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。
南波志帆が新しいシングル”Music”をリリースし、彼女らしさを取り戻して帰ってきました。彼女の前作 は髪を切る事を主題とし、つまらないピアノが永遠と続く作品だったのですが、新曲”Music”は、エネルギーに満ちていて、彼女の本来のスタイルを上手く表現していると感じます。速いペースで進み、展開も多いものの、聴く耳を離さない、興味深い物になっています。”少女、ふたたび“のように打ち込みが主導権をもっているわけではなく、曲にやわらかさを与えるべく、後ろでクッションのような役割を果たしています。志帆さんの囀るような声も、曲に愛らしさを足していてとても素敵。ビデオもすごく上出来です…志帆さんはでていないのですが…優れたJ-Popアーティストが良い曲とともにカムバックしてくれてとても嬉しいです。
I wouldn’t describe the music Elen Never Sleeps makes as being “dramatic,” at least in the sonic sense. That said, his songs often contain emotional push-pull, evidenced all over this year’s fantastic Silver EP. That collection of songs sounds dreamy and ennui-rich, Elen Never Sleeps always facing some sort of emotional obstacle even when his…
This year, Tokyo’s Moscow Club have been balancing precariously between electronic goodness and cheesy gloop. They haven’t abandoned the indie-pop sound that grabbed some attention last year – see the lovely “Radio Vietnam” – but their 2012 output has relied heavily on synths and keyboards, the band conjuring up a spacey, 80’s new wave vibe…
One of the trickiest things about covering Japanese bands is comparing acts in Japan to Western artists…most of the time, it ends up being misguided, a lazy way for writers to create a connect-the-dots situation that makes it easier to describe the group’s sound. Or just be a total cop out…Kyary Pamyu Pamyu as Japanese…
今週日本のインディー界において大きな話題だったのはジャスティン・ビーバーでしたね。大阪のCloudy Buseyが曲をカナダのポップ・スターに歌わせたいと言ったのが発端で、今度はGive Me Walletsがジャスティンのヒット曲、”Boyfriend”をカバーしたみたいです。以下から視聴できます。Give Me Walletsはジャスティン・ティンバーレイクのようなミニマリズムを取り除いて、よりコンプレックスに、より速いテンポで曲を仕上げました。ジャスティン・ビーバーみたいなハイトーンは一切目指さない独自性がこのカバーを素晴らしい物にしています。
It’s a simple trick, but one that young music-maker Gloomy pulls off well on “Roller Girl.” It’s the old “upbeat meets crushing” formula, of mashing something sunny against something not so bright. On “Roller Girl,” the sunshine comes courtesy of Gloomy’s vocals which practically skip, even when she starts to adopt a cadence bringing to…
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.
Man, Super Girl really did end up being the worst-case scenario for KARA. Whether because they wanted to spike sales even more or just because they have absolutely no idea how to embrace something that doesn’t sound like the year 1993, the J-Pop powers-that-be pigeonholed one of Korea’s hottest exports into the bland box of…
In news that was inevitable, fuzzy beach-pop group Friends changed their name. From now on they will be known as Teen Runnings, which I like to imagine came about because the band watched Cool Runnings and thought “teen” was a synonym for “cool.” Anyway, this had to happen because Brooklyn group Friends, responsible for this…
Only a few days into 2012 and already we have a great release on the board. CUZ ME PAIN artist Nites, which is the alter ego of recent Captured Tracks signing Jesse Ruins, dropped a free EP onto Bandcamp today. Carcass Of The Sun collects a couple of older Nites tunes alongside what appear to…
Duo Kamisama Club have a mini-album on the way via Purre Goohn, and “Sugarhead No Koibito” shows they are only getting trippier with their music. “Sugarhead” plays out like a distant cousin of “kawaii bass” fare, zipping ahead on a stuttering beat and featuring all sorts of loopy details in the mix — pitched-up voices,…
Perfume’s newest single, “Spending All My Time,” is now available to hear in full (for now, at least). Check the Euro-pop touches! It’s almost like they are trying to tap into Western pop trends. They do a good job though, and this entire single (this song, “Point,” and “Hurly Burly”) sound very nice. Listen here.
This one’s taken a few plays to really wrangle with, but the latest single form tofubeats works when zooming in on the details. Taken as a whole “Keep On Lovin’ You” offers up some easy-going pop that imagines a best-case Maroon 5 circa turn of the century (OK, a far better comparison would be a…