The past couple of years have seen plenty of Western artists drawn to Japanese sounds — from digging through city pop to seeking out rare Japanese “ambient” records. At times, it has felt a bit one sides, but recently there have been some encouraging signs of communication on both sides. See French producer Moe Shop’s recent release, one I want to write more about but which finds the artist teaming up with Japanese artists to create an irresistible set of dance numbers. Or “Perfectblue,” a collab between Kansai’s Tenma Tenma and an artist named Hiro Tadomatsu, who seems to actually be Swiss. Potentially eye rolling (more details needed!), but they are at least involved in one of the best city pop tribute songs I’ve heard all year, and now working closely with a Japanese producer. And coming up with something solid in the process. “Perfectblue” is a strut-worthy production, featuring a fair amount of electronic flourishes but emphasizing the beat. Tenma Tenma sings over it, melding just right with the music. More team-ups like this, please. Listen above.
Category Archives: Music
Sweet Tomorrow: Tomatoism’s Sugar Water EP
All good series have three parts! One and two here.
Nagoya’s Tomatoism isn’t a completely fresh face in Japanese underground electronic scene. The producer contributed to this late 2016 compilation, while also releasing this anime-centric set under the name Tomato Chan around the same time. But in 2017 they started dabbling in a sound closer to the current crop of “kawaii” producers — while venturing beyond that tag plenty, too. The Sugar Water EP is Tomatoism’s most refined release to date, finding just the right balance between more fragile instrumentation and more jacked-up sounds. Opener “Recall” matches bells and pianos with synth wooshes, building up towards a drop, albeit one that still has a lot of heavy thoughts on its mind. The other two Tomatoism originals — two remixes round it out, alongside a piano take that feels like an inessential bonus — pick up the pace, the cicada-accented “GF From The Countryside” breaking into a sprint while “Hyper Urban” just jackhammers away from the start. All the while, bass and hard-hitting beats crash into it, never knocking the songs off but adding new layers to it. Get it here, or listen below.
New Happy Kuru Kuru: Good Morning Tokyo
Ehhh, screw it, let’s lean in on this “kawaii” thing for today.
Via Attack The Music, idol duo Happy Kuru Kuru shared a new two-song set called Good Morning Tokyo. The pair themselves are quite in line with what most people think of Japanese idol music — cheery vocals that are far from polished, songs about relatively upbeat and low-stakes subject matter — and aren’t really the hook for this release. Rather, that would be producer Yunomi, whose cuddly-meets-breakneck electornic sound has slowly been creeping into the mainstream. The two songs here are mostly a reminder of Yunomi’s approach, the title track in particular being a bit boilerplate in exhibiting the merger of helium voices, traditional touches and big jackknife drops. Which, nothing wrong with that when one is that consistently solid. “Green Green” offers something more playful — the first half of the song is basic idol schlock, all bright-day melodies and now-together singing approaching the obnoxious. But then Yunomi rolls through and rips it apart, transforming the song into something I haven’t heard from him before…a hard-edged dance number actually working in tandem with the idol parts. It’s a strange new manifestation, and a fun one here. Get it here, or listen below.
New Snail’s House: Snö
Over at Bandcamp Daily, I wrote about the new wave of “kawaii” artists who are helping expand the sound often associated with that word. Think of it as a continuation of this piece looking at the history of “kawaii” music, and one that tries not too simply settle (the fact is, each artist I talked to had a different take on the classification, from enthusiasm to rejecting it). Snail’s House definitely stands as this community’s biggest name, and in a bit of nice timing he released a new album called Snö late last week. As the title implies, it takes on a winter vibe, finding Snail’s House embracing sparser formats and a sonic palette that’s actually a bit frostier than his usual choices. Warmer moments creep through — “Thaw [interlude]” adds some familiar playroom pep that makes the bouncy “[whiteout]” all the livelier — but the best instances here find the producer using space in ways they haven’t before. See “[covered in white]” and it’s Junior Boys-esque synthesizer work, or the skittery “[snowdrift].” It’s not the kawaii you’d expect, but again that’s the whole point. Get it here, or listen below.
New Metome: Shibboleth
Metome has been consistently active over the last few years, and now some of the more left-field highlights of recent times have been gathered together on new set Shibboleth. This comes from a period where Metome was interested in texture, and how different sounds could sound as they weave in and out of one another. Opener “Itch Stopping” (originally from 2015) takes familiar Metome sounds and warps them, eventually letting a soothing piano wash over it all. “Exotic” matches sharp synth notes up against what sounds like slime slipping down a wall to make an unnerving cut, while “Lady Mondegreen” plays around with tempo and cooed vocal samples. And it all ends with a 2016 experiment in crinkling ambience, “50 Minutes,” serving as a bit of a chaser after the skipping preceding it. Get it here, or listen below.