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New Elen Never Sleeps: Rum EP
The vocals found on Elen Never Sleeps’ songs are always an interesting confrontation – they are not traditionally “good” but the relatively ragged delivery are charming in their own way. They are pushed further than ever before on new EP Rum which finds Elen Never Sleep crafting his most vocally daring collection yet. It opens…
Disconnect The Dots: OBUTSUDAN-SUMINO’s “Kaerou”
Here’s pop reduced to some very, very basic elements. Osaka’s OBUTSUDAN-SUMINO constructs something that’s both aching and catchy using a lot of space – the bulk of “Kaerou” is just him singing over a barely-there beat and some chilly synth splashes. At times the song whirrs and whoozes, but the bulk here is about space….
New Figure: “Don’t Hate You”
Figure might not hate you, but he definitely doesn’t mind making you feel claustrophobic. “Don’t Hate You” follows up his excellent Come Down album from last year, and it sticks to the same sonic principals that made that six-track set so good – Figure records his music in a way that makes the guitar come…
New The Moments: Short Trip EP
Man, has it been almost two years since Nagoya’s The Moments caught our attention with “Short Trip.” The Japanese indie-pop boom was just getting underway, and that was one of the first songs to earn dozens upon dozens of repeat listens, and even pop up on our monthly music mix (remember that thing). Now, a…
New Sotaisei Riron: “You & Idol”
Privacy-loving outfit Sotaisei Riron released a new album last week, Town Age, which I have a feeling will be landing on our top albums of 2013 list when that time comes. More on that later…but here is the new video for Town Age highlight “You & Idol.” Watch above.
New House Of Tapes: Trip Science
That Nagoya’s House Of Tapes’ debut album Trip Science is an enjoyable experience at all is a small miracle. That sounds harsh, the darkest shade one could throw, but I don’t mean that in a dismissive or ironically surprised way. House Of Tapes’ music has always sounded like a sonic endurance test, the dance-music equivalent…
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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2010 Trend That May One Day Lead To More Japanese Music Being Popular In America (But Probably Not): Tolerating Auto-Tune
Note: We take a break from our songs list to give out some more awards that might make you pissed. Pity Auto-Tune. The pitch-correcting software became pop music’s boogeyman sometime late in the 2000s, joining “they don’t play instruments” and “all they do is rap about guns and women” as easy ways to avoid talking…
Music Alliance Pact December 2011
Time flies huh? Feels like yesterday I just started contributing to the Music Alliance Pact – which brings together more than 30 blogs from around the world to share great music from far-flung places – and here we are with the final MAP of 2011. To round out the year, we’ve selected Love And Hates…
New Quarta330 Pixelated
Japanese producer Quarta330 released his new EP Pixelated, his first through London’s Hyperdub in quite some time. I have a feature about him in The Japan Times today, which you can read here. I cover most of my thoughts on Pixelated there…so yeah, definitely click that, this is kind of a “read this other piece…
New Tricot: “Daihatsumei”
Perhaps it was overly paranoid, but it’s great to see Tricot still chugging along. For a second last year, it looked like lead vocalist / guitarist Ikkyu Nakajima could pivot into more proper J-pop territory, due to the surprise success of the variety-show-fueled band Genie High and just a greater turn to being a more…
New Mitsume: “Esper”
With Mitsume, it’s all about the moments happening away from the vocals. Which isn’t to discount what Moto Kawabe does while singing — his light vocal delivery adds a melancholy-tinged breeziness to the quartet’s music, and the head-to-the-ground style trumps the more dramatic flourishes of groups such as Suchmos and Never Young Beach for me…
New Jesse Ruins: “Inner Ambient”
Bit of a deceiving title, seeing as “Inner Ambient” certainly isn’t ambient music. Rather, the Gorilla Vs. Bear approved Jesse Ruins’ track imagines M83 shrunk down to bedroom size. All the woozy 80s synths and ghostly vocals are their, but whereas that French group went with bombast Jesse Ruins embraces something a bit more personal,…
