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.
Photoshop scares me, so I’m mailing it in with my favorite character of the year holding a guitar. Back in 2011 when I published this list (remember when I skipped doing this last year? Best album was from MiChi, best song was from…AKB48), a question that writer James Hadfield posed to me was…how many of…
How Dorian’s new album Midori got lost in the 2013 shuffle isn’t clear, but it did…part of the problem might have been the fact no full-length audio of any of the album’s tracks appeared until the end of January 2014 (a sampler had been released, but a minute of material isn’t enough to really dig…
still sound isn’t shy about his influences – the name gives away his interest in Toro Y Moi before you even read the SoundCloud bio that calls Chaz Bundick his “bro.” It’s the project of a 17-year-old high-school student named James who lives in Naha on Okinawa – “well, like an hour north” he tells…
As of late, websites Tiny Mix Tapes and the Fader have been making a big deal about Japanese juke and footwork music. Both have profiled Japanese artists operating withing that scene, Tiny Mix Tapes going as far as to review a Paisley Parks’ album. One name that comes up sometimes is FOODMAN,who has been one…
INNITやIdleMoments等のイベントが象徴しているように、大阪のビート・シーンは非常に大盛況。Magical Mistakesの渦巻くようなサウンドや、Seihoの実験的なビートは、とてもユニークなのと同時にグルーブ感もあります。でも、”Alder”はそのような曲がブラックホールに吸い込まれたかのような印象。IdleMomentsをオーガナイズするEadonmmによるこのトラックは、極めてテンポを抑えた、スローな楽曲。ゆったりと始まり、アンビエントな空気感を堪能しているその時に、ピークを迎えます。シンセサイザーによる壁のようなレイヤーが左右にパンし、異なるテンポのボーカルが、それぞれ違うピッチで奇妙なデュエットを奏でます。ダンスフロアには不向きかもしれませんが、それ以上に、独特な音世界を堪能する事が可能。試聴は以下から。
Might as well end a banner year with a bang, right? Tanukineiri and House Of Tapes both had strong years – and they’ve basically been tied together in 2013, House Of Tapes being one of two obvious candidates as the label’s major musical representative (the other is May.e). So, for the Nagoya producers third album,…
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.
関西のPost Modern Teamによる初のリリース曲は“Never Let You Down”でした。2012年にリリースされた最も優れた曲のうちの１つと言えるでしょう。爽やかで甘いメロディーは日本のインディー・ポップ・シーンに衝撃をもたらしたのでは。彼らは“never let you down”と恋人に囁くように歌います。センチメンタルに始まるこの曲はその後の展開をより切なく響かせています。まさに“Heartbreak”や“She Does Something To Me”といった言葉が語るように。最近ではEP、Nite Life LoungeがAno(t)raksから発表されました！彼らがギターとドラムというシンプルな構成だけで美しい世界観を持つ優れた楽曲を奏でています。収録されている全３曲はPost Modern Teamが今までやってきた事と変わりはないのですが、シンプルな繰り返しの多い曲がいかに感情を強く表現出来るか証明してくれました。タイトル・トラックでは主人公がディスコで“good times”を過ごしているのですが、曲中で決断の時があったり。このドラマチックさはグループ史上でも異例なのでは。他の２曲はもっとストレートに感情を表現しています。“Fade Away”はシューゲイザー調の曲。“thinking about those high school days”や”before you fade away”といった文脈からは良い思い出を振り返っているのだなと感じさせられます。 “Betterdays”はタイトル通りの内容なのですが、曲の積み重なって行くような展開はPost Modern Teamの新しい一面と言えるのでは。（ボーカルがBuilt To Spillに似ているのも印象的でした。) ダウンロードはこちらから。視聴は以下から。 NITE LIFE LOUNGE. EP by Post Modern Team
Coke Machine Glow recently posted a review of Tokyo’s Meso Meso’s latest release Spoon, and having never heard of this solo-artist before I’ve been listening to the tracks on her MySpace nearly on loop. Meso Meso’s music sounds well suited for the winter, her songs not unfolding as much as they drift along at a…
And so, Nagoya duo Lullatone’s seasonal exploration comes to a close with The Sounds Of Spring. Lullatone have always been good at memorializing the small details of life, drawing out sweet emotion from the sort of things that often get ignored (while also not going overboard about it — when they made a song about…
Juke music moves pretty quickly, but Osaka’s Hiroki Yamamura, as of late, has really been pushing things forward. The producer’s recent batch of songs — uploaded to his SoundCloud — are especially hyperactive, highlighted by the woozy “Ultra Blast.” That one, above, at first sputters about all over the place, but soon every sliced-up vocal…
The recent slide into insignificance suffered by MySpace caused a joyful yelp from the Internet masses, happy to see retina-frying page design and “Tom” become things of the past. Though the death of a million sparkle-encrusted banners does improve the overall quality of the Internet ever so slightly, MySpace’s sink into irrelevance does signal a…
Osaka Game Boy wizard 99 Letters has put a sample of his debut single “Hey! Satan, Play Game Of Life?” His signature sound – chiptune chaos mashed up against against heavy cacophony – remains, but the clip hints at some downright upbeat stuff. Sounds good right now. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92CQpmhW2TY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=ja_JP&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]