Sometimes, artists — in Japan, but really anywhere — get good at something, and kind of just pluck away at that for a long time and end up not moving in any direction. Producer Nyankobrq appears to not be one to settle, as they’ve teamed up with the rap duo Snow Smile to provide them a fizzy beat. For Nyankobrq, it’s a chance to adjust the kawaii-embracing maximalism they prefer in a way to allow for two MCs to work over. Nyankobrq maintains their busy sound (similar to what Yunomi did with them too), but allows just enough room for the pair to tag team over (something Yunomi couldn’t do, his song feeling more like a split). Yet it goes the other way too — non-pop-oriented rap in Japan tends to either embrace a throwback boom-bap sound or a watered-down trap approach that just makes you want to listen to Migos (or they venture down a more recent third path). Snow Smile go for something totally different, opting for near electro-pop, and it actually works for them and the way they tag team over it. Listen above, or watch the video below.
Category Archives: Music
New Paperkraft: Here With You / S Act
Three releases deep now, and Kyoto’s NC4K label now looks like a legit player to keep an eye on when it comes to electronic music in Kansai. Their latest comes from Osaka’s Paperkraft, a producer who is often associated with the “lo-fi house” style. That term can be a bit divisive — the main argument against it being it is just house music that sounds a little more roughed up — but I personally like it, possibly because it feels similar to other internet-centric micro-genre from the last few years. Anyway, Paperkraft does it well, with opener “Here With You” offering one of the more ecstatic numbers in their catalog, marked by a sweet, cathartic vocal sample soaring above the beat. More familiar is the bleary-eyed shuffle of “S Act,” with distant 808 hits and faded vocal samples drifting about the ether. Get it here, or listen below.
Foggy Get Together: Come To My Party’s “Clay Cat” And “Victoria Falls”
Listening to the new latest songs from Tokyo project Come To My Party reminds me of a time in the capital’s music community when a lot of dance-leaning groups were coming up and playing at fashionable venues (or fashion-first hell holes) in the city. Like Give Me Wallets or The Brixton Academy. Well, these two numbers bring that to mind…if you heard them from the next room over. “Clay Cat” (above) features a nice guitar-powered groove and some muttered come-ons, but it also has a thick layer of fuzz over it, giving a slightly off feel far different than the glitzy dance-pop of five years ago. “Victoria Falls” ends up even busier and is closer to a more traditional rock song, with a big emotional hook and even some pianos twinkling off in the back. Yet it still sounds dirty, pulled out of the muck. Which adds a nice tension to the whole thing. Listen below.
New Cor!s: Temporary Prose
Osaka artist Cor!s has been dabbling in a variety of electronic-centric styles over the last decade, whether on her own or as one half of the Addams Family Goes Mad Decent unit KWi. It’s made for a constantly shifting set of songs from her, but also not a lot of consistency at once. But now comes Temporary Prose, an eight-song album just as interested in genre hopping, but finding Cor!s better than ever before, creating sturdy numbers in every style she tries. Highlights abound — Cor!s shows off a more refined pop side throughout, with piano-and-harp-driven opener “My Favorite Things ~ Toki No Sanbun ~” and the chiming “Machibouke” making an argument that she could be involved in mainstream J-pop if she wanted (now, or maybe at the turn of the century, at least after listening to the Shibuya-kei-derived hop and skip of “TenkouMajo”). Yet then you have something like “Musées du Surréalisme,” a revved-up number that’s part future bass rumbler and part jazzy imagination (catch the flute drifting through all the electronic hiccups). Or the shuffling, surprisingly tense “Moon Garden.” Or how about “Firefly,” which improves on the big-stage EDM Cor!s has flashed an interest in over the years, but runs it through a filter that gives it a great digi-sheen and string-assisted funk vibe. Temporary Prose is a triumph of musical curiosity, and what happens when you spend some time developing those ideas. You end up with a varied set that can stand up to any style. Get it here, or listen below.
Fizzy Float: Happypills’ “Starship”
It’s the fluttery and fizzy edges of “Starship” that really stand out. Fukuoka artist Happypills mostly finds a middle ground between indie-pop and larger Japanese rock bands such as Galileo Galilei, Asian Kung-Fu Generation and maybe a little bit of Supercar. For the most part, “Starship” is a straightforward gallop, anchored by the slightly obscured vocals really playing up the melancholy sweetness. Fine and good, but it’s the little electronic ripples on the edges that make this one worth listening to. They add a woozy, out-of-place feel to an otherwise standard rock number, which makes the central longing all the more palpable. Get it here, or listen above.