Slowは元々MOSCOW CLUBのC８６コンピレーションに収録されていた楽曲でしたが＜＞今回の再編集を経て（なのでタイトルに新しいを表すNUEとついています）オリジナルよりもクリアーになっています。氷山を彷彿とさせる様な壮大な冷たい空気感のギターとドラムスは彼の歌う歌詞”but you slow down/slow down/slow down,” と重なってゆっくりと流れていきます。オリジナルバージョンも良曲でしたがこのバージョンによってさらに洗練されたと言えると思います。
New year, same great feature. Here’s the first Music Alliance Pact post of 2013, and representing Japan this month is Tokyo’s OKLobby and their mesmerizing track “Fireworks.” Listen to it…and a whole bunch of other great songs from around the globe (Dragon Inn 3, nice!) below. Click the play button icon to listen to individual…
Okinawa’s StillSound returns with a lovely, bouncy number called “Good Idea.” It’s a relatively straightforward track – a beat, some non-flashy synths, singing which isn’t immediately audible but far from fuzzed out – that doesn’t change much during its playtime. Yet it’s an effective combination, especially StillSound’s singing, which rises and falls elegantly and ends…
CUZ ME PAIN projects Faron Square and :visited are no loner around making woozy dance music, but pivotal-member-in-the-prior-and-uhhh-the-whole-project-of-the-latter Yyoke has a new project under the Tokyo label’s umbrella. White Wear has been kicking around, mostly making remixes, since last year, but now he’s got his first EP out. Called A Black From White Space, the…
One of the trickiest things about covering Japanese bands is comparing acts in Japan to Western artists…most of the time, it ends up being misguided, a lazy way for writers to create a connect-the-dots situation that makes it easier to describe the group’s sound. Or just be a total cop out…Kyary Pamyu Pamyu as Japanese…
Talking City 1994 is a very talented Osaka-based band, but the individual members are insanely talented too. Soleil Soleil has been creating fidgety dance music of all sorts over the last few years and has probably been the most visible individual player in the group. Yet right up there is the band’s guitarist Ryo Arimura,…
In which Tokyo producer Kenie_T…who on SoundCloud now goes by knie with a block symbol between the “k” and “n”…realizes Vocaloid doesn’t have to be just a replacement singer. The productions released by this artist over the past few months have been warm and dizzying, yet it’s on “Papapa” in which the digi-voice of Sekka…
“Slow” originally appeared on Moscow Club’s C86 compilation back in the spring, but has now been touched up a bit (hence the “Neu” in the title) and sounds a lot crisper than Elen Never Sleeps’ original version. Well, it sounds as crisp as something so hazy can sound – the song title is almost an understatement, because “Slow” practically crawls, the guitars and drums sounding glacial. It’s all intentional, though, a decision meant to match up with Elen Never Sleeps repeated cries of “but you slow down/slow down/slow down,” delivered in a dejected-but-pretty voice that this project has gotten so good at utilizing. The original version was good, but this slightly fleshed-out version shows what can happen when an artist spends time perfecting their creations. Listen below.
Two songs from Friday, from two of the most talented artists out of Osaka. Seiho shared the “short version” of a song called “Naked,” which you can hear above. After a bit of a busy opening, the song solidifies a bit and is a nice thumping tune…albeit one where bird sounds still sneak into the…
Yet another album coming later this spring to get excited about — left-field juke maker Foodman has a new album called Ez Minzoku out in May. He’s shared a taste of it with “Hikari,” a jittery electronic number featuring elements that would fit right at home in a Foldger’s commercial. Yet what starts as cheerfully…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NHqFPU3bWw”] Well this is just some adorable holiday cheer. Shonen Knife sing about baking cakes for a Christmas party and Santa Clause in “Sweet Christmas,” and the accompanying clip (above) finds them cooking up the dessert, with a bunch of goofy gags (that made me laugh) along the way. Cute song and video, better than…
Well, it isn’t his first album, but it is his first for a major label…and now Tofubeats’ First Album can be heard on its entirety on SoundCloud. The album features the singles “Don’t Stop The Music,” “Disco No Kamisama” and “Come On Honey!,” and guest appearances from the likes of PES from Rip Slyme, Bonnie…
In which the shining dreamy qualities of Canopies And Drapes original mix of the (still excellent!) “Sleeping Under The Bed” get flipped into late-night, chilly Italo Disco. Night Vision subs in 80s synth lines over the twinkling prettiness that defined the original, making their remix slightly more danceable but ultimately a bit back-alley shady like…
It has been an indie-pop sort of week, which seems about right given the suddenly warm weather gracing Tokyo (just remembered a typhoon arrives tomorrow, alright). Special Favorite Music add to the week’s already sunny collection of Japanese indie-pop with the seasonally appropriate “Summer Serve.” Like a lot of the better indie-pop bands out there,…