Tokyo’s Call And Response Records will put out a new compilation album, titled Throw Away Your CDs And Go Out To A Show, on August 16. It shines a spotlight on the country’s best “modern Japanese postpunk, no wave and noise-rock,” anchored by relative notable names in music geek circles such as Melt-Bananana and (ok, maybe not hugely known) Yolz In The Sky. But it’s acts such as Tokyo-based duo Second Apartment that really epitomize the release. The pair’s “Height” is an unnerving number featuring subdued guitar playing interrupted by drum machine beats and malfunctioning electronic scrabble, punctuated by vocals delivered in a shout, jumping between a series of “hai hai hai’s” and “no no no’s.” And, most fittingly of all, the song breaks apart completely in the back end, giving way to a jittery electro jog. Listen above.
Category Archives: Music
Warm Season: Twin Flamingo’s “Long Hair”
This has all the makings of a song that gets a lot of plays from us over the next few months. It’s a male-female duet from a new indie-pop outfit hailing from the Kansai region, the part of Japan that tends to do this skippy style better than the rest. But really, all those details end up secondary to just listening to the way “Long Hair” gallops ahead, the pair at the center of the song taking turns handing the verses and chorus, injecting both with an urgency that makes the pace al the more important. Listen above.
Not So Fake: Pollyanna’s “Breaking News”
Always up for a pick-me-up on a Monday, and indie-pop outfit Pollyanna’s “Breaking News” delivers just that. It’s the title track to the group’s second mini-album, and it is a driving number packed tight with guitars and keyboard. It’s energetic, but never overwhelming, and the vocals add a sweetness. At a time when a lot of indie rock in Japan leans towards a slower, relaxed style — the sort of thing you wear a light jacket in August for despite the temperature — it’s nice to hear something so downright bouncy. Listen above.
New Le Makeup: Hyper Earthy
It’s a bit premature to say something like Osaka producer Le Makeup’s Hyper Earthy represents a major sonic shift for the artist. Up to this point, they’ve released one album and a handful of tracks, so small sample size. Yet that previous material was up-tempo, influenced by the sounds of the Caribbean and the Latin world and geared pretty squarely at making bodies move. Hyper Earthy has similar flashes of energy, but it also feels more inward looking and prone to reflection. It also features a lot more guitar splashed across — from opener “Invisible Insecurity” onward, electric guitar riffs ripple through these dreamy songs, joining shreds of voices and synthesizers together. It can still get moving, but even on a shuffler like “Purity” or the fragmented fever dream of “Real,” everything sounds subdued, like some memory is stopping the song from letting loose. And then there are pieces that drift, like “Paper Cave” and “Sketch for Wheat Road” (featuring acoustic guitar). Like a Metome or Seiho, Le Makeup is going beyond simple energy. Get it here, or listen below.
New Poor Vacation: F/E/E/L/S
One of my favorite things is when an artist refuses to leave a song alone. I like seeing artists poke at their creations in an effort to find new angles to them — see Spange Call Lilli Line’s multiple versions of “Rio” or even Radiohead’s long-time-to-release “True Love Waits,” to name just a couple. Tokyo’s Poor Vacation has been prodding at the song “Long Goodbye” for nearly two years now, first on his debut EP and then in a sparkling “summer version” last year. Another take on it opens up Poor Vacation’s F/E/E/L/S, and once again he recasts it, this time as a high-stepping bit of city-bound pop, giving it more of a band feel than the dance-heavy incarnations of the past. And that one gets followed up by the title track, a funky synth-pop number that shows the stylistic curiosity the project has.
In a lot of ways, Poor Vacation have been influenced by and taken the place of the now-disbanded Moscow Club, a band that similarly hop-scotched between dance tracks, sytnh-pop and twee…and, who like Poor Vacation, went to great lengths to point out other acts in Japan (they were trying to build a scene, because they knew that’s how you get attention, especially from those overseas). On F/E/E/L/S, Poor Vacation get Pasocom Music Club and Pavillion Xool to contribute fragmented remixes. Get it here, or listen below.