Tokyo boasts plenty of solid indie-pop outfits to get all melancholy about, but Kansai remains king when it comes to guitar music built for mid-afternoon sulk sessions. Kailios, out of Kyoto, are the latest reminder of this, with the recently released number “Round And Round.” This one will either snag your attention right away or…
Aira Mitsuki is making up for lost time. She released the cryptic (but ultimately accurate) album I’ll Be Back in 2013 and…sort of went away, no new music appearing from her for a couple of years. But since late last year, she’s been releasing new singles. First came “Lightsaver” and then the EDM-tinged “Animo!” two…
Short Version: Shonen Knife stare down the transience of life. Longer Version: Quick, what does Shonen Knife sing about? If you answered “animals” and “banana chips” and “brain powers,” congrats you are correct, as you would be if you opened up a picture book and pointed to the first illustration you found. This has always…
The cosmic-eyeing beat days seem to be over, at least for Hideo Nakasako. He caught our attention two years ago with the spacey set Tiny Place a post-INNIT collection of wobbly beats featuring NASA samples. He’s put out music since, but this month’s Phonograph signals a total shift away from the depths of the universe…
(First off, I tend to avoid fixating too much on music videos…but I think the videos that come with Metoronori’s songs do an incredible job of matching sound to image. Her music is like creating a world that sounds familiar, but ultimately is just a bit off. Clips like this one excel at recreating that…