数年前に東京のGive Me Walletsを初めて聴いた時、踊る為の音楽というよりは、じっくり聞き込みたい、マスロック的な音楽だと感じました。マイスペースにあげられていた曲はフォールズを彷彿とさせ、好みではあったものの、ダンスフロアには適さないような気がしていました。
なので、Give Me Walletsにはよりダンサブルに、そしてエモーショナルになってくれるように期待していました。彼らの新曲、”Look After You”は、８０年代風シンセやビートで彩られ、まるで当時の曲のようでした。
また、”Look After You”のボーカルは、歌詞は聞き取りにくいものの、The Brixton Academyのように、感情的かつ情熱的でした。”Look After You”を含む、SoundCloudにあげられているGive Me Walletsの新曲は、バンドが良い方向性を見つけた事を証明しています。視聴は以下から。
It’s about being surprised in the best ways possible. This, Metoronori’s third album, finds her continuing to occupy her own little, strange corner of the online music world. She creates fragile little sonic worlds…whirring synths, the occasional glance of something a bit shinier, a very annoying timer sound on “III”…that could seemingly collapse from a…
Why release an album in December???? Don’t you know it won’t appear on year-end lists???? Nobody who is anybody would release an album at the end of the year, right???? Oh. Two great Japan-based artists released new albums this past week, and the only real loser is me, as neither of these could sneak onto…
Kindan No Tasuketsu is pretty darn prolific…she’s released a bunch of great music in 2013, and now she’s back with another song AND a really cool video. “Sun Comes Up” is a bouncy bit of electro-pop, maybe the most straightforward pop song she’s made so far this year. It features a really lovely chorus complete…
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…
“Glow” features one of those musical moments that catch you so off guard it practically makes you do a double look at your computer screen. The first half of Tokyo bedroom-producer Mari Pass Filter’s song is a good but straightforward affair – a beat, droplets of synthesizer, skittery vocals that sound vaguely Vocaloid and which…
CUZ ME PAINは最近、あまりリリースをせず、ライブやレコーディングに力を入れている感じがします。それともニコラス・ケイジ出演の映画を勉強したりしてるのかな。CUZ ME PAINのプロジェクトMasculinの新曲、”Manhattan Suicide”は、ニコラス・ケイジ主演のデビッド・リンチ映画、ワイルド・アット・ハートの台詞から始まります。２分間シンプルに淡々と流れるグルーブは、リンチ・テイストが他の曲よりは抑えめかも。ワイルド・アット・ハートからの物かは確かじゃないですが、他の台詞とピアノの流れるようなフレーズがリピートされています。そのようなサウンドが楽しい雰囲気を出していて、ツイン・ピークス的か、と言えばそうではないのですが、このような遊び心のあるリリースを聴く事で、CUZ ME PAINから更なるリリースを期待してしまいます。 MANHATTAN SUICIDE by MASCULIN
When I first listened to Tokyo’s Give Me Wallets almost a year ago, their music was more math-rock than dancey. The songs featured on their MySpace page reminded me of the precision-minded rock of a band like Foals, which was good but also not particularly tailored for the dance floor (well, maybe a really awkward one). Jump ahead a few months, though, and Give Me Wallets seem to have become a bit more dance friendly…and also a bit more willing to let down their emotional guard. Their new song “Look After You” brings to mind fellow Tokyo group The Brixton Academy, as it is full of ’80s-evoking synth and a club-minded beat, the entire track sounding like it could have come out 25 years ago. Also like The Brixton Academy, “Look After You” finds Give Me Wallets evoking emotion through the pitch of their vocals. You don’t even need to hear what they are specifically saying to pick up on the longing in the lead singer’s voice. Along with other recent uploads to the group’s SoundCloud page, “Look After You” finds Give Me Wallets moving in a nice sonic direction. Listen below.
The pairing of Lulu and Mikeneko Homeless has proven to be especially successful, and here they are with a new summer-ready tune just as the hottest stretch of the year approaches. Released via Maltine Records, “Asago” highlights how well both artists work together. Lulu’s singing wraps around the bouncy beat just right, the lyrics touching…
You know the joke that goes “what’s the secret of comedy?” and as the listener begins saying “what?” the teller cuts them off with the punch line – “timing.” Yeah, music releases through the Internet rely on the same secret. INNIT-associate Leggysalad’s recently released (and free to download) Shards Of Reality EP demonstrates this well…
I mean…the thing is, most of “Yakult (Stay) Gold” sounds really woodsy, all flutes and subtle percussion, except for when DJ Yakult Lady lets her (?) Jersey Club love sneak into the track via bed squeaks and hyped-up electronics. There’s a drama to this song that’s pretty surprising given…well, one second…hinted at by the clash…
This month for the Music Alliance Pact – a feature where blogs from all over the world share one song with one another, with Make Believe Melodies repping for Japan – we highlighted a bit of a different sounding artist. The spotlight falls on Toyohirakumin, who often gets lumped into the world of vaporwave, but…
The vision surrounding a Boys Age album tends to be more unexpected than the music itself. New World Pregnancy, a long gestating full length, comes billed as “an imagined soundtrack” to a story one half of the Saitama rock duo wrote. It gets pretty detailed…a machine goes sentient…and stands as the most ambitious bit of…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYTHoQ-ke3Q”] This one’s for the breathless folks who like more-or-less endless action. Caroline Rocks “パラレル” is a simple guitar-drums-vocals torpedo that pretty much warns the listener where things will be going with its immediate surge of an intro before spilling into sky-high gallop. The band wedges in a few slower instances to catch their breath…late…