The debut song from Dove finds a space between daily life happenings and dreamier escapes. It is the first release from Pure Voyage Records, and the number is written and composed by Le Makeup, a fact that comes through clearly in most elements of “Femm.” The music sounds suitable for Hyper Earthy or other releases…
The steady influx of Internet-centric producers into the ranks of J-pop has been exciting to watch…check the Maltine Girls’ Wave project, or Tofubeats getting to shine further with Lyrical School, or Schtein&Longer’s work with Especia…but one guy who deserves a bit more room to work is Avec Avec. The Osaka beatmaker (and one half of…
Nostalgia is a tricky thing. Everyone wants to dismiss it (or the idea of it), at least when it fits their feelings, but the moment something emerges that touches on some fantasized past, the same people are drooling over themselves. But a little bit of reflection — of thinking back on simpler times (maybe with…
Contentedness comes in many forms — and Yunovation grapples with the feeling of keeping it simple wonderfully on “Aruteido Aru.” The irony being that this is a massive step forward for the Osaka artist. Yunovation has gotten attention over the last couple of years primarily for constructing songs built around melodica, from swift exercises to…
The latest from Aymiko works best when simply conjuring up a dream-like state. “Yako” swirls about, giving space for Aymiko to deliver lyrics that unfold at her own pace, everything surrounding her adding a certain tension. Guest Nozaki Rikon proves to be a hit-or-miss addition — as someone adding a few spoken-word dollops of creepiness…
So, how does the world end? One big burst, or a slower, more suffocating death? I’m not here to offer any answers (right now…probably a coin flip), but rather to share how Tokyo-based artist Electric Candy Sand imagines the latter on his Wasteland EP. The three tracks move at a slime-creeping-down-a-wall pace, and while each…
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.
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…
I did not like Perfume’s “Sweet Refrain” at all. Well, the video is cool…but I think the song itself just isn’t particularly good. What makes that song interesting (at least in theory) is how it sets the bass-wubs of brostep against a relatively skippy pop melody. Whereas most pop songs around the world featuring Skrillex-aping…
Late on J-Pop superstar Ayumi Hamasaki’s new album, a weird little remix of her song “Melody” pops up. It’s the sort of rework one doesn’t typically find on CDs, a fidgety track unafraid to distort Hamasaki’s voice and let its beat burst out in all sorts of directions. It could be safely called “post-dubstep,” and…
Man, has it been almost two years since Nagoya’s The Moments caught our attention with “Short Trip.” The Japanese indie-pop boom was just getting underway, and that was one of the first songs to earn dozens upon dozens of repeat listens, and even pop up on our monthly music mix (remember that thing). Now, a…
At their best, The Paellas…especially the lead singer…sound like they are in the same room as you as their music unfolds. The bulk of their material up to this point has sounded like the work of a doomed lounge band, the group’s words muffled by fuzzy recording. Everything is a little more clear on new…
Figure might not hate you, but he definitely doesn’t mind making you feel claustrophobic. “Don’t Hate You” follows up his excellent Come Down album from last year, and it sticks to the same sonic principals that made that six-track set so good – Figure records his music in a way that makes the guitar come…
