我々の”favorite songs of 2012 lists”のような年末特集を組むのは非常に難しいです。限られた数を選ばなければいけないので、結果選べないアーティストもいるからです。去年でいうと”My Aquamarine/Spinning Wheel”をリリースしたElen Never Sleeps。このシングルは素晴らしい曲を２つも収録した、ENSがアーティストとして急成長した作品です。そして2013年を迎え”Silver”をリリースしたENSは、今年もさらに彼らしさを発揮させています。新曲”Shine On Me”は去年の”My Aquamarine”を彷彿とさせるものの、ビートがENSの今までの曲の中で一番ダンサブル。コーラスの部分では、風変わりなボーカルやストリングスを始め、さまざまな音色が飛び交っているものの、互いを殺しません。こういった細かいこだわりが光ります。
One of the tougher parts of putting together a year-end feature – like our “favorite songs of 2012 lists” – is cutting it down. This means some really great stuff gets left outside…and last year, one of the toughest omissions to make was Tokyo murmur-pop dude Elen Never Sleeps, whose “My Aquamarine/Spinning Wheel” single featured two great songs and marked a jump forward artistically for Elen. It’s looking like ENS won’t be facing a similar dilemma in 2013, as he’s just released two tracks in advance of his new Silver EP, and both find the solo artist making further artistic strides. “Shine On Me” initially resembles last year’s “My Aquamarine,” but features a livelier beat that is the closest ENS has ever come to being dancey. The real development, though, is greater attention paid to sonic details – the most catching element of “Shine” is the almost-meowed noises that make up the chorus, but equally as strong are the strings that rise up throughout the song.
The title track from the EP, meanwhile, is more reflective, but features ENS adopting a slightly deeper voice for most of the song. It’s the less daring of the two tracks, but refines the Elen Never Sleeps sound further. Listen below.
This isn’t the first time Osaka’s spacey Seiho has produced a track for a hip-hop artist…he also worked with insufferable rap unit LUVRAW & BTB on a track that is best forgotten to time. The end result is a lot better when he teams up with rapper Klooz for “Find You.” Seiho is way less…
Teen Runningsが何とカリフォルニアのインディーポップバンドのSea Lionsとスプリット作品”Home Recordings”をリリースするみたいです。彼等を”purveyors of indie and bedroom pop”（インディーとベッド・ルームポップの供給者）と紹介するNeotomic Records!がこの”Home Recordings”を限定版のカセットとしてリリースするとの事。Teen RunningsはMaroon 5の”Won’t Go Home Without You”のカバーや、ネットに出回ってたりする過去２年のデモ・トラック等を収録する模様。今は”We’ll Never Stay Together” が聴けるようになっていて、これはTeen Runningsの長所だけを強調した名曲です。さびれたボーカルをフィーチャーした爽やかなサーフ・ロックで、全てはフィードバックで崩されています。試聴はこちらから。
New month, new MAP! This month, our Japanese pick hails from Tochigi prefecture….bedroom producer Hisamokuden-kow and his disjointed pop number “Our Song.” Enjoy that and more than two dozen other songs below. Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip…
“Goodbye to the hackneyed ‘beats’!!!!!” So goes the last sentence of Canooooopy’s description of his newest album, Polymorphism Vs. Valleystayers. Confrontational statements are not a common sight in the Japanese music scene…at least not ones broadcast publicly…yet here we have a producer who has been gaining steam online over the past few months throwing at…
This seemed to have been the week when a bunch of really talented Japanese artists went and released great new music all at once. Keeping up with all of it could be tough, but for the most part we touched on everything we wanted to. Except for the following three songs, two from acts we’ve…
Few bands are as upfront about their influences as Nagoya’s Crunch on new song “Mori No Naka.” “Song inspired by Radiohead’s Jigsaw Falling Into Place (In Rainbows)” they write on SoundCloud, and elements of that track certainly pop up in this indie-pop band’s latest. In particular, the driving tempo and the bass lines present here….
