As those year-end demands start creeping up, it’s easy to forget about all the great music you’ve actually listened to rather than all the stuff you still need to get through. Parkgolf’s Reo came out in August, and is a big step up for the Hokkaido-born producer. Part of that comes thanks to how he…
Japanese netlabels have a slight reputation for putting out busy, zig-zagging music. Oftentimes, that’s true! But I’m always struck how mellow Sabacan Records output over the last two years has been. The latest to come out from the digital destination, producer Stones Taro’s “Don’t Be Afraid,” adds another example to fuel this suspicion. The song…
Last Friday, as part of Red Bull Music Festival Tokyo’s programming, producers Seiho and Okadada held an event called At The Corner at Shibuya’s WWW X venue. It featured a lot of young artists from all over the nation — including this blog’s faves The Neon City and Toiret Status — and the one that…
Foodman rightfully gets celebrated for his stranger sounds — see the recent celebration of “Oyaji Voice,” focused on the connecting-thread of a vocal sample. Yet it’s important to also remember dude can just lay down a great groove, too. “Moyashi Kids” doesn’t feature anything worthy of the usual adjective arsenal writers bust out with his…
Online label commune310 excels at the compilation game, and their biggie-sized Compilation2017 delivers as expected. Unlike seasonal offerings which sometimes have a bend to them, this is just a collection of great electronic music from Japan, on the higher-tempo side of things but with plenty of variety. It’s one of those “jump in and see…