When you read this, I will probably be in an airplane heading back to Japan. Thus, posts are still gonna’ be a little sporadic. Anyway, here is a new one from Madegg called “Float Ring.” Listen below!
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Coming from an outfit such as Kindan No Tasuketsu, Kindan No Poetry Reading isn’t that that big a surprise. One thing this band does extremely well is shape shift from song to song, capable of big pop moments and reflective acoustic pickers and Ibiza chillout trakcs. Still…this six song collection is, indeed, a poetry reading,…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qsXxKawUos”] This one’s all about misleading first impressions. The Cabs open up “二月の兵隊” with geometrically-precise guitar and drum, the sort of math rock you envision being plotted out on graph paper. The lead singer’s voice sails in shortly after, and the single becomes a touch sweeter as The Cab’s frontman sways between the webs. Sparkplugged…
It’s an origin story always worth revisiting, especially in light of “Mineral” — the Jesse Ruins project emerged from Tokyo’s CUZ ME PAIN crew, a collective of bedroom-centric producers who initially dabbled in dark dance music. Jesse Ruins grew into something else entirely — a duo, yeah, but also a musical outfit that explored a…
Rapunzel8083 is the sort of project that really fucks up all of your preconceptions about genres and scenes and trends, because what Rapunzel8083 exists outside of anything going on in Japan at the moment. The closest contingent I’d even dare drop Rapunzel8083 into would be INNIT, since both focus on bending the rules of electronic…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUDmKnZVah0&hl=en_US&fs=1&] School Food Punishment make like Commando on “Futuristic Imagination” and ruin the bad guy’s shit. The villain here is the ever-present J-Pop Ballad, oversaturating Japan’s pop charts and taking violin strings hostage as the unfortunate hallmark of the sound. This dreadfully named four-piece throw a steam pipe through the ballad’s chest and saves the…
Despite the title, The Blonde Plastic Wagon’s “Touch & Go!!” sounds like no band to ever grace the Touch & Go label. Well, maybe a little bit like Ted Leo, but that’s it. “Touch & Go!!” has more in common with modern-day indie-guitar groups like Los Campesinos!, as lead singer Nobuo Sinohara boasts a higher-pitched…