Ahhhh, just in time for the crisp early part of Fall…a chance to break out the ol’ “this isn’t technically Japanese” disclaimer for a new season. Chimp Beams feature three Japanese men living in Brooklyn, so this falls under the Caroline/Maia Hirasawa brand of music on this blog, as in it certainly is worth talking…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-haZ2I6ywis”] So is this what it sounds like when the often glee-oozing Sebastian X tackle a ballad? Not quite…they aren’t Ayumi Hamasaki-ing it up for the song “Rose Garden, Baby Blue” from forthcoming full-length Futures (say that really fast). Yet the group’s standard-operating kitchen sink sound has been slowed a bit here, sparkling piano coupled…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2C9iWWPwtA”] Mop Of Head are a four-piece instrumental band from Tokyo. I’ve never actually mentioned them on this blog before, but wrote something up about them and their debut album Retronix for The Japan Times today. Read it here! As the story mentions, these dudes are all over the place with their influences, though nearly…
Japanese group Ropes exists, because I’m staring at the packaging for their “Slow/Last Day” 7″ right now, but they try their best to make you think they don’t. Flake Records provides a small biography and samples of their work, yet the trail stops there. Even the physical release reveals little, the shots of the band…
Indie pop can be a strange mistress. I’ve gone on record as declaring I’m hopelessly doomed to love twee-leaning music probably for the rest of my life. Yet, contrary to the amount of posts tagged “twee” on this here web log, I’m not googly-eyed over every single cutesy band. Sometimes this sorta wimpy stuff can…