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。
Being prolific does not equal being good, but Kyoto’s Madegg makes it easy to think the two are simultaneous. Despite scaling back on how much music he uploads into the wild…a couple years back, you could hardly go a day without seeing a new song courtesy of the young producer in your SoundCloud feed…he’s still…
Last year, American rapper Wiz Khalifa released a mixtape called Taylor Allderdice, featuring a song called “Nameless.” It featured very minimal, very lovely production, credited to a clothing store in Los Angeles. This would be nothing of note…and something Make Believe Melodies would never ever care about…if that lovely little beat hadn’t actually been made…
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…
「自分が歌うつもりが無い曲を書くのにいつも罪の意識を感じてる。」と語るのは、Cloud Buseyことボブ・ワイリー。Lights ＋ Musicにて新曲、”havUever”について解説しています。この曲はジャスティン・ビーバーの曲にしてもいいんじゃないか、と言い、もしジャスティンが見つけたなら提供する、との事。確かに”havUever”の輝くようなシンセとビートは、ジャスティンのボーカルが際立つような物になっています。 でもまあ”havUever”にはボブのボーカルが一番しっくりくると思います。ビッグネームのポップ・スターが歌ったらまた違った物になるんじゃないかな。Cloudy Buseyのトラックでもそうですし、特にIce Cream Shoutの”Tattooed Tears“なんかでは、ボブのボーカルは心に触れてくるような、暖かい真心を感じるような物では決してないものの、現実的で冷ややかなその表現は、同じような経験を持つ人から、より大きな共感を得られるでしょう。Cloudy Buseyの新作からも分かる通り、ボブのボーカルはどんどん説得力を増していてます。ジャスティン・ビーバーが歌っても良いのかもしれないけれど、ボブの歌う”havUever”は、独自の美しさで溢れています。
Nagoya’s Noah already has teamed up with one American artist (Sela) for her first release of the year, and now for number two (which…is named TWO) she’s hooked up with Houston rapper/vaporwave producer Siddiq. Whereas her first 2013 release was a split, this finds the two musicians working together, Noah presumably providing the beats while…
So much stuff came out while we were on vacation, we’ve decided to just do a quick catch-up post highlighting some of the best stuff that appeared. Away we go! Jesse Ruins’ side-project Cold Name dropped two new cuts late last week, and they continue fleshing out Cold Name’s unsettling sound. “Intent To Kill” and…
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.
Two new articles in The Japan Times worth reading – first, I reviewed Sapphire Slows’ debut EP True Breath. It’s pretty good! Read that one here. And on the left side of the page, I wrote about INNIT, Kansai’s fledgling electronic event that is bringing together so many great-sounding acts. I talked to a bunch…
I can earnestly say that, without the internet as it existed in the early 2010s, my life would be completely different. Living in rural Japan, there was a strong but small local community I could rely on, and I’m forever thankful for that, but you also miss out on so much more. Yet back then,…
Ahhhh, just in time for the crisp early part of Fall…a chance to break out the ol’ “this isn’t technically Japanese” disclaimer for a new season. Chimp Beams feature three Japanese men living in Brooklyn, so this falls under the Caroline/Maia Hirasawa brand of music on this blog, as in it certainly is worth talking…
Last week I called Nuxx’s Sound Ache “techrock’s infomercial,” the album capturing everything about the electronic-heavy genre. I stand by this statement, but I didn’t know about the Beautiful Girls Electro CD when I wrote that up which probably serves as a way better entryway. Mostly because it’s a compilation album featuring more than a…
Released at the very start of the year, pop trio w-inds’ “We Don’t Need To Talk Anymore” beat most J-pop to the trop-house punch, leading to a (surprisingly solid!) full-length riffing on similar ideas. The song became a go-to for a lot of remixes from all corners of Japanese music, many of them good but…
Japanese label Flau – home to Cuushe, Cokiyu and many more fantastic artists – has welcomed another new domestic act aboard with Rima Kato. Her story sounds interesting – formerly part of a lo-fi outfit, Kato sorta vanished from the spotlight and recorded in private for a long time. She released a collection of those…