“Pppppppp-picnicwomen-women-women-women”という強烈なタグの曲。Picnicwomenがジュークにチャレンジし、今年のお気に入りの一つになりました。このプロジェクトの最新EP、Stylusには、 “Ripstick Girl”という曲意外に、同じKool Switch Worksのアーティスト、Ahmad Jackson Jr.の曲も含まれています。”Ripstick Girl”はゆったりとしたギターで始まり、攻撃的なマシンガンのようなビートに、ググっても探すのが不可能に近いマニアックなサンプルが乗っています。その後、曲はテンポが速まり、他の要素が入ってきたりして、複雑になっていきます。Ahmad Jackson Jr.の”Done For You”も面白く、ホーンがや、泡がはじけるような音がふんだんに使われ、ミックスの奥には、J. Dillaがやっていた事で有名なサイレン・サウンドが聴こえます。購入はこちらから。
Slowは元々MOSCOW CLUBのC８６コンピレーションに収録されていた楽曲でしたが＜＞今回の再編集を経て（なのでタイトルに新しいを表すNUEとついています）オリジナルよりもクリアーになっています。氷山を彷彿とさせる様な壮大な冷たい空気感のギターとドラムスは彼の歌う歌詞”but you slow down/slow down/slow down,” と重なってゆっくりと流れていきます。オリジナルバージョンも良曲でしたがこのバージョンによってさらに洗練されたと言えると思います。
If every artist has to have a “sakura song” – a single (usually) that comes out around the time the cherry blossoms bloom and EVERYTHING CHANGES (school graduation, company reshuffling) – might as well not make it suck. Most J-pop artists stick to tepid ballads for this season, so thank goodness we have Kyary Pamyu…
One of my bigger realizations from the past year – keeping up with Kyoto’s Madegg is just too difficult. The young producer is insanely prolific, as it seemed like he had two new songs up online every week. That on top of several EPs and a proper album for Flau. New song “Karis,” though, has…
The folks behind INNIT, Osaka’s best forward-thinking electronic music event, tend to release a mix of songs in advance of their next party, featuring producers who will be playing the gig. The latest mix finds INNIT switching things up a little, though – besides featuring songs from two American artists who will be playing the…
Osaka’s Hideo Nakasako has let some time pass since last year’s great Time Passes album, but he’s posted a three-song EP to SoundCloud that makes all the months that came before it worth it. The highlight is the opening track “Groove Me,” which opens with sea-sick synths reminiscent of what Tokyo’s mus.hiba deals with on…
Man, has it been almost two years since Nagoya’s The Moments caught our attention with “Short Trip.” The Japanese indie-pop boom was just getting underway, and that was one of the first songs to earn dozens upon dozens of repeat listens, and even pop up on our monthly music mix (remember that thing). Now, a…
“Pppppppp-picnicwomen-women-women-women.” That sonic identification tag has become one of my favorite sounds of the year, not just because it’s a pleasure to hear but also because it means I’m about to listen to some sample-stretching juke courtesy of Picnicwomen. The project’s latest, “Ripstick Girl,” appears on the recently released Stylus EP, which also features a track from fellow Kool Switch Works’ artists Ahmad Jackson Jr. “Ripstick Girl” opens with some laid-back guitar before introducing the skittery beat and an especially difficult-to-Google sample (I think it might be from some sort of Christian artist?). Then the song launches off, the original beat speeding up and an extra one also dropping in as Picnicwomen bends the song in a bunch of different ways. Ahmad Jackson Jr.’s “Done For You” doesn’t slouch either, the producer creating a horn-heavy track also featuring what sounds like bubbles popping and, deeper in the mix, J. Dilla’s signature siren sound. Get it here.
The artists behind the mind-bending Wasabi Tapes label have released plenty of loosies over the course of 2017 — but two of their cornerstone projects dropped albums on basically the same weekend, giving anyone entranced by their sound-warping style plenty to listen to over the last few days. Let’s start with Nyoi Plunger, the latest…
I’m so used to Amunoa blasting ahead at lightspeed that hearing them embrace…talk box and sax…is pretty surprising. But the recently released “Do U Remember” does just that, slicing up some funk-era sounds and rearranging them into a slapping number unfolding at a nice stroll. While the producer usually aims for hyper feeling, this one…
The 100% Silk label…a relative of American imprint Not Not Fun… are set to start touring around Japan soon, as this handy YouTube video lays out. To celebrate, they’ve released a special 100% Silk CD, featuring some remix work from Sapphire Slows (who is signed to Not Not Fun). She takes on the song “Found…
The outfit William Wilson…a relatively mysterious project tied to an artist named Haruca Hinata…uses the lack of gloss to their advantage on the woozy “Nankai Kouro.” It is a song that is far from professionally recorded, but one that also doesn’t sound amateurish – an analog haze hovers over the whole song, yet William Wilson…
Long-running indie-pop singer Hideki Kaji has a new album out this August, and here’s the first song from it, the breezy, horn-guided “Tropical Girl.” More on this album later…but one can always count on Kaji to deliver a consistently good collection of sunny-day indie-pop. Watch the video where he…does stuff in a hotel room and…
It has, admittedly, been a while since I’ve listened to OGRE YOU ASSHOLE. At some point, probably within the first two years I came to Japan, I thought they were a spectacular band, a group who had studied up on Built To Spill and Modest Mouse (the latter giving them their name) and gathered the…