When trying to talk about future funk and the variants on this micro-genre I personally find interesting, I’d point to Tanuki’s “Baby Baby No Yume” as a good example. It’s a heavy remix of an existing song that allows many of the main elements of the original to shine through, but re-arranges enough to offer…
Ask any foreigner in Japan who operates a blog where he/she pretends to be a junior Japan sociologist (I do this!) about humor in Japan. I’m willing to wager a large chunk of them will note how slapstick and situational comedy in this country is opposed to the place they hail from where, for the…
Two ways to look at “Mille-Feuille:” 1. Tokyo Girls’ Style have long been one of the early adopters to new styles within the idol realm. Since they were created by Avex as a way to get in on the then-burgeoning idol scene, whooshed in by the success of AKB48. They started out right around the…
Up until now, Tokyo’s LLLL has featured one primary singer, from Japan. With “Transcribe,” a single released via Bad Panda Records, that changes — it features the voice of Meghan Riley, a Montreal singer-songwriter. Despite that, “Transcribe” still manages to be peak LLLL — unnerving, fragile, absorbing. Listen above.
We are waist-deep in year-end season, but let’s peel back from the lists for a second (ours to come next week maybe if I don’t melt into a puddle!) to look at 2016. It’s already shaping up to be an interesting year — that was before Utada Hikaru announced her spring comeback to music —…
Acidclank seems to have grown quite a bit since last checking in with them. A while back, it was a solo project that leaned towards shoegaze, albeit in a way more interested in catchy melodies than waves of distortion. With new single “Rocks,” Acidclank appears to have a full band behind him, and the sound…
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.
HNCは長く奇妙な道のりを辿ってきています。彼女のHazel Nuts Chocolateとしての活動は2000年に始まり、Plus-Tech Squeeze Boxや、中田ヤスタカのプロジェクト、Capsuleの作品にも参加してきました。ダンスビート重視というよりは渋谷系みたいな。彼女の初期の作品やコラボレーションは、可愛らしくアップテッンポでエネルギーに満ちていて、2009までの作品にはそのような空気感を特に聴く事ができます。”Cult”では今までのキュートさはそのままに、ドラムンベースからの影響も。その後彼女はしばらく活動をストップし、（Love And Hatesへの参加以外）一年程経って”I Dream I Dead“をリリースしました。楽しくポップなHazel Nuts Chocolateは姿を消し、パラノイアや不安を表現しているような作品です。キャンディーや猫について歌っていた長い年月が一晩の悪夢によって吸い込まれたかのような印象。この曲は音楽的にとても深く、今までの彼女の最高傑作と言えるでしょう。 新曲 “I Will Make You Sad”も過去のHNCから再び一歩離れているのですが、オープニングに重いドラムや寂しげなピアノが使われていて、”I Dream I Dead”よりも更に希薄な印象です。その後増えるシンセも曲を独占するわけでなく、全体の脆く儚いイメージを崩しません。曲に入ってきた直後の彼女の曲はミックスの奥深くにあり、前へは出てこないものの、”drinking your tears”というような言葉は聴こえてきます。コーラスでは曲のタイトルを繰り返してるのがはっきり聴こえますよ。HNCのキャリアは長い間その瞬間の感情の表現、”猫の可愛らしさ”であったりしたわけですが、”I Will Make You Sad”が意味しているように、今の彼女はより複雑な感情を表現を可能にしています。HNCのアーティストとしての大きな前進を是非堪能して下さい。試聴は以下から。
First off, not safe for work! Kindan No Tasuketsu recently released a new album, and tracks off of it have been trickling online over the last few weeks. Here’s the latest, being released as a special Christmas special (B-side….”Santa Claus Is Coming Back”), though it also appears on her new full-length as well. “Ring A…
I’m running out of ways to write about nostalgia and i-fls. At what point do I throw my hands up in defeat over my computer and decide, “screw it, time to dig into myself and write about the feelings dude’s music brings out of me!” Every time I play an i-fls album…and I’ve got a…
Seapunkは本当に良い音楽を追求したジャンルなのか、一部のアーティストの集まりが楽しむ為のジャンルなのか。ツイッターのハッシュタグにおいてもそんなに目立っていなかったSeapunkですが、ジャンルの持つ個性的なサウンドに魅了されたアーティストも勿論います。ここ日本で活動しているUmioもそんなイルカ好きの一人で、新曲のタイトルも”Yunoochi to Seapunk”といいます。水の音など使われているものの、そこまでSeapunkというわけでは無いような気はするのですが、興味深い曲なのは確かです。アニメと思われるサンプルから始まり、若干こもりがちでゲームチックなシンセが入ってきます。曲が進行するにつれてドラムンベースから調のパーカッションや、ニューエイジ風の展開も。アヒルのオモチャを握りつぶして音を出したようなこの曲は、何と呼べば相応しいのかも難しいところですが、新しい発見のある貴重な5分間となる事でしょう。試聴は以下から。
Here is White Wear at his most stripped down to date, and quite possibly the most minimalist any track to emerge from the shadows of CUZ ME PAIN has ever been. “White Six Strings” is White Wear armed with only a guitar…and save for a few edits here and there (a hiccup at the start,…
There are a few new few twists to be found over at Ano(t)raks, the online label specializing in Japanese indie-pop. The Upwards And Onwards EP, the follow-up compilation to last year’s excellent Soon collection, features sounds just outside of the collective’s usual twee leanings. Tokyo’s Canopies And Drapes shows up with her bouncy, Night On…
