Nagoya trio Crunch wisely lead off their first brush with major-label life with their finest moment to date. “Blue” isn’t new — it originally appeared on last year’s short-but-sweet Blue Blue Blue, serving in the lead-off spot and delivering one of the year’s most emotionally wrenching numbers out of Japan, building slow and growing in…
This has been the year where I’ve accepted the fact I have no real idea of what’s happening in American music. This development probably solidified like two years ago, but I’m at peace with it in 2017, a stretch of time where the amount of time spent on Twitter means I get a certain exposure…
Simply adding singing to a song can take it from familiar to thrilling. Tokyo duo HoneyComeBear create uptempo, at times claustrophobic, electronic music (“future bass” if you please), the sort of songs that sound like they were recorded in HiDef. Yet Kakko, who sings on their songs as well as pens them and helps compose…
“Tropical” has become such a meaningless buzzword that hearing something that genuinely sounds tropical is a genuine shock to the system. Buddhahouse has done this well over the last two years, whether via the cool shimmy of “Summer Breeze” or borderline kitsch of “Mango!,” each of which have genuinely gotten me writing about weather.* “See…
[looks at calendar] Oh hey, nice. Indie-pop outfit Luby Sparks are the latest up-tempo group charging through ennui to get the call up to a bigger label. They just released their debut album via Space Shower Music, and shared the title track. “Thursday” zooms ahead, featuring a slightly fuzzed guitar melody which adds some force…