A year ago, Sapporo-born producer Yunomi was breaking through thanks to a sound merging pounding electronics with flourishes of traditional Japanese melody. Now, about 12 months over, he appears to be teetering on something bigger — he works with a mid-tier idol group, and he just put out an album of collected works from the past year featuring Nicamoq (find that on…Apple Music? Spotify? Some service hot-wired to access Japanese streaming services?). Yet he remains focused on feeding the base, too — he’s planning to release a new mini-album featuring vocals from Momohako and Miko at the upcoming fall M3 event.
“Aimai Trip,” the first song from it, falls somewhere between Yunomi’s recent output — which has seen him stepping out of his claustrophobic zone a bit — and his usual cuddly bass assault. The synthesizer notes, especially early on, play out dizzily, adding some unease to this song, and turning the helium-pitched singing into what you imagine a pop song would sound like after being spun around twenty times at a birthday party. The center, though, is pure Yunomi, featuring a big pulsing hook and splashes of Japanese instrumentation. Thankfully for him, his base sound drills itself into your skull really well. Listen above.
