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Category Archives: Music

New LLLL: Chains “Phase 3: Reflect”

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The latest installment in LLLL’s Chains series finds the Tokyo project in a softer, more melancholic mood. Not to be too obvious, but it’s right there in the title — “Phase 3: Reflect”, and the accompanying three songs aim for a head space looking back, without any of the harder thumping sounds that popped up on earlier installments of this run. We’ve already written about “Slowly We Come,” this release’s centerpiece, and it is bookended by the slowly burbling wonderment of opener “Destination” and the fluttery dance-pop of “Mahou.” Most telling, this phase only features the original LLLL set of contributors…no guests, but rather a return of sorts to the sound that made them stand out in the first place. Get it here, or listen below.

New Sapphire Slows: “The Edge Of My Land”

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As premiered on The Fader earlier this week, Tokyo’s Sapphire Slows offered a taste of her forthcoming mini-album Time, in the form of “The Edge Of My Land.” Vocals have always played a central role in her electronic compositions, primarily as something flowing through the song, adding tension to the song even when not clear. Save for some exceptions, they’ve always felt like a critical but vaporous element. “The Edge Of My Land” spotlights them more. They are right in the middle, still clouded but pushed closer to the center than before. Just as interesting, is how warm it all sounds — “uneasy” is a word I’ve tossed around a lot with her work before around these parts, and while splashes of that adjective still come through, “The Edge Of My Land’s” mix of singing and synthesizer melodies ultimately offer something brighter sounding. Listen above.

New (Kinda) Cemetery: “House Of Angels Healing Their Wounds”

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I’m not the best at doing things I mean to do. Ask my email inbox. When it comes to posting around these parts, working life often gets in the way, knocking off all sorts of drafts just begging to get out of WordPress purgatory. I see you latest, very solid The fin. release, stay strong. It happens. But man I feel really bad about not writing something up about Cemetery’s Vessels from this past May, primarily because it’s a lock for my personal favorite albums list. It explores uneasy electronic territory the artist last touched on last year’s Denial, but moves towards something warmer and more spacious. The songs take their time to develop, slowly revealing new moments of beauty. Get it here.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because Cemetery shared a video for that album’s centerpiece, “House Of Angels Healing Their Wounds,” recently. It captures everything great about the aforementioned full-length in one track — it’s a spacious song building from sparseness to something practically shining, while also working in a few more unsettling details (the whispers lurking deep beneath). Gorgeous, simple, but hiding something underneath. Listen above.

UPDATE: Video appears to be gone! Still listen to the album!

New Masayoshi Iimori: “Kickin’ Up”

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Few artists in Japan do hard-hitting release better than Masayoshi Iimori. The Trekkie Trax member has a new one called “Kickin’ Up” out via Good Enuff, and it works wonders as a roughneck dance cut…and as a good one to dive into after a long day of work (maybe letting personal experiences color that one). Iimori goes heavy on the bass here, and doesn’t hold back, letting even the softer passages of the track flash aggression before scaling up to outright pounding. It’s capped off by a build bringing to mind a malfunctioning phone, an interesting sound all its own even before the beat rushes back in. Listen above.

New Qrion: Just A Part Of Life EP

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Electronic artist Qrion is at her best musically when exploring the quieter, almost hidden side of the genre’s sound. It’s a little too precious to position something like Sink as an alternative to busy EDM — Qrion just played Hard Fest in California, so she isn’t existing in a whole different world — but she does offer a new angle on it, inverting structure but still generating the same thrills via space as a bass drop musters.

Just A Part Of Life, her new EP and first release in quite some time (and first following a relocation to California…we are invoking the rare “outside Japan clause” for this one), finds her continuing to explore this approach, while also adding a few new wrinkles. “Hush” builds around…well, hushed syllables…wrapping them around synth notes and a beat that skips ahead. It morphs and grows intensity, but never boils over, rather letting everything play out inside, leading to an upbeat but muted finale that ends things on a positive note. The second track, “T&C,” similarly builds around sliced-up vocals, but finds Qrion moving towards something more energetic, everything rumbling ahead and outright joyful. Listen above, or go here.