We’ve already written about the album this one comes from, but now “Sugar Summer” has a video and…well, the season feels right to revisit it, so why not? “Sugar Summer” is a highlight from Sing And Pretty, finding the duo embracing girl group pacing alongside a nice indie-pop chug. Feel good vibes for the remaining warmth. Watch above.
Category Archives: Music
New Fuji Chao: Welcome To Underground
The music Fuji Chao has been making over the last couple of years has always been visceral. Samples sourced from cartoons featured screams and crying, while the artist herself dropped in spoken-word lyrics that played out like confessions of complicated emotions. Part of this reaction comes from a distance between listener and artist, but it can’t all be chalked up to circumstance — Fuji Chao excels at using sounds to strike emotional chords.
Welcome To Underground shows this really well, almost to a fault. While her latest album contains plenty of emotional release — see the melancholy reflection on depression and connection that is “I Played With The Sea Like A Kid, You Loved Me” — it also plays out like something exploring internet-saturated culture (something made most clear on what appears to be a bonus track, “Welcome To The Hell,” which directly wrestles with the idea of the Web being a nightmare hole). “Internet Fight” moves between warped drum ‘n’ bass abrasions to reflective passages back to digital freakouts, while the familiar start-up jingle of Windows 95 gets sliced up later on the album. A fair amount of Welcome To Underground is among the most aggressive music Fuji Chao has put together, capped off by “Hello Kitty,” a song sampling some sort of scene where a guy pulls up “Japanese girls puke in each other’s mouths” and…well, you get something just like that in audio form (I am not brave enough to try to source this one). It’s gross, but so is the internet and I guess that’s the point.
Yet countering those harsher and revolting moments are sweeter ones. Some are intentional reflections in a sea of chaos like “Milk Iro No Bra,” while others just strike something in me (“Electric Fuck Rain” picks up the same melody as QQIQ’s “Daydream,” an absorbing bit of dream-pop that…can no longer be found online at all, so listening to this is both melancholy and rage-inducing regarding the Web as archival destination). And it makes moments of breakdown, such as a song constructed from samples of Evangelion’s Asuka all the more powerful. Get it here, or listen below.
Atomic Bomb Compilation Vol. 6 Is Here
Now in its sixth year, the Atomic Bomb Compilation continues to be one of the best collections of political music and juke going in Japan (and, really, globally). Let’s tackle the first element. For the first time in a few years, nuclear weapons and energy aren’t at the forefront of the summer news cycle. Yay? But that only underlines the importance of the comp’s message. Chiho Oka’s “Kyrie” lays out a lesson in nuclear war and post-WWII conflict, set over a skittering beat that turns the history lesson into something far more unnerving. lits’ “Proliferation” is less explicit, but the sparse backdrop leading to rapid handclaps creates unease reflective of the title, while VMO’s contribution opts for overwhelming noise to get the point across. Elsewhere, Calgames samples a New Zealand rap number penned in response to nuclear testing back in the ’90s, while bahnhof::zoo uses a quick vocal samples set over a downcast jazz beat to create a sense of sadness on “Just Lit Up.”
The message remains vital, but it’s also important to remember how this compilation has always highlighted so much great juke, initially from within Japan but more recently from all around the globe (just see those last two artists mentioned above!). Atomic Bomb Compilation has long leaned on the darker and more aggressive side given the subject matter at its core, but I’m surprised this year how it’s the more lithe and downright hopeful cuts that have stuck with me during initial listens. Gnyonpix’s “Atom” isn’t upbeat per se, but the way it zips along on scatterbrained electronics and keyboard dollops adds some lightness to it. Loop Ensemble Of Monkey Temple finds a balance between remembrance and hope on “Releasing The Dove,” and Morinobear’s “Atomic Flower” slows the tempo down for a reflective number that you’d mistake for coming from some IDM compilation for social awareness, if such a thing existed. And of course, organizer CRZKNY delivers a gem, with an understated closing number taking time to remember, observe contemporary times and keep one eye on the future. Get it here, or listen below.
New Chelmico: “Player”
Chelmico recently released their first full-length major label album Power, and it’s a solid shift towards bigger places for the duo. Most importantly, not much has changed now that they are on unBorde from recent EPs and a self-titled 2016 debut album. They still create upbeat genre-skipping exercises anchored in hip-hop, channeling Rip Slyme, Halcali and other pop-oriented rap outfits to create a take on the style all their own (and which is miles more interesting than most boilerplate Japanese rap, often far more interested in imitation than trying out new perspectives). “Player” offers a nice snapshot of Chelmico at their must giddy, the pair bouncing over an upbeat backdrop while riffing on video games (and gamer terminology). It all peaks with an all-together-now hook that ups the energy. Listen above.
Bright Riser: Kingyo’s Sunset
Omoide Label has a knack for finding artists capable of finding new angles on hyperactive electronic music. Producer Kingyo’s Sunset is a brief shot in the arm, featuring a particularly chipper take on future bass that promotes the rush and fizziness of the style above all else. That’s best captured on the title track, a rush of a number loaded up with familiar samples (what) but made more melancholy by Kingyo’s own synth line, which adds sweetness. It’s a formula that works well throughout the album, Kingyo striking the right balance between melancholy and raved up. Get it here, or listen below.