A few days ago Second Royal Records posted all of the tracks to Friends’ debut album Let’s Get Together Again to SoundCloud. It will be released as a 10″ record in September in Japan, but can (and should!) be enjoyed right now. Needless to say, more on this one later.
Nagano producer Toyu isn’t afraid to get wonky. The youngster’s latest two-song offering, the Get Together EP, opens with a track off in its own weird, wonderful universe, featuring creaky singing buried under layers of electronics and a digi-carnival fizz. This might be what Sekai No Owari sounds like in the Twilight Zone. Yet the…
How, exactly, do you take the reigns back on things you can’t control? Or, less flowery — how do you reclaim your narrative? Your view might vary, but I think it’s fair to say Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has been perceived to be treading water since she released her last album. Key word is “perceived,” as…
Footwork producer Picnicwomen has released two of the better EPs of 2012 this year, and now the fast-paced-music maker dropped a third that’s every bit as good. Super Freak doesn’t really enter into any new territory, but it’s another jittery collection of cut-up samples played over music that just darts forward. “Again” shoots for more…
Heh heh…69. With that out of the way, looks like Hotel Mexico have gotten pretty comfy with Diesel. This is the second song by Kyoto’s premier chillwavers to appear on Diesel’s “Diesel:U:Music:” after the Ariel Pinked out “Dear Les Friends.” Like that song, it’s pretty easy to play glo-fi connect the dots though “We Are…
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.
Time for the Music Alliance Pact! This month’s MAP features Hideo Nakasako’s fantastic “Groove Me.” Listen to it…and a lot more great music…below. Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip file of the full 26-track compilation through Ge.tt here….
It’s probably about time to do a “stuff we missed: 2013 edition,” and one album I didn’t write nearly enough about is Kiko by Madegg. He’s still one of the most prolific electronic artists in Japan today, but also one able to backup all the output with talent. Kiko is his best full-length album yet…Kashiyuka…
May 27 marks the 15th anniversary of the debut of Shiina Ringo, an artist who has released a few classic albums and has had a huge impact on a generation of Japanese music fans. To celebrate, she’s releasing a new single on that day and…it presumably hit the Internet sometime today. It’s called “Irohanihoheto” and…
Tokyo might be an urban labyrinth, but the Kansai region of Japan hides just as many nooks. Most tend to define this part of western Japan by the cities of Osaka and Kyoto, both of which have seen a boom in electronic music over the past two years. Right near those two, though, sits Nara,…
Elen Never SleepsとSuper VHSがスプリットEPを発表しました。White Surrender/Stuck On Youに収録された曲は、どちらも彼らの今までのスタイルとは異なった方向性となり、新しい可能性を追求した良作と言えるでしょう。Elen Never Sleepsによる”White Surrender”は、今までのドリーミーなサウンドより、少しくっきりとした曲です。きちんと輪郭のあるボーカルに時折囁くようなコーラスが混ざり、ギターとミニマルなビートの上に重ねられています。ボーカルはハイトーンではやや不安定なものの、ミニマルな曲に上手くマッチしています。Super VHSの”Stuck On You”は、彼の楽曲の中でもダントツにガレージ・ロック寄りと言えるでしょう。短いものの、バックグラウンドに面白いノイズが使われていて興味深いです。 EPには東京のトラックメーカー、Taquwamiによるリミックスも含まれています。不思議なことにWhite Surrenderのリミックスは、すごくドリーミーに作られているため、本人達の物より、過去のElen Never Sleepsスタイルに近く感じられます。遅くされたボーカルを除けばElenのオリジナルのようになるでしょう。Taquwamiのサイドプロジェクト、Occult YouとしてリミックスされたStuck On Youは、ガレージからガラリと変わり、Toro-Y-Moiのようなダンスチューンになっています。視聴、ダウンロード(無料)は以下より。 White Surrender / Stuck On You by Gay Vegan Vinyl Cassette
After a triumphant year that saw her release one of the year’s absolute stunners, May.e has decided to end the year by releasing a second full-length album called Shiseikatsu for free online. It, seemingly, is built in very much the same style as her debut Mattiola. She plays an acoustic guitar and sings. Her voice…
