Producer Tamao Ninomiya transforms rough numbers into charming little songs. The producer’s 2015 demo Heavenly Disorders highlighted that well, with chirpy little synth numbers wandering off in all sorts of directions, but most of the creations featuring a melodic grounding of some sort — even if said grounding moved out of frame quickly after. Ninomiya’s…
Based out of Fukuoka, Ruby Lemon is the new solo project of Kumiko, formerly of the band Amorphous. Under her new alias, she’s moving towards something more reflective and more sun-bathed, vaguely tropical but ultimately more on the dreamy side. “The Ship Of Imagery” unfolds slowly, synthesizer notes drifting across all blurred and the beat…
Cornelius has returned, and he sounds at home with the current state of J-Pop. “If You’re Here” is the first song from Mellow Waves, his first original album since 2006’s Sensuous. And similar to the numbers on that full-length…and prior release Point…”If You’re Here” uses abrupt breaks and just-off rhythms to construct a song. Bits…
Usually, Japan gets new movies or TV shows way later than the rest of the world. But sometimes it works the other way too — I figured Dustin Wong and Takako Minekawa’s latest album Are Euphoria was out everywhere, since you can find it at music stores here in Tokyo. But nope! It comes out…
One of the best live sets I saw last year came courtesy of Jun Kamoda at last year’s Maltine Records event at WWW X, a shape-shifting and exhilarating hour of music featuring splashes of guitar and moments of pure release. Echoes of that set appear in “Blind Disco,” the first song from Kamoda’s forthcoming release…