Wherein She Talks Silence learns to shake it a bit. STS’s other released tracks up to this point were frail pieces of bedroom guitar pop, but with “She Is Not Going Back” this project gets a little extra umph. This track kicks along on some cascading drum beats as She Talks Silence’s vocals get layered…
Man, Tofubeats is one occupied dude, though I’m not sure him being on a major label really changes just how busy he has always been. Anyway, he has a new EP…Stakeholder…out in March, and here’s the first taste. Acting surprised when Tofubeats changes his sound up from what he was doing a few months ago…
Especia – Secret Jive by tubesoda 1. The first taste of Especia’s major-label debut left me on the fence, but in all honesty my real feelings became clear soon after. I haven’t listened to or watched the video for “We Are Especia ~ Naki Nagara Video” once since that first post. Considering all of the…
The lurching, fuzzed-out start of Zibanchinka’s “Watashi no Nakami wa Almond” last a surprisingly long time. Coming in at nearly a minute might not sound impressive, but keep in mind the entire track lasts only two minutes and seven seconds so that’s virtually half of the whole shebang. Yet, oh, how important those 60 seconds…
Her consists of Unmo and Tsudio Studio, two artists who create on their own but come up with something a touch more interesting together. “Neon” in particular jumps off the SoundCloud timeline —- written and sung by Ummo and arranged by Studio, it’s a bouncy bit of dance-pop. The immediate sonic highlight are the vocal…
Singer Lovely Summer Chan and producer Yoshino Yoshikawa have made for a great team over the last few years, the two collaborating on various songs and an EP for Maltine Records. They’ve gathered some of the highlights from this partnership…along with a few fresh cuts…and released an album of material called Yoshi Yoshi, Summer. The…
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.
Well, turns out this is a real indie-popping weekend after all: Osaka’s Post Modern Team, behind some of the absolute finest songs in Japan’s current indie-pop boom, have just released their self-titled debut album. Post Modern Team mostly collects all of the group’s previously released numbers – which means this comes loaded with “Never Let…
It’s about being surprised in the best ways possible. This, Metoronori’s third album, finds her continuing to occupy her own little, strange corner of the online music world. She creates fragile little sonic worlds…whirring synths, the occasional glance of something a bit shinier, a very annoying timer sound on “III”…that could seemingly collapse from a…
One of my bigger realizations from the past year – keeping up with Kyoto’s Madegg is just too difficult. The young producer is insanely prolific, as it seemed like he had two new songs up online every week. That on top of several EPs and a proper album for Flau. New song “Karis,” though, has…
Miila “Santa Baby” Well, this is definitely putting your own personal stamp on a Christmas classic. Miila, stepping away from the Geeks for this bit of yuletide joy, covers “Santa Baby” by playing a version built around molasses-slow guitar and some simple-but-ominous drum. Miila herself sings it pretty straightforward, but her voice sounds slightly muffled…
This morning, Perfume announced a forthcoming album titled Level 3. This put me in an excellent mood, and made me want to listen to some gooey pop music. I jump over to SoundCloud, spirits high, and see a new song from producer Yoshino Yoshikawa called “Kawaii Candy.” It’s labelled as “ULTRAPOP.” Bless your soul Yoshikawa….
大阪のThe PaellasがEP Followingをリリース。素晴らしいタイトルトラックFollowingは今週のはじめにアップロードされ今回２曲を追加、EPの全貌が明らかになりました。Spiderはテンポ感の早いインディーポップの楽曲、もう一曲はThe Cleaners From Venus のカバー曲になっています。こちらはオリジナルよりも音質をこもらせスピード感を出した楽曲になっています。EP Following は日本のインディーポップをリリースするオンラインレーベルano(t)raksの第一弾リリースにも、EPは無料ダウンロードが可能なのでこちらからダウンロードもしくは以下から視聴を。 Following EP by The Paellas
