Look, I’m watching the second half of this Japan-Colombia World Cup game and it is stupid stressful, here is a new song from Osaka’s Soleil Soleil, it’s good. Back to sitting all scrunched up like seeing if Japan can score two goals….
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eJ0zuXIkwo”] Two thoughts: 1. I’m shocked how few “Empire State Of Mind” parody/reworks there are. If LMFAO can release like a bazillion different versions of “I’m In Miami Bitch” simply by replacing “Miami” with whatever city they think can move iTunes units, you’d think more YouTube “superstars” would try to put on for their city…
Here’s some great weekend listening – Tokyo’s LLLL are releasing a new three-song set on the label Modular Field, and you can listen to the whole thing now. LLLL work in mysterious ways…they pop up to release great music at intervals, and then vanish for some time only to creep out of the shadows once…
Been a while since we’ve heard from bedroom-indie-pop outfit The Weddings but, blam, they’re back…with a pal. They’ve teamed up with another Japanese artist, MOL (who, according to MySpace, lives in Mie Prefecture, which is where I am. We sorta famous now!), to release a split 7″ featuring a handful of new songs. Only discouraging…
In a little over a week’s time, Toyomu (mandatory “it is actually all caps, TOYOMU, if you want to know”) shares his debut EP, Zekkei, featuring all original material. This is kind of misleading — more like his first without using any samples, or at least samples he made himself — but the end result…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF12h19h5uo”] March 11 is coming up, marking the one-year anniversary of the earthquake/tsunami. I wrote an article for The Atlantic about music after these disasters, and it features all sorts of names you might know – EXILE, Neon Cloud, Goth-Trad, Rankin’ Taxi…list goes on. Read it here, and make sure to watch all the videos…because…
Sendai band Swan High mostly take it easy on Islands, though their sort of laid back ultimately translates as a chance to try out whatever they want. Across the eight songs here, the group dabble in a variety of rock stylings, most of them on the softer side of the spectrum. “Find A Way” channels…