Ahhhhh, the sweet sweet arrival of a new FOGPAK. The tenth edition of what has become Japan’s best entryway into independent electronic music is a strong collection, made somewhat better because the tracklist has been trimmed down slightly – before, these things could get close to 50, but here it is a far more reasonable 30, all centered around the theme “Best Summer Ever.” FOGPAK has been branching out beyond Japan for a while, too, and the tenth installment is no different – it opens with a hip-shaking, vocally pleading number courtesy of Ulzzang Pistol (who has been all around Asia), and later on features an absolute stunner courtesy of American artist (and future Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo attendee) Uio Loi’s “Strawberry Stained Mango.”
On the Japanese side – Kai Takahashi delivers breeziness with his drifting “Wendy,” while YYIOY brings the high-energy stepper on his contribution. Attic Note delivers one of the finest surprises here with the piano-aided “Recollection,” one of FOGPAK’s best dance numbers, loaded with manipulated vocals (which at times feel like they are melting in front of you). Half the fun of these biggie-sized collections is diving in and finding your favorites for yourself. Listen below, or get it here.