CUZ ME PAINは最近、あまりリリースをせず、ライブやレコーディングに力を入れている感じがします。それともニコラス・ケイジ出演の映画を勉強したりしてるのかな。CUZ ME PAINのプロジェクトMasculinの新曲、”Manhattan Suicide”は、ニコラス・ケイジ主演のデビッド・リンチ映画、ワイルド・アット・ハートの台詞から始まります。２分間シンプルに淡々と流れるグルーブは、リンチ・テイストが他の曲よりは抑えめかも。ワイルド・アット・ハートからの物かは確かじゃないですが、他の台詞とピアノの流れるようなフレーズがリピートされています。そのようなサウンドが楽しい雰囲気を出していて、ツイン・ピークス的か、と言えばそうではないのですが、このような遊び心のあるリリースを聴く事で、CUZ ME PAINから更なるリリースを期待してしまいます。
Osaka’s Outdoorminer (also known as Cloudy Busey) has proven over the last few years he’s great at creating unsettling, late-night moods. Between his two solo projects, he’s excelled at making music for downtrodden walks home, whether they be complete with vocals or, as is the case with the Outdoorminer alias, just music. “Badmood” follows up…
Well, thanks, more is better! Young Juvenile Youth popped up in the second half of 2013, and with second EP More For Me, More For You, I’m ready to call them one of the most interesting new acts going into 2014 in Japan. The collaboration, between singer Yuki and producer Jemapur, creates relatively sparse tracks…
Do not approach FOGPAK #6 as an album. To sit down and listen through this 33-track collection in one go is far from an unpleasant experience – it’s great! – but did you see the part about 33 songs? Expect to devote at least two hours of your day to FOGPAK #6…which is a lot…
Bandcampから無料でダウンロードできるCassettevision Samplerは、決して音楽ブログから注目を浴びるべく作られた、レーベルのデビュー作品ではありません。レーベルは２０００年からあり、「不思議な魅力や毒、ひっかかるなにかしらがある音楽を紹介。」というコンセプトで、２００３年以降、数々のアルバムをリリースしています。このサンプラーはCassettevisionの歴史のような物で、過去にリリースした１３曲が収録されています。 Cassettevision Samplerの大半はミニマルなエレクトロニカで、冷ややかな実験性はありつつも、暖かくポップな印象が強いです。２つの作品を同レーベルからリリースしているLemの、”Story Of Surf For Young People”で聴けるボサノバ調のサウンドからは、とても温もりが感じられます。他のトラックはというと、engの作品は、跳ねるようなチャイムのような音やノイズ等、一見形のないように思えるサウンドを、ポップソングとして見事に再構築しています。Kiwako Kanedaの曲は、インディーポップやフォークにエレクトロニカが足されたような作品。Hot Fudge Sundaeの”New Walk”はストレートにポップ、Apartmenの”Hand Me Down”は直球ガレージロックなのですが、ちょっとしたクセや工夫が足されていて、レーベルのカラーを象徴しています。Cassettevision Samplerはミニマルなエレクトロニカが多く、レーベルのイメージを知るにはもってこいの作品と言えるでしょう。 cassettevision sampler by cassettevision
Part of the thrill of listening to Japanese juke producer Picnic Women’s music is the moment you realize, “holy shit, it’s that song!” Yet this isn’t like when you listened to Girl Talk as a freshman in your dorm, freaking out because Neutral Milk Hotel and Juelz Santana finally came together on a song. Nope,…
Last year, a duo made up of two teenaged girls living in New York but originally from Osaka appeared online. They called themselves BenZel, and claimed they met one another over a message board thanks to a shared love of J. Dilla. This seemed like a stretch. Naturally, the first song they ever released featured…
CUZ ME PAIN has been a little quiet as of late, the Tokyo imprint not putting out all that much new material lately. They’ve either been focused on playing live shows and recording new material…..or they’ve been brushing up on Nicolas Cage movies. CUZ ME PAIN project Masculin’s new track “Manhattan Suicide” opens with a snippet of dialogue from David Lynch’s Wild At Heart, but unlike most songs that get described as “Lynchian,” this one isn’t all that unsettling. Instead, it just grooves on for just over two minutes. It features another vocal sample that skips a little bit (don’t know if it’s also from Wild At Heart) and a piano line swoops in every once in awhile, but none of it sounds Twin Peaks worthy. A nice little track that hopefully means more CUZ ME PAIN tunes on the horizon.
Calling it a “trend” might be a stretch, but something that has definitely appeared more in Japanese electronic music over the past year is an embrace of traditional sounds. This probably goes in cycles — it wasn’t long ago Omodaka was doing this merger incredibly well, and it has popped up at times since (Seiho,…
There’s something thrilling about an artist just being entranced by specific sounds, and then seeing what they construct with them. For the past three-so years, I’ve mostly been drawn to the experimental side of this fancy — Foodman, Wasabi Tapes, Taquwami, etc. Yet this feeling manifests itself frequently in the more traditional dance community too,…
Instrumental math-rockers LITE have a new mini album set to come out on July 7, and the first song from this snack of an album has appeared online. “Image Game” features all the hallmarks of “angular” rock, almost excruciatingly timed perfectly. What saves “Image Game” from feeling like times table homework, though, are the more…
At its core, Tomisaki’s City 166 is a great house album, delivering three high-energy tracks full of warm piano lines and vocal samples. It’s a good time, fun release! But the reason to put it under the spotlight a bit more is because of the moments when the songs on City 166 get blurry. See…
The Trekkie Trax gang have been keeping very busy in 2014, between working with European labels and an increased live schedule around the country. Beyond a busier schedule, it also seems like the collective’s number have been expanding as of late – which is to say, DubbyMaple, I don’t remember you in Trekkie Trax, but…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBLNNXFoem8″] The full version of Towa Tei’s robo-grope-tastic video for “The Burning Plain” can now be watched above. It’s a nifty little video, with a set that looks like it was made out of Lego bricks and other cool touches. Oh, and if you like watching women get cozy with big robots, boy you’ll love…