New group Lucky Tapes – fronted by Kai Takahashi – have their debut EP out now, and here’s another taste of the laid-back group’s sound. “In Paris” is an especially Sunday-morning-in-bed-ready song, a slow groover of a number that adds sweet vocal dollops behind Takahashi’s love talk. Listen below.
It has been a great year for retro-leaning acts in Japan. Sloppy Joe put 80s-era indie-pop into a big ol’ bear hug on their excellent debut album, while Friends smothered 60s beach pop under waves of distortion. Joining them in 2011…the unexcitedly named Traffic Light. Behind that very bland name, though, exist some very lovely…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sScv49aePJs”] At first, I’m thinking “Africaemo have finally decided to hug it out with the Friendly Fires sound.” At times, they sounded quite similarly to that dance-oriented English outfit on last year’s solid Squatter mini-album, but “City Boy, City Girl” seemingly finds the group emerging from a phone booth clad in Fires’ t-shirts and branded…
Things “Jeux Interdits” reminds me of, at least upon listening to it at 11:30 at night while slightly sleep: – The body slowly melting down into a rubbery liquid, but being totally aware of the process. – A college lecture in a burning church, but better than that sounds. – The slow crumbling of society,…
Solitude can be so valuable. It’s where the rawest emotions and desires crystallize, where honesty and progress really emerge. Kyoto duo Emerald Four excel at occupying this isolated place — their music unfolds slowly, allowing the vocals to play out like an inner monologue, unconcerned with the world around it and rather focused on feeling…
Over the past two years, a very specific set of sounds have come to define “tropical” music, popularized by producer Kyogo and absorbed by…almost every pop star to some degree or another. Summer 2017 marks the full arrival of this style to Japan, highlighted by popular tunes from the likes of w-inds to lol. Just…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm7do6KPaok”] Second Royal records out of Kyoto seem to be having a busy week, what with two new releases out now. The first seems a bit…uhhh unnecessary. It’s a compilation album, and usually Second Royal kills it with these things, the recent state-of-the-label releases sharing exciting new tunes from old staples and new signings. The…