A rap song serving as the lead-off number to a label’s special compilation might not seem like usual fare for this blog. Yet rapper Tubaki’s “Soda Water,” the first cut from an album put out by the Pitch Odd Mansion collective, jumps out thanks to a beat far away from the usual boom-bap fare of Japan’s eternal revivalists and the at-times samey attempt at Atlanta sounds many younger artists go for. Rather, Tubaki recruits Avec Avec to create a big gloopy backdrop accented by bell chimes and handclaps, a sound familiar to anyone following the producer’s career but which has up to this point hasn’t been used for hip-hop (give or take a Phoenix And The Flower Girl remix). Yet his lava-lamp-paced approach to music sounds apt for someone to rhyme over, and Tubaki proves it by working over the track just fine. And it is structured in such a way to ramp up the drama within, with passages of more mellow sounds, featuring guest vocals from Yoco. Listen above.
Category Archives: Music
New MPEG-7: “Tokyo Neon”
Tokyo’s MPEG-7 has recently been creating tracks leaning more on the beat side of things, which while sounding fine also come off like they are lacking something. They sound like a frame looking for one final piece to complete it (mainly: vocals). “Tokyo Neon” isn’t the same case. While clearly influenced by the hazy vibe of vaporwave (see: artwork), MPEG-7 creates a track that manages to stand on its own, full of sudden horn blasts and various tempo changes. It’s part menacing, part intoxicating. And most importantly, it works on its own. Listen below, or get it here.
Off Center: Flyingdaughter’s .white.white.white.
Osaka electronic unit Flyingdaughter have been kicking around for a couple years now, creating a skittery take on electro-pop that swaps out the often joyful sounds associated with the style in favor of something a touch darker. Think criss-crossing beats and singing just a smidge muffled. .white.white.white. packs everything intriguing about the duo into a five-song package, starting off with a dizzying mix of drum-machine beats and string notes (“Fall”) which create a tension which over the words can drift. From there, they touch on bell-accented laments (“Waltz”) to woozy pop featuring surprisingly sturdy hooks (“Reflection”). Get it here, or listen below.
Sweet Hit: Beignet’s (Nor And YUC’e) Mint Comet
The trajectory of all things “kawaii” follows a predictable route. Anything tagged as such is embraced initially, both by artists and fans, who flock to all things pastel and bubbly and somewhat unsettling in their radiance. Then, as all trends do, everyone associated with whatever the “kawaii” field are get uneasy about it, and try to distance themselves from it. “Kawaii bass,” whether that was a real thing or not but certainly reflecting a set of artists with shared sonic and visual references, is going through this now, with artists subtly (Tomggg getting more complex on newer albums, while also remixing, like, Rich Chigga) and directly (Ujico / Snail’s House announcing his next album isn’t like the other stuff). And of course, a more angry kickback comes when “kawaii” get applied by listeners too thickly, which is certainly justified as not everything from Japan should be saddled with the term…but, man I don’t know, maybe switching up the adolescent-looking anime women serving as your SoundCloud art might help alleviate the problem?
Anyway, as is often the case, the artists who simply bunker down and tune out all this noise in favor of seeing where they can push a sound next end up making the most interesting work. Nor and YUC’e’s project Beignet tick off a lot of the “kawaii” boxes — Mint Comet by Beignet! — but let the music show their growth. It follows up this spring’s very solid Momo Syrup outing, and finds the pair twisting in new ways. Many of the musical cues found in both their solo works pop up — this is a very bright and cheery set — with songs such as the title track matching fizzy verses with a dusty bass drop. Yet then something like “Rem” comes around, and it’s basically a Her Ghost Friend song, misty synthesizer and dollops of modern electronic beats pushing YUC’e’s singing to the front, where it turns into a wave of voices. Or “Mizutama,” an electro-pop number turned jittery by malfunctions and unfolding at a jog bringing to mind nu-Shibuya-kei kids (speaking of made-up genre). Many of the noises on Mint Comet sound familiar, but Nor and YUC’e have stuck with them long enough to find new dimensions to them. Get it here, or listen below.
New Soleil Soleil: My Way Or The Highway
Given how everything sounds vaguely tropical in 2017 — well, that or totally grey — it’s weird thinking back on how Osaka’s Soleil Soleil was so ahead of this trend. If he was outside Asia, he’d be Kygo! However, the Kansai artist is always a few steps ahead of the sounds clogging festival grounds, and his new collection My Way Or The Highway finds Soleil Soleil exploring many new areas of dance music. They range from the pleasant afternoon shuffle of opener “What’s Going On” (featuring some lovely horn blurts) and a pitch-shifted take on his own “If I Could” featuring Cloudy Busey, which takes the song from melancholy to menace. There are surprisingly stripped-down numbers such as “Night Jam,” and then some radical reimaginings of existing songs, like Passion Pit’s “Little Secrets.” Listen above.