Even a little bit of new Pop-Office is better than no Pop-Office at all. “RGN” is a short but welcome blast from the Nagoya outfit, a fuzzy-around-the-edges rock number with vocals sung just underneath it all, in an uneasy monotone. It’s fast, but wastes no time in unloading everything it needs to and leaving you wanting for more from one of Japan’s better indie-rock outfits of the last few years. Listen above.
Presenting Good On The Dancefloor’s star player, mostly because this band comes close to fulfilling the collective’s name. White Scooper join in the enjoyable trend of “bands making ’80s sounding music but not in a cheap nostalgic way” (led by Cut Copy, and featuring acts like Awesome New Republic and Delorean), pumping out new wave…
Kobe’s Tofubeats has been releasing original music and remixes for several years now, but 2012 has been a bit of a banner year for the producer. He’s released several strong songs with the rapper Onomatope Daijin and he’s also inched into the J-Pop scene, remixing a song by Yuki and producing several tracks for the…
Osaka-based artist Magical Mistakes’ latest album revels in little imperfections. Going by Astro Nautico’s accompanying press for it, his new Cracks In The Surface collection is “inspired by the experience of losing connections with friends and loved ones.” There is certainly something unsettling about the music here, as it frequently skitters and appears ready to…
The Stuck In Summer project has been playing around with this style – chopped up vocals rippling over one another, wrapped up in hazy-dazy synth. It can sometimes be a bit too suffocating…dreams shouldn’t always sound so busy…yet “Too Late” offers a piece of how good the approach can be. Critically, this song unfolds at…
Sebastian X have always been about wearing emotions on their sleeves, and not just little splashes of it either. Last year’s Bokura No Fantasy (fun fact: this blog’s unlucky #26 album of the year) featured tracks seeping out feeling, like someone took a stick of lipstick and drew a portrait on your cuffs. This year’s…
The Brixton AcademyがNile Longに改名した時、そのサウンドがどう変化するのか誰もが疑問に思ったはず。去年リリースされたEPは今までの彼らの痛いほど純粋なシンセポップとは違い、心よりも体を動かすサウンドでした。楽曲はもちろん素晴らしいのですが、The Brixton Academyの暖かさは消え、逆に最近かなり普及している80年代風に。 ただ驚きなのが最新シングルの”Rush To The Groove”ではThe Brixton Academyの人間味を取り戻しつつ、新しい音楽に挑戦している事。ボーカルはNile Long EPほどタイトではないものの、寂しげでメランコリックな雰囲気が特徴的。かといって夜中の２時頃に踊るのにも適しているのがびっくり。これからがNile Longの本領発揮なのでしょうか。