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Category Archives: Music

Trekkie Trax Teams Up With Good Enuff For Compilation Featuring Foodman, KiWi And More

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Tokyo label Trekkie Trax has teamed up with Mad Decent sub-label Good Enuff for a compilation celebrating the Japanese netlabel. This isn’t the first time these two entities have criss-crossed, and many of the artists here have also been featured on Good Enuff. The best moments come from the artists who seem most out of this particular orbit (and, when they’ve even grazed the ears of Mad Decent hypebeasts, are met with a beautiful chorus of “what the fuck is this” and “this isn’t music”). Unsurprisingly, Foodman delivers a winner with the fragile “Oyaji Voice,” which finds the electronic oddball giving himself ample space to play around with voices. Far more crowded but just as off-kilter is KiWi, whose EDM-gone-Haunted-Mansion shines on the high-energy hoedown of “S.A.G.E.” The rest of the compilation is more what you would expect from both sides, highlighted by Foxsky’s interpretation of Miami bass on “Like That,” and Ryuki Miyamoto’s skittery “Clap! Clap!” Listen below, or on a streaming service.

New Nyankobrq: Black Cat

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Nothing better for electronic music in Japan than the week after a big gathering (usually of the otaku nature). That’s when all the independent artists who brought limited-edition releases to said event share them online for the rest of us. In the wake of last week’s M3, a handful of new compilations and releases have emerged (see: this Yunomi EP, for example). Producer Nyankobrq joins in the festivities with the busy Black Cat album, and ends up with one of the best collections he has put together. Nyankobrq’s building blocks remain the same, as all the songs here feature julienned-vocals bouncing off an array of synths and drum-machine hits. Songs such as “Happy End” and “Montbretia” stretch like taffy, but they don’t lean on the familiar “kawaii” (read: bells, chimes, Tomggg circa 2013 collection), rather creating something bright and bubbly using a separate sonic palette (though he approaches something more expected later in the album…though even then, it sounds separate than, say, Snail’s House or Yunomi). And there there are the instances where he expands his sound, adding actual singing (from…himself???) on the slinky “Syoumikigen” and the disorienting “No Doubt,” featuring a sound approaching a broken air filter. Get it here, or listen below.

New Capchii: Everywhere

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Cute comes in many forms. Producer Capchii embraces a more aggressive take on cuddly sounds within the new album Everywhere, approaching the steel-box heaviness of Yunomi but using bright synthesizer and dance sounds to construct it. The songs here are packed tight, from the dog-bark-featuring density of “My Friend” to the darty “The Piece Of Memories.” Tracks tease something soft, but then let an avalanche of sounds and beats cascade downward on the listener. Even the guest vocalists — or guest software, as Hatsune Miku appears on “Melody Line” — end up being just another frantic moving part in Capchii’s high-energy cuts. But the producer knows how to do constant energy, and Everywhere proves a fun listening, even if a break in the middle to relax might be in order. Get it here, or listen below.

New Dubb Parade: Anthesis

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Few electronic artists in Japan deliver consistency quite like Dubb Parade. But Anthesis features a few new wrinkles to his approach — primarily, the producer brings in guest vocalists to add a human touch to his works. The highlight is the first song, “Jellyfish,” featuring indie-pop outfit Caro Kissa. This is the closest Dubb Parade has come to outright pop music — like, verse, chorus, verse, not just the fact it’s catchy — and a lot of its charm comes from the focus on the voice, and how the wispy music elevates it just right. Nearly as good is the collab with Nonaca Nona, the poemcore artist formerly known as Owtn. That one is a rumbling number featuring her spoken-word observations, all delivered through an electronic haze. Anthesis features two non-vocal tracks too — the scrambled-up “Embers” being a particular stunner — but seeing how Dubb Parade plays around with voices ends up being the real selling point here. Get it here, or listen below.

New Ame To Kanmuri: “Ready”

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The release of Ame To Kanmuri’s debut album approaches closer and closer, and now comes the first video from the rapper who rhymes over nocturnal dance beats. “Ready” stands as the longest song from the Koutei Camera Girl member, and one of the more melancholy. Featuring a track provided by Masayuki Kubo (And Vice Versa / AVV), “Ready” is a sparse rumbler of a song, featuring some ennui-soaked chimes and droning synthesizer lines, made even more wrenching by string swells. It’s an apt backdrop for Ame To Kanmuri to rap over, delivering one of her more outright downtrodden vocal performances, punctuated by the sung hook. Listen above.