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Category Archives: Music @ja

New Perfume: “Mirai No Museum”

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It’s tempting to excuse the relatively lukewarm “Mirai No Museum” because of its commercial obligations. This, maximalist-pop-trio Perfume’s newest single, serves as the theme song for the upcoming Doraemon film which seems to involve some sort of “future museum” (which is what you get when you translate the title). After a string of songs in 2012 that saw the group and producer Yasutaka Nakata continuing to flex their J-Pop brilliance (“Point” and “Hurly Burly” are about as strong a one-two punch I’ve heard in a while), “Mirai No Museum” sounds like a lazy stroll through a museum, bouncy but never really taking any risks save for an occasional Nakata touch lurking in the back. The chorus is something you’d expect from an idol-pop group, not a trio behind killer hooks. It SOUNDS like something made to play harmlessly behind the opening-credit sequence for a movie focused on a robot-cat. I guess we should forgive this single, just because it has commercial interests at heart.

Nope, that’s a cop out, because plenty of other J-Pop artists have taken commercial obligations and created great music out of it. It’s one of the unavoidable aspects of Japan’s pop scene, that many singles are commissioned with commercial use in mind…but that doesn’t mean the music has to be middling. Kaela Kimura’s “Wonder Volt” serves as the theme song for the Japanese version of Frankenweenie, but she used the prompt to create a song that manages to fit the Tim-Burton-made vibe of the film while still sounding daring. Yasutaka Nakata, especially, is good at working within limitations – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s “Fashion Monster” was greenlit for a clothing store, but that song stands as one of her best singles yet and her strongest lyrical display. Heck, Perfume have been the masters of delivering great music born out of marketing requests since they got big in 2007. So let’s not excuse “Mirai No Museum” – it’s just sorta lackluster.

Ano(t)raks Release New Compilation Upwards And Onwards, Featuring Post Modern Team, Canopies And Drapes, JAM The MOD And So Many More

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There are a few new few twists to be found over at Ano(t)raks, the online label specializing in Japanese indie-pop. The Upwards And Onwards EP, the follow-up compilation to last year’s excellent Soon collection, features sounds just outside of the collective’s usual twee leanings. Tokyo’s Canopies And Drapes shows up with her bouncy, Night On The Galactic Railroad referencing “G&C – Giovanni And Campanella,” and that’s followed up by the electro funk of Kai Takahashi’s “1980.” Soft As Snow But Warm Inside make great use of space on the slow-moving “When The Nightmare Ends,” while the biggest eye-opener (and the best song on the album) comes from Fukuoka’s JAM The MOD, who deliver a showstopper with the eight-minute-long “2nd Rainbows.” It’s a superbly paced song, going from twinkling passages to moments punctured by harsh guitar. JAM The MOD – probably the new band of 2013 to keep the closest eye on.

But this is still an Ano(t)raks’ comp, and that means a lot of excellent indie-pop along the new wrinkles. The names should be familiar by now if you’ve kept an eye on the Japanese indie scene over the last year – Boyish, The Paellas, Foodie, Post Modern Team (whose “Someday” is especially strong among these tracks, deserves to be put up with “Never Let You Down” and “Heartbreak”). The pleasant surprises – The Ship’s skippy “Her Secret” and, less of a surprise but among the best things they’ve ever released, The Vanities’ “Gabriel’s Blue Hat.” Download here, worth every second.

Ryuuta Takaki’s Stillness EP

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The defining moment on Tokyo-based producer Ryuuta Takaki’s Stillness EP comes near the end, on the track “Phantasm.” The track opens in a relaxed and minimal matter, bordering on sounding like an electronic imitation of a peaceful meadow. Takaki’s sounds resemble the chirping of birds, and only a skittering beat really seems out of place. At the 54-second mark, though, the song blows up into a club banger, the beat swallowing up everything else and just taking control. Then…it vanishes too and the song turns nearly ambient. It’s the perfect snapshot of an EP that finds Takaki exploring the interplay between noisy and the serene – songs boast nature-evoking titles (“Under The Water,” “Chill Wind,” “Sleety Rain”) and oftentimes sound minimalist. Yet the beatmaker also punctures these songs with moments of noise, of something more club friendly. It’s a brief collection of songs, but a solid one. Listen here.

New Hotel Mexico: “boy”

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boy from HOTEL MEXICO on Vimeo.

Hotel Mexico’s new album Her Decorated Post Love dropped yesterday, and definitely worth your time. The Kyoto group also released a video for that album’s lead-off track, “boy,” yesterday, which you can watch above. This song bares a slight resemblance to Hotel Mexico’s older “Starling, Tiger, Fox,” what with it being built on a rising keyboard melody. Yet “boy” also highlights the big change the band have embraced for Post Love…the vocals are no longer delivered in falsetto, but in a more traditional style. It proves to be just as hypnotic, though, which is what these guys do so well. Look for more on this album soon.

White Wear (Former Faron Square, :visited) Releases First EP A Black From White Space

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CUZ ME PAIN projects Faron Square and :visited are no loner around making woozy dance music, but pivotal-member-in-the-prior-and-uhhh-the-whole-project-of-the-latter Yyoke has a new project under the Tokyo label’s umbrella. White Wear has been kicking around, mostly making remixes, since last year, but now he’s got his first EP out. Called A Black From White Space, the three-song release finds Yyoke operating in a style somewhat similar to his work as :visited – two of the three songs here boast a dance-friendly beat, but the surrounding electronics sound faded, borderline dreamy stuff. Vocals find a way into “Clear City” and the title track, but they are obscured, blurred to the back of the song and turned to a ghostly detail…a CUZ ME PAIN staple. The one curveball…and the most intriguing song on the EP…is the opening track Black Dawn. It barely features a beat and is more of an atmospheric track than anything danceable. It’s unexpected from Yyoke’s camp, and it’s an alluring entryway into a solid EP. Get it here.