[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L1YM40U2Fc&”] Live, OGRE YOU ASSHOLE pummel audiences with volume, sometimes placing such a premium on loudness that their songs suffer as a result. It’s a strange sight, seeing as the foursome have been slowly becoming slightly softer…in a good way…on record. Previously, the jaunty “Pinhole” appeared to be OGRE embracing pop and letting song structure…
Buried in the Make Believe Melodies post graveyard is a very very long-winded entry about Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s “Crazy Party Night.” The not-600-word version — I get what it is doing and I think it is a smart move commercially, but woo boy is it so clearly her worst single to date. Part of me…
Remember when the “city pop revival” was the premier wave of nostalgia running through Japanese music? For those who are a little exhausted by what came next — an intense rash of “oh man, the ’90s!” speared by SMAP, Hikaru Utada and the crushing march of time — we have a new three-song set from…
The preview collection for the Visitors 2 compilation sounds rather lovely, a collection of very talented producers offering up easy-going (but not meek) disco cuts. Yet this one, from producer Bazz, jumps out amongst the bunch. It is a sparkly number, one that paces itself just right and features enough flourishes coming in at the…
Producer and roman-numerals-aficionado T4CKY created one of 2017’s more promising debuts in the form of XIX. Now they continue flashing their potential with two new songs. “I” is the one that is more readily available to all, as it is up on SoundCloud (and you can hear it above). It’s a touch more restrained, opening…
Buffalo Daughter member Ohno Yumiko wrote the soundtrack to a dance performance put on back in 2009 called “The Rainy Table.” I have no idea what this art piece was actually about, a preview video for it only showing a dancer in front of a screen hiding the shadow of a horse. Regardless, it must…
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.
I’m writing up this post on a day where the Internet…or at least major pockets of it…went wild over a couple of big pop-music releases that hit the web today. First was the video for Ciara’s “Body Party” (which we can’t even watch in Japan) and then a new single by Janelle Monáe. And even…
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…
Suburbia had its moment a few years ago, at least when you look back at the shape of the North American rock scene (limiting, but it was still a thing). Exclamation-pointed by Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, this interest in the communities outside major cities was also propelled by acts like Real Estate, Ducktails and Titus…
Hideo Naksako hails from Osaka, which over the last few years has become the central hub for Japan’s burgeoning beat-music scene. That city – along with the surrounding Kansai region – has been home to many producers putting their own stamp on the beat style, plus a community helping one another out in making music…
Sweet, another opportunity to tell you to go get your hands on spazzkid’s Desire, which might very well be my favorite non-Japanese album of 2013 so far. OK, got that out of the way…one of Tokyo’s most intriguing home-based producers i-fls has gone and made an unofficial remix of spazzkid’s “Getting To Know You,” transporting…
I’m still getting over my SXSW-induced hangover (both mentally and physically), so I’m happy Osaka’s Magical Mistakes released a new song that’s perfect for someone who involuntarily woke up at 4:30 this morning because of jet lag. Like a lot of Erik Luebs’ previous songs, “Fashionable Thumb Pianos” leans closer to the meditative rather than…
