日本でもネットレーベルが定着しつつありますね。今年の五月に創立したエレクトロ系レーベルのTrekkie Traxはご存知でしょうか？素晴らしいコンピをリリースしているので、是非お聴きあれ。八曲収録されたこのXYZというアルバムには日本中からアーティストが集められています。東京からはMiiiが参加していて、”Far Away (About Three Kilometers)”を提供しているのですが、これが非常に良い。Hudson-Mohawkeぽいシンセからモッシュが可能なダブステップまで広く影響を感じさせる曲は、単調になる事無く、聴く耳を離しません。XYZには他にもSeimei And Taimeiの”Drub The Floor” 、Carpainterの”Kick Back”とIsagenの”+o”がオススメです。ダウンロードはこちらから.
Some jittery goodness coming your way from Sapporo’s PARKGOLF, who has been having a very nice 2013. “Kiss Me” is his latest display of herky-jerky electronic music, a hyperactive blast that opens with handclaps before zipping off into the main part, a disorienting passage anchored by some manipulated vocals singing the titular phrase. The best…
I can’t really elaborate on how this exactly relates to Albert Camus, though for all I know this is a meditation on the fleeting nature of happiness and life and how we should embrace that idea as a means to live our lives to the fullest. This just sounds really good. Einsteins aren’t an out-of-nowhere…
研究の意味もあり、私は先週ボーカロイドのイベントに行ってきました。１つの部屋では様々なグッズが売られていました。CDがほとんどなのですが、ステッカーやバッジが売れ筋のようですね。別の部屋は大変混雑していて、DJ達が交代でスピンしていました。ほとんどの曲がボーカロイドを全面に出していて、スクリレックスのとうな曲にもポップさを加えられていました。少なくともこのイベントのアーティスト達はリード・ボーカルとしてボーカロイドを使うだけで、更なる工夫が必要なように感じます。 でも、東京のmus.hibaというアーティストは他のアーティストと違っていて、”Magical Fizzy Drink”という曲はとても興味深い物でした。雪歌ユフというボーカロイドを使っていて、それを前にプッシュするのではなく、あえてシンセやベースの後ろに陰のように存在させています。歌わせている、というよりは囁かせる、という使い方なのも印象的です。ウィッチ・ハウスのような音楽から聴ける使い方なので、とても驚いています。でもそれに加え、後半では８ビットも聞こえ、ギーキーな感じも残してあります。mus.hibaの”Magical Fizzy Drink”は、ボーカロイドを売られている基本的な使い方をせず、別の楽器として工夫して使っています。
Kyoto band Hotel Mexico announced on their website tonight that they have officially split up. It means one of Japan’s finest indie bands of the last few years – and one of the first to receive attention from Western blogs and music websites – is calling it a day. Hotel Mexico began in late 2008,…
The opening minute of producer Ujaku’s “Tonakai” sounds like a lost snippet of some Studio Ghibli film soundtrack. It’s nothing but some plaintive piano strokes with a few additional affects added in. It’s the emotional core of the song, which bursts open into a rollicking dance number soon after the minute mark, Ujaku dropping in…
How do you go about establishing yourself in a music environment packed in tight? There are lots of electronic music producers scattered across Japan now, and standing out isn’t an easy task. Akoustik Shadow, on new album Cross Over, decided the best way to approach this tricky situation was…try out a bunch of different sounds….
Netlabels have become prevalent in Japan, so how does a fledgling outfit like electronic-music imprint Trekkie Trax (born in May of this year), grab attention? Release a great compilation album. Their XYZ EP collects eight songs from electronic artists from all over Japan. Our eyes zeroed in on a contribution from Tokyo’s Miii – his “Far Away (About Three Kilometers)” veers from bright, Hudson-Mohawke synths to more aggro dubstep moshing without ever leaning on one sound too much. XYZ features great contributions from names we’ve never seen before – Seimei And Taimei’s skittery “Drub The Floor,” the woozy flow of Carpainter’s “Kick Back” and the dim burbling of Isagen’s “+o” make this an overall great listen. Get it here.
June is always a great time to revisit highlights from earlier months. Long-running electro act Technic Runner delivered a charmer earlier this year that is still very much worth diving into, and now they’ve shared a new track that feels like it could slide right on to Dream Machine. “Junjo Cyborg 80%” is a bouncy…
Something that has been on my mind recently is trying to remember how music sounded when I was younger, and how being a teenager I often felt like music was the only thing I ever needed — it was my safe space, and motivation, and the thing that made all the joys of life sweeter…
Japan isn’t facing a shortage of bands trying to recreate the sounds of 1986, plenty of young artists crafting dreamy twee-pop in the mold of The Jesus And Mary Chain. Throw BOYISH onto the every-growing heap of melancholy daydreamers – like Elen Never Sleeps and The Moments, BOYISH isn’t bashful in embracing his indie-pop love,…
Simply adding singing to a song can take it from familiar to thrilling. Tokyo duo HoneyComeBear create uptempo, at times claustrophobic, electronic music (“future bass” if you please), the sort of songs that sound like they were recorded in HiDef. Yet Kakko, who sings on their songs as well as pens them and helps compose…
The Fuji Rock Festival announced a handful of new acts set to play the three-day event in late July. Among the new gets, Baltimore band Beach House who released one of my personal favorite albums of last year with Teen Dream. Other notables, Tangerine Dream and Queens Of The Stone Age. You can also check…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSngJduap74&hl=en_US&fs=1] If you’ve been wanting more human fingers in you’re life lately, 80kidz have just the video for you. The weirdo clip for “Spoiled Boy” features a lot of phalanges amidst an array of other weird animations. I like the bunny.