東京のTeen Runningsが去年発表されたLet’s Get Together Again.を発売します。
去年彼らがLPを発表した時は彼らはFriendsと名乗っておりTeen Runningsと改名してからの新たな発売となります。彼らの昨今の海外ブログでの人気を受けブルックリンのFriendsとの混同を避ける為の変名に至ったという経緯もある様です。新作には新曲もいくつか収録される様です。
そのリリースにあたりTeen Runningsは8月8日にMake It Better．のビデオをリリースしました。このビデオはVideoTapeMusicによって制作されており80年代の映像のマッシュアップのミュージックビデオになっています。
80年代の映像を再構築してのミュージックビデオは決して見新しい物ではありませんが、VideoTapeMusicはこの古い手法で作られたビデオを新鮮に見せる事に成功しています。このビデオのリンクは以下から。
Maltine Records has released a lot of music during their existence – a few gems were bound to slip by. One really fantastic song I failed to write about, from earlier this year, was Pa’s Lam System’s “b00mb0x,” an absolutely thumping number that’s one of Japan’s best pure floor-fillers in 2013. Now here comes the…
It makes sense that Taquwami would offer up a remix of a Ryan Hemsworth track on the Canadian producer’s new EP Still Awake. Besides the obvious fact that Hemsworth has been upping Tokyo’s brightest producer for a while now and has included him in various mixes before, the two share a similar genre-blurring approach to…
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…
Kansai outfit Post Modern Team’s first song made available to the world’s ears was a little ditty called “Never Let You Down.” It was one of 2012’s finest tracks, a breezy song featuring one of the sweetest hooks to come out of Japan’s indie-pop scene – “never let you down,” they sang, like whispering into…
Elen Never SleepsとSuper VHSがスプリットEPを発表しました。White Surrender/Stuck On Youに収録された曲は、どちらも彼らの今までのスタイルとは異なった方向性となり、新しい可能性を追求した良作と言えるでしょう。Elen Never Sleepsによる”White Surrender”は、今までのドリーミーなサウンドより、少しくっきりとした曲です。きちんと輪郭のあるボーカルに時折囁くようなコーラスが混ざり、ギターとミニマルなビートの上に重ねられています。ボーカルはハイトーンではやや不安定なものの、ミニマルな曲に上手くマッチしています。Super VHSの”Stuck On You”は、彼の楽曲の中でもダントツにガレージ・ロック寄りと言えるでしょう。短いものの、バックグラウンドに面白いノイズが使われていて興味深いです。 EPには東京のトラックメーカー、Taquwamiによるリミックスも含まれています。不思議なことにWhite Surrenderのリミックスは、すごくドリーミーに作られているため、本人達の物より、過去のElen Never Sleepsスタイルに近く感じられます。遅くされたボーカルを除けばElenのオリジナルのようになるでしょう。Taquwamiのサイドプロジェクト、Occult YouとしてリミックスされたStuck On Youは、ガレージからガラリと変わり、Toro-Y-Moiのようなダンスチューンになっています。視聴、ダウンロード(無料)は以下より。 White Surrender / Stuck On You by Gay Vegan Vinyl Cassette
It’s bare – just a voice and some guitar. But, like may.e throughout this year, the duo Ropes manage to draw out a lot of power from this minimalist set-up. Whereas may.e turns simplicity into sonic ecstasy, Ropes deal in a sort of loving chilliness that is like a whisper to the ear. The main…
Tokyo trio Teen Runnings will be releasing a CD version of last year’s Let’s Get Together Again – an LP that hit shelves when the group was still known as Friends – on August 8, featuring a few new songs. In advance of that release, the group have a new, surf-filled video for the song “Make It Better,” which you can watch above. The clip was created by Videotapemusic, who manage to make what could have been another boring found-footage video into something eye popping.
Sapporo-based “kawaii J-pop” project Yunomi has been making some of the bubbliest but also hardest hitting electro-pop in Japan, loaded up with cuddly signifiers but boasting a bounce right out of Maltine (which, hey) all aided by the airy vocals of Nicamoq (from idol duo BPM15Q). Newest cut “Robotic Girl” hops forward on syllable slices…
Side projects usually offer an artist the chance to experiment. For Syouta Kaneko of Teen Runnings, it is a chance to probe deeper into the fuzz-grazed surf rock he’s been exploring for nearly a decade now. Young Agings allows him to continue exploring that space, and “You” offers a catchy and breezy entry into his…
Maybe X-Files spam is hiding a lot of good material. Spam 2017-2018 implies these are leftovers from the low-key noise maker, but these tracks are among the best they have ever made. It really gets going with “Midlife,” which introduces thundering drums to X-Files’ needly synth bursts, making for a particularly intense listen. “MetalCom” appropriates…
Anyone living in Japan at the moment probably wishes for a bit of summer overload – the nation is currently dealing with a typhoon, with ANOTHER typhoon on the way for the end of the week. Here comes Osaka’s Stuck In Summer, though, to give us all a splash of the season with their Stuck…
Two weeks ago, an event called Jersey Fight Club happened at the Tokyo club Batica, featuring a handful of DJs playing nothing but Jersey Club music. I didn’t make it out because it happened on the same weekend I went on a vacation to the countryside (relaxing!), but even from a distance it seemed like…
The always busy (and always wonky) Foodman has another new collection out, the Hot Rice cassette coming via Patient Sounds, and he’s shared one new song from that set, “Mo.” It’s an example of space being just as effective as loading up every piece of sonic real estate, Foodman letting the song bubble together with…