“Restraint”(制御)という単語をDe De Mouseと結びつける事などないと思っていました。彼の音楽は通常、ボーカルを切り刻み、その切れ端をスピード感のあるビートの上に乗せるようなスタイル。任天堂DSの音楽ゲームだったら最大級の難易度ですね。ドラムンベースの影響が薄い曲に限っての話ですが。新作Sky Was Darkからの曲、”Floats And Falls”は何と9分もあるのですが、今回はただ速いだけではありません。逆にスローなこの曲では、シンセが上手く曲を展開させて行きます。ボーカルのみにスピード感があります…というよりは、跳ねるようなスタイルがそう聴こえさせるのかもしれませんが。
“Floats And Falls”は5分が経過したその時点で既に完成された曲なのですが、それだけで終わらないのが今回の注目点。曲は不意に展開し、ビートが消えてボーカルとシンセのみのパートになります。その後も次々に新しい音色が加えられ、曲を終わりへと導きます。長くも飽きのこない、優れた工夫が施された作品だと感じます。De De Mouseの曲の中でもダントツで平和な、広々とした空気感を放っていて、彼の新しいスタイルを象徴した、新しい始まりを感じさせる曲になっています。ビデオは以下に。
I went to the recently renovated Tower Records in Shibuya the other day – looks good, even with a goofy cafe occupying the entire second floor! – and saw a bunch of new CDs that looked interested. After giving them a few preview spins, I was ready to load up on fresh music…until I looked…
Not sure what Fancy Books has been up to since they captured our attention (and hearts) last year, highlighted by one of 2012’s best songs in the dizzying “Sister Carry Stars.” We do know, though, what male half of the group Mitsuomi has been cooking up. He recently unveiled his new solo project Para Omi,…
When The Brixton Academy announced that they would no longer be recording under that moniker but instead as Nile Long, one had to wonder if it would also mean a change in sonic identity. The EP the group released last year seemed to signal that, yes, this wasn’t going to be the same collection of…
The duo Soft As Snow But Warm Inside called it quits over the weekend. The pair, who have been around since July 2012, announced it on a Tumblr blog post. They didn’t release much music during their existence – two EPs and a track via Ano(t)raks – but what they did put out was very…
This month’s MAP is here, and we feature Buddy Girl And Mechanic, who put out one of 2013’s first great albums. Check all this stuff out ya’ll. *collapses from South By Southwest schedule* Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a…
It is a soundtrack made for commuting between different places in large urban spaces, filled by swarms of people shoaling and funneling across intersections, subway stations and central hubs like corpuscles pulsating in the cities veins, conducted by invisible algorithms in the symbiotic superorganism that is a metropole. – Submerse, about his new EP Algorithms…
“Restraint” isn’t a word I’d normally associate with producer De De Mouse. His music usually dices vocal snippets into half-second squeaks, and then he rearranges them into speedy patterns that at times sound like something you find on the hardest difficulty of a Nintendo DS rhythm game…and those are the tracks lacking drum ‘n’ bass influences. “Floats And Falls,” from De De Mouse’s new album Sky Was Dark, clocks in at nine minutes and he doesn’t spend all those seconds creating sonic whiplash. Rather, the majority of “Floats And Falls” is a slow build up, the beat moving at a slower pace for a De De Mouse song as the synths surrounding it go through subtle changes. The singing remains the only really fast element of the song, but over everything else even it sounds more like a bounce.
The first half of “Floats And Falls” passes and it sounds like all that build up is about to pay off. Then, right before the five-minute point, the beat drops out and all that’s left is those vocal samples and some synth. The song goes into an even longer movement seemingly moving towards something, De De Mouse adding new sounds as the track progresses. At times it can drag, but he adds enough small details to make this fake-out worth an attentive listen. This is the most ethereal song he’s ever composed, and shows he can turn his rapid-fire style into something spacious with only a few alterations. Watch the video below.
The smallest alteration can create a significant ripple in Emamouse’s world. Much of the sonic architecture found on Floating Wide Luffa feels familiar — synthesizer melodies stumble about on songs such as “Matsuri No Yoko No Ie” and “Fusen No Makoto,” while Emamouse’s own vocals still sound as wonderfully wonky as ever, especially when sampled…
Haru Nemuri — responsible for our favorite album of 2018 — recently wrapped up a tour of China. While there, she met up with Chinese instrumental rock band Prune Deer to collaborate on a song called “Return.” The group provides an initially lumbering backdrop, a sort of post-rock adjacent lurch that Nemuri hasn’t really tackled…
“Naked Water” isn’t a religious experience…well, not for me at least…but it sure sounds holy. Or at least like it deserves to be performed inside a church. Earthquake Island wisely keep the bulk of the music simple – the beat is serviceable, but importantly non-intrusive, doing its job and stepping aside – and let voices…
Busy week over here at Make Believe Melodies’ headquarters…and also a bit mismanaged when it came to blog planning. Originally, I wanted to run year-end coverage this week, but hey turns out that takes a lot of time, which I didn’t have. Yay excuses! So that will happen next week…favorite songs on Monday, honorable mentions…
Update: When you rush to get something up you just saw on YouTube, you’re gonna make mistakes! “Chain” came out a while back, so some of the below is a bit off. But the video, above, is new. Make Believe Melodies regrets the error, and thanks to @nsilvias for the heads up City Your City…
Omoide Label has a knack for finding artists capable of finding new angles on hyperactive electronic music. Producer Kingyo’s Sunset is a brief shot in the arm, featuring a particularly chipper take on future bass that promotes the rush and fizziness of the style above all else. That’s best captured on the title track, a…