The band Tourist & Soundtracks has long been one of those Japanese indie-pop groups who deliver solid songs — the sort that are cheery, vaguely summery even when heard in the depths of winter, and catchy enough — but who have also never been good enough, always lacking something to push them to the head…
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…
As far as genres go, “poemcore” probably has more going for it than “Simpson’s Wave” or whatever YouTube trickery gets written up online, but don’t see any trend pieces being written up about it. Owtn., back after a brief hiatus, makes some of the more absorbing songs in this style — which, as the name…
The words in questions…”indie” and “pop,” joined together by a hyphen. Though I love the jangly sound immensely – click the “twee as fuck” tag to see just how much – attempting to write about it can be a challenge because a lot of “twee” songs sounds alike. The Caraway’s “Bedroom Suburb” features all the…
Kansai is still going strong when it comes to great electronic producers, and here’s another one to add to the ever-growing pile. Kyoto’s 4degC hovers around the recently returned Million Pavilions label, and has released an EP through them. His latest song, “Rush,” is a hiccuping number loaded with second-long vocal samples spilling over one…
Nagoya’s House Of Tapes has tried out a lot over his career — and now comes something resembling a tone poem. “I Can Not Say Goodbye To You” finds the producer sing-speaking a melancholy set of lyrics against a discombobulated (but never overwhelming) electronic backdrop. While it isn’t as suffocating as their older material, their…
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.
Los Angeles’ Meishi Smile is one of Make Believe Melodies’ favorite artists who technically falls outside our area of coverage (though when Maltine Records released a collection from him, we broke the rules because…why not?), and you should definitely get a copy of his album Lust, out this week via Attack The Music (it’s a…
So…vaporwave. It is (was?) one of those Internet-spawned genres that sounds interesting written down…accelerationists! Trash music! Capitalism!…but gets confusing fast when you start trying to figure out what vaporwave actually sounds like. Even if you settle on a sonic definition of what it is…to me, I consider it music built out samples taken mostly from…
Fukuoka’s Hearsays first blipped-up on our radar courtesy of Dead Funny Record’s latest compilation album, and now that label will be releasing their new A Little Bird Told Me on March 10. To give us a tease of what to expect, imprint and band have shared a new recording of the song “When I’m Wrong,”…
Tofubeats already has one great album and a handful of well-produced singles for other artists under his belt this year…and, welp, he has another gem now with “Don’t Stop The Music.” Here, the Kobe producer embraces a more laid back structure compared to the often manic tracks on this year’s Lost Decade, letting the music…
Bits and pieces from this, CUZ ME PAIN project White Wear’s debut album, have been popping up over the last few months. Yet the final product, Black Strings, has been only available in stores in Japan since its release. Now, though, White Wear has uploaded the whole thing to SoundCloud so everyone can enjoy the…
