Eric LuebsによるMagical Mistakesが、最近リリースしたフルレングス作品、”Everything Uncertain”で、ダンスとサイケデリックの境界線をぶち破ってくれました。ビートミュージックからの影響だけではあり得ない奇妙で個性的なサウンドは、不思議な魅力で聴き手を誘惑します。最近早くも新曲、”Always At The Best Part”をSoundCloudで公開しているのですが、先程紹介した作品とは全く違う印象。彼のFacebookによると、結構前から手掛けていたみたいなのですが。ボサノバ調なこの曲はふわっとした空気感をバックに持ちつつも、ギターやビブラフォンのソロが暖かさを加えています。”A groovy one for swaying with drinks in hand”とは彼の解説で、その通り、飲みながらゆったり聴きたい曲に仕上がっています。試聴は以下から。
東京のデュオ、LLLLの楽曲には良い意味で不穏な空気感が漂っています。セルフ・タイトルのデビューアルバムも、続くシングル”Spider Web/Drafting Still“も、何かが陰に潜んでいるようなスリルを感じさせてくれます。今月リリースされたデュオの最長作品、”Mirror”というミニアルバムでは、目の回るようなサウンドがさらに強調されていて、それでいて今までの作品よりもポップさが増しています。一曲目の”Oddness”のイントロでフィーチャーされているシンセからすでにホラー・映画のような雰囲気が感じられ、後に出てくる音色も、スピード感に変化を与えていたり、曲に深みを足しています。色気のあるボーカルも上手く抜けていますし、曲をキャッチーで聴きやすい物にしています。 次の曲、”I Wish You”は、ボーカルの処理の仕方や、それに絡むダンス・ビート等、構成がスウェーデンのザ・ナイフを彷彿とさせています。このグループもエレクトロ・ポップをダークな新しい物にしているので、共通点が多く見受けられます。”Mirror”に収録されている他の曲も、安定してポップかつキャッチーで、それに加えられたダークさがLLLLの最大の武器かつ個性で、作品に深みを与えています。 Mirror by LLLL
Indie-rock outfit Lake Michigan have a new album out at the very start of 2014…whoa, that’s right around the corner geez…and you can here a track from it now. “Kore Ga Adventure” is a skippy number that shines primarily thanks to the vocals, which rise above the indie-pop nature of the music and give “Kore…
On the surface level, Canata Records seems like a pretty rigid netlabel sonically. “We believe that freedom is pop,” goes one of the slogans on their Bandcamp page, and a cursory look at the artist names, album and song titles indicate the label deals mostly in twee. Yet what has made them one of the…
Tokyo indie-rock quartet Mitsume’s third album Sasayaki comes out today, and all signs point to it being a bit of a breakthrough. It’s getting a decent push in stores…I saw the display at the Tower Records in Shinjuku this afternoon, and it is right in the front, and big! And it’s probably going to be…
Long time since we heard from Tokyo’s Puffyshoes, and going forward who knows when (….if?) we will hear from them again. So let’s all devote a decent chunk of time to enjoying “Heatwave,” their latest feedback-touched quickie. The highlight here are the vocals, which might be hard to hear, but are so damn catchy it…
As of late, websites Tiny Mix Tapes and the Fader have been making a big deal about Japanese juke and footwork music. Both have profiled Japanese artists operating withing that scene, Tiny Mix Tapes going as far as to review a Paisley Parks’ album. One name that comes up sometimes is FOODMAN,who has been one…
Erik Luebs’ recent full-length album as Magical Mistakes, Everything Uncertain, blurred the line between dance music and psychedelic sounds, resulting in an absorbing album blending beat music with something more swirly. He’s posted a new song to SoundCloud, though, different from anything on that full-length though…appropriate seeing as he wrote on Facebook that the track, “Always At The Best Part,” happened some time ago. The bossa-tinged number retains a few elements of Magical Mistakes’ latest – see the bits of wordless voice floating in the background of the song – but also boasts a sunnier atmosphere, guitar and, as Luebs notes, a vibraphone solo. He pretty much sums it up best with this description of the song – “a groovy one for swaying with drinks in hand.” Listen below.
This narrative writes itself, practically. Le Makeup’s voice had long been buried in his music, then in 2018 it started creeping closer and closer, and now comes End Roll wherein it is the most important element of each song. The three songs here are some of the most straightforward ones Le Makeup has created, with…
The latest from Maltine Records requires know super deep analysis, at least not on a Friday night. The relatively mysterious Otenba Kid’s Pink Panther EP is a rollicking set of disco and house tunes, recalling artists such as Cherryboy Function on shimmering opener “G.o.o.d.y,” which matches bright synthesizer up against piano lines. It’s a high-energy…
Wow, two shoegaze-ish tracks in one week, savor this. What makes Shelling’s “Lake To Love” stand out is that it isn’t striving to sound pretty. Though, it does have moments of beauty – the female vocals, mainly, graze over this song just right, left untouched for the most part to add a touch of loveliness…
Long running Electro-pop singer Frenesi…last seen galavanting about with the xxx Of Wonder Project featuring Nanba Shiho and the guy from Motocompo*…posted a couple of covers to her SoundCloud page last night. The highlight was her take on a Flipper’s Guitar song from back in the day, which recasts the song in a sparser style,…
In recent times, Seiho has been exploring space. Last year’s Collapse and March’s “Unreal” single allowed for stretches with plenty of room to stretch out, often for experimentation. On “Purple Smoke,” he shifts the other way, with exhilarating results. The single — rounded out by two other songs — opens with wisps of noise, but…
Osaka’s Post Modern Team have dipped their toes in dance-leaning sounds before, but they completely embrace the groove on new cut “The Girl I Never.” Resembling early-day Phoenix, it’s practically picking up where “I Just Wanna Make Love To You” left off sonically. It is as repetitive as their oldest and best songs, but with…