Ask any foreigner in Japan who operates a blog where he/she pretends to be a junior Japan sociologist (I do this!) about humor in Japan. I’m willing to wager a large chunk of them will note how slapstick and situational comedy in this country is opposed to the place they hail from where, for the…
Alternate title: I’m glad I didn’t start writing year-end content, because here comes an album to disrupt it a bit. Osaka’s Yullippe excels at dark, unnerving dance music. Her third album Selfish&Anchor continues this dive into the shadowy side of the genre, and results in her most cohesive album to date. Which isn’t to say…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_6CitFH8YA”] Dear The Mirraz, How ya guys holding up? You need some orange slices or something? Back massage? Seriously, last time I checked in on you guys you had just released a vulgar-titled album proclaiming yourselves the fucking world, and that was only a few short months after releasing an album declaring yourselves on top…
If one were to plot the sonic trajectory of Kai Takahashi on a big chart, he would be forever moving towards turning into pure Weather Channel soundtrack. He hasn’t reached that point yet, though, but he’s been getting smoother and smoother with each release…even his remixes of Parisian pop bands were smooth as heck. After…
Some times, Beef Fantasy shows off his dazzling songwriting skills on songs about train lines, or virtual beaches. This time…a seemingly simple, borderline jokey number called “Panty Stocking,” which finds the artist repeating the titular phrase through heavy Vocoder over and over again. Yet despite the thematic simplicity, this song is a great highlight of…
For research purposes, I went to a Vocaloid event this past weekend. One room was set off for aspiring Vocaloid producers and bands to push their various products – which mostly meant CDs, although the most popular items tended to be badges, stickers and uhhhhh flasks. The other, more crowded space, though, hosted several Vocaloid…
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.
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,”…
Cloudy Busey “Who Says They Love You” Osaka’s Cloudy Busey started the year with the long, lonely walk home anthem “Up To You (If You Love Me)” and later released “Have U Ever,” which he said would be perfect for Justin Bieber. Between those two, the Ice Cream Shout frontman who also records under the…
It makes sense that Taquwami would offer up a remix of a Ryan Hemsworth track on the Canadian producer’s new EP Still Awake. Besides the obvious fact that Hemsworth has been upping Tokyo’s brightest producer for a while now and has included him in various mixes before, the two share a similar genre-blurring approach to…
Fresh off a European tour and preparing for two big shows in America, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has released the video for her new single “Ninja Ri Ban Ban,” above. The song finds Yasutaka Nakata channeling traditional Japanese sounds and melodies into the song…appropriate given the subject matter focuses on being in love with a ninja….
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…
Neon Cloud Neon Cloud Neon Cloud Neon Cloud! Sorry for the excitement, but this is the first new output from the mysterious Tokyo project since 2011’s excellent (and only getting better with time) Knit EP. This isn’t quite an original work, but what Neon Cloud does to Brooklyn outfit Blue Foundation’s (really good on its…
