Every week in 2016, pajama-pop duo Lullatone shared a new song that fit in wonderfully in the group’s universe. Which is to say, they zoomed in on the everyday and seemingly tiny details of life, with song titles running from “How Frost Grows” to “Returning Overdue Library Books.” This has always been Lullatone’s focus, and…
After giving “future bass x J-Pop” a whirl, Tokyo Girls’ Style slow things down a touch with “Predawn,” a “HIPHOP X EDM” number. Which might be code for “tropical house” meets R&B, as the verses on this song unfold at a pace similar to Bieber or Fifth Harmony. The hook, though, earns that EDM tag,…
I don’t have much time as I need to go to sleep, but…new Oomori Seiko! “Dogma Magma” is from her forthcoming new full-length, and it is a good bit of twisty-turvy pop, a song that knows how to keep things interesting but also never abandons the pop core that has been vital to her work….
Yoshino Yoshikawa isn’t as interested in the cute side of Japanese music as he once was, but the producer does have a history of exploring the kawaii. The Cats EP collects songs centered around the titular, furry creature, which have been released primarily over SoundCloud over the last few years. And yeah…they all deal with…
In general, the critical move away from “guilty pleasures” has probably been a good thing. People who are generally not obsessed with decimal-point scores and the inner workings of music content still use it but, as they always have, ultimately don’t care. Yet for writers, it has probably lead to more free writing and less…