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Category Archives: Music @ja

New Seiho: “Double Bed”

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Seiho just wrapped up a tour of Japan with LuckyMe artist Obey City, and in support of that tour/because why not take the opportunity to do so the pair released a four-track album called Shochu Sounds. You should get the whole thing over here, but for now let’s focus specifically on the Osaka producer’s “Double Bed.” It finds Seiho in his element – fragmented sounds organized into a lockstep song, each new element zooming in…even if just for a second…and knocking you back a little bit. It’s hyper in a way that doesn’t feel hyper at all, everything standing out but hitting at just the right time. Listen to it at Pitchfork.

Drink Drank Drunk: Cola Drunk’s Give Me A Coke!

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I don’t have particularly high expectations when looking through Bandcamp. There is just so much, and so much not-all-that-good music. Seeing an album called Give Me A Coke! from an artist named Cola Drunk felt like a waste-of-time in the making…is this gonna be a beat tape, or some kid from Omaha’s vaporwave project? Surprise, surprise…it’s actually pretty good! It’s an electronic collection highlighted by sonic conflicts – like the thumping, blow-out beats nestled against softer tones on “Diving,” or the warped digi sounds joined by the sample of a woman singing on closer “Kabuki Girl.” Other moments are more straightforward – the hoppy “Electronic Sound,” the spacey “Space” – but Cola Drunk works best when catching the listener off guard, like the scream-filled “X.” Get it here, or listen below.

New The Wedding Mistakes: “Dramatic Behavior”

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If you happen to be in Tokyo Monday night (maybe some of you are, I don’t know!) and have no plans for Tuesday, which is a national holiday, you should go to this event at Unit. It features a lot of artists Make Believe Melodies, and should be lots of fun. Say hi to me! One of the acts appearing on the bill, the collaborative project between Miii and LASTorder_kt dubbed The Wedding Mistakes, has released a new song in advance of the gig, and it is a gem. “Dramatic Behavior” is a maximalist, very-few-breathes-allowed number that is the best thing this project has birthed thus far. It’s built around some super-spliced vocals, and a hyped-up beat. “Dramatic Behavior” goes all in, and its commitment to being all that it can be (and also sounding catchy…this chooses not to indulge in the bass-heavy slap-to-the-faces Miii’s music can sometimes be guilty of) makes it all the better. Listen below.

New Lullatone: While Winter Whispers

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THE CHALLENGE: Can Lullatone make the author of this blog feel good thoughts about winter, his least favorite season?

THE PARTICIPANTS: Nagoya duo responsible for sweet, nostalgia-glazed music that sometimes leans towards the whimsical. On the other side, some blogger who hates winter.

THE MUSIC: Lullatone have been celebrating the seasons over the past six months, with the summer and autumn installments of their series sounding especially bouncy and jingly. The winter addition easily could have followed this mold…just imagine the Christmas-centric song…yet Lullatone have opted to make a slowly unfolding album that’s far from twee. The tracks here stretch out, and the bells that usually turn the duo’s music into playroom affairs have been flipped into twinkling details that still sound sweet…but with everything else sounding so cold, they sorta have to.

“A Little Song About Snowdrops” sets the mood…the bells chime, but everything sounds covered in a light layer of ice. Some of the songs are especially skeletal, like “Tiny Glaciers” and the sweet throwback to Lullatone’s earlier days “Falling Asleep With A Book On Your Chest.” The closest Winter Whispers gets to tweedom is “All The Optimism Of Early January,” and even the rumbling build of that song comes off as restrained. It looked like Lullatone had chosen to embrace a purely whimsical sound at some point a year or two ago…yet this album throws a fantastic curve into the machinery.

THE VERDICT: Part of the reason this album works is because it’s not a celebration of Winter per se, but rather reflective of the season. Everything is slower, colder and sounds better inside. I like this collection, but still counting down the days until Spring.

New Picnic Women: How Do U Like It? EP

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Part of the thrill of listening to Japanese juke producer Picnic Women’s music is the moment you realize, “holy shit, it’s that song!” Yet this isn’t like when you listened to Girl Talk as a freshman in your dorm, freaking out because Neutral Milk Hotel and Juelz Santana finally came together on a song. Nope, Picnic Women blows your mind with how he takes familiar moments and transforms them into something new. “MORE,” opening his new EP How Do U Like It?, starts off with Andre 3000 from “Ms. Jackson” before zipping into a sample from “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” Yet the real joy is how he constructs a lightspeed juker out of these familiar elements, the song zipping along and sounding nothing like the source material. Even more bonkers is the title track, which grabs vocals from Mario’s “How Do I Breathe?” and lightspeeds it up into one of his most frantic (and catchy) tracks yet. “Slow Motion” actually slows down the vocals, but the beat still drives, although it is simply the most interesting song here, rather than the most fun. Listen below, or get it here.