Producer and Fogpak contributor Hakushi Hasegawa gets extra bright on “Hadairo No Kawa,” his latest rainbow-colored wonder. Critical to its success, the song isn’t a dizzying display of ultra-bright synths and cutesy bell chimes — rather, Hasegawa himself sings over the music, bouncing through the uptempo portions and moving in step with the slower passages,…
The first release via fledgling new online imprint Shapes, “Pray For The Wonder Girl” by Shimane-based producer Depthqueuing packs a lot of tension into a synth-heavy beat track. Over the course of its nearly six-minute run time, the creator weaves piano and sliced-up vocal samples through a variety of synthesizer cascades, the overall effect being…
Really, it’s marketing that can’t be beat — if you make instruments, why not have musicians come in and make original songs using your top-of-the-line gear? Korg has done just that, and one of the folks they’ve called up is Minami Kitasono, who went ahead and made as loving a tribute to ’80s Japanese fusion/funk…
Oorutaichi and YTAMO…who put out a lovely album earlier in the year, in case you forgot…sometimes team up as Yuuki, a tape-hiss-accented folk outfit that allows two artists usually pushing themselves in stranger ways to explore more conventional styles. It’s a good premise for a side project, and Ihati EP 2…a sequel to a 2011…
After a stretch where Nagoya’s House Of Tapes explored the more melodic side of his sound, here comes “Melodia,” a deep-space nebula of a song spouting all over the place. Neither constricting like earlier House Of Tapes’ songs nor peacefully ambient, “Melodia” twinkles and stumbles about, rarely staying in place long enough for one consistent…