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。
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…
Seiho has let people rap over his music before…but it would be best if we didn’t talk about the last time that happened (don’t call on cheeseball rappers). This, a song from the Osaka producer’s forthcoming album Abstraktsex, which takes an old Seiho instrumental (“Evening,” which is peak Seiho in all its nervous twitches and…
Well, turns out this is a real indie-popping weekend after all: Osaka’s Post Modern Team, behind some of the absolute finest songs in Japan’s current indie-pop boom, have just released their self-titled debut album. Post Modern Team mostly collects all of the group’s previously released numbers – which means this comes loaded with “Never Let…
I’m still getting over my SXSW-induced hangover (both mentally and physically), so I’m happy Osaka’s Magical Mistakes released a new song that’s perfect for someone who involuntarily woke up at 4:30 this morning because of jet lag. Like a lot of Erik Luebs’ previous songs, “Fashionable Thumb Pianos” leans closer to the meditative rather than…
Sometimes a bunch of good electronic music comes out all at once in Japan, and it ends up being easiest to feature it all in one nice post. Today is one of those days. Osaka’s Cloudy Busey is no stranger to making heavy-feelings dance music – his Only Devotion mixtape under the moniker Bobcat showcases…
Indie-pop outfit Fandaze have a new EP called Balloon Songs out on October 26, and here is a peek at what to expect. A quick, not particularly strong Google search indicates there are no other indie-pop songs to be named “Kinda Sad,” which is surprising since that (or, I guess, kinda happy) would be the…
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.
No rest for ΔKTR, who released three solid-to-great releases over the course of 2017 (including one of our faves of the year.) Yet only a few days into 2018 and the producer shares The Temper Of Our Time, a new six-track set of warped samples revealing new dimensions to older music. ΔKTR’s creations always have…
Rhye are, weirdly, one of those inescapable outfits in Japan. I’ve heard songs by the group in supermarkets and in McDonald’s, and their stark “Open” was on rotation at Starbucks Japan last month (where do you think half these posts get written?). I’d like to think that Osaka house producer Soleil Soleil similarly found himself…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Lrj9kmxJM”] Few bands manage to tightrope between pop success and artistically sound music as well as Tokyo Jihen do. New single “Sora Ga Natteiru” once again finds the group laying out a technically monster pop joint…see the soaring chorus which all but cement that status…while doing enough to seem like they work off the grid…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWiUm5rOup0″] Here’s a new track from The Insect Kids, the horn-assisted shambler “ASTRA.” The singing, like on previous Insect Kids’ singles, remains might unpolished and is either going to be alluring or a roadblock, though the female chorus sounds quite catchy. The appeal of “ASTRA” lies with the the manic instrumentation, a dizzy rush reminiscent…
The environment duo Lo-shi conjure up on their new album Moro-Q isn’t quite desolate, but the French-born pair’s music certainly captures a place that is empty and somewhat unnerving. That’s established right away, on foggy opener “Daniel Auteuil,” featuring warped voices shrouded by an electronic hiss, new elements emerging out gradually and adding to the…
One of the most interesting points about chillwave lost in the race to post new tunes to blogs is the idea of it being “recession music,” how the still-massive financial crisis coupled with all sorts of other bad stuff caused 20-something musicians to turn to bedroom-recording. That narrative often seems lost in 2011, replaced by…