昨年、当サイトのベストアルバムランキングで２位に選ばせて頂いたサカナクションが、夜の踊り子という新曲をリリースしました。ビデオも公開されていて、それはこの上からご覧になって下さい。ダンサブルなバースに極めてキャッチーなコーラス、という今までと同じスタイルを貫いているのですが、新たな試みとして、女性バックアップ・ボーカルが使われていて、新鮮さも感じられます。ビデオはローディングに時間がかかるのですが…簡単に説明すると、メンバーが日本の伝統衣装を着て富士山付近にいます。
Not going to lie – footwork-maker Weezy’s new album On Nukes caught my attention from the rows of new Bandcamp releases because of the title. The general lack of socially aware music in Japan…especially on the always hot-button issue of nuclear energy/weapons, a topic that became relevant once again earlier this month following North Korea’s…
September is offering up a lot of meditative, dreamy music for folks to get blanketed by. The highlight would probably be a resurgent Mazzy Star releasing a new album next week, but fans of hazy music could also turn to artists like Keep Shelly In Athens or Pure Bathing Culture (OK, it came out in…
Idol-pop and the Internet are made for one another. The former deals in fantasy and blurred lines, of selling people a very lifelike dream. The web, meanwhile, is the perfect place for an artist to drop into and create a new…well, anything. The two have been slowly merging over the last few years, and that…
ここ２年ほど前から、CUZ ME PAINレーベルのアーティスト達が暖めてきた、幻想的な空気感を持つダンスミュージックが、東京のシーンで注目を集めています。 このようなテイストは、Sapphire SlowsやLLLL等、同じように海外のブログで話題になっているアーティスト達からも見受けられるかもしれない。でも、CUZ ME PAINが放つJesse Ruinsの海外から受けている賞賛が大きな原動力となり、東京のインディーシーンを活性化させているのは確かです。 この夏にDead Funny RecordsからデビューEP、”Wisteria”をリリースした埼玉のデュオ、Fancy Booksのバイオグラフィーにも、CUZ ME PAINの名前が上げられています。 確かにオープニングトラックの”Twilight Memory”や”Ermine”では、シンプルなビートの上に温もりのあるシンセサイザーが渦を巻き混ざり合っていて、この比較も納得できるな、と感じます。 具体的にFancy Booksが、CUZ ME PAINのアーティスト達とどう違うかというと、”Wisteria”等で聴ける、ポップで楽しいボーカルがフィーチャーされている所でしょう。また、今回の目玉ともいえる”Sister Carry Stars” は、電子音やベースなどだけでも美しく表現できていただろうけれど、女性ボーカルが加わる事により、温もりのある、暖かいトラックへと見事に変貌しています。 CUZ ME PAINの中でもダントツにポップで聴きやすいJesse Ruinsでさえ、ミステリアスな世界観を演出する為にボーカルに工夫を加えています。しかしFancy Booksは”Sponge Boy”等で聴けるように、あえて自然なボーカルを導入する事で、新鮮さを出してきています。 “Wisteria”はCUZ ME PAINからの影響を上手く取り入れ、新しい可能性を追求した作品と言えるでしょう。 Fancy Books EPの視聴はこちらからまた、購入はこちらから:
No nonsense here – here’s a Japanese outfit out of Sapporo that provides info but not too much information about themselves. They put on a party every once in awhile, and have a few songs online that came out prior to “Queen Anne.” But man oh man, “Queen Anne.” This is direct, bouncy pop, no…
Dustin Wong – formerly of frantic Baltimore outfit Ponytail and also Ecstatic Sunshine, and currently operating as a solo artist signed to American label Thrill Jockey – recently moved to Tokyo. Which means…he’s fair game for us at Make Believe Melodies! His first bit of new material since relocating in Japan’s capital comes as part…
Sakanaction, who made this site’s second favorite album of 2011, have a new single and video (above) out now called “Yoru No Odoriko.” The song finds the group continuing to play around with the dance-friendly-verse-explosive-chorus structure they’ve been exploring for a while now, although the addition of female backing vocals is a great sounding touch. The video…which takes forever to load…finds the band clad in traditional Japanese clothes standing near Mt. Fuji.
The hook for this post was just right there for the taking — Chocoholic gives the world a gift on Valentine’s Day! You can’t get an alley-oop like that everyday. Naturally, her new song came out at the exact moment I’m swamped in work / my brain might literally leak out of my head because…
I’m not a fan of making excuses for…anything really.* When I see a goofy disclaimer at the top of an article or a blog post, I tend to close the article. That said…I have been really out of it for the past week, and the coming week and a half is going to be equally…
Erik Luebs (formerly Magical Mistakes) has kept up with his Cycle project, and the results have been solid — I’m a particular fan of Cycle 2.4 / April — but have also kind of just slipped by the ol’ blogging schedule. Let’s change that with this installment, focused on the song “Wavering.” Luebs finds a…
Identity — or, more accurately, confirming identity — has always been a bit of tripping point when it comes to Japanese music. This became an especially tough with the arrival of vaporwave, a micro-genre where artists borrowed heavily from Japan for their aesthetics. This eventually lead to some project boasting a name written entirely in…
Kyoto’s Native Rapper excels when it comes to the small details. Last year’s triumphant Mass Maker EP hit immediately for its celebratory mode centered around netlabel artists, but subsequent listens also reveal a release full of strange little details and sudden vocal twists. This latter point feels more pronounced on Keep It Real, an album…
This bubbly beat comes courtesy of Tokyo’s Yuichi Nagao, and it is a nice bleep-blooper full of bouncy details (the way those synths intersect with one another! how hopeful this sounds!) and just a fun little groover. Listen below.