The dudes in CRYV keep on rolling out songs this summer. The latest bit of musical hang gliding from the duo is “Summer Clock,” a chiming little slice of, uh, summery music. It borders on the twee save for those eyes-on-the-sky synths propelling the whole thing higher than indie-pop often shoots for. You can get the whole song on iTunes, or you can be cheap like me and just listen to the sample over and over again here.
“Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)” was the opening track on My Bloody Valentine’s debut full-length Isn’t Anything, released in 1988. Seeing a band named after that track…minus the parenthesis…prompts all sorts of assumptions, most of them tied to words like “shoegaze.” Although this Japanese duo shares a few elements in common with Kevin Shield’s…
文化の中心は東京だと思われがちですが、関西も同様に栄えています。それでも大阪や京都の印象が強いですよね。ここ２年くらいその２つの場所ではダンス・ミュージックが盛り上がっていましたし。かつての首都であり、大仏や鹿が有名な奈良はどうでしょうか？良いアーティストを多数輩出しているものの、あまりダンス・ミュージックのイメージはありませんね。でもそんな奈良からも最近Sakasaというアーティストが出てきて、Coin Bender EPでは前向きなビートやノイズを奏でています。”Let your body dance, and let your brain dance more,” と説明されるこの三曲入りEPからは、名古屋のHouse Of Tapesとも共通点を感じます。どちらもメンタルとフィジカル両方に響くので。一曲目のタイトル・トラックなんかは特にそうで、歯医者のドリルみたいな身震いしそうな激しいノイズでビートが構築されています。”Pond”では逆に柔らかな印象。華やかなシンセのレイヤーが乗っているビートがこちらも徐々に重なっていきます。体を動かすにも世界観にも浸るにも適した美しい曲です。
True to form, Kobe’s tofubeats celebrated October 2nd (aka “Tofu Day” in Japan) by sharing a new song dubbed “Callin.” For folks craving the mode he primarily operated in before jumping up to the majors, this is a lovely throwback…though fans of his recent work (cough, like me, cough) still will too. No guests, just…
Calling something “underrated” often feels like a silly distinction, but I do kind of think Amunoa gets slightly overlooked in the Japanese electronic crowd. They are just so good at creating shifty little numbers, and using cut-up samples in a way that makes them stand out rather than blend in. “REM,” their latest, further shows…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr_ADm9r9v8″] The Cigavettes try oh so hard to push you away, but manage to somehow always do just enough to keep you hanging around. Last year, they released an album of defrosted Beatles-inspired tunes that grew tired after one listen…but said release had just enough moments of inspired sunny pop one couldn’t really muster up…
Sometimes you hear a sound that reminds you of some far-away memory that actually isn’t from whatever you are reminiscing about but comes so close to replicating it you just go with it. YOMOYA’s “Baby” features such a sound, at least for me personally, but it might work for you if you spent anytime listening…