Look, I’m not going to pretend blogging about music at a deeply weird moment like this is worthwhile, and right now I don’t think music can be much more than pure escapism. But both acts — writing and listening — offers some very slight calm in the face of vast uncertainty (or, like, at least…
“Restraint” isn’t a word I’d normally associate with producer De De Mouse. His music usually dices vocal snippets into half-second squeaks, and then he rearranges them into speedy patterns that at times sound like something you find on the hardest difficulty of a Nintendo DS rhythm game…and those are the tracks lacking drum ‘n’ bass…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qsXxKawUos”] This one’s all about misleading first impressions. The Cabs open up “二月の兵隊” with geometrically-precise guitar and drum, the sort of math rock you envision being plotted out on graph paper. The lead singer’s voice sails in shortly after, and the single becomes a touch sweeter as The Cab’s frontman sways between the webs. Sparkplugged…
This is more of a public service announcement than any substantial write-up, but rising folk-pop artist Nohtenkigengo released his first major album, Never, last week, and it is very much worth your time, especially if you like the sort of extra-oomph music of someone like Shugo Tokumaru. Here’s his latest video, for the song “Fever.”…
They also try out some tunes by The Stylistics and The Gypsy Kings. Dudes got the Garfunkel hair down, though. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGNPPU2DVr8&hl=en&fs=1&]
Initially released as a bonus track on Singapore-based artist Et Aliae’s Rose EP from earlier this year, “Feel Me” found dream-pop creator Cuushe team up with Et Aliae for a piano-guided rumbler full of emotional dips and peaks. Now the song is being shared as a standalone, so those who don’t hang around Tower Recrods…
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.
Looks like it isn’t truffle season, but sad season. Whirilng producer Taquwami gets a bit melancholy with his new tracks, packaged together as “Japanese Sad.” All this despite first song “Wow” opening up with a Jay-Z sample. That first new song is actually a bit more upbeat than it leads on, as the vocals pop…
Late last year, the electronic-music-from-all-across-Japan compilation Fogpak #4 came out, and it was a fantastic collection of digital music from all over this fine country. At 21 tracks, though, it could feel a little daunting, regardless of how much great music the folks behind crammed into it. Welp, Fogpak #5 dropped over the weekend and…
For most of their existence, Teen Runnings (formerly Friends) coated their surf-rock in feedback and distortion, an intentional move meant to fracture what was otherwise warm nostalgia for a time the group never lived through. New demo track “Sightseeing” initially offers up a bit of a departure for the group – it sounds super clear….
This dropped a couple weeks ago, but it has finally floated into my ears at a deeply appropriate. This is a concept album about sleeping – the song titles feature specific times of the night and what’s going on as the central character sleeps. Like last year’s Sleepy Tokyo album…a concept record about lack of…
(Editor’s Note: I’m moving to a new apartment in two days, so posts might be on the briefer side. Gotta pack!) Footwork producer FOODMAN already released one great off-the-wall album of music recently…and now he’s back with another on Hiroshima’s Dubliminal Bounce. Are Kore opens on the harsher end of the spectrum and along the…
Sometimes a bunch of good electronic music comes out all at once in Japan, and it ends up being easiest to feature it all in one nice post. Today is one of those days. Osaka’s Cloudy Busey is no stranger to making heavy-feelings dance music – his Only Devotion mixtape under the moniker Bobcat showcases…
