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Category Archives: Music

New Shigge Burn Out

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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 certain corners of J-pop (it’s crazy to think how, five years ago, Johnny’s music was actually inescapable. Now…you really have to wade in to hear it). It also helps to spotlight different acts than usually get exposure through traditional means, though I’m not sure how it translates for the performers. Still, an intriguing development.

This is kind of a long way of saying…Fukuoka’s Shigge was Apple Music Japan’s “new artist of the week” upon the release of the rambunctious Burn Out, and I don’t know how that happened, but god bless ’em for it. The album comes after a strong run from the Yesterday Once More label, and really highlights everything that imprint was doing well over the last few years. Cuts such as “Chav Girl Sweat” and “Judies” plunge forward, running familiar dance music sounds through a woozy filter and letting them slowly mutate, such as how the latter goes from vocal chop-up exercise to blissed-out meditation in its final stretch. Even more straight-forward moments such as “Sketch Your Curve” hide great little details, and more importantly stay rubbery. Whether it benefits from the streaming spotlight or not, here’s one of Japan’s best dance releases of 2017. Get it here, or listen below.

New Carpainter: Changeling Life

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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 your attention, thanks to how they give themselves over to euphoria. “Breakdance” opens surrounded by warm swathes of synthesizer, building up to the point where Carpainter lets the titular phrase loop over and over again. Even better is the opening title track, which Complex correctly connects to older rave music. It’s a big, joyful release of a song, not a minute too late. Listen above.

New CHAI: “N.E.O.”

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“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 chaotic rock. This is an energetic cut full of shout-along verses and the vague sense that it could fall apart at any second, except wrapped up in something with one eye on something bigger so it’s never really in that much danger. I’ll leave it up to you if the lyrical focus on cuteness is subversive or just good catchphrase material. Either way, it’s a solid song, and while I’m not sure CHAI will every nail the sweetness of “Sayonara Complex” anytime soon, they do silly rock pretty well too. Listen above.

Good Sounds Though: Youheyhey Featuring Haruruinu Love Dog Tenshi’s “Bad Weather”

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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 and car wash squeegee, which is just the right combo for him and Haruruinu Love Dog Tenshi (hold that thought) to tag-team rap over. And, once again, so nice to hear sounds far removed from current trends. Listen above.

The real highlight on “Bad Weather” is Haruruinu Love Dog Tenshi. She raps and sing-raps, adding an immediacy to an otherwise laid-back cut. Turns out she excels at this sort of thing, and her SoundCloud page reveals all sorts of gems, ranging from her navigating a spaced-out take on Mondo Grosso’s “Labyrinth” to blurred takes on something harder. Lots of great songs there, from a talented rapper worth your time.

Good, But Strange, Vibrations: Casio Toruko Onsen’s “Biwako Wanwan Oukoku”

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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 working in their own spaces. Not quite chaotic, but closer than you’d think. You could read this as a bad development — a lack of many central narratives, no specific “wave” sweeping through listeners. Or you could approach it the other way. That the center falling out from Japanese music, even to just some degree, means all sorts of interesting stuff gets a chance to grow. Sure, stranger stuff would find an oddball space regardless — but now Foodman can creep towards the mainstream, Paellas can somehow feel on the cusp of something bigger and something as whirlwind as Suiyoubi No Campanella can be a Music Station fixture. Yeah, a few artists still dominate headlines — but the edges have gotten closer, and way more interesting than five years ago.

So now is a good time for Osaka quartet Casio Toruko Onsen to inch forward. The four-piece has been active for a few years, mostly as a live entity, serving up playful sets featuring a mish-mash of samples, synthesizers and general goofball charm. They released a new album last week, the brainmelting Yu, and “Biwako Wanwan Oukoku” is as good an entry point into their world as you will find. It features a persistent beat, the sounds of dogs woofing, and laser-like bursts. It sounds like a hybrid of Sesame Street and Wham City, the music itself not far off from Foodman’s loving exploration of sound or even Wasabi Tapes fascination with finding melody in chaos. Over all of “Biwako” is singing — at times coming off more like chanting — which gives the song an intensity the near-cartoon barking can’t get across. It ends up sorta hypnotic, and sounds like them inviting you into their own little funhouse of sound. I have no delusions of this coming close to the mainstream — though I would definitely watch their children’s show, nudge nudge NHK — but in the landscape of 2017, it sounds right. Listen above.