Perhaps it was overly paranoid, but it’s great to see Tricot still chugging along. For a second last year, it looked like lead vocalist / guitarist Ikkyu Nakajima could pivot into more proper J-pop territory, due to the surprise success of the variety-show-fueled band Genie High and just a greater turn to being a more…
“Collapse” seems to be a word popping up with a bit of frequency in the Japanese electronic music scene this year. Seiho’s recently released Collapse is the most obvious, an album that gets its name from a deliberate move to break down his style and rebuild. Nagoya’s House Of Tapes latest album is called End…
Talk about bad timing – I wrote about electro-dude Luka Uemura on May 3, bookmarking his Bandcamp page and assuming he wouldn’t post any new stuff for a while. Two days later, he uploaded EP/3, an ambient-focused release. I’m just now noticing it, but it still deserves some attention. On the previously noted EP/2, Uemura…
Metome’s “Sathima” caught me off guard in how sad it sounded. Part further deconstruction of his style but also featuring more flourishes of his past work than other recent releases, “Sathima” bobbed along, but also struck me as wistful, looking back on something and coming off as a bit lonely (blame the vocal sample). “Passage”…
Miii has set his focus on tension over the last few years. The Tokyo producer has long been a fan of bass-shredding, hard-hitting drops in his electronic music, and the thrill of a punishing plunge remains. Yet he’s been just as interested in pairing sounds not far removed from the dance pens of a big=time…
One of my favorite albums of the year is Meishi Smiel’s Belong, and maybe part of the reason for that is I have a hard time putting into words just why that is. I mean, I know why, but getting into words that feel appropriate feels like climbing up a mountain. It boils down to…