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。
関西のINNITに関してはここでも繰り返し取り上げていますが、INNIT以外でも関西の勢いを表すパーティーを紹介します。IdleMomentsは日本の新しいサウンドを作っているクリエーター達を集合させる事を目的としたパーティーです。オーガナイザーワダシンヤさんはEadonmmというアーティスト名でも活動しており彼の音楽は一般的なダンスポップミュージックとは一線を画する陰鬱で退廃的な世界観を表した物となっています。彼の楽曲Recollectionの鳥のさえずりの様なエコーの声、冷たい空気感を持ったシンセ、そしてちりばめられたビートなどは催眠的な独特な音の世界を作り出しています。試聴は以下から
Indie-pop in Japan has, without a doubt, reached a bit of a bubble phase at this point. In late 2013, there are just so many outfits leaning towards the twee side of the indie-rock spectrum…and new ones pop up all the time online. The question now is, “what are they aiming for?” There have been…
Things the new Foodman EP Hamakko reminds me of: – A space-themed Hanna-Barbera cartoon playing from an old, broken radio…in another dimension. – Jazz generated by a malfunctioning Commodore 64. – Alternate world soundtrack to the Ocarina Of Time Water Temple. – Alien theme park announcements. – The weirdest/best open-mic-night. – A really strange plate…
Shortcake Collage TapeのVHSに直接録音したようなサウンドがとても好みです。新曲”✈Empire≈Beach☼” は、過去の名曲”Polaroid Full Of Kisses“にファズのようなフィルターをかけて潰したような作品です。”Empire Beach”は南国風のヴァイブを持っていて、ビーチリゾートのプロモーションで使われていそう。特に印象的な瞬間は、１分４０秒くらいの時にスムーズなジャズ・サックスが流れる時で、その穏やかな瞬間にいつまでも留まりたくなります。その後、アニメか映画のサンプルが呟き始め、曲の終わりとともに消えていき、最後に沖縄と囁きます。視聴は以下から。 あと違った意味で注目すべきは、一ヶ月くらい前にリリースされた”Meet Me In Your Dreams”で、これはとても笑わせてくれます。何が面白いかというと、この夏、YouTubeで動画を再生する際に頻繁に流れた、元SDN48の芹那ちゃんが出演していたコマーシャル、芹那 ザ ジレット ジェルジニーがサンプルネタになっているからです。何はともあれ、SCTが彼女の喋りを使って面白くユニークな作品を作ったのは素晴らしい事だと思います。
Tokyo-based guitarist Dustin Wong already had a strong first half of 2013, teaming up with Shibuya-kei staple Takako Minekawa to produce an album that took both artist out of their comfort zones. Now he’s primed for the rest of the year too, as he has a solo album (Mediation Of Ecstatic Energy) due out on…
Video game noises are no longer just a novelty, a cheap sonic trick used to evoke a decade long gone. Despite several hard drives worth of shitty chiptune music floating across the Internet in 2013, the last few years has seen 8-bit bloops legitimized, to some degree. Crystal Castles cop moves from the Silent Hill…
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.
Was literally brushing my teeth when I noticed that Kyoto’s Madegg posted a new track called “Mono U Ni” to his SoundCloud page. Take a listen to this spacey…as in minimalist, not constellations…track below while I wash my face. [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/22052464″]
Maybe winter has just felt particularly tough on the thermostat this year, but “Topia” sounds extra warm and inviting right about now. It’s right in indie-pop band I Saw You Yesterday’s wheelhouse, seeing as the bulk of their releases up to this point have been designed for warmer climes, or at least geared towards those…
When the prologue to your album goes harder than most of the music I’ve heard so far in 2018, you know you’ve got something special. Tokyo-based producer Oyubi’s My Fingers stars with one of the more attention-grabbing tracks I’ve heard this year in the form of “Prologue 1,” a jittery juke number merging metallic popcorn…
There was a time, not all that long ago, that it felt like at least one new indie-pop gem surfaced out in Kansai on a weekly basis. I doubt the collective music fans of Osaka, Kyoto and beyond have moved on from their Sarah Records collections, but the pace certainly slowed down a little bit…
Let’s “Bandersnatch” this one: select (1) to ask the music blogger why the video above is so short, select (2) to ask the music blogger about Frasco’s “Tatemae” by itself. (1) OK, sit down for a second, have I got some thoughts to unload on you. There’s this whole new class of Japanese artist emerging…
This is familiar territory so I’ll just give the TLDR version — future funk on its own can often feel a bit lazy and forgettable, at least in the wrong hands. Yet as a base for something else — singing or rapping — the idea behind future funk can work quite well. “Step Into The…