carl-ish celestial beauties, but rather beats draped in very pretty cloth. The title track lays it all out almost immediately, as the song opens with burbling noises and strings playing aimlessly in the back. It’s extremely pretty…and then the beat drops in, as those strings keep playing in the back. The best songs on Time Passes explore the contrast between clattering beats and softer backdrops – besides the title track, the jazzy “moments” and the Burial-esque darkness of “avy” stand out. Though Nakasako also finds time to just wild out, as on the near-techno of “changes.” It’s a strong album from a city that has produced a lot of ’em. Get it here, or listen below.

New Homecomings: “Sunday”

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Man, these four sure have grown in over a year. Back in 2012, they were just another indie-pop band in a very crowded field. Now, they are one of the few to break through and land on a decently known indie label (Second Royal) and their music has gotten tighter and better. They have a debut album, Homecoming With Me?, out soon, and here’s the world’s first taste of that release. “Sunday” is a jaunty little number that wastes little of its brief running time. Homecomings are focused throughout, barreling forward as they let their voices intertwine come the chorus. A lovely song, listen above.

If They Are To Bloom: A Canata Records Compilation Featuring Atlanta Girl, Little Ripple, Lake Michigan And More

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On the surface level, Canata Records seems like a pretty rigid netlabel sonically. “We believe that freedom is pop,” goes one of the slogans on their Bandcamp page, and a cursory look at the artist names, album and song titles indicate the label deals mostly in twee. Yet what has made them one of the best places for music in Japan over the last few years – besides offering it all up for free – has been the variety present on their releases. They’ve featured indie-pop done entirely by Hatsune Miku, shoegaze, chillwave-leaning electronic music and whatever you want to call Shortcake Collage Tape’s still-excellent Spirited Summer. Their new compilation album, though, leans a bit toward the indie-pop side, with the majority of the bands playing it relatively safe. Yet each act on this collection does bring something different to the digital table. Tokyo’s Atlanta Girl has been bringing a slightly demented edge to indie-pop for awhile now, and there two contributions hide a sinister side – “Are You Lookin’ For My Eyes?” is the more straightforward of the pair, though his singing and the general jangliness of the song seems like it might fall off the edge at any second. The other, “South Carolina,” has been written about before. Not all of it is good, though. An Incline And The Door’s brand of pastiche turns out be more aggravating than interesting, a jumble of ideas that never really form into anything memorable. Little Ripple’s “Prism” does a lot better, by introducing electronics and a driving beat that give an otherwise shaky twee number a level of intrigue. The best stuff, though, ends up being the most forward. Corsage’s driving “Outward,” Magao’s noisy “Mashiro No Sora,” both contributions from the outfit Lake Michigan, who are probably the best new name to come off of this (and this comp is made up mostly of new names who are quite good). Get the compilation here.

New i-fls: “Awareness To The Winter” Cassette EP

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The titles of i-fls’ albums always seem like clues to what’s going on, but strangely enough his latest throws me for a loop. It has a title within a title – he is referring to a cassette named “Awareness To The Winter,” although I have no idea what that really means. Actual relic of the past? Double reference to nostalgia? Something about the creeping realization of death (a.k.a. winter), and how that can instantly get you pawing at past memories in an effort to stave off the future? I have no idea – which is one of the reasons I’m drawn to i-fls’ simple melodies. If you’ve been following his music over the past year, his latest EP will give you more of the same melancholy longing delivered in short, minimalist song form. It’s another gorgeous release, and ultimately another one where the real power of the music hinges on if these tunes can connect with you emotionally. Maybe searching for meaning in the title is a fool’s errand – leave the meaning up to yourself. Get it here or listen below.

Movements In The Dark: Alloapm’s “O.l.i.v.i.a.”

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My image of Tokyo long ago became demystified, even before I got a room in a sleepy corner of the city and decided to call Japan’s capital my current home. It’s just a sprawling place to me, one mixing glassy skyscrapers with drab apartment complexes disrupted by the occasional park or shrine. It is nothing like the imaginary Tokyo of my youth, colored by cartoons and movies, which I pictured as one always-flickering neon light, full of high-tech devices and robots. I imagine lots of Westerners saw Tokyo this way in the ’80s…if not today…and who knows if it ever was that sleek and electronic.

Tokyo’s Alloapm’s “O.l.i.v.i.a.” reminds me of what I expected Tokyo to sound like when I viewed it as some proto-Jetsons paradise. It’s all twinkly synths and club-ready beats, a distinctly nocturnal creation that at times seems seconds from burning out, as the synths get too bright and practically go out of tune. For the most part, though, it’s sleek and sexy stuff, an all-nighter fueled by bright lights and booze. Which wouldn’t be all that remarkable – plenty of groups do that 80s throwback – if it weren’t for the vocals. Aided by an electronic hiccup, they add a sense of late-night longing to the track. The way the singer stretches out words adds an ennui to this song, of searching for something in the night and not really finding it. Listen below.