I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for music that conjures up memories of the 2011 and 2012 Japanese indie rock community, when Hotel Mexico put their spin on chillwave and the entire CUZ ME PAIN universe offered an unsettling merger between dance and rock. Naturally, the one group left to emerge from…
Few activities are more fulfilling personally than wandering around aimlessly at night, with a bunch of heavy thoughts on your mind. And that’s the vibe coming through on Tenma Tenma’s “Yakou,” a tipsy electronic number that feels temporarily content with itself. While the music itself goes a long way to both being flat-out enjoyable (that…
The songs on Tokyo producer Kai Shibata’s Escape Sequence exude a bedroom quality that makes the emotions lurking within all the more forceful. It’s especially true for the pair of songs featuring guest singers. Opener “Unlock” finds Powaramiu bobbing over a herky-jerky set of drum-machine beats and synthesizer, her delivery generating a nice tension alongside…
Duo Technic Runner have been popping up on the Tokyo live circuit for a few years now, releasing songs as far back as four years ago and popping up at Scum Park events around the same time. Their style has mutated over the years, last seen with a nervy EP splitting the difference between Group…
As Tokyo-based label Trekkie Trax celebrates its five-year anniversary of existence, they are going back in time and honoring their upbringing. “I grew up with those guys from this duo’s DJ performances at the local venues in Tokyo,” label co-founder Seimei tweeted around the time Itchy & Scratchy’s Bad Songs Of The Rave EP, a…