宅録ミュージシャンのトクマルシューゴが、2010年の作品”Port Entropy”に続くシングル、”Decorate”をリリースしました。今までの楽しいおもちゃ箱のような曲以上を望んでいる人にとっては期待はずれかもしれませんね。今回も、遊び心に満ちた曲に仕上がっています。ベル、木管楽器とアコースティックギターが曲の多くを占め、目覚まし時計のような茶目っ気のある音も面白いです。彼のスタイルは全く損なわれていないです。視聴は上から。シングルを購入すれば、トクマルシューゴによる、かつてMTVで大ヒットしたバグルスの、”ラジオ・スターの悲劇”のカバーも聴けます。シングルカットがどうなっているかは知りませんが、ライブバージョンは以下から視聴できます。
Whimsy might not actually be the right word for what Nohtenkigengo does. Sure, the bulk of the music this solo project creates involves the sort of instruments that make one’s twee radar go off like mad, including xylophone, accordion and all sorts of other cutesy sounds. This sonic choice…along with the voice singing all the…
One of the tougher parts of putting together a year-end feature – like our “favorite songs of 2012 lists” – is cutting it down. This means some really great stuff gets left outside…and last year, one of the toughest omissions to make was Tokyo murmur-pop dude Elen Never Sleeps, whose “My Aquamarine/Spinning Wheel” single featured…
The back half of 2013 has proven to be a fruitful time to be a fan of J-Pop willing to try out new sounds. DempaGumi.inc has made a theatrical leap forward, while outfits like Especia and Lyrical School have been gifted absolutely killer songs courtesy of gifted young producers given the keys to the idol-pop…
Tokyo producer Taquwami just uploaded a new track to the Internet, which means I must accept not going to bed early to post it. I’m OK with this. “T Eyes” features the same vocal-chopping technique that dotted last year’s great Blurrywonder, but whereas that album especially emphasized the skittering, here the chopped singing is balanced…
Over the past week, prominent Tokyo netlabel Maltine Records has released two excellent (and free!) releases worth more than the 30-some seconds they take to download. First came the imprint’s 117th release – Carpainter’s hyper-colorful Double Rainbow EP. Maltine describe this one as sounding “future,” and they are certainly onto something – the four songs…
Video game noises are no longer just a novelty, a cheap sonic trick used to evoke a decade long gone. Despite several hard drives worth of shitty chiptune music floating across the Internet in 2013, the last few years has seen 8-bit bloops legitimized, to some degree. Crystal Castles cop moves from the Silent Hill…
Bedroom-whizz Shugo Tokumaru has released his first glimpse of the follow-up to 2010’s Port Entropy in the form of new single “Decorate.” For those expecting his whimsical, toy-instrument heavy music to morph into something new by now, prepare to be let down because “Decorate” is another solid example of his playroom pop. Tokumaru’s usual assortment of bells, woodwinds and acoustic guitar dominates this song, and at one point he even works in the sound of an alarm clock ringing off. Also intact – the same sense of wonder the majority of Tokumaru’s tracks possess. Listen above. You can buy the single in stores now, and if you do, you also will get the chance to hear Tokumaru’s take on The Buggles’ MTV-launching “Video Killed The Radio Star.” I don’t know what the single version sounds like, but watch Shugo deliver a cutesy live cover below.
Perhaps you read this Pitchfork piece on the decline of the greatest-hits album? It’s really good, one of the better (and inspiring) pieces of music writing I’ve seen in a bit. Anyway, none of it really applies to Very Best Of Bulbs Of Passion, a best-of from Japanese indie-rock outfit Bulbs Of Passion. This will…
What happens when you set a movement in motion, but end up not getting the most of it? Tokyo’s cero ushered in the current wave of laid-back, city-centric rock music thanks to “Summer Soul,” a song so potent it got them on SMAP X SMAP. But a bunch of other bands have passed them in…
Lord, I can feel the sweat on this song’s back. Seiho has been exploring this terrain for quite some time – locking disparate sounds together in such a way that they sound natural for one another – but on “Taboo” he’s hit on something particularly steamy…like, how muggy a jungle can get. Maybe it stems…
Tokyo five-piece Kikagaku Moyo has been kicking about for about three years around the capital, playing the sort of guitar-centric psych rock that thrills rock fans who see Japan as “Boredomes and some other nutty stuff.” But despite this potential pitfall — a lot of these avant-garde bands aren’t actually doing anything interesting! — Kikagaku…
Here’s as relaxed a way to close out summer as you are going to find in 2018. AR30’s Late Summer Compilation 2018 closes out the season with a set of late-afternoon dance tunes, optimal for one last party by the pool (even if leaves are starting to muck it up). This easily could have been…
Young Juvenile Youth’s debut album mirror arrives today, and to celebrate the electronic duo shared a sparser cut from the album. “Her” moves away from the more delirious dance-pop of “Slapback” in favor of space. “Her” revolves around seasick electronics, a slowly mutating beat and some squiggly electronic touches lurking beneath it all. Yet the…