Sometimes you just need to give yourself over to noise. Sappy have operated in a variety of modes over the last couple of years, but with “Pathos” they choose to stare straight down and embrace shoegaze. They’ve waded into this territory before, but “Pathos” finds them almost going to stereotypical with the sound, with ample…
Producer Hirihiri does cuddly with a welcome bump. The creator’s Hirahira album from earlier this year is one of the year’s best out of Japan thanks to their own personal touches put on familiar high-energy electronic songs. New single “Pennycandy,” put out through Deskpop, further underlines how potentially cutesy dance tracks can take on new…
With the end of the decade approaching fast, reflecting back has been taking up a lot of time in my noggin over the last month. Part of that has been trying to sort where netlabels such as Maltine Records fall in the “narrative” of “the decade,” but then said online imprint comes through with a…
Let’s hear it for Japan’s nature-themed holidays. Sea Day has arrived, and while going to the beach probably is out of the question — Tokyo has had something like 5 hours of sunshine total this whole month, I’m doing great I swear! — there is still a chance to enjoy some city-pop-inspired music to conjure…
A lot has changed over the past decade, but sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper to find the constants. Teen Runnings have a new album out later this month, the project’s first in five years, and plenty has changed for Shota Kaneko’s project. Each full-length has found the group getting less fuzzy,…