This album could have come out in 2018 or 2011 — either way, Figure’s new album Parakalein is a welcome change-up in the world of Japanese indie-pop, a corner of the music landscape that might only be bested by shoegaze in terms of consistency. Figure, though, has always introduced a little more feedback into the…
Here you have three of the most important Japanese juke producers — two of its early advocates, plus a creator who consistently puts out the best stuff in the country AND helps offer a politicized space to showcase talent — working together on a series of releases where they play around with ideas over a…
By releasing two stellar albums of easy-breezy but emotionally twisty electronic music in 2018, AOTQ reminds that you can come up with some really interesting ideas if you just keep exploring an approach that has worked before. The parts making up Alone aren’t all that different from what appeared earlier this year on E-muzak. It’s…
Idol group Koutei Camera Girl has gone through all sorts of mutations over the last couple of years, with the latest version being re-christened Koutei Camera Girl Drei. And with a new name (and different line-up) comes a new release, New Way Of Lovin.’ A lot of “new” there, but this release actually offers the…
Seeing as how Japan is currently enjoying a real obsession with nostalgia (and, honestly, seems like this holds true for a lot of places in 2018), the throwback project Bicco Beat releasing a track titled “Nostalgic Days” seems a little too on the nose. But at least they managed to make something on the pleasant…