The duo of Brinq and Misatsun delivered a late-year gem with “Kiss Me,” a sparkling dance-pop number channeling late ’80s idol numbers that managed to be catchy enough to avoid any potential nostalgia pitfalls. “Touch Me [Straight Run]” serves as the follow up, and delivers a slightly more understated, still pretty twinkling bit of pop….
Kenkou functions not just as a bubbling and playful set of pop, but as a mini-celebration of Fukuoka. Producer Abelest hails from the city, and two of the three guests joining them on this release via Maltine Records also call the Western Japanese hub home. And they come through with some fresh ideas on busy…
Bedtowns — the places existing just outside of major cities, places that exist for workers to return to after a long day at the office, what you might call the suburbs — have been a point of fascination for musicians in Japan. Probably because so many of them grew up in said places, and they…
Haruno makes music in many different molds. They’ve used Vocaloid to create dreamy synth-pop, while also shifted closer to Nujabes via albums of laid-back hip-hop-inspired beats. I’m more drawn to the prior than the latter, as the beat-oriented stuff feels a bit incomplete and a little too sleepy. Sigh. still gravitates towards that territory, but…
One of the big thrills of 2019 finally being here is that we get to reflect on the decade as a whole…real soon! Some of my favorite artists this past ten years in Japan were bedroom creators zeroed in on one stylistic drive, and just exploring it in seemingly infinite ways. Think Ventla, or I-fls….