Make Believe Melodies Logo

Category Archives: Music @ja

Taquwami Remixes Ryan Hemsworth’s “Perfectly”

Posted on by

It makes sense that Taquwami would offer up a remix of a Ryan Hemsworth track on the Canadian producer’s new EP Still Awake. Besides the obvious fact that Hemsworth has been upping Tokyo’s brightest producer for a while now and has included him in various mixes before, the two share a similar genre-blurring approach to electronic music. Yet it was still surprising to see Taquwami’s remix of the track “Perfectly” standing as the only remix on Hemsworth’s free release. Talk about giving a friend some spotlight.

Taquwami’s remix is a winner, too. Both him and Hemsworth are fans of clipped vocals, and that element appears on both versions of “Perfectly.” Taquwami, though, lets his version unfold at a slower, more dreamy pace, seeking out drama where Hemsworth looks for energy. It features a big electronic rush that brings to mind the technicolor whirlwinds dotting last year’s (still excellent) Blurrywonder, yet instead of bottle up that burst, Taquwami mostly keeps his version moving slower. Which makes the surge that much more memorable. Listen below.

Breaking The Silence: Ventla’s With No Compass

Posted on by

At long last – Ventla. I’ve never written about the Tokyo producer before around these parts for two reasons:

1. The first release he MediaFired into the world that I actually heard didn’t impress me all that much, so I passed. I stuck with Ventla, though, and dug into his back catalog and realized that album was an outlier. But…

2. I kind of wanted to do something bigger about him. This probably won’t be that, but it will have some of my thoughts.

At first brush, Ventla seems like a guy with a great gimmick. Here’s a bedroom-based music maker who wants to release 100 albums over the Internet. That’s his goal. Unlike Sufjan Stevens’ famous “an album for every state in the Union” boast – dude was never going to turn Vermont into a mini Broadway musical – Ventla’s mission seems realistic. He just keeps releasing these lovely little albums, completely unfazed by the world around him.

It’s appropriate his latest offering, With No Compass, drops the same week Jesse Ruins’ A Film and a Sapphire Slows’ compilation come out. Those two acts – along with the CUZ ME PAIN label they floated around – represented one wave of Japanese self-recorded music, a segment that took everything into their own hands but still eyed blog attention and ultimately hoped for attention from bigger labels (mission accomplished for both). Ventla, then, represents a new shift in Japanese bedroom artists. Their music just appears in free-to-download ZIP files and they don’t seem all that interested in labels. They do dig collaboration though.

So why write about With No Compass now? Because it might be my favorite Ventla release yet. I originally thought he was just some vaporwave guy, but Ventla has proved he’s far more versatile, his releases pinballing between all sorts of styles. With No Compass is his most neon-tinged yet, loaded with synths and robo-voiced vocals. These sounds are certainly popular all across Japan at the moment, utilized by rappers and dance-centric synth-pop units (and, uhhhh, by Daft Punk on that new album). But Ventla isn’t really aiming for the dancefloor with Compass. He’s taken songs long-associated with cheesy pop and dance music and made it slower, something a touch more atmospheric without sacrificing fun (these songs can still groove – check “Abestos” or “Osutaka Memorabilia”). A highlight like “Slo-Mo Flo-Jo” could be pitch shifted into bouncy pop, but slowed down to a sweaty crawl, it becomes hypnotic. Get the album here.

Jazz Aged: Supple’s Minato Tape

Posted on by

I do not profess to being a guy who knows much about Japanese hip-hop. I have about as basic an understanding of the scene one can get, but that’s it – I don’t know the intricacies or the regional differences or even, like, the fashions (I think Yankees’ caps are popular?). What I do know, though, is that there is not a shortage of jazzy beats going around Japan nowadays. Post Nujabes, the default type of backing track favored by rappers and producers is one built off of jazz samples, somewhere between J. Dilla and De La Soul. Trying to find someone making beats like this that sticks out – who can flip a jazz sample into something more than “pleasant” – isn’t easy. Often, finding dudes who do something entirely different – I see ya Tofubeats, what’s up Seiho – is easier.

So why draw a circle around Supple’s Minato Tape?, a collection of beats very, very much devoted to the jazzy side of hip-hop production? Partially because of economics – the whole shebang is free, and comes with 16 tracks, some of which go on surprisingly long for rap beats. Mainly because it’s good – even if Minato Tape reinforces Japanese hip-hop production stereotypes rather than break them, it sounds damn good doing it. “Gig” shows how to cut up a jazzy instrumental into something begging to be rapped over – preferably by Slum Village circa the turn of the century – while “Minato” sounds downright cinematic thanks to the strings at the center of it. Sometimes Supple gets a little too relaxed – “School” might soundtrack PBS dead time in the near future – but makes up for it with some daring moments. “Wass” lasts 46 seconds, but seemingly bends space-time fabric during that stretch. “Hinode” brings to mind Donuts, except drawn out a bit longer. The whole tape ends with a run of six songs that seem looser than what came before, a chance for Supple to show off his fun side. Nothing new, but worth the listen all the same. Listen below, or get it here.

New May.e: “Bowling”

Posted on by

It hasn’t even been a week since I went into a tizzy writing about May.e’s album Mattiola, one of the year’s most stunning releases and one rich in FEELINGS. Turns out May.e is a restless soul, and also capable of churning out high-quality music at will – you can hear a new song of bare-bones guitar and voice below, and it’s a doozy. A gorgeous, long-playing doozy. Oddly enough, “Bowling” would be out of place on Mattiola. The songs on that album, though recorded in a very bedroom-musician sort of way, never sounded drowned out. They oftentimes sound slightly submerged, but on “Bowling” May.e might as well be singing through a thick wall of cottonballs. Yet like that stunner of an album, “Bowling” turns hypnotic, the simple guitar and unintelligible voice becoming absorbing, May.e working in subtle changes to the music as the the track stretches onward. I guess she wanted to go and prove Mattiola wasn’t a fluke. Message received.

New Elen Never Sleeps: “Rum”

Posted on by

I wouldn’t describe the music Elen Never Sleeps makes as being “dramatic,” at least in the sonic sense. That said, his songs often contain emotional push-pull, evidenced all over this year’s fantastic Silver EP. That collection of songs sounds dreamy and ennui-rich, Elen Never Sleeps always facing some sort of emotional obstacle even when his music is at its prettiest. New song “Rum,” then, is a little bit of a surprise – this sounds like the project calling timeout on a rainy day and just relaxing for an afternoon. It’s nothing but some simple strumming, a light beat and what sounds like dolphins bleating in the back every once in awhile. It’s a low-key number, but relaxing. Elen Never Sleeps also doesn’t push his voice hear, and he sounds surprisingly smooth here. Listen below.