Been a bit since we checked in on Hiroki Yamamura and, happy to report, he’s still creating pulsing dance numbers moving at full speed. “Flying Disco Pusher” is a shifty one where a wordless voice stutters off in the back while the music — following juke principles — blasts forward while managing to skitter off…
Tokyo’s LLLL have gone in a lot of directions over the last few years, but a stripped down piano number is a new one. “Sincerely Yours” isn’t purely recital material — a few electronic touches whiz and glow throughout the song — but the emphasis is on piano chords, and it’s a very lovely song…
We all let our assumptions ruin us sometimes. My image of the band Have A Nice Day! revolves around that I swear they play most of their shows at Shinjuku Loft, a nice enough venue but one I mostly associate with “alternative” idols and rock bands who know how to put on a nutty live…
I’m so used to Amunoa blasting ahead at lightspeed that hearing them embrace…talk box and sax…is pretty surprising. But the recently released “Do U Remember” does just that, slicing up some funk-era sounds and rearranging them into a slapping number unfolding at a nice stroll. While the producer usually aims for hyper feeling, this one…
Some of the earliest groups I listened to when I moved to Japan were techno-pop outfits. I mean, yeah, but also a lot of smaller outfits primarily hailing from Kansai, highlighted early on by Root Thumm and BangBangBalloon (eventually rechristened Nuxx). A lot of what drew me to those outfits also pops up when listening…