Streaming in Japan is a weird topic to tackle. It still hasn’t taken off at the level I imagine global giants such as Spotify and Apple would have hoped by now, but it does offer a new angle on the music scene here, and alongside YouTube has made it easier than ever to block out…
Changeling Life highlights producer Carpainter’s versatility better than any of his other recent releases. The middle two tracks zero in on his more aggressive side — “Dump Truck” rumbles along, only interrupted by distorted voices, while “Linkage” moves swifter but still leans towards the harder hitting. Yet its the songs bookending this EP that demand…
“Sayonara Complex” was a slight outlier in the world of CHAI. That song — alongside its goofy, joyful video — captured the Tokyo quartet at their most earnest, the playfulness of earlier EPs making space for something slightly bittersweet, too. “N.E.O.” offers a look at CHAI at their more natural state, which is like lawful…
Rapper and producer Youheyhey has been kicking around for a few years now, and even put out a very solid EP of woozy rap last year that sounds like its playing out in another universe than most Japanese hip-hop from that moment (or now). New song “Bad Weather” features a beat somewhere between Yoshino Yoshikawa…
What are the hot trends in Japanese music right now? You could point to a few musical similarities, or you could try to deduce something larger from big songs such as Daoko’s big breakout hit, or Hoshino Gen’s gloopy TV theme song. Yet I would say what’s happening now is nothing specific, that things are…