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。
The biggest twist to this is the central vocal sample (and the title of the song) comes from “Blurred Lines.” Kobe’s Tofubeats manages to take a track that is (still!) pretty burned into the minds of contemporary music fans/people who just walk by stores prone to playing the biggest summer hits and flip it into…
I did not like Perfume’s “Sweet Refrain” at all. Well, the video is cool…but I think the song itself just isn’t particularly good. What makes that song interesting (at least in theory) is how it sets the bass-wubs of brostep against a relatively skippy pop melody. Whereas most pop songs around the world featuring Skrillex-aping…
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,…
The defining moment on Tokyo-based producer Ryuuta Takaki’s Stillness EP comes near the end, on the track “Phantasm.” The track opens in a relaxed and minimal matter, bordering on sounding like an electronic imitation of a peaceful meadow. Takaki’s sounds resemble the chirping of birds, and only a skittering beat really seems out of place….
Osaka’s Hideo Nakasako has let some time pass since last year’s great Time Passes album, but he’s posted a three-song EP to SoundCloud that makes all the months that came before it worth it. The highlight is the opening track “Groove Me,” which opens with sea-sick synths reminiscent of what Tokyo’s mus.hiba deals with on…
Pure neon sounds here. Tokyo’s Alloapm has labeled this a “summer version,” but really this is a song designed for the night, preferably while cruising through the city, potentially while holding onto some ~feels~. It is, sonically, a relatively simple number – a flurry of synths, a beat, bass and some Vocder-ized singing propelling the…
“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.
I intended to write this all the way back in October. Back when the weather hadn’t turned freezing and I could barely order food at a restaurant, I stumbled upon The Bawdies via a flier advertisement. They would be playing a Flake Records show in Kobe, along with a handful of other Japanese groups and…
Here’s a group rarely written about on this blog that deserves way more attention (and, rightfully, has gotten it from places far more legitimate than here). YMCK make chiptune music, but instead of using 8-bit noises as a way to spazz out or as a crutch for nostalgia, they make unabashed J-Pop out of old…
New Tokyo outfit Looprider features a handful of musicians who have been kicking around the country’s music scene for a while now – fronted by singer Ryotaro Aoki who, full disclosure, I once drunkenly gave a Dempagumi.inc clear file to at a Japan Times function (where we both contribute) – and debut single “Farewell” is…
Sometime last night, Creative-Commons-loving net label Bad Panda Records posted a new song from Taquwami (also known as Occult You) called “Ƒắη†Δ§ỷ” (also known as “Fantasy” just in case Microsoft Word “Insert Symbol” isn’t a language you know). Accompanying the song is a brief interview with Taquwami himself that reveals info ranging from trivial (last…
Busy week ahead for Cor!s. Constituting one half of KiWi, who drop a new album on the 25th, she’s also made time to share “Hero,” a dramatic bit of EDM-pop featuring singer Akio (Sugar’s Campaign, among others). She creates a slowly building number, full of electronic wisps (that, in a nice detail, bend a bit)…
What are the hot trends in Japanese music right now? You could point to a few musical similarities, or you could try to deduce something larger from big songs such as Daoko’s big breakout hit, or Hoshino Gen’s gloopy TV theme song. Yet I would say what’s happening now is nothing specific, that things are…