Maltine keeps on keeping on…the physical version of their partnering up with Tokyo Girls’ Style comes out soon, and in early May they’ll have a big ‘ol live event at Tokyo’s Liquidroom. Oh, and the free music keeps on coming, with two new releases out this week. The first comes from trap maker Faeru, in…
Japanese Summer Orange gets sober on “The Ones,” a reflective number revealing new depth to the project. Up to this point, the semi-slacking outfit has been about stumbling about and feeling the hangover the next day, but “The Ones” heads out with a clear mind and a lot on its mind. The bedroom-recorded quality remains,…
The Pats Pats are a Tokyo duo who have been kicking around for a few years, releasing catchy indie-pop skippers with a garage-rock vibe. Still, for me at least, the recently shared “Make Up!” from their first album The Pats Pats (out today), is the one that has been stuck in my head the most…
Tokyo indie-pop outfit have fleshed themselves out a bit in recent times, going from a fuzz-shrouded indie-pop band who sounded like they were recording under several blankets to a band who, on “Dreaming Boogie,” break out the saxophone. Coming from the soon-to-be-released Strings, “Dreaming Boogie” finds the group embracing lusher sounds, from the aforementioned sax…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-haZ2I6ywis”] So is this what it sounds like when the often glee-oozing Sebastian X tackle a ballad? Not quite…they aren’t Ayumi Hamasaki-ing it up for the song “Rose Garden, Baby Blue” from forthcoming full-length Futures (say that really fast). Yet the group’s standard-operating kitchen sink sound has been slowed a bit here, sparkling piano coupled…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVWSbW7xz7s”] Being an alternative-rock band probably isn’t an easy life. They usually don’t receive the big budgets most mainstream J-Pop acts get, but they often still have enough commercial ties where they can’t run into the wilderness and really cut loose. Standing out in a very crowded field, then, becomes difficult, and a lot of…
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.
Lot to report out of the Kansai electronic music scene this week, starting with Kyoto producer Madegg’s newly released Alone Breath To My Family EP. It’s a collection of his wonkiest productions to date – late cut “Moviesound,” in particular, is among the most off-the-wall song he’s ever put together – yet still defined by…
The biggest twist to this is the central vocal sample (and the title of the song) comes from “Blurred Lines.” Kobe’s Tofubeats manages to take a track that is (still!) pretty burned into the minds of contemporary music fans/people who just walk by stores prone to playing the biggest summer hits and flip it into…
OK, this time I checked around – I think this is a Puffyshoes’ original. It isn’t the Michelle Branch song (though that could be interesting), it isn’t ’80s group Scandal’s take. Ain’t the Ed Sheeran version which sucks so bad I won’t even link to it. So…here’s a totally fresh song from Puffyshoes, who do…
Merry Christmas (close enough!) from Make Believe Melodies. We are going to relax…I SWEAR…until after the holiday, but before kicking back and opening our presents, let’s listen to some special Japanese Christmas songs! Producer De De Mouse sets the seasonal mood just right…using Vocaloid software. He’s booted up Hatsune Miku to tackle “Sleigh Ride,” and…
Indie-pop label Ano(t)raks plans on releasing a new compilation album in February, and have already revealed a list of artists who will be contributing to the sequel to the excellent Soon comp. The forthcoming release features a lot of familiar names – Post Modern Team, Boyish, The Paellas and many more…but also features a few…
Young Osaka imprint/party Perfect Touch…featuring heavy involvement from various INNIT originators, primarily Erik Luebs otherwise known as Magical Mistakes…just wrapped up a tour behind Sweatson Klank, an electronic music maker out of Los Angeles. I wasn’t able to hit up the Tokyo leg of the tour because I had to go watch Rock In Japan…
