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。
Osaka’s Outdoorminer (also known as Cloudy Busey) has proven over the last few years he’s great at creating unsettling, late-night moods. Between his two solo projects, he’s excelled at making music for downtrodden walks home, whether they be complete with vocals or, as is the case with the Outdoorminer alias, just music. “Badmood” follows up…
At long last, my most anticipated album of 2013 is out. Kyoto’s Eadonmm has been the Kansai beat-music scene’s resident shadow lurker, eschewing the spacey and frantic sounds favored by most of the other prominent electronic music producers rising up in the region right now, instead creating spacious drone-leaning numbers that are as unsettling as…
Here is White Wear at his most stripped down to date, and quite possibly the most minimalist any track to emerge from the shadows of CUZ ME PAIN has ever been. “White Six Strings” is White Wear armed with only a guitar…and save for a few edits here and there (a hiccup at the start,…
日本のインディー・ポップ界は今年も素晴らしい曲を多く生み出しているのは確かですが、男性アーティストが大半を占めているというのが気がかりです。女性メンバーのいるバンドも多いのですが、彼女達は中心的な存在とは言いがたいでしょう。大阪のTwinkle Twinklesを除けば、女性のみのバンドというのもレアでしょう。私の記憶が正しければ、数ヶ月前にリリースされたC86のテープでさえ、多くの新しいアーティストをフィーチャーしていたのにも関わらず、女性メンバーのいるバンドはSlow Maricoのみでした。いったいPuffyshoesは何処へ行ってしまったのか？ でも最近結成したJolie Joliはtwee的な可愛げのあるインディー・ポップを奏でています。現在女性二人でドラマーを探しているみたいなのですが、タイガー・トラップ、ヘブンリーやカブといった90年初期の北米インディー・ポップ、それも女性メンバーのみのグループから濃く影響を受けています。Jolie Joliはまだ持ち曲が少ないものの、”Dreaming Girl”を聞くと、秘められた大きな可能性を感じます。シンプルな曲は明るく楽しいギターやドラムをフィーチャーし、その上で遊ぶボーカルとコーラスがとても可愛らしく、このような女性メインのバンドが増えるといいな、と思わされます。視聴は以下から。
“This album is the 2nd of a series of compilation albums introducing young Japanese artists, this time with a focus on noise pop. However, this focus does not mean confinement to a single style.” Canata Records isn’t kidding. The What About Tokyo? comp finds five bands with five very different styles…some more noisy than others…and…
OK, this time I checked around – I think this is a Puffyshoes’ original. It isn’t the Michelle Branch song (though that could be interesting), it isn’t ’80s group Scandal’s take. Ain’t the Ed Sheeran version which sucks so bad I won’t even link to it. So…here’s a totally fresh song from Puffyshoes, who do…
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.
Busy weekend as usual — electronic artists love dropping new tracks on days off, huh? — so let’s dive in to a few highlights. Osaka juke creator Hiroki Yamamura ventures into more elastic and funky territory with “Mimosa,” his latest. The familiar skittery beats come through clearly, as is the persistent energy that defines his…
Nagoya’s House Of Tapes is usually responsible for pounding, crushing electronic music, but on “I Die In A Beautiful World,” he’s stepped back from the destructive sounds in favor of something more reflective. Chaos hides in the corners, as it tends to always do, via a few warped electronic and rougher elements, but the bulk…
ABCDEFG’z would probably have chalked up a winner even if they just rode out the Green Acres bounce of “くつのなかから’s” opening segment for about five minutes. Yet this clumsily titled band has too much pent up energy to stick to just one beat for an extended period of time so they bounce off into all…
Few groups in Japan…or anywhere else, really, at a time when pop music is suffocatingly serious (save for hip-hop)…balance humor with longing as well as Kindan No Tasuketsu. “Goodbye My Cinderella (Kindan Ver.)” isn’t the song to use as a jumping off point into a deeper discussion of this, because last year’s “Chasing The Eurobeat”…
For the most part, Hiroshima’s CRZKNY has operated in a quick-hit, often aggressive style when it comes to juke. He either loads up on split-second samples or creates a thick sense of unease, one that lends itself well to his political leanings. Groove 2, a two-track release from Poland’s Outlines imprint that follows up compatriot…
Nara’s √thumm have a new album out on June 20 called Mimoro and Make Believe Melodies is appropriately geeked. Our geeked levels have shot through the roof now that the techrock trio have posted a preview of every track on the album, which you can hear below. Refresher – √thumm made this blog’s favorite album…