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。
Slowは元々MOSCOW CLUBのC８６コンピレーションに収録されていた楽曲でしたが＜＞今回の再編集を経て（なのでタイトルに新しいを表すNUEとついています）オリジナルよりもクリアーになっています。氷山を彷彿とさせる様な壮大な冷たい空気感のギターとドラムスは彼の歌う歌詞”but you slow down/slow down/slow down,” と重なってゆっくりと流れていきます。オリジナルバージョンも良曲でしたがこのバージョンによってさらに洗練されたと言えると思います。
Starting today, Make Believe Melodies will join pretty much every other music website and blog in wrapping up 2012. It has been a fantastic year for Japanese music – the past 12 months have seen a boom in quality indie-pop music, continued experimentation within the world of electronic music and a bunch of quality J-Pop…
This year, Tokyo’s Moscow Club have been balancing precariously between electronic goodness and cheesy gloop. They haven’t abandoned the indie-pop sound that grabbed some attention last year – see the lovely “Radio Vietnam” – but their 2012 output has relied heavily on synths and keyboards, the band conjuring up a spacey, 80’s new wave vibe…
This month’s Music Alliance Pact has arrived! As always, MAP finds 30-plus blogs from all over the world sharing one song from a domestic act with the rest of the bunch. Make Believe Melodies represents Japan, and this month we are putting the spotlight on ultra-pop specialist Yoshino Yoshikawa and his “I Feel You, I…
Tokyo-based guitarist Dustin Wong already had a strong first half of 2013, teaming up with Shibuya-kei staple Takako Minekawa to produce an album that took both artist out of their comfort zones. Now he’s primed for the rest of the year too, as he has a solo album (Mediation Of Ecstatic Energy) due out on…
Initially, it looked like netlabel Ano(t)raks was going to define itself as a destination for indie-pop music. Which it still very much does – the bulk of the artists appearing on their compilation albums over the past few months certainly skew towards the twee. Yet with latest various-artists collection World Awake, the fledgling label has…
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.
Time for MAP, the monthly feature where blogs from more than 30 countries share an artist and a song with the world. For Japan, we are highlighting the driving rock of Tenkiame, the newest project from Azusa Suga (For Tracy Hyde, Shortcake Collage Tape). Hear it and more below. Click the play button icon to…
Yoshimi doesn’t see Tokyo in a positive or negative light — the producer just hears the city beat. Atavism is the follow-up to last year’s pulverizing Tokyo Restricted Area, a set gazing back on the capital’s ancient past — and summoning traditional Japanese instruments and singing styles — while also placing it into its claustrophobic…
Two months ago, in a post about new outfit Jolie Joli, I wrote how 2012’s big online boom in indie-pop seemed to skew towards the dudes, with the majority of bands putting out music in this scenes were made up of all men. As October comes to a close, though, a slew of new women-centric…
Sometimes, it’s best to stop chasing what is happening RIGHT THIS INSTANCE in favor of seeing what slipped through the cracks, both on a larger scale and just on a personal level. For me, that was chancing across (via Twitter) producer and singer I Am Not Rainy Girl, who has released a lot of great…
Long-time readers might remember the garage-rock duo Puffyshoes, an outfit I wrote about quite a bit back in the day. The pair made lo-fi, catchy numbers about simple subjects — birthday parties, backstage passes, love — delivered in a high energy style that put that at the forefront of a developing garage scene. Eventually the…
An overload of “kawaii” imagery always sets off alarm bells in my head. That can be unfair, but sometimes an overload of anime girl characters on a netlabel’s homepage or artwork makes me think the music is going to be pretty derivative, another producer trying to be Tomggg and not hitting the mark. The Commune310…