The Trekkie Trax gang have been keeping busy, and thankfully they made sure “releasing new songs onto SoundCloud” remained one of the collective’s mission. Seimei & Taimei’s “Orion” is a fizzy dance track, one that swerves through several high-energy passages, but is always lithe. Listen below.
For research purposes, I went to a Vocaloid event this past weekend. One room was set off for aspiring Vocaloid producers and bands to push their various products – which mostly meant CDs, although the most popular items tended to be badges, stickers and uhhhhh flasks. The other, more crowded space, though, hosted several Vocaloid…
Japan Probe posted a small write-up about Japanese roots music. It’s a nice little introduction to the type of music (one I’m woefully ignorant of, so this is especially great), so give it a read.
CUZ ME PAINのプロジェクトFaron Squareと:visitedは最近目立った活動がないのですが、主要な人物であるYyokeが新しいプロジェクトを始めました。White Wearは去年からリミックス等を手がける等の活動はしていたのですが、ようやく最近になって初のEPがリリース。A Black From White SpaceというタイトルのEPに収録された３曲からは:visitedと近いスタイルを感じます。そのうちの２曲はダンサブルなビートが特徴的で、アンビエントなシンセサイザーがドリーミーなのですが、ユニークなコード進行やレイヤーの仕方によって、心地悪くならないギリギリを攻めているかのような独特な雰囲気を醸し出しています。タイトルトラックや”Clear City”で聴ける陰のようなボーカルはCUZ ME PAINアーティストならではのもの。注目すべきはオープナーのBlack Dawnで、この曲はほぼビートが使われておらず、ダンサブルというよりアンビエント。Yyokeからこのような曲を作るとは思ってなかったのですが、このような挑戦がこのEPからは聴けるのでオススメですよ。ダウンロードはこちらから。
Electronic outfit Yahyel caught our attention primarily because of the unnerving edge lurking in their music — the way things are bent ever so slightly, or prone for rippling. Yet despite a pretty clear James Blake influence, the group haven’t gone crazy with manipulating their vocals. On previous song, the singing was pretty untouched give…
The artwork surrounding CUZ ME PAIN’s Atlas Young features a lot of horses, for reasons unknown. For the first time, Young has recorded a song that would sound great playing over footage of stallions running across a field. “Lost Thing” features a legitimate (sorry) gallop that lends it a cinematic feel one really doesn’t expect…
It has been two-and-a-half years in the making, but finally this March Tokyo outfit New House will release a debut full-length on Second Royal records. It has a math-tastic title (Burning Ship Fractal, the Wikipedia page almost made me faint from numbers), really bad cover art (at the top, yeesh) and as of right now…