Metome’s past features a few moments where he’s stretched out his sound, but the Osaka electronic artist mostly offers up mid-sized bursts of sound, whether they be hopped-up blasts of funk or more reflective slappers. “Series” finds Metome going long — just over 13 minutes, as it turns out. It’s a stuttering take on house…
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are calling it a day! Whatever SoundCloud rapper playing around with J-pop ideas or weirdo electronic texture lover captures my attention, indie-pop is always going to be foundational for me (can’t shake those teenage years!) and this was a group hitting on that feeling even as adolescence zoomed…
Not only did I learn about Japanese electro whiz-kid Scottish Fold (aside: CUTEST ARTIST NAME EVER), but through his remixes I also learned about a slew of other electronic musicians. Having never heard of any of his rework subjects, I did the objective thing and listened to both the original and the Scottish Fold take….
I’ve got a train to catch…but new MAP! Caro Kissa! 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 21-track compilation through Dropbox here. JAPAN: Make Believe Melodies Caro Kissa – Saturday Morning Indie-pop shall truly never…
Pasocom Music Club has been on a tear all year, and the producer’s simple but super-catchy creations remain strong as we approach the end of 2016. “Escape” is the latest number to emerge from the artist’s world, and it features cut up city-pop-era horn samples cut up which help propel the song forward. And it…
Albino thrives on a sense of intimacy. The Japanese artist — who doesn’t reveal much info about where she is or how long she’s been creating music — creates a warm escape on her latest song “Hidden Place,” a dreamy number that sounds like it is folding over itself. Everything unfolds at a syrupy pace,…
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.
Let’s start the week with something we dropped the ball on totally. This new song from Occult You (a side-project from one of Japan’s finest music makers today Taquwami) came out nearly two weeks ago, and is a solid groover. It takes cues from a song the Occult You project released a couple years back,…
Here’s two Tokyo artists teaming up to make a really lovely track. I’ve written at length about mus.hiba, who typically creates gorgeous synth washes featuring Vocaloid voices turned into dreamy sonic details. “Molly,” though, features only his mind-enveloping electronics, as vocal duties are apparently handled by “near Tokyo” based Akoustik Shadow, who seems to enjoy…
Producer Dubb Parade was, just one month ago, a lot sunnier. He billed his Your Emotion collection as “chillwave” and, even if it wasn’t totally locked to that Internet-genre, it carried a hazy, disco-influenced vibe that sounded more suitable for a blissed-out (remember that one?) summer spent indoors. Whether intentionally pushing himself to release music…
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…
数年前に東京のGive Me Walletsを初めて聴いた時、踊る為の音楽というよりは、じっくり聞き込みたい、マスロック的な音楽だと感じました。マイスペースにあげられていた曲はフォールズを彷彿とさせ、好みではあったものの、ダンスフロアには適さないような気がしていました。 なので、Give Me Walletsにはよりダンサブルに、そしてエモーショナルになってくれるように期待していました。彼らの新曲、”Look After You”は、８０年代風シンセやビートで彩られ、まるで当時の曲のようでした。 また、”Look After You”のボーカルは、歌詞は聞き取りにくいものの、The Brixton Academyのように、感情的かつ情熱的でした。”Look After You”を含む、SoundCloudにあげられているGive Me Walletsの新曲は、バンドが良い方向性を見つけた事を証明しています。視聴は以下から。
