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。
“Restraint”(制御)という単語をDe De Mouseと結びつける事などないと思っていました。彼の音楽は通常、ボーカルを切り刻み、その切れ端をスピード感のあるビートの上に乗せるようなスタイル。任天堂DSの音楽ゲームだったら最大級の難易度ですね。ドラムンベースの影響が薄い曲に限っての話ですが。新作Sky Was Darkからの曲、”Floats And Falls”は何と９分もあるのですが、今回はただ速いだけではありません。逆にスローなこの曲では、シンセが上手く曲を展開させて行きます。ボーカルのみにスピード感があります…というよりは、跳ねるようなスタイルがそう聴こえさせるのかもしれませんが。 “Floats And Falls”は５分が経過したその時点で既に完成された曲なのですが、それだけで終わらないのが今回の注目点。曲は不意に展開し、ビートが消えてボーカルとシンセのみのパートになります。その後も次々に新しい音色が加えられ、曲を終わりへと導きます。長くも飽きのこない、優れた工夫が施された作品だと感じます。De De Mouseの曲の中でもダントツで平和な、広々とした空気感を放っていて、彼の新しいスタイルを象徴した、新しい始まりを感じさせる曲になっています。ビデオは以下に。
(Editor’s Note: I’m moving to a new apartment in two days, so posts might be on the briefer side. Gotta pack!) Footwork producer FOODMAN already released one great off-the-wall album of music recently…and now he’s back with another on Hiroshima’s Dubliminal Bounce. Are Kore opens on the harsher end of the spectrum and along the…
Over the past week, prominent Tokyo netlabel Maltine Records has released two excellent (and free!) releases worth more than the 30-some seconds they take to download. First came the imprint’s 117th release – Carpainter’s hyper-colorful Double Rainbow EP. Maltine describe this one as sounding “future,” and they are certainly onto something – the four songs…
Another day, another electronic music comp combining familiar faces with new ones, so let’s just run through this quick, yeah? The old: mus.hiba and his Vocaloid partner in art Sekka Yufu contribute “Hitori,” another slow-moving stunner in a song catalog that’s starting to overflow with great work. It’s one of his most glacial numbers yet,…
Quick quiz – what album was Make Believe Melodies most excited about coming into 2013? Even though this year has seen new full-lengths from Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Moscow Club, Sakanaction, Tofubeats and a bunch of other artists I adore, someone else had me giddier than any of them heading into January. That would be Eadonmm,…
This year saw a first from techno-pop trio Perfume – a dud. “Mirai No Museum,” a song written for a Doraemon movie, was greeted with mostly shrugs and “ehhhhh, hope the next one is better” from the group’s usually rabid fanbase. It did alright sales wise, but failed to ignite even real hate from anyone…
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.
Kawaii-leaning producer Snail’s House has a new EP out in February, and has shared a preview via the chirpy 8-bit bouncer “Pixel Galaxy.” Over the past year, Snail’s House has been exploring new terrain with his sound, but this comes off more like a bit of his go-to style run through a Game Boy Color….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUQs_1BGskU&hl=en_US&fs=1&] One of 2010’s better J-Pop surprises has been IMALU. Her song “そんな名前 欲しくないよ” has been one of the best singles of the year thus far, it’s mix of feel-good pop rubbing against her rather ennui-rich voice. Now she follows that number with “Uh Uh,” the title track to an upcoming film I know nothing…
Long after the Earth is a rotted desert wasteland and most living beings have been wiped out, Hideki Kaji will probably still be around to play charming indie-pop built for summer days spent lounging around soccer fields. He’s approaching 20 years of doing this, and he’s still going strong, having recently shared the lazy-day “Heroes,”…
Haruruinu Love Dog Tenshi first came on our radar last year thanks to a collab with the producer/rapper Youheyhey. That cut sounded great, but it was Haruruinu’s rap-turned-sing delivery that elevated the song and added an extra layer of giddiness to the tune. The two come together again for Haruruinu’s very own “Setsuzoku,” but this…
With Mitsume, it’s all about the moments happening away from the vocals. Which isn’t to discount what Moto Kawabe does while singing — his light vocal delivery adds a melancholy-tinged breeziness to the quartet’s music, and the head-to-the-ground style trumps the more dramatic flourishes of groups such as Suchmos and Never Young Beach for me…
“Tropical” has become such a meaningless buzzword that hearing something that genuinely sounds tropical is a genuine shock to the system. Buddhahouse has done this well over the last two years, whether via the cool shimmy of “Summer Breeze” or borderline kitsch of “Mango!,” each of which have genuinely gotten me writing about weather.* “See…