Vocaloid-user mus.hiba has been teaming up with a lot of folks recently – first, Bo En and him came together for the cut “Winter Valentine” on the English music maker’s Pale Machine release. And now he’s bringing the syllabic sounds of Sekka Yufu to the late-night sounds of Irish producer Harmful Logic’s chilly “Whispery Voice.”…
Last year, a duo made up of two teenaged girls living in New York but originally from Osaka appeared online. They called themselves BenZel, and claimed they met one another over a message board thanks to a shared love of J. Dilla. This seemed like a stretch. Naturally, the first song they ever released featured…
To some extent, Shibuya-based music maker Metoronori’s Mawari reminds me of fellow Japanese artist i-fls. Both are painfully DIY, recording simple electronic tracks on their own, both artists defined by chintzy keyboard and synth sounds. Their music also evokes youth gone by, mostly via the simplistic sound they lean on. Yet one thing separates the…
Maltine Records – for the people. Besides offering all of their releases for free online, the netlabel is not afraid to theme compilation albums around things open to everyone. Shimin Poolside translates to “community poolside,” which is to say this isn’t music meant for the elites lounging around some ivory-fenced swimming hole. Nope, this is…
Kansai producer Hideo Nakasako is off to a fast-paced 2014. Last month he released a great EP of music…and now he’s back with another three-song-set called Observation that continues to highlight him as an artist to keep an eye on in the always-busy Kansai electronic scene. It opens with the off-kilter “Star Lily,” a tipsy…
Ahhhhhh, hip-hop beats that would actually be expert-level setting to rap over. Tokyo producers Lidly and Canooooopy aren’t strangers to the type of heady music that would leave even Lil’ B scratching his head about what to do with it. The two have teamed up for a new EP of heady stuff titled Geomysteric Psyborg,…
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.
House producer FPM boasts a lot of great music worth you’re time over at his MySpace. Despite sometimes flirting with too-much squanky crunchiness (picture a parrot stepping on leaves for all eternity), he finds a way to inject a good bit of charm into his track. “Without You” loses any of the electro-house connections and…
Despite “Things We Missed Week” having ended last Friday, one review remains to go up. It’s for bedroom artist She Talks Silence debut album…released back in April and an absolute pain to find…Noise And Novels. It will be an extremely glowing review. While you wait, here’s a new STS track called “Dead Romance.” Like the…
How deep does Kindan No Tasuketsu’s catalog go? The ever-changing pop project just released a new compilation called Early Years 2012 – 2016, one which aims to collect some loosies from acros their uhhhh early years…yet I still feel like there are a bunch of songs from this period not represented here. They are prolific!…
Avec Avec is the new moniker Takuma from Sugar’s Campaign goes under, a recent change coinciding with the release of his new Plastic Soul EP. Yet despite the name change, Takuma’s music remains virtually the same, bold-faced thumping beats sprinkled with sunny-day vibes. The highlight of Plastic Sould ends up being the same song that…
One of 2017’s best songs to come out of Japan so far was Ame To Kanmuri’s “Lie Night,” a nervy number riffing on the lo-fi house trend that found Molm’o’mol of ever-intriguing idol outfit Koutei Camera Girl rapping over the lonely sounds. Looking beyond just the realm of idol-adjacent music, this was one of the…
A brief but pretty bit of feel-t-all-around-you-ness from Networks. “Toyama” clocks in at a scant two minutes and one second, but in the time it takes to warm a Pop-Tart the group makes a piano-and-synth number that plays like experimental duo Super Minerals played quickly. It’s time might be brief, but while it lasts it’s…