tofubeats’ has a knack for building songs up, though it isn’t always the musical mode pushed to the forefront. Most of his major-label singles opt for pure pop pleasure with little wait. Yet he’s also skilled at the slow burn, hinted at by numbers such as “What You Got” and “Don’t Stop The Music.” But now “River” can be his calling card on that front. It teases piano balladry, but gradually tofubeats lets other elements come in, from filtered syllables rippling over the song to more percussion. And then it bubbles over to a sweet and skippy final section, one that makes the emotional build present earlier really hit. Listen above.
Category Archives: Music
Just A Theory: Neco Asobi’s Kimi To Tsuki To Cider
No group has been more influential this decade than Sotaisei Riron. That outfit’s mix of Showa-derived pop melodies and lead singer Etsuko Yakushimaru’s surreal sing-speak ended up leaving a mark on pop and rock in Japan across the past ten years, ranging from out-right imitation to blueprints towards the mainstream to stranger creations.
If you need to see just how far down that group’s impact has gone, the latest from extremely-online label Local Visions tells the stories. Utsunomiya’s Neco Asobi channels the group on Kimi To Tsuki To Cider’s two songs (even the title!). The title track boasts a slick guitar melody halfway between city pop and Weather Channel, given a buzz by some electronic touches. And then comes Neco Asobi’s singing, closer to talking and loaded with references to the internet and shoegaze — a snapshot of a life. “Discover” adds a sturdier beat for her to sing over, while still retaining that night-drive pacing. Rounded out by two solid remixes that push “Discover” into more rubbery territory, this brief set isn’t just a bit of musical connect the dots, but a solid release all its own. Get it here, or listen below.
Tipsy And Cute: TsubusareBozz’s “Blue Fairy”
“Kawaii” music in Japan tends to embrace a sugary maximalism, aided by bells and whistles…literally. It’s a hit or miss approach, and one extending beyond SoundCloud producers who love anime girls as art — when it works, it’s a dizzying mutation on modern electronic music, but when it misses it gets really cloying. TsubusareBozz avoids the latter on “Blue Fairy” by letting a stutter into the song. The self-described creator of “cute” sounds avoids full-on cotton candy in favor of something splitting the difference between Avec Avec and a chill hip-hop beat. The key addition is a fractured vocal sample, a touch that never lets any chime or synth note get comfortable, and makes it all a little more tipsy. Listen above.
New House Of Tapes: “I Can Not Say Goodbye To You”
Nagoya’s House Of Tapes has tried out a lot over his career — and now comes something resembling a tone poem. “I Can Not Say Goodbye To You” finds the producer sing-speaking a melancholy set of lyrics against a discombobulated (but never overwhelming) electronic backdrop. While it isn’t as suffocating as their older material, their is a nice bit of tension between the singing and the music, which moves from scatterbrained to somewhat ethereal by the end. Listen above.
Two Compilations Of Music For Summer 2018 From commune310
Oh what a wonderful way to close out the remaining days of summer. The ever-reliable commune310 shared two compilations of summer material recently, and A gets off to a hot start, with Bamboo’s “I Can Feel It’ delivering some loose-limbed funk before Yuzen’s eight-minute-plus “Yourself” delivers a slow-burning blast of tropical delight, loaded up with island percussion and dazzling synth melodies that result in an early peak for this set. It only gets faster from there — complete with high-speed rework of Perfume’s “Fusion” worked in. Listen to it below, or get here.
B doesn’t really slow down from there, though it does take on a new kind of energy. It leans heavier on future bass and EDM elements, though it also makes room for the Tatsuro-Yamashita-sampling delirium of Star Jaxx’s “Shall We?” a clever re-work that avoids easy tempo-up feelings in favor of something a bit more slippery (with original vocals to boot). The pace only picks up from there, and the whole thing ends up being a good pick me up, complete with a Nelly-Kelly-Rowland flip courtesy of kissmenerdygirl. Get it here, or listen below.