Osaka’s 99 Letters doesn’t quite make chiptune music – sure, his songs overflow with video game bloop-bleeps and nearly every promotional photo of him features an old-school Game Boy. This stuffs on the same “loaded with Nintendo sounds but not defined by it” bender Crystal Castle downed en route to success. 99 Letters hits even…
In case you forgot, here’s your weekly reminder that Puffyshoe’s Something Gold deserves your attention. To sum up my super long review in one sentence – it’s an excellent collection of fuzzed-out garage rock with a beating heart underneath. Summed it up in less than a 1000 words this time. For those converted to the…
“Slow” originally appeared on Moscow Club’s C86 compilation back in the spring, but has now been touched up a bit (hence the “Neu” in the title) and sounds a lot crisper than Elen Never Sleeps’ original version. Well, it sounds as crisp as something so hazy can sound – the song title is almost an…
Japanese dubstep pioneer Goth-Trad has a new number streaming online called “Mirage.” A little less manic than a lot of the dubstep sounds squirming onto the Internet, Goth-Trad’s beat on “Mirage” ends up being surprisingly slow for the genre. But all the other hallmarks of the sound pop up: a good chunk of the track’s…
Faron Square posted two new songs onto his MySpace in the past few weeks, and maybe this duo will make Monday just a little more enjoyable. “Bliss,” currently in “Demo” state, sounds plenty nice, but the highlight-worthy track is the bouncy “Devotion.” It’s the rare piece of bedroom pop that manages to sound…sexy? Maybe it’s…
First, apologies for that headline. Moving on, the Onion AV Club’s “Gateway To Geekery” column covers the world of Japanese noise music this week. It’s got the heavy hitters you might love (Boredoms, Merzbow) but also plenty of other cacophonius acts worth your time. If you need more noise-centric reading material for this weekend, give…
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.
So much stuff came out while we were on vacation, we’ve decided to just do a quick catch-up post highlighting some of the best stuff that appeared. Away we go! Jesse Ruins’ side-project Cold Name dropped two new cuts late last week, and they continue fleshing out Cold Name’s unsettling sound. “Intent To Kill” and…
At long, long last, Nagoya’s POP-OFFICE have released a full-length album…just in time for list-making season. I’ve yet to actually get a copy of Portraits In Sea – curse you long work day! oh, how I rue you monthly bills! – but this outfit has released so much stellar music over the last few years…
We got to get Bandcamp to have a wider selection of tags, because Fukuoka producer Shigge tagged his new album as “hip hop,” “instrumental” and “beats.” Those aren’t inherently bad things…most of the time, they are amazing!…it’s just that the Japanese music scene has become so over-saturated by these beat albums that I’ve gotten into…
Not content with one of the best J-Pop tracks of the year, Kansai idol unit Especia have another new single out before the calendar turns over. “Our Sp!ce” is released in cahoots with the music retailer HMV, yet the group don’t settle for anything here. Production unit Schtein&Longer keep Especia honest, crafting a whirling song…
Flau Records has released a new, surreal video for dream-pop artist Cuushe’s “I Love You,” which you can watch above. It is a nearly four-and-a-half-minute jumble of lips, diamonds, spaghetti and much more. It is also a great opportunity to listen to the song once again, off of Cuushe’s Butterfly Case album (which I reviewed…
Try listening to the latest Maltine Records release while dozing off. Doesn’t matter if it’s during a lull in the work day, or right before bed, or even after taking a handful of cold pills and a cup of Nyquil (ahem). Something interesting happens when you just let this play, taking your eyes off the…
