Anyone can strike a cool pose, but it’s a lot tougher to let loose and embrace joy. The Feather Shuttles Forever project has used a lot of the same sonic palette as other bands of various stature in the Japanese rock scene — horns, lots of horns — but whereas many of them go for this laid-back, 21st century city vibe that can sometimes feel a bit too nonchalant. “Teian” occupies the opposite end. Everything pops from the start, the horn arrangements going for giddiness (some serious Especia vibes in the music), and best of all is the tag-team approach to singing. The main players of Feather Shuttles Forever and a few guests take turns doing their thing over the bouncy music, each bringing something a little different to the song (shout out to the Auto-tune). This just-go-for-it vibe gives “Teian” a really gleeful atmosphere, and makes it one of the project’s finest yet. Listen above.
Pulse Rhymes: Mayoikurage Featuring Thmmre’s “Make Me Feel”
This year has seen a lot of electronic artists rejecting genre fences and incorporating all kinds of ideas into their music, chief among them hip-hop touches. Well, it goes the other way too. Mayoikurage is a rapper in Osaka who is part of Raiju Crew, a collective making rap music. On their own, however, Mayoikurage gets a little more heady, whether by rapping through an Auto-tune haze over a Justin Bieber number or getting blurry on “Make Me Feel.” It’s a self-remix, but both Mayoikurage and guest thmmre push the song towards a trippy edge, thanks to vocals that hop-scotch between rapping and singing, often cloaked in digital fuzz. The music moves at a skip and lets details in the back blur up, giving this one an out-of-head experience that still has a pop heart to it. Listen above.
New Tricot: “Potage”
Tricot’s twisting and turning approach to rock tends to grab the most attention, but it’s the emotional fierceness lurking underneath all those tempo changes that really punches. If the music itself can sometimes feel a little too plotted out, it’s balanced out by Ikumi Nakajima’s singing, which allows for more roughness around the edges that sometimes borders on total release. New song “Potage” — debuted on NPR earlier today — puts the focus on this part of their music. “Potage” features fewer of the pivots dotting the group’s work in favor of something a bit more straightforward, all the quick shifts more in the details than up front. It puts the focus on the singing, which goes from a whisper to near-shout, and ends up being “Potage’s” most unpredictable element. Listen above.
New Mountain: Teleportation EP
Osaka producer Mountain has been releasing more and more material via international labels as of late, and now comes an EP released from Dutch company Celsius Recordings. The Teleportation EP features three numbers from the young producer, each zeroing in on their drum ‘n’ bass backbone. Yet the high points come from the moments of silence that make the rush that follows all the more exhilarating. A beatless stretch in “Underground” offers a bit of sanctuary that makes the inevitable rev up all the better, while the title track gets even quieter in building up the thrills. “Belief” itself is sparse from start to finish, showing Mountain can get the same excitement from less. Listen above.
New Cairophenomenons: “Water”
It’s all a summer stroll until things get blurry. Tokyo’s Cairophenomenons start off crafting a warm-weather indie-pop jaunt on latest song “Water,” with interlocking guitar melodies and a pleasant bounce that evokes a band like Deerhunter (or compatriots Hotel Mexico, at least on more straightforward numbers). It’s pleasant and downright cheery from the right angle. But rather than ride that wave for a full four minutes, Cairophenomenons let the edges start to blur just before the two minute mark, the singing becoming more stretched out and the music warping too. And then “Water” just turns into a bleary instrumental, revealing the group’s psych-leaning qualities in all their glory. Listen above.