Seiho、MFPやAnd Vice Versa等を2012年にリリースし注目を集めている大阪のレーベル、Day Tripper Recordsから新しいフル・レングスアルバムがリリースされました。東京のLeggysaladというアーティストのVerde Planedetoというアルバムで、現在その中から2曲、”Reunion”と”Sleeping Beauty”が、Soundcloudから視聴可能です。”Reunion”では飛び跳ねるピアノにアコギのパーカッシブなストローク、そして後半にはチャイムが使われていて、Day Tripperからリリースされた今までの作品よりもかなり穏やかなので驚きです。”Sleeping Beauty”はチョップされた女性ボーカルが随所で聴けるものの、こちらもかなり物静かな印象です。しかし、２曲ともドラムが曲全体に力強さを与えていて、レーベルのカラーもひそかに持っています。視聴は以下から。
Bobcat – the presumably new (?) alias of Osaka’s Cloudy Busey, a.k.a Bob from Ice Cream Shout – recently uploaded his first new song of 2013, on the heels of a 2012 that saw him put out a lot of great material, capped off by an excellent mixtape. “I Was Fallin” is a straightforward slice…
Go away for one weekend, and suddenly the Internet is full of great new music from Japan. First up, a new track from Osaka’s Seiho, who is having another great year. “Wet Asphalt” is actually one of his more linked-up tracks in quite a while – his music usually sounds like it’s snapping and popping…
２０１２年にインターネットで急速な成長を始めたインディーポップシーンは、男性アーティストによる男性の為のものになってしまっている。２ヶ月前のにJolie Joliを紹介させて頂いた時にそう書きました。でも１０月になった今、女性中心のバンドが多くでてきて、良いバランスになってきたと感じてます。Jolie Joli、Old Lacy Bed、The HomecomeingsやFoodie等が登場したり、Les Glass GlaceやMemory Girls等の以前から存在したバンドも活躍が目立ちます。そして新たに２組のグループ、名古屋のCRUNCHと大阪のJesus Weekendがシーンにでてきてました。 CRUNCHは新参者というわけではないようで、ツイッターを見る限りでは２０１０から活動しているようです。なぜ今になって注目したかというと、今週SoundCloudを始めて、”Simple Mind”という曲をアップロードしたからです。今のシーンに上手くなじむこの曲は、他のバンドよりもマイナー調なのが特徴的で、ギターの奏でるエコーが美しいです。試聴は以下から。 大阪のJesus Weekendは本当の意味でのニューカマー。結成したばかりのこのグループは、来月にAno(t)raksからEPをリリースする予定みたい。今聴ける音源はかなりローファイなので、レーベルのカラーに合わせてどう磨きをかけるのか、楽しみです。アコースティックギターの目立つシンプルな構成の”Puberty Bell”は、音質のクオリティの悪さも気にならないような愛らしい曲になっています。試聴は以下から。
Tokyo producer Taquwami just uploaded a new track to the Internet, which means I must accept not going to bed early to post it. I’m OK with this. “T Eyes” features the same vocal-chopping technique that dotted last year’s great Blurrywonder, but whereas that album especially emphasized the skittering, here the chopped singing is balanced…
Last year, American rapper Wiz Khalifa released a mixtape called Taylor Allderdice, featuring a song called “Nameless.” It featured very minimal, very lovely production, credited to a clothing store in Los Angeles. This would be nothing of note…and something Make Believe Melodies would never ever care about…if that lovely little beat hadn’t actually been made…
Being prolific does not equal being good, but Kyoto’s Madegg makes it easy to think the two are simultaneous. Despite scaling back on how much music he uploads into the wild…a couple years back, you could hardly go a day without seeing a new song courtesy of the young producer in your SoundCloud feed…he’s still…
The latest full-length release from Osaka label Day Tripper Records is a fragile affair. The imprint, responsible for releasing 2012 highlights by the likes of Seiho, MFP and And Vice Versa, now offers up an album by Tokyo producer Leggysalad, Verde Planedeto. Two tracks, “Reunion” and “Sleeping Beauty,” can be heard now at Day Tripper’s SoundCloud. The prior starts with channel-hopping piano before being joined by some acoustic guitar strums and, a little later, some bell chimes. This combination sounds surprisingly delicate for something released on Day Tripper, though the serenity doesn’t last long as Leggysalad conjures up a drum beat that smashes through the glassiness. From there, “Reunion” turns into a nice cut-and-slice vocal workout. “Sleeping Beauty” similarly opens softly, though the most prominent addition to this Leggysalad track is a female vocal that has been chopped into syllables, like he has taken a J-Pop drama and gone surgeon on it. Just like “Reunion,” drums eventually kick in and add some force. Listen to both tracks below.
The most interesting developments for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu pop up outside of the music on “Kimiga Iine Kuretara.” Dig into the credits here and you discover this single came out via a company with the same name as the song itself, rather than Warner Music Japan (no idea what that means, and have no official…
How vital are understanding lyrics for reviewing music? It’s a tricky subject – and one I’ve recently been called out a little bit on regarding Japanese artists. The crux of it being – how can you critique something when you don’t fully understand what they are singing about? It’s a fare question, though just limiting…
Last we left AAPS, they were dipping their toes into the dub step kiddie pool. Now, with “Sick Lullabies,” they remove those toes, dry them off, and cannonball into a regular pool. The group’s latest is pure tropical bliss, bird chirps greeting us to the most relaxed beach party put to wax. It resembles the…
I’m probably not alone in often being overwhelmed by the pace that the internet — which, at least for someone like myself (though I’m guessing if you are here, we are similar types), might as well be life — moves. This applies to everything basically (and dear god, in an election year) (update from original…
Sorry Fuji Rock, Summer Sonic just earned my money. The two-city festival announced the first wave of artists playing this year’s festival and it’s some excellent stuff. Let’s bust out the bullet points for this one: – JAY-Z JAY-Z JAY-Z. He’s getting top billing this year and I’m jazzed because…well, it’s Jay-Z, only one of…
For a band capable of such laid-back numbers, Mitsume’s music relies heavily on movement. Many of their songs chug along like a car doing the speed limit on the highway. “Sedan” almost takes this literally, with the title for one and references to just wanting to go…somewhere in the lyrics. But the best Mitsume numbers…