Year-end list season has become a kind of exhausting exercise, at least when giving a cursory glance at the social media feeds of music fans, industry types, writers and more. Reaction to bigger rankings tends to be more “sure, fine” then excited, while Resident Advisor even made a big deal about dropping lists all together…
Kindan No Tasuketsu aren’t afraid to dig into their song catalog and keep exploring. “Twilight” has existed in other forms and versions before, but recently the group gave it a winter rework via a “Bell Rings Ver.),” which…well, adds a lot of bell sounds. The emotional core of the song remains intact, though, as does…
Had you told me that Ladybaby would have gone on one of the stranger routes in recent J-pop memory, I wouldn’t have believed you. What started as a dippy meme in the wake of viral success via the likes of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Babymetal became a surprisingly dramatic divorce, wherein the hulking Australian wrestler…
For me, a lot of Japanese rap ends up the missing mark not because artists are taking heavy cues from American artists, but because they forget to build from that base and find their own voice (which, funny enough, is a trapping of artists around the world, and in America too). It doesn’t take long…
In recent times, Seiho has been exploring space. Last year’s Collapse and March’s “Unreal” single allowed for stretches with plenty of room to stretch out, often for experimentation. On “Purple Smoke,” he shifts the other way, with exhilarating results. The single — rounded out by two other songs — opens with wisps of noise, but…