“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。
“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。
Seapunkは本当に良い音楽を追求したジャンルなのか、一部のアーティストの集まりが楽しむ為のジャンルなのか。ツイッターのハッシュタグにおいてもそんなに目立っていなかったSeapunkですが、ジャンルの持つ個性的なサウンドに魅了されたアーティストも勿論います。ここ日本で活動しているUmioもそんなイルカ好きの一人で、新曲のタイトルも”Yunoochi to Seapunk”といいます。水の音など使われているものの、そこまでSeapunkというわけでは無いような気はするのですが、興味深い曲なのは確かです。アニメと思われるサンプルから始まり、若干こもりがちでゲームチックなシンセが入ってきます。曲が進行するにつれてドラムンベースから調のパーカッションや、ニューエイジ風の展開も。アヒルのオモチャを握りつぶして音を出したようなこの曲は、何と呼べば相応しいのかも難しいところですが、新しい発見のある貴重な5分間となる事でしょう。試聴は以下から。
This morning, Perfume announced a forthcoming album titled Level 3. This put me in an excellent mood, and made me want to listen to some gooey pop music. I jump over to SoundCloud, spirits high, and see a new song from producer Yoshino Yoshikawa called “Kawaii Candy.” It’s labelled as “ULTRAPOP.” Bless your soul Yoshikawa….
I’m not going to make any sort of “best of 2013…so far!” list because let’s just wait until December comes along and we can see what really stuck (plus, I took part in this). Kobe-born producer tofubeats’ Lost Decade, though, will probably appear somewhere on that list, because it’s a heck of an album, a…
Okinawa’s StillSound returns with a lovely, bouncy number called “Good Idea.” It’s a relatively straightforward track – a beat, some non-flashy synths, singing which isn’t immediately audible but far from fuzzed out – that doesn’t change much during its playtime. Yet it’s an effective combination, especially StillSound’s singing, which rises and falls elegantly and ends…
A lot of good stuff came out over the past few days – let’s do a quick round-up of the finest new tracks from across Japan. – Kyoto’s Eadonmm just keeps on creeping on. His latest song is called “If You Melted,” and it gets more sinister from there. It is a rumbling, skeletal song…
“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.
Sakanaction’s new single “Rookie” features everything you’d expect a popular, young J-Rock group to cram into a song: guitars, bass, drums, vocals, all the usual suspects that make mainstream rock music in this country oftentimes cookie-cutter and bland. Yet Sakanaction have already proven they are ahead of the curve, and “Rookie” hurls all of those…
Mikeneko Homeless, once focused only on soba and getting money, have recently shifted to letting other singers shine over their bouncy music. Was the case with their last Maltine Records release, plus a rework of “Soba Ga Tabetai,” and now they’ve teamed up with idol Nagi Nemoto for “Purity,” a skeletal number that puts the…
ΔKTR makes beats that feel like they are tripping over themselves, but manage to vaudeville themselves into something smooth. It has always been a winning approach, but feels even more welcome when so much music —- even songs with actual singing instead of sliced-up found sounds — aims for the background. Push reminds that the…
The charm of indie-pop lies in the promise of anyone being capable of taking part in it. Twee isn’t all cardigans and crudely drawn cats, but also (at least hinted at by the Sarah Records lineup of yesteryear) a celebration of DIY pop unafraid to show off uneven edges. Concentrate On Popping sound very indie-pop,…
Relatively new indie label Ano(t)racks don’t have many releases – they released Osaka group The Paella’s last EP, and dropped an indie-pop compilation titled Soon V.A. last week. Yet the latter upload is one of the best starting points for those looking to get into the current crop of indie-pop bands that have sprung up…
In a strange twist, I actually went to a wedding…well, wedding party, but let’s not split hairs I wore a suit…this past weekend. An admittedly goofy link to this, lo-fi group The Weddings releasing a new album titled Unhappy Weddings, especially as said matrimony didn’t seem unhappy at all. Still, The Weddings have always come…