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Category Archives: Music @ja

New Taquwami: “Gossip 1” And “Gossip 2”

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Think Taquwami is starting to fall for blog-platform Tumblr? Can we expect a barrage of .GIF files and essays about Degrassi? Probably not, but the Tokyo producer did go and post two new tracks to his Tumblr page over the weekend, “Gossip 1” and “Gossip 2.” The prior opens in a haze before pivoting into a minimalist slink, one that’s both a nocturnal creeper and a touch groovy. Listen to that one here. The better “Gossip,” though, is “2,” which retains the barely-there quality of “1” but adds an element of intrigue via some far-off vocal samples. It’s a blurry, inviting number. Listen to it here.

New Metoronori: Meteor

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I’m writing up this post on a day where the Internet…or at least major pockets of it…went wild over a couple of big pop-music releases that hit the web today. First was the video for Ciara’s “Body Party” (which we can’t even watch in Japan) and then a new single by Janelle Monáe. And even more people are drooling at the promise of a new Beyoncé song coming sometime soon. It’s all a result of living in a post-poptimist world where chart-topping musicians who were once derided for simply being popular are now celebrated critically too. It’s a great development…and has allowed the likes of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Perfume and Momoiro Clover Z to grab a little Western attention…and mostly a net good.

Yet sometimes I feel the new emphasis on celebrating pop music means weirder stuff can get lost. Metoronori makes a very very different type of pop from what normally gets GIFed on Tumblr…this is homemade stuff practically put together with tape and paper clips, always seemingly one bend away from breaking apart. Meteor is this Tokyo-based makers second album of fragile, jittery pop, and it’s every bit as good as last month’s Mawari. Her music here is mostly minimalist electronic beats and synths, all while her lightly dusted voice sings over it, but in a way where she’s not trying to stand out but rather slide into the song away from view. On “すい- ブレン ドンク” words barely come out of her mouth. She also works in instrumentals like the tranquil “Okue.” It’s a stranger creature than, say, the latest will.i.am album, but every bit as interesting as anything on a major label (and I mean this in the best way possible). Get it here, or listen below.

Lidly Teams Up With Canooooopy For Geomysteric Psyborg EP

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Ahhhhhh, hip-hop beats that would actually be expert-level setting to rap over. Tokyo producers Lidly and Canooooopy aren’t strangers to the type of heady music that would leave even Lil’ B scratching his head about what to do with it. The two have teamed up for a new EP of heady stuff titled Geomysteric Psyborg, and from the get-go its a complex affair. Opening track “Oxygensect” piles noises on top of one another, from drum-machine beats to bleep-bloops to…in what might be the strangest detail in a song I’ve heard all year…the opening seconds to The Flaming Lips “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate” buried deep in the mix. It doesn’t get anymore streamlined from there. “Lostcase Bringers” works in a voice whispering “ice cream” and what sounds like chanting, while “OverDefensiveHalf” raves off with even more discombobulated voices tucked in the corners. It ends with a song approaching free jazz. For rap, maybe not the best choice for your mixtape. As an example of woozy production skills, fantastic. Get it here, or listen below.

Kai Takahashi Remixes Phoenix’s “Entertainment,” It Rules

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I wouldn’t go as far as to say Kai Takahashi’s remix of French outfit Phoenix’s “Entertainment” is better than the original…but it is definitely more consistently good. What bugs me about the Phoenix cut is how the hook just sort of hangs in the air, the driving energy of the verses gone in favor of this arena-ready thing that just…isn’t the band’s forte. It wants to be big and dramatic and a total pull-out-the-iPhone moment, but Kai Takahashi avoids this problem by turning the whole thing into a laid-back groove, one coasting by on Takahashi’s fat synths. He plays the main synth melody using only twinkles and the children’s choir that pops up late in the song, which also helps his version to stand out. And it still manages to have an emotional payoff – late in the song, while Thomas Mars’ sings about rather being alone, acoustic guitars join everything else and lend the song a downbeat vibe. Absolutely fantastic remix from one of Tokyo’s most promising. Listen below.

Moscow Club Tease New Album With Tracks “Letter From Six-Gamelan Syndicate” And “Opening Ceremony;” Also, Give Them Money!

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Over the past few weeks, Tokyo’s Moscow Club have been trying to raise funds to put together their first vinyl LP. You can chip in over at Indiegogo, where you can also learn more about the project featuring some of Tokyo’s best (and, uhhhh, me, far from the best) telling you why you should throw some bones their way. The group will be posting a new song every week to SoundCloud over the next few weeks, and have already uploaded two tracks. The newest number is called “Letter From Six-Gamelan Syndicate,” and it features a few familiar Moscow Club touches – primarily, the spaced-out synth interwrapping with some guitars and bass. This number, though, also finds them trying out some new vocal deliveries, the group practically choosing to talk-sing. Listen below.

As cool as “Six-Gamelan” is, it was last week’s new edition “Opening Ceremony” that really floors. Again, it’s very Moscow Club…though this sounds like it has a little Erasure in its step too…with a beat that bounces and a flurry of warm electronics. Add in what sounds like slightly pitched up vocals, and you’ve got something that makes us want to throw even more money in there direction.