東京のデュオ、LLLLの新しいビデオ”Because Of My Eyes”は、まるで週末に夜遊びしているかのような光景。眩しいライトやビデオエフェクトは酔っぱらっているような気持ちにさせてくれます。全て白黒で撮影されていているこの作品では、街を散歩したりクラブで踊ったり、気づけば女性がこちらを眺めていたり。J-Popからの影響が強いものの、LLLLらしい少しダークな雰囲気で日本のパーティーライフを体験できます。ビデオは上から。
“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。
Nanba Shiho’s back in good form with her new single “Music.” It pretty much had nowhere to go but up following Shiho’s last single, a song about getting your hair cut set over some snore-inducing piano. “Music” returns to the more energetic pace of her earlier singles, this new number anchored by the forceful beat that switches up into different patters throughout the song but always remains attention grabbing. Unlike the still-excellent “Shoujo, Futatabi” from the start of 2012, the electronics aren’t as commanding, hanging out in the back of the mix to add a cushion to a song that is otherwise quite pounding. Shiho herself moves with the beat well, her chirpy voice adding a touch of sweetness to the whole number. Coupled with a good video…one not featuring Shiho at all…this is a nice return to form for a promising J-Pop personality.
That’s the face I made when I realized I have all of August as a vacation (though not from blogging, don’t worry!). Kobukuro “Yell E ~ Ru” Looks like more and more older Japanese bands are wising up to the economic benefits of either putting together comeback tours or at least placing an emphasis on…
A little bit back, Sakanaction released the video for “Hasu No Hana,” a slow-burning number that made the most of repetition. Now comes the other side of their most recent single and…it is pretty different! “Sayonara Wa Emotion” skitters from the start, both via the beat and the drippy-droppy synths that pass over it. All…
VIDEO HERE Kaela Kimura appeared to turn on a corner on early-2010 song “You Bet!” Working mostly as a J-Pop sponge and absorbing whatever popular musical trends landed on the charts before, “You Bet!” stood out by not being chained to an existing Japanese sound. Six months later and out of the sky drops “Ring…
God, that singing robot keeps getting creepier and creepier. Read more about the terror here. Now, onto some J-Pop artists a few degrees away from being animatronic! NYC “よく遊びよく学べ” [youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejG6G3OGmYI”] Already tackled this song in the last edition of this feature, so I’ll leave it to you to click this blue text to see what…
In the past month, Korean pop outfits 2NE1 and Wonder Girls both called it quits. Those announcements came after a few other notable breakups in the world of K-Pop, and after months that saw the landscape of Korean music shift in a new way. It happened a while back, but January felt like it was…
Initially I wanted to open this post wondering aloud about how The Mirraz can release so much new music in so little time. They released one album late last year and this week the follow-up LP We Are The Fuck’N World sees the light of day, with “あーあ” serving as our first taste of this…