Osaka Game-Boy genius 99 Letters has been quite productive as of late. Well, at least according to some entries on his blog – dude has about four EPs due out in November. Let’s run ’em down, shall we? – First up is the 3 A.M. and Boys Like Girls EPs out on November 10. Both…
It’s weird to think that Madegg has been creating richly textured dance music for, oh, at least six years now. And yet, it doesn’t feel that long ago he was the opening act for a Brainfeeder showcase in Osaka, or simply one of many now-notable names crowding the bill at an INNIT event. But he’s…
New MAP! This month, we highlight Left Right Arms. Check it out, and a bunch more of great tunes from around the world, 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 file of the full 24-track compilation through Dropbox…
Okinawa producer and Toro-Y-Moi-devotee Stillsound has a new EP online, a four-song collection simply titled Her. It finds the young producer getting a little more lost in the chillwave-ish sound he been submerged in since he first emerged, with a few neat twists. Opener “Chlorine,” for example, jumps out as being an instrumental featuring rubbery…
Maybe indie-pop just hits better on late afternoons, especially on busy days where you kind of rather would just be sprawled out on a couch, but Suibots’ recently released Selfish Youth EP sounds particularly nice today. It is a brief four-song set, a synth-accented collection borrowing from the melancholy and, at least on “April Youth,”…
Tokyo-based label Noble recently released this special two-song collection from Serph and the duo N-Qia (which is Serph and vocalist Nozomi), which they write is a charity single where all proceeds earned will be donated to relief efforts in Kumamoto following last month’s earthquake. Little Helper features two lush numbers, starting with Serph’s skittery but…
Tokyo’s Ningen OK are a group that demand to be seen live. I lucked my way into seeing them this past weekend, knowing nothing about them, but leaving thinking this duo put on one of the better live sets I’ve seen recently. They play surrounded by what appear to be homemade white pyramids. Guitarist Takurou Yamashita stands in front of a board littered with effects pedals, while Ken-ichi Sakaguchi looms over a drum kit which he soon hammers away at. They play very precise, wordless rock that always seems an inch away from tumbling into chaos, but always manages to hold together. Between songs, Sakaguchi leans towards a Vocoder and creates trippy segues featuring his robo-tized voice. Then they launch off again. It’s captivating stuff.
Their music manages to still sound good away from a live house – “Taion No Yukue” highlights Ningen OK’s precision-centric nature while also introducing elements of chaos (listen to that radio feedback). Listen to that below. It comes off their recently released first album of the same name, which is also probably full of good moments. Still, Ningen OK seem like a live band first, one that you should certainly make time for. Bookmark this page.
関西のロックバンド、NOKIES!がデビューフルアルバム、”Between The Blinks”をFlake Recordsとタワーレコードからリリースしました。Los Campesinos!のようなインディーポップが特徴的な彼等でしたが、今作品では良い意味で幅広い層から好かれそうな雰囲気。タワーレコードからのリリースも違和感なく、これからバンドはどんどんメインストリームなロックバンドとして成長していきそうですが、ボーカルのクメユウスケはそのような方向性とは違ったものをYouth Genius(Youth LagoonとPerfume Geniusの融合みたいな感じかな？）として表現しています。 Soundcloudには、”All of the songs is inspired by peculiar atomosphere created by the streets and youth of Kyoto city,”(京都の若者やストリートが持つ独特な空気感が楽曲に影響を与えている。)と書かれているのですが、その通り京都の若者達は個性的なスタイルを表現していて、Youth Lagoonは少しばかりのエレクトロ要素を持つインディーポップと、跳ねるようなファンクを融合していて、哀愁とワイルドさのバランスを上手く保っています。”Explains”は直球勝負なインディーポップで、センターに配置されたキーボードがとても良い存在感。”Behind You”と”Stay Above The Clouds”は多くの打ち込みが使われていて、今年に国内でリリースされたインディーポップの中でも特に目立っています。そして”We Keep Kissing”はクラブ的アノラックサウンドが、The Brixton Academyが本気を出してダンサブルな楽曲を作ったかのような印象。Youth Geniusみたいなプロジェクトがあることで、NOKIES!の方向性もどんどん進化していきそうですね。
Quick quiz – what album was Make Believe Melodies most excited about coming into 2013? Even though this year has seen new full-lengths from Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Moscow Club, Sakanaction, Tofubeats and a bunch of other artists I adore, someone else had me giddier than any of them heading into January. That would be Eadonmm,…
Is it an ode to times that have passed, or a celebration of a period in one’s life that will soon be history? The beauty of “Younger Life” is it leaves that a little bit open-ended…it could be a memory or it could be in the moment, but Ykiki Beat’s strutty number about the joys…
Make Believe Melodies recently interviewed Canopies And Drapes’ mastermind Chick, who also used to be in the duo Nu Clear Classmate. She released a new cassette, Stray Sheep’s Delight, late last year, and one of her songs from that tape appeared on the recent Ano(t)raks) compilation album Upwards And Onwards. We talked to her about…
Indie-pop label Ano(t)raks plans on releasing a new compilation album in February, and have already revealed a list of artists who will be contributing to the sequel to the excellent Soon comp. The forthcoming release features a lot of familiar names – Post Modern Team, Boyish, The Paellas and many more…but also features a few…
