Controlled Karaoke: An Intro To Japanese Roots Music
Japan Probe posted a small write-up about Japanese roots music. It’s a nice little introduction to the type of music (one I’m woefully ignorant of, so this is especially great), so give it a read.
Japan Probe posted a small write-up about Japanese roots music. It’s a nice little introduction to the type of music (one I’m woefully ignorant of, so this is especially great), so give it a read.
Canadian producer Ryan Hemsworth is…at long last…coming to Japan this October, where he’ll play three shows across three cities (check the poster). It isn’t like he’s avoided collaborating with Japanese artists in the past (and shouting out various Japanese songs and producers regularly), but this team up with producer Tomggg still makes a lot of…
With just a glance, it seems like Herajika exists to be just another Tokyo band filling in the cracks in a slowly blooming scene. Mental flares went off when I stumbled across the band’s latest EP Test 02 on the Violet And Claire web shop, the digital incarnation of a physical joint associated with Merpeoples,…
Big week for rapper Nate, involved in two of the best songs released out of Japan over the last seven days. She takes centerstage on “Reflects My Self,” a woozy number that finds her sing-rapping (and adding in some delightful ad libs) over a rippling electronic beat close to Local Visions’ brand of out-of-time-ness. It…
Despite being based in London, No Cars continue to channel distinctly Japanese sounds. The band has two new songs streaming for your pleasure: “Sellotape” and “Oreo” both feature their respective titles repeated over and over again backed by simplistic guitar chords. Just like Shonen Knife, but a little bit more garage-ey. And a little less…
The real exciting news in 99 Letters’ land isn’t really this song – it’s a plenty-good track seeing the artist continue to incorporate new elements into his Game Boy-centric music. This time around 99 Letters includes a creepy wordless vocal smattering, some piano and (of course) the usual array of electronic sounds. A good song,…
The vision surrounding a Boys Age album tends to be more unexpected than the music itself. New World Pregnancy, a long gestating full length, comes billed as “an imagined soundtrack” to a story one half of the Saitama rock duo wrote. It gets pretty detailed…a machine goes sentient…and stands as the most ambitious bit of…