New Sappy: “Sleepless”

ByPatrick St. Michel

So many Japanese shoegaze bands are just biting My Bloody Valentine…why not make it clear? In the clearest nod to the band since the Yellow Loveless cover project from 2012, Sappy share “Sleepless,” a song lifting a melody straight from MBV’s “When You Sleep.” Blatant? You bet! But they also clearly know it, and are pretty upfront about it (see: the song name). On top of that, they at least try to play around with a familiar sound, rather than literally recreate “You Made Me Realise” for the billionth time to diminishing results. Sappy play it a little faster, and let the vocals come through a bit closer, giving the song an extra pep, which makes the final push all the stronger. Listen above.

Similar Posts

  • School Food Punishment: “Futuristic Imagination”

    ByPatrick St. Michel

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUDmKnZVah0&hl=en_US&fs=1&] School Food Punishment make like Commando on “Futuristic Imagination” and ruin the bad guy’s shit. The villain here is the ever-present J-Pop Ballad, oversaturating Japan’s pop charts and taking violin strings hostage as the unfortunate hallmark of the sound. This dreadfully named four-piece throw a steam pipe through the ballad’s chest and saves the…

  • New Shokuhin Matsuri a.k.a. Foodman: “Mo”

    ByPatrick St. Michel

    The always busy (and always wonky) Foodman has another new collection out, the Hot Rice cassette coming via Patient Sounds, and he’s shared one new song from that set, “Mo.” It’s an example of space being just as effective as loading up every piece of sonic real estate, Foodman letting the song bubble together with…

  • Head Down Rush: Dronjo Kept By 4’s Exhibition EP

    ByPatrick St. Michel

    Like I’ve said before, sometimes simple charms are all you need during your day. Dronjo Kept By 4 have been chugging along since 2007, creating rock hop-scotching between feedback-dipped fare inspired by The Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. to more indie-pop fare (while, still on the fuzzier side). The Exhibition EP isn’t re-inventing anything and maybe…

  • Baroque Remixes Chromeo’s “Don’t Turn The Lights On”

    ByPatrick St. Michel

    Here’s where Baroque really flexes his production muscle. When he remixes a song by someone like 80kidz, the results often sound good but also just like a rougher version of the original. Yet when the dude tackles a song belonging to a style vastly different than his own – the subsequent reworking absolutely kills. He…

  • Stuff We Missed 2012: stillsound

    ByPatrick St. Michel

    stillsoundは名前からも分かる通り、Toro Y Moiからの影響を隠そうともしてません。SoundCloudのプロフィールにもChaz Bundickは彼の”bro”だと書かれています…Jamesという17歳の高校生によるプロジェクトで、沖縄の那覇に住んでいるそう。不思議に思ったのでSoundCloudでメッセージを送ったら、「もう少し北のほうかな」と言ってたのですが…はたして本当に住んでいるのかは謎です。他のvaporwaveアーティストみたいに、日本を拠点にしてるフリをしてるのかもしれないですね。彼いわく、もともとはカリフォルニア出身で、現在は沖縄で勉強と音楽活動をしているそう。音楽的には「１０年もクラシック・ピアノを習ってたから音楽理論は得意」と教えてくれたり、他には「猫が好き。ソバも好きで、特に沖縄ソバのスープと豚肉が好き」と教えてくれました。そしてもちろん、Toro Y Moiがお気に入りみたいです。 彼の初期の音源は特にサウス・カロライナ出身のそのアーティストから影響を受けていて、”Shine”や”With Me”の太いキーボードの音色やボーカルサンプルなんかはToro Y Moiのアルバム、”Causers Of This”を彷彿とさせます。まだ１７歳との事なので、このような直球に影響を出した曲も仕方が無いでしょう。でも注目すべきは彼の個性を発揮した新しいトラックです。”Foot Stepps”ではToro Y Moiからの影響を取り入れつつも（特に”You Hid”）、よりミニマルに、かつスペースを意識した作りになっています。”Cool Tears”はよりスローで空気感を意識した作りに。もうちょっと速いけど”Reminds Me Of You”もオススメです。stllsoundはまだ１７歳、しかも１０年間のピアノ経験が。彼はこれからも注目していくべき若き才能と言えるでしょう。