今週日本のインディー界において大きな話題だったのはジャスティン・ビーバーでしたね。大阪のCloudy Buseyが曲をカナダのポップ・スターに歌わせたいと言ったのが発端で、今度はGive Me Walletsがジャスティンのヒット曲、”Boyfriend”をカバーしたみたいです。以下から視聴できます。Give Me Walletsはジャスティン・ティンバーレイクのようなミニマリズムを取り除いて、よりコンプレックスに、より速いテンポで曲を仕上げました。ジャスティン・ビーバーみたいなハイトーンは一切目指さない独自性がこのカバーを素晴らしい物にしています。
Osaka’s Hideo Nakasako has let some time pass since last year’s great Time Passes album, but he’s posted a three-song EP to SoundCloud that makes all the months that came before it worth it. The highlight is the opening track “Groove Me,” which opens with sea-sick synths reminiscent of what Tokyo’s mus.hiba deals with on…
We got to get Bandcamp to have a wider selection of tags, because Fukuoka producer Shigge tagged his new album as “hip hop,” “instrumental” and “beats.” Those aren’t inherently bad things…most of the time, they are amazing!…it’s just that the Japanese music scene has become so over-saturated by these beat albums that I’ve gotten into…
I have only seen one episode of New Girl in my life, but Annie The Clumsy sorta reminds me of the central character in that show (episode?) gone more blue. I don’t want to settle for any “manic-pixie-dream-girl” junk, but both exude a quirky charisma all their own that’s easy to appreciate. Annie The Clumsy’s…
Tokyo indie-rock quartet Mitsume’s third album Sasayaki comes out today, and all signs point to it being a bit of a breakthrough. It’s getting a decent push in stores…I saw the display at the Tower Records in Shinjuku this afternoon, and it is right in the front, and big! And it’s probably going to be…
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。
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…
So looks like the big trend in Japanese-indie music this week is Justin Bieber. First, Osaka’s Cloudy Busey described his new song as something the Canadian pop star could sing, and now Tokyo outfit Give Me Wallets have covered Bieber’s song “Boyfriend,” which you can listen to below. Give Me Wallets replace the Justin-Timberlake-evoking minimalism of the original with an array of synthesizers and a higher BPM. This take imagines Bieber’s song as a technicolor disco track, and is a good (and smart…the lead singer never even inches towards Bieber’s high-note delivery) number.
Let’s hope this trend continues – J-Rock bands backed by relatively well-known labels creating music that also takes plenty of inspiration from the world of dance music. Last year, Sakanaction released what has thus far been the definitive album of this electro-rock wave…and, while we are tossing around hyperbole, the best J-Rock album of the…
Monico has had a busy 2017, most recently teaming up with Kindan No Tasuketsu for the fantastic “Goodbye My Cinderella.” She’s back on her own for “New World,” a team featuring her singing over music created by Tomggg, described in the info box as a “pop maestro,” which seems about right. “Kawaii” as adjective gets…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlTr1oEhJUA&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=ja_JP&feature=player_embedded&fs=1] Big week for Wednesday…their debut full-length drops on, ahem, Wednesday. The first single from the boogie-worthy band’s latest just got a video. “? Love” might just be footage of the band playing their instruments, but it at least manages to work in one cool visual trick – as the intro points out, the band…
Last year at the Fuji Rock Festial, a trio of bands played the gathering that were presented — by domestic media, and me at some point — as a new tide of Japanese rock music. Two groups definitely felt close to one another — that would be Yogee New Waves and Never Young Beach, bands…
I recently ate an extremely spicy dinner*, and it fucked me up for at least a day and a half. I’m still not sure my body has truly gotten over it. Anyway, this sensation seemed easy to connect to “Spiceholic,” a seven-minute trance number created by COR!S that I like to imagine was inspired by…
The highlight of Hiroki Yamamura’s newest, The Game Of Life EP, comes right in the middle on the title track, one of the finest pieces the Osaka producer has put together in his hyper-speed-paced catalog. Featuring the same up-tempo pace of his better juke cuts from recent years, Yamamura drops in off-season steel drum hits…