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New Akoustik Shadow: Cross Over
How do you go about establishing yourself in a music environment packed in tight? There are lots of electronic music producers scattered across Japan now, and standing out isn’t an easy task. Akoustik Shadow, on new album Cross Over, decided the best way to approach this tricky situation was…try out a bunch of different sounds….
New Moscow Club: “Lizaveta”
“Well, it is April,” writes Moscow Club in regards to new song “Lizaveta.” Works for us! “Lizaveta” finds the Tokyo outfit reaching a happy median between the two styles that have, up to this point, defined them. If you started listening to the group in 2012, you wouldn’t be blamed if you thought they were…
New Miii: “Sunset Dance”
It’s tough to keep tabs on Tokyo’s Miii. As of late, he’s been leaning toward the more hyped-up sound, with a great collection of long-playing EDM on Maltine and his contributions to the often blitzkrieging The Wedding Mistakes. Yet “Sunset Dance” is a reminder he can slow things down too. It is a waltz by…
New tofubeats: “No.1” Featuring G.RINA
I’m not going to make any sort of “best of 2013…so far!” list because let’s just wait until December comes along and we can see what really stuck (plus, I took part in this). Kobe-born producer tofubeats’ Lost Decade, though, will probably appear somewhere on that list, because it’s a heck of an album, a…
New Shugo Tokumaru: “Decorate”
宅録ミュージシャンのトクマルシューゴが、2010年の作品”Port Entropy”に続くシングル、”Decorate”をリリースしました。今までの楽しいおもちゃ箱のような曲以上を望んでいる人にとっては期待はずれかもしれませんね。今回も、遊び心に満ちた曲に仕上がっています。ベル、木管楽器とアコースティックギターが曲の多くを占め、目覚まし時計のような茶目っ気のある音も面白いです。彼のスタイルは全く損なわれていないです。視聴は上から。シングルを購入すれば、トクマルシューゴによる、かつてMTVで大ヒットしたバグルスの、”ラジオ・スターの悲劇”のカバーも聴けます。シングルカットがどうなっているかは知りませんが、ライブバージョンは以下から視聴できます。
Sounds So Right: Hearsays Prep New Album, Preview With New Song “When I’m Wrong”
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,”…
New Elen Never Sleeps: “Slow (Neu)”
“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.
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Nocturnal Delight: Nite Body
Synth-powered funk has been popular in Japan’s indie scene for — well, potentially since the ’80s ended for all I know, it feels like there are always a few groups embracing the neon-boogie sounds of that decade. It’s a tricky one to do right, as it can turn cheesy fast in the wrong hands. Nite…
Shintaro Sakamoto’s (Formerly Of Yura Yura Teikoku) “You Just Decided”
OGRE YOU ASSHOLE take note – here’s how you go about embracing soft rock. Shintaro Sakamoto, formerly of long-standing Koenji rock outfit Yura Yura Teikoku, doesn’t half-ass it or treat bongos and saxophones like hats at UNIQLO – dude gives himself over completely to those often maligned sounds, his silky-smooth croon snaking through the feather…
Side Treats: Mikafika
One of the better stories to come out of the Japanese music landscape in 2010…especially from the Osaka scene, represent…would be bouncy outfit Ice Cream Shout getting some blog traction for the tune “Tattooed Tears.” This came with some bonus treats – the group’s 2009 album got some attention from blogs, and the various side…
New Metome: “Triple X”
In which an artist who often felt like he was bouncing off of rubber walls makes a song that feels like quicksand. Osaka’s Metome spent the first half of 2015 exploring helium-pumped sounds, but in recent times has moved in a darker, more dense direction. “Triple X” isn’t far removed from something like “Feather,” as…
New Kai Takahashi: Sweet Vacation Part 1
Few producers in Japan today are as versatile as Kai Takahashi. Dude boasts one of the most all-over-the-place catalogs of anyone around – he remixes Phoenix, he creates breezy ’80s-inspired dance songs and he’s the lead singer for the beach-loving, heart-broken indie-pop outfit Slow Beach. And now he’s flexing his love of the warmer months…
New Nite Body: “Void Hawaii”
Golden Week ended yesterday, meaning today was a return to normalcy — read: work — for most people across Japan. Osaka producer Nite Body’s “Void Hawaii” might be a night chaser to what I’m sure was a rough return to the office — it’s a breezy instrumental number that, as the title hints at, aims…
