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Category Archives: Music @ja

New Crunch: “Mori No Naka”

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Few bands are as upfront about their influences as Nagoya’s Crunch on new song “Mori No Naka.” “Song inspired by Radiohead’s Jigsaw Falling Into Place (In Rainbows)” they write on SoundCloud, and elements of that track certainly pop up in this indie-pop band’s latest. In particular, the driving tempo and the bass lines present here. Yet they also put their personal stamp on “Mori No Naka,” mostly when it comes to the words. The actual lyrics are far more fantastical than Thom Yorke’s hook-up tales – check Crunch’s here – while the delivery is a bit less hectic, the band taking their time in letting the words come out. Knowing what inspired this is interesting, but this is just a lovely bit of indie-pop from Crunch. Listen below.

PixaPhonica #2 Compilation Featuring Kai Takahashi, Rapunzel8083 And PNDR PSLY

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As mainstream Japanese music continues to revolve around only a handful of pop-leaning acts – the biggest sales all come courtesy of groups with a “48” in their name or a boy group from Johnny’s – underground artists who will never have a shot at breaking through into the Oricon world have turned to the compilation as a way of forging a new musical world. Internet-based compilations have been happening for quite some time, but they have become even more common over the past few months. It’s a way for like-minded artists (or labels) to come together and get attention. PixaPhonica #2, a comp highlighting great electronic music from across the country, is one of the best compilations to come out in 2013 so far.

It starts off with a guy who is familiar with these things – Kai Takahashi delivered one of the best songs on Ano(t)raks recent collection, and here he once again steals the show with the woozy “Magical Spells.” It’s a bit more swirling than “1980,” the noises hear a bit more random and free-floating than the structured groove of his indie-pop-leaning cuts. Yet it manages to be just as pretty, anchored by a simple but warm vocal sample. What follows “Magical Spells” also deserves attention: quenoirs imagines what brostep might sound like if inverted in on itself with “Felted Fabric,” which has the menacing drums of EDM but all the violence held back. Alecks does his best Friendzone impersonation on “EAUCL,” while Kansai’s Rapunzel8083 don’t let down (I don’t think they have yet) with “Adam,” which stitches together several older snippets into one coherent piece. “Adam” features clips of children talking, lending the song a nostalgic vibe, which is echoed by Miche’s “In My Old School.” That one opens with the sound of a Japanese school chime ringing off before turning into a contemplative piano number aided by electronic glitches, the overall effect being like flipping though old photos and having bits of memories rush by. PNDR PSLY, meanwhile, delivers a stunner all his own with “The Heavenly Bodies,” a almost-ten-minute drone number recalling the grand creations of Los Angeles’ Infinite Body. This compilation is stuffed with highlights – get it here.

She Went Out In Nature: Kindan No Tasuketsu’s “Gogo No Boukenshya”

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Incorporating natural sounds into one’s work isn’t a new trick – artists have long been doing that, many of them recently and many of them in Japan. Magical Mistakes jumps immediately to mind with his bird and bug sounds sneaking into his songs. So Kindan No Tasuketsu shouldn’t be praised for her use of nature in the song “Gogo No Boukenshya.” Rather, she should be praised for using it so well – she works in what sounds like boots splashing into water, and this ends up being the closest thing to percussion in the entire song. It also lends to the track’s psychedelic vibe – “Gogo” isn’t an acid freakout of any sort, but rather like spending a little too much time out in the sun and starting to see everything around you spin a little bit. Over a delicate acoustic guitar, Kindan No Tasuketsu’s hushed vocals start overlapping with one another, the artist creating subtle harmonies from this technique. It’s gorgeous, especially the final segment where the words “waiting for you” pile up on one another, almost as if Kindan is trying to make time pass by faster. One of the year’s prettiest songs yet. Listen above.

And we’ve totally slept on Kindan No Tasuketsu…start going through all these video, like we have for the past two hours.

New Figure: “Don’t Hate You”

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Figure might not hate you, but he definitely doesn’t mind making you feel claustrophobic. “Don’t Hate You” follows up his excellent Come Down album from last year, and it sticks to the same sonic principals that made that six-track set so good – Figure records his music in a way that makes the guitar come off like a concrete wall, with his vocals buried somewhere behind them trying to break out. It can sound oppressive, but Figure makes sure to include plenty of catchy details (the guitars, while sounding thick, also sound lovely) to make this more than the sonic equivalent of being locked in a boiler room. It’s tempting to compare “Don’t Hate You” with the music made by American outfit DIIV – they certainly have similarities – but Figure sounds a bit more locked in than anything those guys have done. Listen below.

Real Youngin: Toyu’s Experiments EP

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Last year, a duo made up of two teenaged girls living in New York but originally from Osaka appeared online. They called themselves BenZel, and claimed they met one another over a message board thanks to a shared love of J. Dilla. This seemed like a stretch. Naturally, the first song they ever released featured Jessie Ware. This definitely seemed like a stretch. But, with no evidence to the contrary, many of us in Japan remained unsure if BenZel were real or fake. Time went on, and the “two” released more songs. Then they played a live show in LA and…based on the photos on Instagram, they were either really manly 15-year-old girls or NOT 15-YEAR-OLD GIRLS. It was the latter, as the whole thing turned out to be bullshit…it was the side project for some British guy whose name I forgot.

What I’m getting at is that, even though BenZel weren’t real and just a dumb alter-ego aping another country that happens to be full of really talented producers, Japan does have at least one talented 15-year-old music maker. His name is Toyu, he’s based out in Nagano and (assuming he isn’t some clever marketing stunt) he just put out his first EP. Experiments finds Toyu appropriately playing around with different sounds: “Testing 8473299” a bouncy electro hopper featuring a really addictive flurry of digi needles while “African Horseman” brings in sonic ideas from the titular continent (Shangaan Electro, anyone?). Yet, especially impressive for someone his age, is “Save U,” which is far too ambitious to be just an experiment. It’s the most sinister sounding song on the EP, opening with heavy synth waves and a creepy vocal sample of a kid talking about…something. The beat fastens, and the synths grow in strength as the kid’s voice vanishes into the thickness. From there, “Save U” turns into a body-crushing dance number. Impressive from anyone, even more so from a high-school student. Get it here, or listen below.