The rise of “Soundcloud rap” as primary inspiration for a certain corner of young Japanese rappers has been a mixed bag. For my taste, it has worked out much better than every other new artist trying really hard to be Future and failing, but it still has a pretty high miss rate in general, with…
砂 by Moscow Room Late last year, Moscow Room caught our attention with the claustrophobic creep of “Swim,” a number channeling the unsettling to create something absorbing and dark. Suna plops that right in the middle, and reveals “Swim” to be Moscow Room’s big calling card, a tension-filled number showing everything they have to offer….
Still in the dream / The letter for you. by Memoryhook Two songs, two chances for Nagoya project Memoryhook to show off their musical duality. “Still In The Dream” is the hazier offering, and pretty much delivers what you’d expect from a shoegaze-adjacent project. It never gets too noisy, but the group swirls together vocals,…
New year (or at last new season) means new compilation from the electronic collective AR30. AR30: New Year Compilation 2019 gathers nine tracks to get the Year of the Boar off to a strong start. The set gets off to a fast start with Yuichi Nagao’s “Light,” a rush of fuzzy vocal samples, car horns…
Turns out we still have some late 2018 music to catch up with. Producer Tonbo’s Visions embraces techno and house elements, but with the edges frayed. This isn’t some massive innovation or anything, but at its best this short release offers up some of the more disorienting electronic moments we’ve heard in recent memory. In…