Apologies if this blog has seemed a bit nostalgic lately…that’s partially because many of the artists that were formative for me from 2010 — 2013 when doing this came back with new material that has put me in a weird headspace. And now here comes indie-pop outfit Boyish, a group that started life as a…
Fall a little behind on your blog reading and, yeesh, you find yourself totally out of the loop. Both JPOP Lover and personal-recent-discovery Neaux Clicked On It (it’s good, read it) recently big-upped JinnyOops! I think two makes a trend, especially in the tiny universe of Japanese music blogging. This Osaka five-piece plays a punk-tinged…
Did you realize Boom Boom Satellites will have a new album on sale in stores tomorrow? May 26? Ahhh, those little surprises that make the week a bit more interesting. The new full-length, To The Loveless, boasts two songs with videos at the moment, both posted below for your viewing pleasure/influence whether or not you…
LLLL’s Chains project has allowed the Tokyo-based producer to explore a wide range of sounds and tempos, some entries offering speedy dance numbers, while others have leaned closer to something more reflective and slower. “Slowly We Come” hints at its pace right in the title, finding the producer creating a song that takes its time…
At some point in the last couple of years, netlabel Ano(t)raks switched from being a purveyor of fuzzy indie-pop in a C86 vein to mainly releasing more polished music that could conceivably be played in a lounge. Indie-pop in any form is always hit or miss, so feeling the same way about a steady trickle…
Forest EQ is the second album the artist Ojaco has released this year, following a few month’s after a squiggly, intriguing collection released via Niphlex Recordings. There was an oddball charm to that (lost in my personal shuffle) set, Ojaco jumping from near 8-bit boogies to shuffling dance numbers, making for an unpredictable bit 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.
大阪のインディーポップ・トリオ、Les Glass Glacéが、繊細かつ軽快な２曲をネットで公開しました。個人的にはハイライトな、”Sixpence Might Change Your Whole World”では、”ex-boyfriend couldn’t understand/ sixpence might change your whole world”という可愛らしい歌詞にそぐう、淡くポップなシンセを堪能できます。暖かい雰囲気は、曲の流れに沿ってさらにアップビートに。一方で、”Cute And Reliable”はどちらかというと取っ付きにくい印象。よりミニマルでスローなこの曲では、”he’s a really nice guy/let’s go see him”という歌詞のように少し現実的すぎるかも。でもリラックスしたこの曲に始まり、”Sixpence”が次に来ると考えると納得です。視聴は以下から。
First off, apologies to It Happens, as I will take one paragraph to vent a little, distracting from this perfectly serviceable indie-pop song. It has only been one month into 2014, but already I’m wondering what has gone wrong with this year. I have gotten extremely cynical about music of all types, and even moreso…
Over the past few weeks, Tokyo’s Moscow Club have been trying to raise funds to put together their first vinyl LP. You can chip in over at Indiegogo, where you can also learn more about the project featuring some of Tokyo’s best (and, uhhhh, me, far from the best) telling you why you should throw…
As of late, websites Tiny Mix Tapes and the Fader have been making a big deal about Japanese juke and footwork music. Both have profiled Japanese artists operating withing that scene, Tiny Mix Tapes going as far as to review a Paisley Parks’ album. One name that comes up sometimes is FOODMAN,who has been one…
Yep, still loving this song. Tokyo’s Shiggy Jr. have just released a video to go along with the City-Pop-inspired “Saturday Night To Sunday Morning,” and it puts a bit of a childlike twist on what sounded like a night-on-the-town jam. They set it at…a slumber party! Chorus still soars.
In Your Galaxie presents an interesting test for shoegaze-leaning outfit Head On The Sofa – can the reverb-loving music they make remain strong for an entire album? Up until now, they’ve only released EPs, often clocking out after five songs. It felt like just the right amount of time for Head On The Sofa, who…
